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CG ShopSpend Money Wisely |
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| Written by CG Girl |
| Friday, 09 October 2009 18:59 |
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SPEND! SPEND! SPEND! Written by: Elda A. Guevara SPEND! SPEND! SPEND! That is what society seems to be telling us. Buy now and pay later. We are being told by advertisements that we should have the best and the biggest of everything even if we can’t afford it because chihuahuas….we deserve it! Right???? Wrong, chicas! We seem to be moving to an “instant gratification” society. According to the U.S. Commerce Department, the savings rate in the U.S. dipped to minus 0.5 percent as of 2005. That is something that has not happened since the Great Depression in the 1930’s. Chicas, we need to lead the way in changing this ugly statistic, so I am going to pass along the wisdom of my parents who always preached, “SAVE! SAVE! SAVE!!!” Those of you reading this are young enough that you have a lot of time to let your money work for you. You have time on your side, chiquitas. Take advantage of it. The first thing you should keep in mind when saving is the time value of money. Here is a saying that you should remember: MONEY MAKES MONEY, AND THE MONEY MONEY MAKES, MAKES MORE MONEY! That basically sums up compounding interest. With compounding interest, you earn interest on your interest. This is what you earn on most accounts and many investments. Now do you need a lot of money to save money? The answer is “no” according to money guru, David Bach. He says that we spend a lot of money a little at a time on things such as eating out, fancy coffee, bottled water and so on. If we find out where we are spending our little bits of cash, we can cut back and then begin to save that money for our future. Keep track of your spending for a given amount of time. A week of tracking should give you a snapshot of your spending habits. Once you make that list of petty spending, find out where you are spending and cut back so that you can find that extra $20 or more to put away for the future. In the end, it is all worth the sacrifice of giving up that fast food meal or that latte that will soon be forgotten and replace it with the habit of paying yourself first so that your future will be that much brighter for you financially. YOU DESERVE IT! . |
