Comments on: Positive Influence of Saving Money

By: Andy @ Retire at 40

Andy @ Retire at 40 — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 09:55:57 +0000

I too have thought about this. We must be inherently something, whether it's a spender or a saver but the good news is, people can change. I used to be a spender (not a big one, but a spender nonetheless) but I'd say I was a saver now, just a few months after deciding to change.

By: SimplyForties

SimplyForties — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:17:08 +0000

Coming up with a non-financial reward would really be great. I’m nearly debt-free and having a hard time not deciding to reward myself with one of the several things on my “want” list! I haven’t figured out what that non-financial reward would be, but I’m working on it.

By: Craig

Craig — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:58:22 +0000

My savings began when I didn’t have money to buy something I wanted, and then began to save up for it. this was when I was younger and still use the same philosophy for the majority of my purchases. I agree that having a positive influence is key, also setting goals is a great reminder to help stay motivated and to mentally know there is a reward at the end of the tunnel.

By: Neal Frankle

Neal Frankle — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:45:24 +0000

Nice post sir!

I have found that if I focus on the end goal – financial, diet, whatever, I can get frustrated very easily. Instead, I try to act in a way that will get me closer to my goal – in daily increments. In other words, if I have a spending problem, I’ll make a plan, just for today, not to waste any money going out to lunch (for example) and if I achieve that, one day at a time, I can feel like I had a successful day. If instead I think about some harder to achieve goal – like having a net worth of $5 million in 3 years, I may give up and not do what I need to do on a daily basis.

By: Jules @ The Francophile Files

Jules @ The Francophile Files — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:46:15 +0000

Seeing both my emergency fund and general savings account grow (hehe, by even small increments) is definitely a positive influence for me to continue to save.

Good explanation of this phenomenon!

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:33:36 +0000

This is exactly why each of my children started receiving a (very small) allowance starting on their 7th birthdays, why we went to the bank that same week and opened a custodial timed-saving account complete with pass book, why they were taught to enter each monthly deposit of their allowance, and why, for the first year of receiving an allowance they were not allowed to make any purchases. The whole point was to help them develop, at the very least, a habit of saving money though my hope was that they would develop a strong taste for watching their money grow. It was my theory that they would, in the natural course of events, learn to spend money but it was my job as their parent to teach them the whys and hows of saving.

By: MyMoneyMyLife

MyMoneyMyLife — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:16:48 +0000

Great article, we recently started having our flexible spending money direct deposited into our savings. We had already spent the money so why not just save it and earn interest instead of pumping it back into the checking account.