The Secret to Saving Money

by: Pauline Uchi, Licensed Financial Consultant

You CAN Save For Your Future
Saving money is a basic concept of personal financial planning, and key to financial success. Yet many of us don't have a formal savings plan. Without such a plan, the chances of ever saving enough money to meet long-term financial goals or achieve financial security are very slim.

It seems simple. In order to save money, you need to have "extra" cash, right? This is a common misconception. Having a spending plan (aka "budget"), will help you create money for savings. Most of us, by setting spending goals, can manage to save regularly, so if you're tempted to hit your back button because you simply don't have enough money to have a formal savings plan, STOP! This article will tell you the "secrets" to savings.

The Power of Compounding Interest
Compound interest has been called the eighth wonder of the world. And with good reason, it magically turns a little bit of money, invested wisely, into a whole lot of cash. Even Albert Einstein is said to have called it one of the greatest mathematical concepts of our time.

But you don't need to be a genius to harness the power of compounding. Even the most average of Joes can use it to make money. Trust me. This is so much easier than the theory of relativity.

Here's how it works: When you save or invest, your money earns interest or appreciates. The next year, you earn interest on your original money and the interest from the first year. In the third year, you earn interest on your original money and the interest from the first two years. And so on. It's like a snowball -- roll it down a snowy hill and it'll build on itself to get bigger and bigger. Before you know it ... avalanche!
Harness the power

Here are three steps to help you make the power of compound interest or compound earnings work for you. And when I say "work FOR you," I mean it. Once you set up an account, you don't have to do much else. Just sit back and wait for the money to roll in.

1. Start young. When you're in your twenties and thirties, your best friend is TIME. Start rolling your snowball at the top of the hill and you'll have a much bigger mass at the bottom than someone who started halfway down.

Consider this: Amy, a 22-year-old college graduate, saves $300 per month into an account earning 10% per year for six years. (That's the average annual return of the stock market over time.) Then at age 28, she starts a family and decides to stay home with the children full time. By then, Amy had kicked in $21,600 of her own money. But even if she doesn't contribute another cent ever, her money would grow to a million bucks by the time she turned 65.

Compare that to Jason, who put off saving until he was 31. He's still young enough that becoming a millionaire is within reach, but it will be tougher. Jason would have to contribute the same $300 a month for the next 34 years to earn $1 million by age 65. Although Amy invested less money out-of-pocket -- $21,600 over six years vs. Jason's $126,000 over 34 years -- her money had more time to grow, or compound.

Bottom line: Getting rich is easier and more painless the earlier you start!

2. Remember that a little goes a long way. Don't think you have enough money to start investing? You can get into a good savings plan as low as 2000 monthly or 1500 can be arranged.

That's why, when you're young, you need to invest fairly aggressively. You should invest nearly all your money in stocks/equities (as opposed to bonds and conservative investments) in hopes of netting a bigger return. You'll certainly have ups and downs, but over the long-term, TIME (again, your best friend) will smooth them out for your benefit.

3. Leave it alone. The prospect of making a lot of money without doing anything sounds good on paper. But, admittedly, in practice, it can be maddening. Every time you receive your account statement, you watch your balance s-l-o-w-l-y inch up -- or even drop. How on earth are you ever going to get rich at this pace?

Good things come to those who wait. You must be patient for compounding to work its awesome power. Remember that as your money earns more, it'll earn even more. You certainly won't get rich overnight this way. But you will get rich if you start young, invest wisely and leave it alone.