Hi everyone, I hope you had a wonderfully simple weekend and that your week will be just as wonderful 
Recently, I have been considering inviting bloggers to guest post on The Joy of Simple, so when I received an email from Mark Yasay asking if he could contribute an article to the blog, I felt it was time to give someone else a voice for a change I also found Mark’s post to be timely as I am working on saving money for my debut CD project and any help in the form of tips and/or tricks is greatly appreciated!
One last word before you begin reading Mark’s post. If you would like to add your own voice to The Joy of Simple as a guest blogger, please feel free to contact me directly or via the comments section below and we’ll talk
And now, ladies and gentlemen, Mark Yasay!
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7 Secrets to Boost Your Savings
You can tell a person is rich not because of their income, but because of their savings. Who doesn’t want to be rich? Everybody works hard to earn money to live and help others in need. Here are some money saving techniques to boost your savings:
Set Goals
What differentiates you from other people are your goals. It doesn’t make sense to save up if you don’t set aspirations – in fact, chances are you won’t be able to save because of the lack of goals. If you have long term goals, you ensure motivation and something to look forward to for yourself. Money sitting in the bank doesn’t go anywhere. Your money will be of value when it’s used for something significant to you and your family: emergency funds, education funds, or retirement funds. If you set your mind to do something, your body (and money) will follow.
Save before Spending
What do you do when you receive your paycheck? The best thing to do is to set aside the amount that you need to save first. The remaining amount should be allocated to pay for your expenses. That way, you make sure you actually have savings rather than doing it the other way around. If you spend first before saving, the amount left (if there’s any) is limited and will be dependent on your spending.
Reduce Your Expenses
List down your expenses in a month. Make a checklist and consider how important these expenses are to your daily living. For example, you subscribe to a data plan, but you can access WiFi everywhere you go. This means you barely use that data plan, right? Cut down on your expenses like frequent Friday nights out, and even restaurant lunches and taxi rides. When you cut down on your expenses, you leave more for your savings.
Increase Your Income
Reducing expenses is one thing, but if at the same time as minimizing spending you actually increase your income, you’ll have that much more to save. Increase your income channels by venturing into business, investing, or buying a house to have it rented. This sounds harder than it seems, but the limit to the possibilities is your own resourcefulness and effort.
Invest Your Money
While your money will indeed slowly increase in the bank, if you invest it in other financial institutions and channels such as mutual funds, stocks, and bonds, it’ll undoubtedly increase many times more at a better rate. If your money in the bank receives positive interest at a rate of 1% per month, and money invested in institutions increase at a rate of around 15-30%, then it’s a no-brainer, isn’t it? Why settle for % when you can go for at least 15%? Research on the best mutual funds, bonds, and stocks and make your money work for you now.
Use Piggy Banks
Piggy banks never get old. Many people take their spare change for granted. Don’t be like them. You know those coins jiggling at the bottom of your purse or bag? Put them into your own piggy bank. One coin a day is 365 coins in one year. Baby steps, for sure, but if you don’t touch them at all and you use piggy banks at the same time as our other steps above, then you’ll surely not regret it.
Use Cash
Using cash more than credit or debit cards ensures that you can more effectively track your cash flow. Paying in cash is painful and counting your money as it goes away is much more difficult than swiping a piece of plastic.
About The Author:
Mark Yasay is a social media enthusiast and a writer for MoneyMax, the Philippines most comprehensive online platform for comparing financial and telecom products. MoneyMax aims to consistently find the best broadband plans, credit cards, loans, and other services and products that suit your needs.
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So, what did you think of Mark’s post? Do you agree with what he had to say? Have you used his techniques before or do you have your own that work for you?
Please continue the conversation in the comments section below and thanks for reading.
Take care and all the best.
Lyle
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