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'I am the greatest saver that I know'
Lots of people saving in a piggy bank
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Nicole, Mitch and Maude Elovitz. Nicole considers herself the 'greatest saver' she knows.
TEXT OF INTERVIEW
Tess Vigeland: Here's the thing about personal finance: It's not always about fixing money mistakes. There are success stories, folks who have saved buckets and buckets of cash. They've stretched their income, paid off a mortgage, retired with millions in investment accounts and funded college accounts. How they do it?
Here's one story from Lake Oswego, Ore.
Nicole Elovitz: My is Nicole Elovitz, and I have to tell you, I am the greatest saver that I know. Money is something that you can hold onto and that it's much easier to hold onto your own than it is to get someone to give you theirs.
So when I receive my paycheck and my husband receives his, we place a large percent of that income into a separate checking account that is specifically for saving. It's about 20 percent of the total that we bring home, and then there's another 15 or so percent that goes towards other buckets of needs that we have. For instance, our daughter's college education, a vacation fund.
Right now, in our vacation fund, we've got about $4,000 saved. In regards to my education fund for college, we put away about $300 every month and we have saved thousands for her education. We've got a great budget system set up, but it doesn't mean we're not having fun. We've got an entertainment fund. That covers dining out and it covers going to the movies, things like that. And that's about $400 a month.
But that's not even the personal spending that my husband and I can do. I make sure that each of us have $100 in cash. You can do whatever you want with yours. My husband tends to buy lunch with his on a daily basis, but I, instead, tend to save mine so that I, in turn, can buy something larger. And the funny thing is is that my husband will look where I keep this little wad of cash, and he'll say, "How come you have so much and I have so little?" And I'll say, "Because mine doesn't disappear on a daily basis. Yours does."
Vigeland: So do you think you are a better saver than Nicole? We're starting a new segment on Marketplace Money, calling the saving superstars among you. Listen up, we want to talk dollars and cents: What's your strategy? And what can we learn from you? Just go to Marketplace.org and click on the saving superstars link.
You asked for success stories....
Well, I am a set-it-and-forget-it investor with a heavy commitment to pay yourself first. The value of my nest egg went south in the downturn, pretty much like everyone else I guess. Last Friday, it hit a new high. All I did was not panic, sell or stop my pre and post tax constributions.
A major influence on me was Marketplace. In the recession of the early nineties you reported on how firms' stock went up after they got rid of staff. Then, as now, this is a tragedy for many. But for me I saw it as a contrarian opportunity and began to invest in the stock market around that time.
P.S. I am also a child of state care. For me, the experience made me realize I had to become self-reliant. I run employment and investment as two parallel vehicles in my working life.
Seriously, this is not saving. This is budgeting. This family makes enough money to have a budget. There are plenty of people today who are juggling to just pay the bills and might have appreciated some tips on how to save under those circumstances. There was nothing in this article that elovitz said that had anything to do with saving. It just sounded like one big brag. Please try to do a better job with your articles titles and content.
Let me start with this: if you combined what my husband and I make together in a week it doesn't come up to $900. That's the framework within which our lives operate. It galls me when, trying to be financially savvy and reading investing magazines, people are encouraged to 'pass on pricey flavored creamers and just use regular milk', or 'cut back on your mani/pedi treatments'. These things have been a way of life for me since long before the Great Recession began.
A 'manicure' is soaking your hands in your toddler's soapy bathwater, then after trimming your nails, using a drop of olive oil to soften your skin.
'Saving money on dry-cleaning costs' means, when you're shopping at the Salvation Army (on 20% off day,) don't pick out stuff that needs to be dry cleaned!
'Dining out' means going someplace that you have a coupon for from the Entertainment Book so you're at least getting one free entree. Google "Entertainment Book" and it'll come right up, it's nationwide.
'Saving money on groceries' is buying your chips at Aldi's for a dollar and everything else wherever you can shop buy-one-get-one-free AND you have a coupon. If those two conditions aren't met, it's not really necessary.
'Saving money for kids college' is taking all the quarters out of the pocket change at the end of the day, then that gets deposited in kiddo's savings account at the end of the month. Unless you need gas money.
Sorry, but I laugh when most people toss out suggestions for saving money. Those tips are for people who all-of-a-sudden, don't know what to do when they approach 150% of poverty. News flash: its a way of life for more people than you know (and probably for some people that you DO know).
Sorry, but much of this was radio-filer, but isn't savings. Setting aside $400 for entertainment, and then spending it on entertainment that same month? That's budgeting, not saving. If I have the same income, same outlay, am I a worse person because I left it in a big pile of "I know I'm spending this" in checking.
Kudos for saving for the kid, but let's not pretend like everything that gets an earmark is savings. How's the 401k? How's the IRA? Emergency pile? Loans all taken care of?
My family uses this home-grown Excel graph to track monthly spending. We find it helps keep us on track, is quick & easy to use, and doesn't require a complex budget be set up. Check it out and download it for free on my blog!
http://topofthebellcurve.typepad.com/moneytechnology/2010/09/how-to-grap...
Don't miss Nicole's blog to laugh and learn more about saving at:
http://clutchingcoins.wordpress.com
Hey - that is me - the greatest saver I know. Thanks for reading about me. Please feel free to read my blog at:
http://clutchingcoins.wordpress.com
