I LOVE the savings playground idea. Savings is an integral part of credit/financial rebuilding that tends to be an afterthought for understandable reasons. The immediate need always trumps the long term goal, and my immediate need was to pay down my massive credit card debt and get on top of my student loan payments. However, I was always one unexpected life event away from getting derailed, and it happened multiple times (for example, a blown transmission literally set me back years). I actually think about where I would be financially now if that hadn't happened all the time. One metric I now have for success is how quickly I can weather an unexpected "life happens" event. I was recently able to recover from a minor car repair within a month, instead of it being a complete financial disaster. That couldn't have happened if I hadn't had some savings to dip into. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to get me over that unexpected hump.
And then there's the fact that I for one was never taught good household financial management habits. I grew up in a household that lived paycheck to paycheck, and the only savings I saw were literally pennies in an oversized jar. That's not to say that actual savings in actual accounts wasn't happening, but if it was it wasn't something I was aware of or talked to about as I got older. I went to college on student loans, and it only occurred to me after I was there that long-terms savings for college was something that more well-to-do parents, or even more financially savvy parents that weren't well to do, could afford. I've gotten better at saving for specific goals, like vacations or a car down payment, but I'm still not great at saving for general unexpected life events, or long-term plans. So, I'm going to go ahead and open up playground account specifically for this. Hope this thread sticks around; like the garden, it could be great motivation and a learning tool for those who, like me, were never taught or never absorbed household financial management skills.
