ned
Saving is seemingly simple but a tricky concept and even harder to practice. I learned very young. As should probably be obvious from my earlier posts, I’m fairly careful with the things I spend my money on.
I’ve learned that many people don’t really understand the purpose of saving. Why should I save for tomorrow if I want something today?
I had a paper route for a good number of years that I used to wear roller blades to deliver. I remember some of my subscribers would comment on how they knew the paper was delivered because they could hear me coming up the drive: woooosh woooosh woooosh clunk klop klop klop creeeeeeek pop clunk klop klop clunk woooosh woooosh wooooosh and I was off.
I mowed lawns later in high school, as well as painted fences and interiors and dug garden beds and hauled dirt here and junk there. I did this mostly with my two brothers. When I left high school for post secondary, I left behind a growing business with a good number of happy regulars. Mom and dad said that even two, three years later some elderly clients would still phone up asking if I was there and if I could mow their lawn.
I think saving is a very smart thing for a variety of reasons.
The obvious one is that the more I save, the more of a safety net I have if everything hits the fan. Almost everything is for sale.
Having more money allows me to buy on sale, rather then when I actually run out of them. Much like saving actual money, this is like a triple saving: stock piling commodity X, saving on the sale price of commodity X, and doing this saves me money.
It’s also very beautiful that savings in itself can begin to work for me in the form of a high interest account (2% – 4%), invested in stocks and bonds, or real estate. With enough success, that savings can actually provide enough income to live off of.
The phase in my life right now I am not building my savings, and this makes me a bit anxious. This has always been one of my main motivators of life.
I realize that in order to start building a savings I need to redirect my time and lifestyle for a more consistent stream of money.
In layman’s terms, I need a job (I think there’s a pun in there).