The Complete Beginner's Guide to Saving Money

Many Americans have been making terrible savings mistakes, according to the Federal Reserve's newly released Survey of Consumer Finances for 2010.

The savings mistakes range from directly buying company stock to not saving for retirement.

You don't have a savings account. Just 51 percent of American families have a savings account, according to the Fed's survey. Having a savings account is critical for being able to save over the long term.

Step one: You will need a nice pair of scissors. Nothing makes me more upset than a dull pair of scissors; can you imagine trying to clip your coupons with a dull pair of scissors? The worst mistake ever is clipping the barcode. Ugh, Arghhhh!!!! %#*!%%#@. It's a small tip with a big impact.

Finding ways for how to save money on auto insurance always seems to be a popular thing to search for. Our monthly bills add up so quickly these days with many things that seem to be “fixed” line items in our budget. You know, there’s the phone bill that costs a certain amount, the cell phone bill you hate, but can’t live without, the cable and energy bills that have long been fixed items we just simply pay every month.

What I’d like to try to help you tackle today is another bill that belongs up there; your auto insurance. Car insurance is a bill that many people feel once they have chosen a company and coverage, that’s pretty much what you pay indefinitely, unless of course something happens to raise it. Well, with auto insurance, you have control over some things that affect your rates, other things, you have no control over. So, sticking with the things we can control, here are 8 ways for how to save money on auto insurance you may not have known or thought about.

Your situation may change a lot over time, and auto insurance companies may take a different view of you as well. This is important to remember, especially if you’re going through a lot of “major life changes.” Maybe moving, getting married, changing jobs (which may change how much you drive, or discounts you may qualify for), maybe carpooling now to save on gas, etc. If any of this may apply to you, shopping around and comparing rates once or twice a year may prove valuable and end up getting you a much lower rate somewhere. There are lots a places you can quickly compare car insurance quotes online like Insweb.com.

My next tip for how to save money on auto insurance involves asking your carrier for whatever discounts they offer. Many auto insurance companies offer all sorts of discounts; some states even require it for people with clean driving records. Some of the many discounts that may be offered include discounts for various safety features that came with your car (like air bags, car alarms, antilock brakes, etc.), good student discounts, being over 50 yrs old, low annual mileage, working in certain professions, if you’ve taken any driving/safety classes . . . the list goes on.

My fourth tip for how to save money on auto insurance is if your car is older and paid off, you might want to consider eliminating your collision coverage. Collision coverage pays for any damage that you may cause to your own vehicle, and it can make up a large part of your insurance premium.

Though the thought may have just caused your heart to skip a beat, the simple fact is that the higher your deductible is, the lower your car insurance premium will be. If you get in an accident, it will cost you more, but the savings on your premium may be worth the risk.

This is an idea for how to save money on auto insurance you may not have considered. Before you plunk down your money on a nice, new, shiny car, get a quote from your car insurance agent and find out what it is going to cost you in premiums. They can fluctuate a lot depending on the make, model and year of the vehicle in question.

One of the most under-utilized discounts, and my next idea for how to save money on auto insurance, is a multi-line insurance policy. According to many sources, buying your home and car insurance from the same carrier can save you up to 15% or more on both of your premiums.

My next tip for how to save money on auto insurance involves how often you decide to pay your premiums. With most auto insurance carriers, you can set-up to pay your premiums monthly, quarterly, every 6 months, or annually. Many people choose to only pay monthly . . . and they pay for it! Most carriers will charge you various “administrative” fees and surcharges when payments are split up into installments. Even small fees can end up costing you by the end of the year. Many insurance carriers may actually give you a hefty discount for paying in lump sums; up to 15%-20% in some cases.

The last tip for how to save money on auto insurance, is to make sure you read and go over your coverage. Many people end up paying for things they really don’t need. For instance, if you have road side assistance through an auto club, you likely don’t need a towing clause in your policy. If you have health and disability insurance, you may not need medical payment coverage on your policy (requirements for this vary by state, so it may pay to find out). Look for other ways to cut-out extra coverage or unnecessary costs.

Hopefully some of these ways for how to save money on auto insurance can help lower your car insurance premium. Either way, don’t ever make the mistake of finding insurance and just sticking with it. Keep checking around and be sure to keep your coverage up to date. If you have any other ways to save on auto insurance, be sure to sound off in the comments section!

Auto insurance can be expensive, and you may be tempted to drop your coverage as a way to save money. However, there are legal and financial reasons why dropping auto insurance is not a good idea

Auto insurance can prevent financial hardship. If your vehicle is totaled in an accident, for example, you would have to pay for a new vehicle out of your own pocket. If you are at fault in an accident and are sued, your auto insurance can protect you against the loss of assets.

