Saving is important.
You’ve been told that a thousand times. You know, deep down, that you need to be saving to give yourself and your family a brighter, more prosperous future. But sometimes, the urge to spend it all now, without thinking about the future is just too tempting.
Boosting your motivation to save
1. Set specific goals
If you have a specific goal in mind; you probably think about reaching it every time you put money away. However, if you are saving for a broader goal, such as ‘The Future’ or ‘Retirement’, now may be a good time to refine those aims to streamline your financial plans and keep you focused and motivated.
In addition, without clear-cut objectives, it can be easy to stop saving, or find that further down the line, you have not saved as much as you potentially could have, had a more rigorous plan been in place.
2. Get other people involved
Working toward goals is always easier when you do it as a team. Just look at any sport or hobby and you will find that people tend to ‘buddy-up’ naturally. It stands to reason, then, that you are more likely to save successfully if you include your partner, or family in the journey.
Having people around you who know what you are doing and the reasons behind it will help you to stay on track and keep your morale up. It also means that you have someone to talk to if you find yourself struggling, and you will not have to explain everything from the start, because your support system will already know the situation.
3. Get to know savings
Understanding how savings work and what you can do to make sure that you have the best chance to see growth on your capital can make the process more exciting and help you feel more engaged.
There are plenty of resources available to help you to get to grips with the savings landscape, including podcasts, articles, online information channels, such as The Money Advice Service, and of course, financial advisers.
4. Document your journey
On days when saving feels like an arduous task, it can be encouraging to see how far you’ve come since starting to save. Whether you prefer spreadsheets with increasing totals on, or you like to blog about your goals and feelings upon meeting different milestones, keeping a log of any kind can spur you on in dark moments.
5. Seek financial advice
Talking to a financial adviser will not only boost your confidence, but it will give you valuable insight into how your savings work and the potential changes to make to see better returns.
As professional advisers, we use our experience to give you an advantage. We’ve worked with people from all walks of life and in a variety of circumstances, which puts us in the perfect position to make suggestions to enhance your current circumstances and put you in a better position to meet your financial goals.
For more ways to make your finances work for you, please get in touch with Sarah or Bev on 0115 933 4833.
