Competent distribution of finances, cold calculation and a clear head - you don't need to be either a mathematician or a millionaire in order not to go negative at the end of each month. But what if, after the salary and advance payment, the soul asks to walk, and not run away and not hide honestly earned money somewhere in the table? Moscow 24 talks about the simplest ways to save money correctly, even if it seems that there is none.
It couldn't be easier
The easiest way to save money is, oddly enough, to save money. You need to choose any amount, the loss of which will not significantly affect your habits and standard of living. It can be three thousand rubles, two thousand, or just a thousand - at the first stage, the amount is not so important. The important thing is that this money should be saved regularly, from each salary, once a month. Day to day. Yes, only 12 thousand rubles will come up a year according to this scheme, but this is already a plus, not a minus. The method will not bring huge sums, however, it will help to develop a habit. The brain will get used to the action and begin to perceive the accumulation of money as the norm. This money is the minimum inviolable and constantly replenished stock. From time to time, you can exchange them for precious metals, foreign currency or invest in securities (a specialist is already needed here).
“We need to develop a habit of saving money and then making money work. This habit should be at the level of brushing your teeth, that is, regular,”says Alexei Gerasimov, an independent financial advisor and author of the book“How to get your money in order”, to Moscow24.
You can save either on a card (preferably with interest on the balance or on a replenished savings account) or in an envelope. The advantage of banking products is that, albeit minimal, but interest. Your funds will work and not lie dead. The downside is availability. After all, money can be withdrawn or spent from both the card and the savings account at any time, they are always at hand. The envelope, which lies in the back drawer of the desk at home and is taken out once a month, will not bring anything on top, but will serve as a guarantor of inviolability. This is the zero step on the path to financial literacy, but the credo of this method is: better than nothing!
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We control spending
To prevent money from flowing into free floating, it must be controlled. In other words, the route of this voyage should be known to you as the captain. You need to know where the money is going. How much do you spend on your morning coffee, how much of your income is taken by bad habits, and what about spontaneous purchases? Do you know how much a month is spent on entertainment and mandatory payments? Financial literacy starts with order in money, and savings too.
You can write down all your expenses in a notebook so that at the end of the month you can analyze what and how much money is spent. Better to use helper apps that show you everything with charts, graphs, lists and tables. There are paid and free applications for controlling expenses and income, but they all allow you to record and see expenses by category, further options are variable: somewhere you can set limits, see the current balances of all accounts, create goals and "piggy banks" and so on. You can start with the simplest and most free. This will be enough to understand: spending that seems insignificant at the moment turns into a tidy sum at the end of the month.
“Seeing how much money comes in and how much goes out is the base, the foundation. I know that after two or three weeks of using applications, the fuse disappears, I want to delete everything, - says Gerasimov. - It is psychologically difficult sometimes to accept such expenses, sometimes it's just too lazy to write everything down. We must overcome ourselves, be patient a little."
The next step is to analyze and possibly revise these costs. Start cutting back on the useless ones, especially if bad habits and tricks from in-store marketers are taking the money. Set yourself an adequate spending limit on entertainment. Take a close look at the mandatory payments: does the tariff for mobile communications, Internet and TV meet your needs or does it make sense to optimize them? Pay attention to utility bills - you shouldn't go to extremes and save on basic things, but conscious consumption hasn't hurt anyone yet.
“Make sure that the cost structure is harmonious. If you save on some basic things, but are ready to empty your wallet for entertainment, you should reconsider your financial strategy,”recommends the founder of the financial management system Mikhail Popov. Don't spend more than you can afford. Pay off excess loans, close credit cards issued “just in case”. Plan your purchases, especially for clothes, shoes, small electronics, accessories. Popov reminds: expenses should always lag behind incomes both in volume and in time. Received an award - don't spend it right away. A salary increase is not a reason to spend more dramatically, upgrade a car, buy more expensive items and change your phone, just because a new model has come out.
Try not to lend or borrow money. Financial planning and cost accounting will help not to take, mind not to give. We are not talking about emergency situations with family and friends, but about those very loans "before advance" or for an indefinite period. In order not to spoil relations with friends and acquaintances, you can designate them your position on the shore. Or lend the amount that you can say goodbye to, mentally giving it to a friend. Financial discipline is the key to well-being.
Setting goals and raising the bar
Mikhail Popov advises to distribute money as follows: 20-30% should be set aside, the rest is mandatory expenses and investments in development, education, appearance. “Pay yourself first - this is my first advice to those who are starting or planning to start saving. Income must be dispersed, so this 20% must be immediately separated from, say, wages. And from them to form a safety cushion or, if there is one, to engage in investments."
An airbag is six to 12 of your average monthly expenses. This money will allow you to live if you lose your job or have health problems. “If a person is not a professional in the financial sphere, does not understand securities, investments, then his task is, first of all, to preserve, not to lose, capital. This can be achieved by deposits: open a replenishment deposit and put money there every month until the amount is sufficient for the airbag. Interest will exceed inflation, and the money invested will remain,”the expert adds.
Banal greed and illiteracy can become an obstacle on the path to savings. It is not worth investing free money in those tools, the principle of which is unclear. And you should never invest all your money anywhere. “You can play on financial markets, experiment with cryptocurrency, invest in securities when the basis is closed. And you still need to do it with a professional, - advises the founder of the financial management system. "The desire to invest a ruble today, and tomorrow to get a million usually has sad consequences."
When the pillow is assembled, you can think of a goal. The financial goal makes savings meaningful, helps to save, and launches joint family work. In the goal, the amount and time are important: this will help you look at things more real and will give motivation. At the same time, it is important to remember about balance: in pursuit of a goal, you should not seriously curtail and limit yourself. If you think not about how to save money, but about how to increase your income, you can save up for what you want faster. It would be nice to use any opportunities to improve your professional level: refresher courses, master classes and conferences (which are also free), learning a foreign language - knowledge will eventually be converted into money. “If you don’t invest in your development, then your income will not grow,” recalls Popov.
Ekaterina Rukavichnikova