In all 50 states, you are required by law to carry at least the minimum mandatory insurance coverage if you own a vehicle. If you are caught driving without insurance, you could be fined, lose your license or possibly even spend time in jail.

If you're having difficulty affording your auto insurance coverage, consider obtaining quotes from other carriers as premiums can vary greatly from company to company. You could also explore dropping unnecessary coverages. For example, if your vehicle is older and of little value, you can consider dropping physical damage coverage (comprehensive and collision) as a way to reduce premiums.

If drivers are involved in an automobile accident and don’t have the proper coverage, paying for injuries, property damage, and even a lawsuit can cause great financial hardships. In some cases, a forced insurance policy can be placed by a financial institution if a consumer fails to comply with their loan agreement.

If drivers are looking for a way to save money they should speak to their provider or agent and explain their specific financial situation to them to see if a more affordable auto insurance policy can be obtained rather than canceling coverage.

A variety of personal and emotional hurdles can get in the way of making the best financial moves. As I discuss earlier in this blog, a lack of financial knowledge (which stems from a lack of personal financial education) can stand in the way of making good decisions.

But I've seen some people caught in the psychological trap of blaming something else for their financial problems. For example, some people believe that all adults' problems can be traced back to childhood and how they were raised. Behaviors ranging from substance abuse and credit card addiction to sexual infidelity are supposedly caused by their roots.

I don't want to disregard the negative impact particular backgrounds can have on some people's tendency to make the wrong choices during their lives. Exploring your personal history can certainly yield clues to what makes you tick. That said, adults make choices and engage in behaviors that affect themselves as well as others. They shouldn't blame their parents for their own inability to plan for their financial futures, live within their means, and make sound investments.

Some people also tend to blame their financial shortcomings on not earning more income. Such people believe that if only they earned more, their financial (and personal) problems would melt away.

My experience working and speaking with people from diverse economic backgrounds has taught me that achieving financial success - and more importantly, personal happiness - has virtually nothing to do with how much income a person makes but rather with what she makes of what she has. I know financially wealthy people who are emotionally poor even though they have all the material goods they want. Likewise. I know people who are quite happy, content, and emotionally wealthy even though they're struggling financially.

Americans - even those who have not had an "easy" life - should be able to come up with numerous things to be happy about and grateful for: a family who loves them; friends who laugh at their stupid jokes; the freedom to catch a movie or play or to read a good book; a great singing voice, sense of humor, or a full head of hair.

Perhaps you know that you should live within your means, buy and hold sound investments for the long term, and secure proper insurance coverage; however, you can't bring yourself to do these things. Everyone knows how difficult it is to break habits that have been practiced for many years. The temptation to spend money lurks everywhere you turn. Ads show attractive and popular people enjoying the fruits of their labors - a new car, an exotic vacation, and a lavish home.

Maybe you felt deprived by your tightwad parents as a youngster, or maybe you're bored with life and you like the adventure of buying new things. If only you could hit it big on one or two investments, you think, you could get rich quick and do what you really want with your life. As for disasters and catastrophes, well, those things happen to other people, not to you. Besides, you'll probably have advance warning of pending problems, so you can prepare accordingly, right?

Your emotions and temptations can get the better of you. Certainly, part of successfully managing your finances involves coming to terms with your shortcomings and the consequences of your behaviors. If you don't, you may end up enslaved to a dead-end job so you can keep feeding your spending addiction. Or you may spend more time with your investments than you do with your family and friends. Or unexpected events may leave you reeling financially; disasters and catastrophes can happen to anyone at any time.

Tips to Make Wealth Building Enjoyable

Your investments and savings are ultimately a means to an end. The value of your portfolio rests in the enjoyment and security it provides for your family. This is often the reason normally rational individuals behave irrationally when it comes to their stock holdings; they secretly view each up and down tick as feast or famine.

You will never experience financial freedom until you have stepped off the consumption treadmill. Once you slip into the habit of borrowing tomorrow’s income to pay for today’s expenditures, you will begin to loathe money and possibly even your job or occupation. Instead of viewing it as an outlet for your talents, gifts and ambitions, it becomes a series of endless tasks you must complete if you hope to break even at the end of each month.

Many brokerage firms allow you to set up regular deposits by electronically transferring money from your checking or savings account each week, month or quarter. This is a very effective way to begin saving because you don’t actually see or miss the cash. On the same note, if your employer offers an automatic withdrawal option for your retirement account, you may want to consider joining.

