Comments on: Having Trouble Saving Your Emergency Fund?

By: Carnival of Personal Finance #143 - Oh Canada Edition

Carnival of Personal Finance #143 - Oh Canada Edition — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:23:20 +0000

[...] Oh My Aching Debts has found a new way to save money. [...]

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 19:26:14 +0000

This could even work if you just transfered the money yourself. Every time you pay a bill online, for example, you could just transfer an extra dollar over to your savings. It would all add up, or, at least be better than nothing. I’l have to try it.

By: Debt Free Revolution

Debt Free Revolution — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 06:13:48 +0000

Here’s a better idea: instead of eating out for lunch 20 time sin a month, pack your lunch If you eat “on the cheap” and spend $5 per lunch, that will net you a savings of $100. If you eat an average priced lunch which is approximately $8 per lunch, packing your lunch will save you $160 in a month. Much quicker, more deliberate, and no fine print needed

By: Doug Hutchinson

Doug Hutchinson — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:06:00 +0000

I agree with you completely. My point is just that what may be initially offered may look good on the surface, but may have restrictions and penalties that can have a negative affect in the end. What are the restrictions about taking your money out of that account before a specific time?

We must become better consumers and, like you and all of the people who have blogs like yours, we can educate ourselves to a variety of ways to reduce debt and save money. Researching and asking questions is critical to finding solutions that are truly effective.

No one understands better than me what pinching pennies is all about. I am a Vietnam veteran and in 2002 the VA declared me 100% totally and permanently disabled. Because it was deemed non-service connected, I received (my most recent pension amount) $931.00/ month. On top of that, if I worked, then every dollar I earned came right off the top of that pension. Net result, no change in actual income. I did work “under the table”, essentially making me a criminal. That is until I found a couple of businesses that gave me an income that exceeded my pension amount.

It’s difficult to make ends meet, much less to get ahead. I applaud you, Cindy, and the rest of the good citizens who are trying to reverse the debt problem we are faced with.

If not us, then who? The government? If not now, then when? When our children grow up? Our Founding Fathers had something better in mind and I often look to their words on economic (personal or governmental) issues.

“It is a wise rule and should be fundamental in a government disposed to cherish its credit, and at the same time to restrain the use of it within the limits of its faculties, “never to borrow a dollar without laying a tax in the same instant for paying the interest annually, and the principal within a given term; and to consider that tax as pledged to the creditors on the public faith.”
Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Wayles Eppes, June 24, 1813

We have a 9 Trillion dollar national debt. 19 cents of every tax dollar paid goes just to pay the INTEREST on that debt. The principal is not being paid down. Seems like a poor way to behave fiscally…

Keep the faith and keep doing what you are doing. It does make a difference.

By: CindyS

CindyS — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:10:17 +0000

Doug – Banks are a business and I would expect them to have their own bottomline firmly in mind. This is a good way to save even if you move the money at the end of the year into a higher yield savings account.

I personally am struggling to save at all and many of my readers are in the same position, trying to save money for our initial and very basic emergency fund. By automating this somewhat and applying the snowflake principal of a dollar here and a dollar there, it adds up over the long term.

By: Doug Hutchinson

Doug Hutchinson — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:52:53 +0000

The important thing to remember is this. Banks don’t do you any favors. They are always about thier bottom line. While you may get 5.00& interest,they are turning around and loaning that money at a higher rate. And what is in the fine print? Are there penalties or restrictions on what you can withdraw? Here is some of the “fine print” that can have a profound affect on your participation.

1 Excludes online payments that post to your account as paper checks.

2 Customers enrolled in the program earn a 5.00% annual bonus in Year 1, up to $300, and a 2.00% percent annual bonus in Years 2 and 3, up to $300. Bonuses are calculated on an annual basis for the first three years on eligible balances. The eligible balance is equal to the savings contributions for the current year (i.e., the sum of the $1 transfers and up to $1,200 of the recurring transfers) or the Way2Save account balance, whichever is less.

3 The Annual Percentage Yield (APY) for Year 1 of the program is 5.00% and 2.00% for Years 2 and 3. The Way2Save account is a variable rate account and the rate is subject to change after account opening. Fees may reduce earnings.

That is straight from the Wachovia website. While it may be a good solution for some people in the short term, one needs to look for opportunities that work to cancel interest you pay on your debt. And there are some remarkable strategies that are unknown to most Americans.