Money Talk Matters

Posts Tagged ‘savings’

Last week I went to the bank two days in a row and I was taking in everything that I saw. Let me ask the question: Who do banks serve? Are they there to help the consumer or to make more money off of the consumer? Let me recount what I saw.

Day 1:  There was a gentleman there and he was attempting to find out what was going on with his account. Clearly he did not know that his account had been overdrawn based on fees and was quite unhappy. Appears that deductions had not come out when they were supposed to and his account was in the negative. The gentleman was continuously shaking his head as in disbelief.

Lesson learned:  You must always always check your bank account and stay on top of what you have done when it comes to spending, deposits and deductions made.

Day 2:  The twins and I go into the bank there is one man at the window and he is vocal. What is happening with my accounts? The bank is making more money off of me than I am putting in. He has several accounts and I don’t mean 2 or 3, he had many. I heard them say money market account, checking account and savings account. Then they shared with him there is a fee for every time a transaction was made. He said, I am too busy for that to happen. Then he asked the question: Why don’t the bank protect the consumer and contact them and say you know we have a better account for you or something of that nature. Oh, you know that banker could not say anything. I took it in and the teller was clarifying what this customer wanted – ALL ACCOUNTS CLOSED.

Lesson in this one:  Know what the bank fees are for the different accounts, the number of transactions you can make prior to any fee being charged, is there a minimum balance required. Also if you are unhappy with your current bank – SHOP around and get what you DESERVE. I’m not for banks making money on their clients but providing inadequate customer service.

It’s Day 6 and how has the savings been going? I tell you what it has been fabulous for me because I have taken a look at my business model and made some tweeks. One thing that you should not do is be so stringent in your money plans that you set yourself up for failure and frustration. Flexibility is key and will save you from the stress and headaches if you do not allow yourself some breathing room.

When I looked at the previous business model that I was using, I saw how it was not on point. Therefore money was being spent ineffectively. When it comes to personal, you better believe that my husband and I have talked and established a goal for this year. What we would like to see when it comes to savings personally as well as what is the savings plan for the business.

When there is a husband and wife in the picture, both must agree and work the plan together for the benefit of the marriage and long-term goals. When it comes to savings, it is absolutely acceptable to set short and long-term goals. Because if you set short-term goals and achieve them, this could encourage you to set an even longer-term goal the next time. You will know that you can do it because you accomplished the short term goal already and have that to be your focus.

A short term goal could be 30 days, 60 days or 90 days. Not to long and not to short but realistic so that you can see yourself making progress. Remember, it takes WILLPOWER. There will be times when you are tempted to not put the money away or take the money out of the account – don’t do it UNLESS it is an EXTREME Emergency. Sure that might seem relative however, you know an emergency is not they are having a sale at a department store and you HAVE to HAVE that item.

Enough said on that. You have almost made it through this week. Keep on hanging in there. You are making GREAT strides. Don’t forget to check out my partner, Americasaves.org

As a wife and entrepreneur as well as money and marriage advocate, I thought I should address saving money as an entrepreneur. Most business owners have experienced the ups and downs in business, the busy times and the slow times. Therefore, when you know that business is cyclical you have to be prepared and therefore saving money is crucial as a business owner.

Ways to look at saving money:

1) For the business owner regardless of start-up, been around a few years one of the first things that you should do is make sure you are marketing to the proper target. If you are marketing to the wrong target you are throwing money away. It is almost like the “shot gun” approach. Where you advertise to the masses and hope to hit a client or two. Whereas when you have done your research and market effectively to your target, your dollars are being spent wiser and should go longer.

2) Re-evaluate the different services that you are using for your business. Do you need cell phone, blackberry, pager, etc? I think we sometimes get off track because we become GADGET driven. Think about how much you could save if you only had what you needed not getting all the things that you want.

3) This one is huge. How many subscriptions to different memberships, e-courses and such do you belong to? How much are you spending per month on subscriptions? How much of it do you really use? I remember about three years ago, I cut every subscription off. I was spending almost $200 a month in subscriptions and the business was not paying for it. Take a look you might be surprised. As a personal finances person, we have to evaluate situations in our lives too.

Those are just a tip of the iceberg of ways to save as a business owner. Don’t take it lightly when you are an entrepreneur that you should not save because you should. That way when times are slow, you can fall back on money you have set aside and get really creative with marketing and institute a referral policy at that time.

Savings is not just for the individual, but also married couples, business owners, students and more.