There are hundreds of excellent finance, investing, economics, accounting, business and management books in the world. A few hours of well-directed reading each week can have a fattening effect on your pocketbook as well as give you something to talk about at your next cocktail party.

Clipping coupons and reducing household expenditures does not mean you have to live the life of a miser. Set financial goals and reward yourself when you reach those goals. Positive economic incentives can do marvels for productivity, and you may not find it nearly as difficult forgoing current consumption if you know a new pair of Allen Edmonds is in your future. Besides, when you associate a luxury good with an accomplishment, it has much more meaning and value.

Money, like water, expands to fill the container in which it is placed. If you lack an objective set of financial goals for your life, you probably reach the end of each month and find yourself broke. You vow that next month will be different, but it never is.

This scenario is certainly one with which millions of people can identify. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be that way. One of the most powerful and effective strategies for building wealth is to pay yourself first.

When you set down to pay your bills, the first check you write should be to yourself. Decide on an amount you can commit to for at least six months and immediately pay that "bill" by depositing the money into your brokerage, mutual fund, or retirement accounts. You must do this even if you cannot afford it! Then, pay your other bills as usual. If you find that you do not have enough money to cover all the expenses, write down the amount you are short and then find away to raise the money. If this means you have to recycle cans, switch to an off-brand cereal, work a few extra hours, or cancel your magazine subscriptions, do it.

Think it sounds too hard? If so, you must answer this question for yourself: is the pain of giving up your "perks" greater than the pain of being in financial bondage? If it is, you need to resign yourself to remaining in the same financial situation for the rest of your life. In fact, if you are prone to using debt as a means of upgrading your lifestyle, the problem will probably grow worse with time.

Taking control of your finances creates a sense of empowerment that will reach into every area of your life. The freedom that comes from knowing that you and your family will be provided for regardless of what may come up cannot be expressed in words. It is something you will experience for yourself when you make the decision that being financially independent and secure is more important than impressing your neighbors with material goods.

Once most people have given their word to someone, they are careful to keep their promise. They have no qualms, however, about lying to themselves. In order to be successful, you must honor your commitment. You cannot cut yourself any slack. As soon as you miss one "payment", odds are, you will miss another, then another, until you have stopped saving altogether. The secret to success in this game is not so much the amount of money you are investing, but the persistence with which you are doing it.

Before you begin on your journey to building wealth and finding financial independence, it’s important you understand a few basics. One of the big keys is that saving and investing are two related, but independent, processes that you shouldn’t confuse. A disciplined investor could find himself with dozens of real estate rental properties but unable to pay his bills if he didn’t appreciate the balancing act between the two foundations of success.

Perhaps the best place to begin for new investors is to define the difference between saving and investing.

Saving always comes first. Think of it as the foundation upon which your financial house is built. The reason is simple - unless you inherit a large amount of money, it is your savings that will provide you with the capital to feed your investments.

There are two primary types of savings programs you should include in your life. They are:

Only after that these things are in place, and you have health insurance, should you begin investing (this really is vital – for more information on why, read Investing in Health Insurance – One of the First Lines of Defense for Your Portfolio. The only possible exception is putting money into a 401(k) plan at work if your company matches your contributions. That’s because not only will you get a substantial tax break for putting money into your retirement account, but the matching funds basically represent free cash that is being handed to you on a silver tray.

For more information about how you can begin saving money, read The Complete Beginner's Guide to Saving Money. It is filled with articles, resources, essays, and lessons about how to save money, how to invest money, and how to get started on the road to wealth. It may seem daunting now, but every successful self-made person had to begin by earning money, spending less than they earned, taking those savings, and putting them to work in projects that threw off dividends, interest, and rents. They are no better than you are. If you learn the same thing, and can act as rationally so as to manage your money with discipline, you can enjoy the rewards of success, just as they did. In the end, saving money comes down to simple math. It really is as fundamental as 2+2=4.

One of the most frequent questions new investors ask is this: how much should I be saving for investment? Although the question is straightforward, the answer is not so easy because it depends upon a handful of factors. Let’s take a look at the questions and then we can tackle each one individually. Before we begin, though, it's important that you understand the difference between saving and investing. To learn more about this and how you should approach both, read Saving vs. Investing - Finding the Right Balance.

How much money would it take for you to live the way you want? Would it take $50,000 per year? $150,000? Perhaps $500,000. Back out any income you have from your job (if you don’t want to work, skip this step), and any other income you may have. Then divide the figure by .04 to find out the assets it would take to support that level of annual income. (Why .04, you ask? Many financial planners calculate that an investor could withdrawal 4% of their money each year and the account would still generate enough, over time, to maintain its current value after adjusting for inflation.)

