Million Dollar Piggy Bank.... The Habit of Saving

[EvanOkanagan]

In order to invest (in many cases) you must have money saved.

One of the most gratifying little things I’ve done lately is empty my piggy bank. (Yes, I’m 27 years old and I still have a piggy bank! lol)



Anyways, I’ve had this thing since I was about 10 years old. And since then I’ve built the habit of putting money in there rather than spend it. When I was a kid, it came from my allowance.. nowadays it’s any loose change I have in my pocket at the end of the day (cash from the bar/eating out, cashing in bottles at the bottle depot, money that I find on the ground, etc)

This habit carried over to my bank accounts when I was old enough to get one. Instead of blowing all my money from my minimum wage jobs, I’d put aside money in my savings account.

A couple years ago I created a bank account and named it “Financial Freedom Accountâ€. I would take at least 20% of money that I earned or received and transfer it to this account, and I was never to touch it unless for investments that fueled financial freedom.

Well, this year was life-changing for me. I finally used the money I had in this account to purchase my first investment property which led to a chain of events. I went from 1 to 3 investment properties in a short period of time and 10 income streams from these properties. The passive income I make off these investments would equate to someone working over 60 hour workweeks at minimum wage. It covers all of my monthly living expenses, essentially making me “financially freeâ€.

This all started with the habit of saving. Even today I still put coins I find, money from bottle depots, and spare cash into my piggy bank.

 

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[RHL]

If we use MJ's fastlane analogy, I'd say that serious saving is the curb of the sidewalk. Once you start saving, you know you're off the sidewalk and on the open road. From there, you can start driving, just like you did by buying an investment property. Now you're getting a passive income while you are free to do other things. That's the white doted line into the fastlane. You're on your way! Speed+

 

[The-J]

Savers are winners. The key is to increase your savings month after month.

 

[EvanOkanagan]

Savers are winners. The key is to increase your savings month after month.

Agreed!

I also still live the way I did before... but now, not only do I have savings coming in from my income the same as I did before, all of my investment income is being saved to fund more investments... I love watching the growth

 

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[Steve37]

Enjoy. Keep that income rolling into additional investments and the snowball effect will quickly take shape.

 

[DeletedUser394]

This is one of my favorite threads of recent.

Found a way to cut my expenses to ~35% of net income. The rest will be saved/invested.

I only pay cash now.

If only there was a Personal Finance section of the forum. One would have a hell of a challenge building a company of their own if they can't manage their own personal finances effectively.

 

[EvanOkanagan]

This is one of my favorite threads of recent.

Found a way to cut my expenses to ~35% of net income. The rest will be saved/invested.

I only pay cash now.

If only there was a Personal Finance section of the forum. One would have a hell of a challenge building a company of their own if they can't manage their own personal finances effectively.

Agree! A buddy of mine I work with makes 5-figures a month--much more than I do currently. However, he's always broke or near it and has no assets. He really has the desire to be debt-free, but without building a habit, he always seems to stay at the same point he's at.

When I look at his situation I think "hell, if I was in his shoes id be laughing and out of debt in no time!" We set our own financial thermostats though I believe, and his is set to just below 0.

 

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[JAJT]

He really has the desire to be debt-free, but without building a habit, he always seems to stay at the same point he's at.

Almost everyone has the "desire", just not many people sit down and think about how though.

When I was up to my eyes in debt many years ago, I sat down and figured out:

A. My after-tax income per paycheck (what ended up in the bank account, not counting commission)
B. Every fixed monthly expense I had (bills, food, etc...)
C. A reasonable "fun" allowance to give myself (booze, lunches out, entertainment, etc...)

So then A - B - C = D, the remainder.

Now, every paycheck:

- Put "D" to debt. No thinking, no debating, I already did that - just do it without thinking.
- Take out "B" in cash. Spend it without guilt but when it was gone, it was gone.
- Keep "A" in the bank to go to bills.
- Keep your credit cards at home in a drawer/safe/brick of ice.

For MOST PEOPLE, this works like a charm. When you pay debt first it never gets pushed back.

When you become out of debt, put "D" to savings/investments instead.

 

[EvanOkanagan]

For MOST PEOPLE, this works like a charm. When you pay debt first it never gets pushed back.

When you become out of debt, put "D" to savings/investments instead.

I'm actually more motivated to pay off debts than I am to save money. Il'll contribute pretty much the dollar of what I can in order to become debt "free". The freedom part drives me I think.

