The biggest mistake that people can make is to procrastinate on starting a savings plan.  This is most applicable to students who rely on their parents for financial support.  Even those who are already able to work on-the-side do so to have money for specific spending needs rather than to have a little more money to save.  The savings perspective of ‘save before you spend’ can be followed by students too.  When they get their allowance from their parents, they can already set aside a small amount for their savings.  Through time, the small amounts they regularly save will accumulate to a bigger amount.  This takes a lot of discipline to successfully pull off, however.  A few sacrifices will also have to be made.  These should not at all be viewed as deterrents to saving.  These should be minor concerns that should easily be brushed aside when the importance of setting up a savings fund is realized.

a penny a day, saving money

image via http://www.ridelust.com

There will always be financial needs today and in the future.  What is uncertain is the availability of funds to cover these needs.  What young students have working for them is time.  They have more time ahead of them to prepare for whatever financial needs might come.  But, the time they have on their hands will be wasted if they do not start saving now.  Saving for the future starts today – not tomorrow or some other time when they have more money to spare.  No matter how small their allowance is, encourage them to regularly set aside a fixed amount to go to their savings account.

A young student can start with feeding his piggy bank with coins.  Parents can opt to give their children’s allowance in small bills or in coins so he can easily set aside a portion for savings.  This is a good way to teach younger children to save.  For older children, opening a bank account and making a monthly deposit is a good practice.  This can be followed by students in their college years as well.  If they have jobs, they can allocate a certain percentage of their earnings towards their savings account.

Students have to be disciplined enough not to touch their savings for any reason.  It is not likely, anyway, for these students to have a huge financial emergency at this time in their lives.  The future holds much more for these students in terms of opportunities and challenges.  Starting a savings plan gives them the resources they might need in the future to take advantage of what life has to offer.


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One Response to “A Penny a Day: Saving for the Future Starts Today”

  1. april brown says:

    Saving money nowadays is very hard to do. Especially when u can’t even keep the wolves @ bay.

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