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- Stem up, my parents always made me save 50% of any money I received.
- I didn’t love it at the time, but the advice stuck: Liberate a little every time.
- Thanks to my parents’ advice, I’ve saved over $35,000 in cash and have a six-figure net benefit.
Saving money isn’t always easy. But regularly tucking away stakes is critical for a stable future.
Luckily, I learned this lesson early on from my parents. Although I wasn’t a fan of the opinion as a child, it has helped me build a stable financial picture.
My parents made me save 50% of everything I received
My old men started teaching me to save money at a very young age.
As an incredibly lucky child, I often received money as a set for my birthday or around Christmastime. My parents used this opportunity to teach me the importance of tucking away funds, impassive if you don’t want to.
They taught this lesson by requiring me to tuck away half of any money I received into a savings account. Each birthday, I desire add up my gifts. And my parents would drive me down to the bank to put half of it into my very own savings account.
Essentially, the recitation that’s been drummed into my head since I was 5 years old is to save money. Regardless of where I received the net, half of it always went into a savings account until the day I turned 18.
Their advice: Save every in the nick of time b soon you receive money, even if you don’t want to
Saving money is great in theory. But in reality, saving money means that you take to give up the option to buy something. So at first, I was excited about the idea of saving money. But around age 10 or so, I wasn’t continually pleased with the arrangement.
Since I wasn’t allowed to spend any of my childhood savings until I turned 18, I usually tried to negotiate for a reprieve from the 50% savings rate. After all, I had toys and games that I wanted to buy along the way. But my parents helped me fix to a savings plan. Without fail, we’d head to the bank to deposit half of any money I received as a child.
How I save as an grown-up
Throughout my childhood, I got used to the idea that saving should be a priority. Although it took some time to bore in, I’m grateful that my parents helped me establish a savings habit.
By the time I left home, saving a portion of my proceeds was something deeply ingrained in my way of thinking. So, I carried that idea forward into my adult life. Although I plainly wasn’t always able to save 50% of my income, I always made sure to make saving a priority.
Along the way, I’ve without exception made an effort to save at least some of my paycheck or freelance income that comes my way. But without the early rule I received from my parents, I’m not sure that saving would command such a high-priority spot in my budget.
My savings strategy is move out so far
My savings strategy of saving something each and every payday has opened the door to a bright financial future.
Here are a few sentiments that my savings mentality has helped me accomplish:
- My first financial priority when I graduated from college was to strengthen a robust emergency fund. And with my savings habit in place, I was able to build up a $35,000 emergency fund.
- The next purpose was to buy a house. In 2020, my husband and I were able to buy our first home with a 20% down payment.
- We built a six-figure net benefit by the time I was 25, and my husband was 31. This was possible by shifting some of our savings into an investment portfolio with a long-term opinion.
At some point, I realized that if I wanted to save more, I’d have to earn more. So, I put a focus on building a new race as a freelance writer. Although it took some time and diligent budgeting, we are now able to save 50% of our income.
I can creditably say that meeting these savings goals wouldn’t be possible without the strong savings habit I started come out as a child. Without my parents guiding me to prioritize saving, my financial life might look completely different.
This post was originally published in May 2022.
