Dollars and Cents

Today I have a post From Money Watch 101. Check out their blog!

I am a goal driven person who enjoys talking about finances and money matters. In any social situation if the topic of savings or money is brought up, I immediately want to chime in and can not shut up regarding personal finance. I am a family man who pushes those people in my network to open up about money and do better for themselves. I guess I am a teacher at heart when it comes to financially related subject matters because I am always sharing what has and has not worked for me financially. Find me blogging at my site http://www.moneywatch101.com/ and on Twitter, https://twitter.com/#!/MoneyWatch101.

By the time I was 20 years old I was so dedicated to saving that I saved 5,000 dollars for a new car. You might be thinking that is not a lot of money. But for somebody that age and single and in my first year in college, I feel that I did an excellent job saving about 25% – to 30 % of my income to buy myself a brand new car.

I ended up getting that car and it felt great to award myself with such a prestigious gift at a young age. The car I finally ended choosing was a 2000 Volkswagen Jetta. Soon after purchasing it I pimped it out with a myriad of accessories not taking into account how much my expenses were going to rise, but I never stopped saving.

In retrospect, I made a bad decision with the brand of car because I wanted to be different not knowing how costly a car like that was going to be service wise. During that time frame everybody my age had Honda’s or Toyota’s and I wanted to set myself apart from the norm. This post is not about a car or the aspects about buying new or used. What is this post about that can possibly teach you about money?

Smart Money Tips
1. Plan before making huge purchases – I regretted the purchase later because I did not look into consumer reports to see how reliable this car brand actually was back then. If I would have known the amount of money I was looking at spending service wise I would have bought another brand.

2. Make goals specific to achieve them – This explains itself to the Tee. Misguided money does not grow point blank.

3. Never stop saving – This is how business owners and millionaires achieve financial freedom status. When in doubt save those dimes.

4. Always invest in your future – Also a given you do not just want your money hidden in a paltry .25 % savings account. Look for alternative ways to at least match or surpass the 3% inflation rate.

Saving for specific goals almost always makes a goal likely attainable than not having a goal. Also young people with so many opportunities to make it rain in the clubs, can and should save a few bucks for their future. Why must I keep running into this new generation of college grads who do not care to set aside a dime or two?

On top of this, investing to them is so out of their realm that most of them run from it like a plague. People, you can easily dollar cost average any stock investment with only 50 dollars a month and reduce your risk than going all in with 5 grand. Only $50 dollars a paycheck and you can have 100 shares of GE in a year and a few months. I think that is totally doable for somebody working full time or part time. This by no means is a rant against younger generations, but an eye opening event for the up and coming generation to be better prepared with financial sense. I hope now you have been enriched with a few common dollar and cents advice anyone can easily follow.

Always look for ways to watch your money!

Do you follow these tips?
When have you not followed it and regretted your decision?