Start saving right here, right now

Learn why you should start saving and how with Budget Zen.

If your parents had any financial acumen, they've probably told you from a young age to start saving, and they were right (about that)!

If you start saving $20 per month from the age of 15, on a savings account that gives you 2% per year of interest, by the time you're 20 you'll have almost $1,300, and while that doesn't seem like a lot, remember it only took $20 per month.

If you save $100 per month instead, you'll have over $6,400 after those 5 years, and almost $13,400 in just 10 years (a nice savings account at the age of 25!).

That's a lot of numbers with a lot of assumptions, and nowadays, interest is around 1%, not really the 6 or 7% seen a few years ago, so why even save, you might ask?

It's calmer.

In short, so that you can have some money for more expensive items or an emergency!

If you want to buy a house or a car, or even a decent laptop, it's hard to do it (if you don't want to take out a loan) if you have no money saved.

It also provides you with freedom, often overlooked. Freedom of choice. Freedom of saying “no”, and freedom of saying “yes”, instead of being forced to.

Additionally, because you will no longer be living paycheck to paycheck, and you can make your decisions based on more than just “I need this job to survive”.

It's easy.

It shouldn't be hard to save. You don't even really need a savings account if that's something that makes you uncomfortable (you won't make any interest over time, though)!

You can simply have a separate bank account (even in the same bank), as long as you're not paying unnecessary fees, so you can have your “main” account be basically your remaining budget; your “available” money.

Budget Zen is a simple tool that can help you manage that main budget. What you have available to spend each month, categorized into separate budgets, and I'd recommend you create one called “Savings”, with at least 5% of your total budget (but ideally 30-40%), and “pay” that “expense” (transfer the money to the other account) as soon as you can in the month.

So please start saving, it's good for you!