Savings garden club?

[Anonymous]

The first step in entering the playground is to have an honest idea of your budget and minimum debt payments and income. Basically an attempt at listing your income and outgoing. Then opening a high interest savings account somewhere and we can discuss those accounts as well.

[UncleB]

I would personally like to see more discussion on savings (and I really like the 'Playground' concept) but the challenge will be finding a common-thread to keep people from various economic backgrounds interested and involved.

The 'Garden Thread' works so well because no matter what your income/profile/etc. you can garden... someone making minimum wage can garden just the same as someone earning $500k/year - the goal is exactly same for everyone, and everyone can relate to one another regardless of their income situation.

A similar thread with a savings theme is different, though... you'll have people for whom it will be a literal struggle to save $100/month and others will need support to make their (equally worthwhile) $1000/month savings goal.  I've had the fortune (or misfortune?) to have been in both economic groups in my lifetime so I can relate to both, but many people will find it difficult to relate to others who's goals are so far removed from their own (in either direction). 

I'm not saying it can't be done, just that it could be tricky.

[Anonymous]

I think it would be great, I have learned so much about credit reading this forum, I think more on savings would be awesome. Credit is nice to have, but without funds to back it up, your digging a big hole. 

I think savings is not talked about enough in our country.

It would cool to see the different things that people do, different ways people save. 

To see what others come up with, something I never thought of before, not every typical savings strategy works for everyone. 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, and I do think that even poor people and rich people could be part of the same "savings playground" since the basis is to analyze spending and income and come up with a plan for socking away a tiny amount every pay period.

If you earn $2000 a month and spend $1973 a month it doesn't mean you can only save $27.  It might mean that you're overspening somewhere and the gossip at the playground may help you find ways to trim spending so you can save a bit more.

Also riding on "the slide" isn't a negative -- sharing your reasons WHY you dipped into savings can be a benefit to others to realizing WHY having a savings account is more important than just how much interest you pay.  Avoiding $100 in interest in the past 12 months means nothing if you lose your job, but if you had paid that $100 extra in interest in order to save $500 in a savings account, that $500 is more important than the $100 in interest you paid to get there.

So many folks of all incomes have $0 in savings.  Learning to play the financial game involves understanding the costs of not having emergency cash on hand for real emergency situations.  Living on credit during emergencies sounds like what most people do, but having a savings account means you can at least make the minimum payment until the emergency passes.

Part of being 'in the playground' is analyzing what your minimum payments on debt would be, and what your minimum living expenses are, and planning a savings nest egg to cover those absolute minimums for a period of time.

[luxeprw9]

This is exactly the kind of thread I'd be interested in.  I would be very active with it, as I just set a personal goal to save $50k (non-retirement).  I would love to have some accountibility, get some ideas and have some conversations with others who are on the same path.

I'm in!

ETA:  Another forum that I peruse has challenges for savings in increments - ex. $10k, $25k, $50k, $100k, $500k, $1m.  I really like that because you can focus the challenge that fits your ability.  And also challenge you to move to the next goal.  Just a thought!

[Sandman771]

My personal plan is to get $10K in a liquid savings fund. That may be a longer term goal since that is five months worth of expenses. I think this year I'll get it to $2K then start funnelling it into my IRA. Then in scusseeding years make sure that IRA is maxed out then get my $10K in more liquid form then just plow all I can into the market. I'm lucky that I don't have a lot of expenses. 

That $10K may be via the NFCU certificate that allows you to start with $1000 then add all year long for pro-rated interest. Just has my interest a little. 

[Anonymous]

Great!  I think I'll start a June "playground" thread this week and we will all tailor it over time to reach out to the most folks regardless of income, job/school, expense amount and future plans.  It'll just be a place to share one's successes and those times when we think we should dip into savings but need a kind (or forceful) voice to give us other options!

We can also discuss other income methods to help top off or reach our goals and maybe put together a public shared spreadsheet to help us figure out if we're spending too much or could find savings elsewhere.

If it gets popular I'm sure we'll all learn something new, too!

[iced]

One thought I had to equalize the field a bit for this idea is to break it across goal-based thresholds rather than time ones. That is, instead of levels/tiers/widgets/whatever being based on "I saved $X/month", you can have it as "I have reached $X in total savings" or, perhaps even better, "I have reached X% of my retirement/savings goal" or "I have saved X% of my income this month".

Some financial/savings websites I read with a bit more interest (not sure I can name them here) will speak of target goals in terms of gross/net income, such as saving 25% of net income each month (too low IMO, but that's anothet thread). A lower income person can save 25% and have it be $50 while a wealthier person can save $10000 and have it also be 25%. By using percentages, you level the playing field.

You can also do target multiples based on goal, like saving 4x annual income or 10x annual income, etc.

[Sandman771]

On another note, I'm not reducing my savings and investing from anywhere else, but i've started using my cash rewards from NFCU and placing them into my share savings Also I'm putting $20/ week into PennFed where I have just a savings account to maintain the account draw a little interest and keep that relationship open. 

I don't think these are so much strategies as they are just some extra stashes that will grow (albeit slowly) with time. 

[Anonymous]

Actually I love those micro-savings side notes myself.   I do a lot of affiliate marketing of "Stash" and "Acorn" for the free moneys and just throw that money right back into Stash and it's blown me away at how much it's grown in a year or so.  Each and every month is probably only $10-$40 of free money but over the past year it's grown to nearly $600.  Crazy!

I also transfer my pennies from checking accounts into a savings account whenever I log in to confirm balances are correct in Mint, and that's all measly transfers of a few bucks a week max, but my savings account I transfer it all to in larger amounts is over $75 in just a year.  Earns a decent interest rate for some rando savings account I never touch.