Believe it or not this is one of the easiest things for anyone to do… here is the answer…
Sock away a measly $286 a month for 40 years and you will have a million dollars! Here’s the link…
How to Save a Million Dollars At Any Age.
But, you know what they say… If it’s too good to be true…
When I did a quick calculation I found that saving $286 a month for 40 years only added up to $137,280. Hmmm….
Turns out the article assumed an 8% steady rate of return. Meaning that you would need to invest your money in stocks or some other investment vehicle that consistently returned 8% of your investment.
You also need to realize that 40 years from now your money is going to be worth less than that amount because of inflation. And the fact that you are spreading it out over many months also messes with the final number.
As long as we have inflation, today’s dollars will always be better, and worth more, than yesterday’s dollars.
Depressing news for savers right?
Yet, there is hope. I truly believe anyone can save their way to a million dollars.
There are two things I recommend that will help you save your way to a million dollars.
First, you have to start saving. Meaning you need to have more money at the end of the month, rather than more month at the end of you money.
I recommend using direct deposit to help you manage your money and get to that point. Sometimes the only way to save money is to force yourself to do it automatically.
The way this works is that you simply give your employer your checking and savings account numbers. And then ask them to deposit 90% of your pay into checking and 10% of your pay into savings. Or whatever number you feel comfortable with. It requires almost no work on your part and is effortless once it is setup.
The most quoted figure I could find is that 55% of Americans use direct deposit. Not sure how this compares to other countries?
Even if you normally deposit a check at the bank you can still easily do the 90/10 split with the teller. In fact, tellers usually ask you where you want to put the money if they see that you have a savings account.
Ahhh, but you don’t have a savings account? It is really easy to start one. If you have an existing checking account then setting up a savings account takes just a few minutes. And the minimum deposit can be as low as $25 dollars.
The second part of the equation is actually the hard part. Finding a place to invest your money so you can get a nice return.
This will be the topic of another article, but you can start at the same place you deposit your money. The bank.
The great thing about a bank is that they will normally recommend safe and mostly guaranteed returns with high security.
The bad thing about a bank is that they will recommend safe investments that return very low yields.
Yet, for someone new to investing, they are a great place to start and get many of your questions answered.
For the most part, as yields go up, so does risk, without too many exceptions.
I will say that the only place you can get a high yield with low risk is to control the investment vehicle yourself. That is to say, your own stable business. I discuss owning your own business more at jeremymday.com
Without going too far off in left field, I will say that if you haven’t done the few things above that I mentioned, it’s time to get started.
Go get those bank accounts opened. Ask your employer about direct deposit. And start saving your first little nest egg so you can start putting it to good use! 😉
Jeremy,
I also agree that the best way to save money is to have it automatically deposited into a savings account. People tend to spend almost everything that they have.
Plus you will eventually get used to the idea of having a savings account.
Love your common sense aproach. Thanks for sharing.
Ana
So the money you have saved for retirement will be worthless after another 40 years. So you would have to account for inflation and add more money each month to save each year.