Saving is a good habit!
The Advocate, Wednesday January 27, 1993
This is the first article in a monthly series of "Money Matters". This column will help to simplify the complicated world of
money and investing.
Do you have $100, $1000 or $10,000 and more? If you have, I'll bet you achieved it by "saving". Saving a part
of what you earned. It's a good habit, and something we should all do. If you have something saved you should be
congratulated. It is important that we all save a part of what we earn. This is the first fundamental element of
acquiring wealth.
The secret of acquiring wealth is very simple. The secret has only ten words and it is so simple you will be tempted to
disregard it. The secret is this: "A part of all I earn is mine to keep."
"I don't know all the rules," a rich, self-made man said recently to his soon-to-be married grandson, "but here's
one on the practical side that's imperative. Open a savings account with your very first pay cheque and put
a little aside every pay day."
The young man protested that he and his bride were barely going to have enough to live on - so he couldn't
see how they would be able to even think of saving anything. But their grandfather's advice was sound.
Saving isn't easy for many young couples. Almost any husband and wife just starting out could justify the claim that
they need every cent coming in for actual living expenses.
The trouble is, after ten years of marriage, they could still jusify that claim. A couple's living standard has a way
of keeping up with the increase in size of the pay cheque.
If the young couple mentioned will take grandpa's advice, they'll be starting the financial side of their marriage right.
There's one way they can manage to do it, if they are willing. And that is to take what they plan to save - however small the amount may
be - out of the weekly or monthly pay cheque before they ever start spending. That way they'll never miss what they never
had to spend.
But is it so important for a couple to save a little money as they go along, the young people may ask? It is, for financial security
is important in any marriage. And there's another thing. Saving toward some definite goal helps to give a marriage a feeling of
accomplishment and purpose.
The husband and wife who live from one pay cheque to the next soon realize they are not getting anywhere. And this situation
can lead to bitterness and spoil all the good things in their marriage.
They do not realize that they are borrowing from their future. The longer they take to make some definite financial plans
for the future the worse the situation gets.
I believe the "rich man's" advice to his grandson was sound. It leads to the next question: "Where do I invest my savings"
for the best possible gain with safety? We'll look into that in future columns.
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