An example might help. Let’s say you want to make $80,000 per year to live the way you want. You only want to work part-time and figure you can make $20,000 per year. You expect to collect $15,000 per year in Social Security. You would take $80,000 - $35,000 = $45,000. Then $45,000 divided by .04 = $1,125,000. That’s the amount that would be required for you to earn the other $65,000 from your investments and never run out of money.

Now, you need to figure out how soon you want the money. Let’s say you are 35 and you want to retire at 65. That gives you 30 years. Using any one of the thousands of savings calculators online (check out this one from Bankrate, for instance: Savings Calculator), you can plug in your numbers and figure out what it would take in terms of monthly savings to reach your goal. Assuming you can earn 8% on your investments, it would require $754.85 put aside each month until you retired. (If you started at 25, instead, it would take only $322.26 per month due to the power of compounding. If you started at 18, it would only take $181.09 per month.)

If you don’t want to leave anything to your family, friends, or charity (a charitable remainder trust can be a great choice for investors), the savings figures would be much lower because this model assumes you maintain the $1,125,000 fund in perpetuity. That is why you’ll see many financial planners estimate your lifespan. They’ll actually design a program so that your money runs out at, say, 85 or 90 years old.

You can reach your goal much faster by saving more each month. Whether or not you can accomplish that will depend on how much you are willing to sacrifice. Even an extra $300 per month can mean arriving at your savings goal years, or perhaps even decades, earlier than you otherwise could. Is that worth driving a used car or not ordering anything but water at restaurants? That depends on your priorities and no one can answer that question for you. I addressed this in The $25,000 Bouquet of Roses.

Several years ago, I made a commentary about the situation in Detroit. Given the skyrocketing unemployment, poor job prospects, and unfavorable demographics of the area, I was asked what I would do if my family were in the city. My answer: Move. I’d pack everything we owned, find a more favorable economic climate, and move there. The odds of catching something (in this case, a high paying job and good schools for the kids) would be much improved by casting my line in a pond with a lot of fish.

A handful of people responded strongly that I was completely out of line for suggesting that families uproot themselves. I’m not sure how to say this politely, so I’ll just put it out there: If you aren’t willing to inconvenience yourself for the chance at a better life, you better learn to be content with poverty. That’s all you’ll ever have.

In my own life, this was a decision I made early. Unlike virtually all of my friends, I refused to buy a car until I was more than 23 years old because as a teenager, I realized they had huge ongoing costs in the form of gas, insurance, and more. It took discipline (and certainly wasn’t always pleasant), but when I finally did by my first vehicle shortly after graduating college, it was a beautiful Jaguar that I got at an incredibly attractive price. At the time, I had little to no debt, my taxes were paid, and I had built a substantial investment portfolio thanks to working my way through school. My saving and investing had paid off, despite having to put myself through college. My friends lacked patience, wanted instant gratification, and bought their cars at 16 with auto loans that charged interest.

The rule of thumb can be summarized as the more you are willing to give up today, the faster you can reach your savings and wealth goal. One warning: Do not take this to the extreme. As famed economist John Maynard Keynes pointed out, “In the long-run, we are all dead.” Money exists only to allow you to have the kind of lifestyle you want and open doors of opportunity for your family. As my father told me before he and my mother left me on the college campus all of those years ago, never trade an opportunity or experience for money because it will be a poor bargain. I certainly did not live like a pauper (far from it). Most of this was possible because my early discipline allowed me to avoid the massive interest charges most Americans pay on their homes, credit cards, cars, student loans, department store charge accounts, and more.

You can use the same calculator from earlier in the article to increase the savings amount you are willing to put in each month. It will generate a new answer, showing you how soon you will reach your goal. In the case of our earlier example, the 25 year old that was willing to kick in the extra $300 per month would be able to retire on schedule at 57 years old and 10 months, or nearly 7 years and 2 months earlier than planned. Is that worth it to you? Is giving up $300 a month worth an extra 7+ years of retirement? Again, only you can answer that question.

Saving money, or the saving habit as Napoleon Hill put it so many years ago, is the foundation of all financial success, including investing. Having money saved is what provides the means for you to take advantage of situations, whether it's going back to college, starting a new business, or buying shares of stock when the market crashes. These saving money resources will provide a foundation and answer questions such as, "How much money should I be saving?" and "What is the difference between saving and investing?". You'll also learn the best places to save things like down payment money on a house.