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PERSONAL FINANCE AND INVESTING

easy ways to find money to save

If you are serious about being financially fit when you retire, you have to make a decision to take steps to secure your financial future today. One of the biggest challenge to start investing for your retirement is to find the extra cash every month to invest.

One excuse I hear the most often is: I don't have any money to invest. I will start when I get a pay rise, win the lottery and others along the same vein. I would like to challenge you to review where you are spending your hard earned cash and I am sure I can find you some cash to put away every month, painlessly.

The only successful way to save and create a nice asset that will generate you enough income is to do it automatically and painlessly. The trick is to pay yourself first before you use the money for anything else like paying bills every month.

Firstly, let's find some extra cash from your monthly outgoings to save with. Have a think about how you spend your money. Are you buying glossy magazines every month off the shelves, why don't you get a subscription, this usually saves you half the cover price. Do you regularly pop into Starbucks or the nearest coffee shop every morning, buy a coffee and a muffin on your way to work? This is on average £2.00 a day, one less coffee a day equals £40 saved that can go into the pot for investing. Keep a little diary and write down what you spend your money on and you will find lots of other areas where you can cut down and save.
 

Next, you MUST open a savings account, preferably a high interest one, and make an automatic transfer into it every month. By making it automatic, you will not be tempted to spend more than you have in the bank and you will find this painless as it doesn't put a big dent in your lifestyle.

Another alternative is to invest in a fund monthly. These start as low as £20 a month contribution. So slowly drip feeding £20 a month will get you on the path to investing and doing it over time is beneficial for your investment as well as you even out the prices at which you buy into the market. If you need some help selecting a fund or want to get some professional advice, please read the other articles listed below.

Are you leaving free money on the table? A lot of employers offer to match pension contributions if you sign up for a company pension. If you did not take this up or don't understand why you should do this, read on. Under the company pension scheme, if you invest say £$100 of your monthly salary into your company pension fund, if your company matches this, they will put in an extra £100 a month. This equals £1,200 a year into yet another savings pot. This is free money that you are leaving on the table if you don't sign up, and this is not even taking into account the compounding effect of this money invested over a period of time.

Remember, it is not how much money you need to get started, the important thing is that you get started. So have a few coffees less, one less new pair of shoes or a one less DVD or CD and you are well on your way to building your financial future.

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