Many people know about the idea of having 7 streams of income. Well my husband and I are still working on achieving that wealth status. In the interim; we've collectively come up with '7 Streams of Saving' and I'm here to share all about it!
1. Automatic Savings
Every pay period I have a set amount come out of my paycheck to go directly into a separate account. This savings account is attached to a debit card, so if I need to get to it for any reason I have that option. Although I do have it attached to a checking account I keep the card at home to avoid using it to feed into my spontaneous and irrational temptations.
2. High Interest Savings Account
This particular stream of savings is our newest stream and I'm exciting to watch our savings grow. After some financial discussions with a few friends and family we decided to open up a savings account with Ally Financial Bank. This is an online bank and after researching for some time; we found that this had one of the highest interest rates in the market. Who wouldn't want to gain interest on their savings? We decided to take a set amount of my husband's paycheck to go directly into this account. With this account being online and not attached to a checking account with a debit card; this was a great option for our long-term savings plan.
3. Mindless Savings
I started an account with Digit, an online/mobile savings tool, about a year ago and I've been extremely happy with the amount I've saved thusfar. It defaults to save for a 'rainy day', but you can change your settings to set for whatever you'd like to save for (i.e. vacation, new house, paying off debt, home repair, etc.). The app links to your checking account and based on your income and spending it saves the perfect amount daily to reach whatever financial goal you set. The app will even analyze your account and savings goal to tell you an intelligent timeline to reach it.
4. Keep the Change (automatically)
We have our joint account with Bank of America and they have a brilliant way to assist with saving. The feature is known as 'Keep the Change'. I'm not sure if other banks have the same or similar feature, but it's been pretty good with assisting us in saving a little extra money. The way it works:
You make a purchase and let's just say it comes to $7.59. The feature will round up your total to $8 and take the $0.41 and add it to your linked savings account. It will do this with every purchase and automatically add to your linked savings account.
5. Keep the Change (manually)
This one is the most traditional and common methods of savings that we all learned as children. My husband is a lot better with this one because I honestly never have cash. Every time he gets any change from breaking a dollar he simply puts it into our version of a piggy bank. At the end of the year we'll either deposit it into the bank or turn it into dollars and save it for a 'rainy day'.
6. Keep the Dollar (shoe-box method)
Very similar to the last method, my husband not only saves change, but about 2-3 years ago he started saving dollar bills. Every time he makes a cash purchase he has started to save the dollar bills. He starts at the beginning of the year and for the last two Christmas holidays he's been able to use this as a large chunk of his Christmas shopping money. This may be a good method for those that struggle to come up with the funds around the holidays.
7. Retirement Savings (401K, IRA, and/or Roth IRA)
Although we eventually plan to invest in all three; we both currently only have a 401K account with our employers which is our last stream of saving. We opted to receive this benefit through our employers and utilize their benefit to match our contributions. This last stream of savings is the most important for our future.
Due to our newly found desire , and my personal obsession, to become debt-free we have realized that although saving is important; you can't really save until you are debt-free. This concept was passed on to us by a dear friend who religiously follows Dave Ramsey and his financial guidance. With this understanding be sure to use these methods to assist you with becoming debt-free and eventually getting to the ultimate goal of SEVEN STREAMS OF INCOME.
T h a n k s f o r r e a d i n g !
Written by: Candace Wells
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