I realize this over and over again whenever I go out to the store with my; especially my 8-year-old son. He has a severe problem where the second he gets a dollar, he has to spend it! It doesn’t really matter on what. He just has to spend it.
“Do you really need it?” I’ll ask him. “I thought you were saving your money for the bigger one?”
He might try to argue. He may even try to justify making this purchase. But as his parents we still challenge him because we know that it will be a very important lesson to understand why it’s important to save money for the things we really want later in life.
Why Is It Important To Save Money Now?
Unfortunately the majority of adults still don’t even grasp the concept I’m trying to teach my son. In 2013 as many as 76% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. They have little to no emergency fund and barely any retirement savings.
And why is that?
- Do they not make enough money?
- Are their expenses really so necessary?
- Do they feel a sense of entitlement?
- Do they simply want to enjoy each and every fruit of their labor?
- Do they simply not know how to stop their bad habits and start saving?
Regardless of the reasons, there can be no achievement unless you believe in the reasons for your goal. And so with that, I give you three reasons why it is important to save your money:
1. Because Things Will Happen.
Not every day of your life will be a picnic.
Your car is going to break. Your water heater is going to stop working. Something is going to leak. Medical bills can and will happen!
These things are totally inevitable. You’ll never know in advance that they are going to happen. You won’t be getting a memo or notice.
If you don’t have money saved or even a sizeable emergency fund to take care of these things when they come up, then all you’re doing is gambling. Each and every day you wake up you’re rolling the dice. Some days you’ll win and there won’t be anything bad or inconvenient happen.
But just you wait…
Something will come up.
And the last thing you’re going to want to do is plunge yourself into debt to take care of it.
2. Because There Will Always Be Bigger and Better Things You’ll Want.
A down payment for a better house.
A wedding.
A vacation.
College for the kids.
There are so many incredible things that you can’t necessarily afford right now. But given just a little bit of saving over a number of years, and you’ll be able to reach these goals with no trouble!
My wife and I have been stashing $100 every month for our children’s college funds since our kids were both born. Since we see a college education as something important for them, we’ve committed ourselves to making sure that we’re saving our money towards this goal.
And so what has this effort turned into? Over $11,000 for each child!
That’s $11,000 less that each one of them won’t have go deeper into debt over. That’s not bad for just a little bit of saving and planning.
3. Because If You’re Clever About How You Save Your Money, It Could Take Care of You for the Rest of Your Life.
This is the most grand and important reason why it is important to save your money:
Because someday you’ll want the choice!
Someday you’ll want the choice as to whether you’re going to have to work every day or not.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to have a nice long career or work well into your gold years. But there are many times when life has other plans for you. Sometimes your health or medical conditions might prevent you from doing what you used to do.
Plus is working for the rest of your life really your plan? Though you might be younger and full of ambition now, your lifestyle and priorities could change as you age.
But unfortunately you might be committing yourself to a dependency on a paycheck until the day you die if you don’t have any savings to fall back on.
Wouldn’t you rather get yourself to a position where you’re financially independent?
Author Charles Farrell said it best in his book Your Money Ratios
when he wrote:
All decisions you make should help move you from being a laborer to being a capitalist. All of us laborers. But as a capitalist, you are not paid for the value of your labor, but for the use of your money.
So how does one become a capitalist?
Simple – Save! Invest! Take a lesson from people who have already made it rich.
The greatest way to accumulate wealth is to use your current money to do so. This is accomplished by a healthy balance of leading a modest lifestyle while stashing your current income in assets that will simply generate more money for you over time. There are dozens of passive income streams you could be taking advantage of. The choice is yours how you want to become rich.
Wealth doesn’t just appear. If you want to get there you need to put together a plan. Would you like to see a very detailed map of how I plan to become financially independent? Click on the link and you’ll find out. Feel free to copy the elements of my plan that you find useful for your own.
But remember this: Building your wealth doesn’t happen overnight. It doesn’t just arrive one day. Saving your money has to be an important priority that you continuity work at until one day you’re there and enjoying what you’ve accomplished. It will take a little bit of ambition and sacrifice. But once you’re enjoying the fruits of your labor, you’ll never regret it!
Readers: How you do answer the question of why is it important to save money over the long term? What are the things you find yourself saving for?
Related Posts:
- How the Things I Want for Christmas Are Different Now That I’m An Adult
- Recognizing Opportunities to Build Multiple Streams of Income
- My Post Retirement Ideas for When I Become Financially Free
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