The way I save up

Hello!

It’s been brought up before that I have a fairly newfound interest in finance, especially dividend stocks. But I can’t invest if I can’t save up. And I can’t save up if I am not earning income.

So my current status is that I have 75% part time job as a spa admin, but now also am a pool instructor/lifeguard once a week. Such a setting really provides the variety I need, since I have not held a full time job down longer than 4 months before resigning.

Since last november I started keeping close track of my income and expenses with the Monefy mobile app. It helped me save up but got tedious since the money I saved was there in numbers.

Firstly to fix this, after long deliberation I went the route of finally making a separate bank account for savings. I’m on my second month with it and the account has no withdrawals! Needless to say I am proud!

Also, there is the mobile app SavingsGoal, where I set monetary goals (this year wedding budget is a big one) and each time I put money aside, I also update there. The visual representation is really gratifying.

This particular example is the honeymoon trip, but I have more than one goal there. This year the wedding. After that driving lessons and let’s see what the future brings.

I have a separate investing account but for that I have a special monthly sum that I’ll start to put into practice after the wedding (or if I hit my budget goals early).

I have read a lot lately on finance and most books recommend, at minimum, to save 10% of your salary. The so-called 50% club is what I’m aiming for and some months manage even 60%. If I put 50% right aside, and show only the 50%for spending, my habits will be more accurately represented on the graph.

From that I figured usually I want something left even if I’ve already put money aside, it’s the secure visual that I subconsciously aim for. With that I figured, if let’s say by the time of my next salary I’ve managed to save an extra 150, then I would count it along with the salary from where to set aside half. It would look somthing like this:

(150 + Salary) ÷ 2 = Sum to savings account.

It’s kinda exciting and I wonder if I could eventually create a small snowball effect (unless I really want to go to a concert in another country or I need to go to the dentist again).

I grew up trying to pay for my own things as much as possible, I didn’t like to financially rely on my parents and now that I can work more, I can put this all into motion.

Not so long ago, I read a story of a Finnish teacher who kept regularly investing a sum of his salary and eventually, over decades it became about a 2 million euro fortune in stocks. No one knew about it until after the man’s passing and the will was revealed.

The fact there is a chance to live comfortably and eventually set yourself financially free without seeking a rare grandiose salary is incredibly motivating and one of the drives behind my passion for this. I see my mother past her 4th grand jubilee if I can say candidly, and she is so energetic it seems life is just really beginning! So sure, I can grind in the workforce another 10-15 years easily!

In a nutshell: There is an abundance of motivation.

Thanks for reading and have a Great day~!

-Ann

Listening to: Layla – Eric Clapton