I've used this to my advantage recently. Instead of saving for an investment I used a very low interest line of credit (much lower than my investment returns) to come up with the capital needed. I pay this off very aggressively knowing that I have money borrowed and it's much more satisfying when I'm debt free again rather than hitting a dollar amount that I've saved. It's not for everyone but it works for me.

 

[EvanOkanagan]

Ahhh another full piggy bank haha...

Have been making 5-figure deposits at my bank the last few months (from my slowlane biz/job) and it still feels gratifying counting my small change and bringing it to the bank.. just shy of $400 this time.

 

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[InspireHD]

I've gotten into a bad habit of saving and then not wanting to spend. I want to put that money to use, but all I really know is stock market investing. Right now I have about 60% of my IRA in cash and no new investment ideas.

May I ask how you went from savings to investment property? Just curious how your transition went. I really want to put my extra cash to use and get it generating more money for me.

 

[EvanOkanagan]

I've gotten into a bad habit of saving and then not wanting to spend. I want to put that money to use, but all I really know is stock market investing. Right now I have about 60% of my IRA in cash and no new investment ideas.

May I ask how you went from savings to investment property? Just curious how your transition went. I really want to put my extra cash to use and get it generating more money for me.

I was in your same position, holding onto my saved money and not spending it. I had read books and was quite interested in Real Estate for a long time before my first investment but never made the plunge.

The best thing I did was becoming close with a number of investors who had done what I wanted to. They actually helped me find and acquire my first couple of properties.

I have a full progress thread on it if you're an INSIDERS here:

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...s-progress-thread-real-estate-fastlane.47532/

The best thing to do though I'd say if that's how you want to put your money to work is to become close with investors, get just enough knowledge that you know the basics, and then pull the trigger when an opportunity becomes available.. chances are you'll hear about these opportunities when you start hanging around the right people.

 

[InspireHD]

I was in your same position, holding onto my saved money and not spending it. I had read books and was quite interested in Real Estate for a long time before my first investment but never made the plunge.

The best thing I did was becoming close with a number of investors who had done what I wanted to. They actually helped me find and acquire my first couple of properties.

I have a full progress thread on it if you're an INSIDERS here:

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...s-progress-thread-real-estate-fastlane.47532/

The best thing to do though I'd say if that's how you want to put your money to work is to become close with investors, get just enough knowledge that you know the basics, and then pull the trigger when an opportunity becomes available.. chances are you'll hear about these opportunities when you start hanging around the right people.

Cool, thanks. That sounds awesome. Unfortunately I'm not an INSIDERS yet. I'm practically just an outsider looking in at this point slowly dabbling in selling on Ebay and Amazon, but not really getting anything major going on. I'm working on it little by little getting my feet wet so I look forward to the near future when other things in my life start to slow down a little bit.

 

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[MoneyDoc]

In order to invest (in many cases) you must have money saved.

One of the most gratifying little things I’ve done lately is empty my piggy bank. (Yes, I’m 27 years old and I still have a piggy bank! lol)

View attachment 6293

Anyways, I’ve had this thing since I was about 10 years old. And since then I’ve built the habit of putting money in there rather than spend it. When I was a kid, it came from my allowance.. nowadays it’s any loose change I have in my pocket at the end of the day (cash from the bar/eating out, cashing in bottles at the bottle depot, money that I find on the ground, etc)

This habit carried over to my bank accounts when I was old enough to get one. Instead of blowing all my money from my minimum wage jobs, I’d put aside money in my savings account.

A couple years ago I created a bank account and named it “Financial Freedom Accountâ€. I would take at least 20% of money that I earned or received and transfer it to this account, and I was never to touch it unless for investments that fueled financial freedom.

Well, this year was life-changing for me. I finally used the money I had in this account to purchase my first investment property which led to a chain of events. I went from 1 to 3 investment properties in a short period of time and 10 income streams from these properties. The passive income I make off these investments would equate to someone working over 60 hour workweeks at minimum wage. It covers all of my monthly living expenses, essentially making me “financially freeâ€.

This all started with the habit of saving. Even today I still put coins I find, money from bottle depots, and spare cash into my piggy bank.

Lol I have the same piggy bank.

 

[sQri]

Have a small piggy bank for myself. I put every coin larger than 50 cents in it and unregularly some banknotes. There are around 270€ on the picture. When I have 500€ I'm gonna start buying and selling some stuff.