Saving for Long Term Goals

It is so important to start good money saving habits when you are young so that they stick with you throughout your whole life! The first thing you need before you can begin is a budget. There are hundreds of great resources out there for this step, but I personally recommend using Mint. It links to all of your accounts and cards automatically, which makes budget very easy! Once you have a handle on how much you typically spend on necessities like rent and food, as well as fun stuff like date nights and eating out, you can decide on an amount each month that you’d like to put away into savings. There are quite a few things you can save for. Here are some ideas:

  1. Save for retirement. It’s never too early to start! Many companies offer to match whatever you contribute to a 401k plan. If your job does this, it would be wise to put in as much money as you can off of each paycheck in order to take advantage of that matching system. For my job, I have my accounts set to automatically contribute a certain percentage of my income each month to my retirement plan, so I don’t even have to worry about it.
  2. Save for a home. Do you dream of buying a house in the future? Start saving now!
  3. Save for a wedding or honeymoon. If you are engaged this one is a no brainer, but even if you aren’t you could start saving for an awesome trip or dream wedding now. The average American wedding costs over $30,000, and if you’re not careful that cost will sneak up on you.