Personal Business Journal

When I started saving, I wasn’t saving much. However, I developed an important habit. Whether you’ve wisely saved money or received a good tax return, don’t go out and blow it on more stuff. You can have anything you want, you just can’t have everything you want. A.F. Bannerman once shared wise advice worth mentioning here that I’ve come to agree with and respect:

“Your savings affect the way you stand, the way you walk, the tone of your voice. In short, your physical well being and self confidence. A person without savings is always running. You  must take the first job offer. You sit nervously on life’s chairs because any of life’s emergencies  throws you into the hands of others. Without savings, a person is often fearful of the present and the future. Being in a state of constant fear is a horrible place to live. A person with savings can walk tall. You can appraise opportunities in a relaxed way, have time for judicious estimates and decisions. You need not be rushed by life’s problems or economic necessity. The person with savings can resign from his work if his principles tell him this is not the place to be. ”

The person who is always worried about rent, food, bills, etc. can’t concentrate on long-range career goals. The person with savings can focus on family and service to shape personality and develop character.

2 practical tips to get started:
Track everything you spend. When you keep a log of everything you spend (gum, gas, latte, groceries, everything), you can’t help but see patterns in your spending. You’ll  think twice before buying that next Starbucks. If you live on a budget for every category of expenses you have, you’ll be amazed at the control you gain over spending.

Savings is actually delayed spending. I didn’t understand the expression “pay yourself first,” until my mid-30s. It means you should set aside a portion of everything you make, save it, then invest it. You should do this regardless of whether or not you have your own business (hopefully you do).

If you haven’t made it to the world of options offered in bank-online fields, the fact is that you should be. Yes, there are many opportunities for you to walk into a teller and get your information taken care of. But when do you pay bills? Do you do it in the middle of the night, usually the night before it is due? If this is the case, you may want to consider the options of bank-online to simply give you the opportunity to make those payments on time. Why should you bank-online?

There are many reasons but most of them have to do with the ease of use. You can find yourself saving time and money by getting your work done on the web. You can bank whenever you like. You can check your balance well before the bank opens. You can actually see it as well, not just hear the information but see who is taking money from your account. It is quite simple to use and that too adds to the ease and convenience of bank-online options.

What is also great about it is that it can help you to set up bill payments on the web as well. This means that you go into your account, tell it the day you need to pay the bill, the amount and who to send it to and it takes care of the rest. If nothing else, it saves you the postage stamp! Likewise, you will find that it also provides you with a way to automatically handle those bills so that you are not late anymore. And, it can help you to track your spending and savings because most of the banks that off bank-online options do so by providing you with a way to connect to your banking software as well. This means organization! See what opportunities you have in bank-online through your financial institution.