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Have any of you "automated" your savings? I have my 401-k deducted automatically,but the rest of my savings and bill paying are done with the help of my wife, and quicken. Have any of you developed a more automatic savings plan? |
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Automated savings is a good way to go if you don't want to think about having to post money to your savings each month. My wife and use the "youneedabudget" software and it is amazing. http://www.youneedabudget.com (YNAB) It helped us get in the mode of having many different rainy day funds that we keep on ING Direct. See below. Baby Fund 819.05 Each month we put money in these accounts and watch our money grow. We have some other rainy day accounts I keep track of w/in our checking account using the YNAB software such as Christmas decorations (especially beneficial this time of yr), Vacation fund, etc. |
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I automated my Christmas savings this year and have accumulated several hundred (600 by now) without even thinking about it. I doubt I will use that money for Christmas, but our brains are already used to the now normal amount we have in our checking each month, so we will continue the automatic plan. I will even increase is shortly to account for a bit more passive income coming in. Out of sight, out of mind. That is exactly the benefit of automation. Once you have done it for awhile, you don't miss the money. Over time, even a small amount of savings builds up to real money.
(Nov 08 '09 at 22:26)
Dr Dean 1
Yep, and I started with $50 a week, which seemed like quite a bit for both the wife and I, but once our brains got used to it, we don't even notice anymore. I am planning on doubling it in the next few weeks, then adding even more here and there as new passive income opens up. The money is building up much faster than I thought, with far less fuss than I thought my wife would give me :)
(Nov 08 '09 at 22:30)
Jesse Michelsen
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It's about the same with me. My 401(k) is deducted automatically. I also have some money pulled into an online savings account each month. Nothing else at the moment. |
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I am the same as MBH. Money goes into an online savings on a monthly basis and 401(k) automatically. My bank gave me some sort of incentive for setting up a monthly transfer when I opened my accounts. (I am a HUGE Wells Fargo fan.) |
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My automated savings plan is extremely simple, probably due to the fact that I'm young, don't have a car, and have only one fixed expense: rent. I have my Roth 401(k) contirbutions deducted automatically, as well as transportation costs for the metro subway. I have the rest of my paycheck directly deposited to my ING account, and from there, my student loan payment gets deducted and it automatically sends a payment to cover my credit card expenses. I send $300 to my savings account and $300 to my brokerage account. Also, I send about $100 to my Bank of America account because I use that card to take money out of the ATM. All of my irregular expenses go on my credit card, and usually I have a few cash transactions and transfers to roommates for various expenses, and that all gets tracked in Mint. |
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I can't function without automating my savings and bill payments. I do as much as possible from my credit union's website -- it offers great protection if payments were ever to mysteriously go missing, but thankfully I've not had to deal with that. I don't miss the money I send to my bills after each payday because I never see it. I mean, I'd like to have more left in my spending pot, don't get me wrong, but this way is very pain-free for me. It's the payments I can't automate that get me. I also have just about everything on my credit card and on automatic pay.
(Nov 26 '09 at 06:50)
mbhunter ♦♦
Some bills I don't trust the autopay functions for. For instance, my electric company and the gas company are screwy, and mess with the billing cycles, and every once in a while that gives you a ridiculously high bill. I can't handle that. But what I can do is send a chunk of change to them in the beginning of the month, so that I have control over at least part of that payment. Does that make sense? Control. I like the control.
(Nov 28 '09 at 05:25)
Dogfood Provider
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I automate three kinds of savings: Monthly emergency/diddle-it-away savings; self-escrow for property taxes, homeowner's insurance, and car insurance (my house is paid for and so I have to pony up taxes & insurance once a year); and the 403(b) savings, a required pre-tax hit on my gross income by my employer, who matches the contribution. Of course, my employer soaks the 403(b) contribution out of my paycheck. The credit union collaborates on the others: once a month $404 goes into the emergency fund (a money-market savings account) and $300 goes into the taxes & insurance fund (a regular savings account). They go into separate accounts so I won't lose track and accidentally spend money intended to pay taxes. |
