How Have Your Savings Goals Changed Over Time?

Found this super old post the other day (2009, aww!) savings goals — and I was struck by how much my approach had changed. So let’s discuss: have your savings goals changed over time (in ways more than amount)? If you could travel back in time, what would you tell your younger self to change about savings goals?

{related: Not sure what to do first/next on your personal finance journey? here is our money roadmap}

What Were My Saving Goals Used To Be?

That day, I realized that my father was giving me advice. always set a savings goal – it started at $100 per month in my weak days as an editorial assistant and was much higher when I started my life as a lawyer at my Big Law firm.

{relating to: financial tips for new lawyers (or other women at their first high-paying job!)}

At the time, I realized that I preferred to manually move my savings from one account to another – money market funds had some crazy interest rates at the time (I remember 7%!), so I would transfer the money from Chase to Schwab.

Back then I saw some great benefits of doing it manually:

First, How much I’ve saved so much in my mind – my savings goal turned into a kind of checking account goal; I don’t like keeping too much money in my checking account and move anything beyond that to my Schwab account (my savings goal is more like minimal in my mind).

Secondly, I am very aware of whether I have invested in my savings. If I can’t meet the minimum savings, I reconsider my month – what was I doing that cost so much money? If I really need to transfer money from my savings account to my checking account, I’m even tighter on it.

It’s interesting to read because the methods and theories behind my savings goals have changed quite a bit.

How Have My Savings Goals Changed Over Time?

A few big things I do differently these days are a) saving almost everything automatically, b) choosing when to invest instead of saving, and c) saving for multiple financial goals in different accounts.

(I also use Ally instead of Schwab for my savings because they have high interest rates and Schwab money market funds have been crappy for at least a decade. Keep in mind, though, that many readers prefer other banks over Ally!)

I Love My Auto Savings

As I mentioned before, I love automate my savingsprimarily to amortize large bills that I know will come (e.g. I have one account for all our insurance bills during the year, another for estimated tax payments), but also to encourage me to spend.

I manually adjust the numbers for different savings accounts (and quite often, maybe twice a year) – but the money is out of sight, out of mind.

I also transfer money from various savings accounts on a fairly regular basis without feeling bad – our bills if we get a big bill for something (e.g. ear tube surgery!).

Choosing to Invest Instead of Saving

It took me a while to understand this but I do too automatic investment For an extended period, set up $100 or more per month to purchase a general index fund.

I adjust this number quite regularly as well – it may be upwards as all our savings accounts are “full enough”, or I’ll adjust it downwards if I think we have a major purchase of choice. more money is easily accessible.

I manually invest in other points throughout the year, but I’m a fan of automated investing.

(Also, changing the number once you’ve set it up is easier than figuring out how to do it again. But here instructions on how to set up auto investment for Schwab and Vanguard, which were updated quite recently.)

Saving in Separate Accounts for Multiple Financial Goals

This is a big change that I think I’ve started making recently – my multiple financial savings goals I now have a certain amount that I transfer to a holiday fund.

I wish I had done this when I was younger – I had a big bucket in my money market fund at the time and every time I had to go to my savings to cover some expenses it felt like a loss. As a result, I didn’t travel a lot unless it was necessary for weddings and such, and I really regret that.

That’s how I felt then I didn’t know what I was saving for — are you buying an apartment? to marry? I’m going back to school – so I wanted to save as much as possible…but I still think there’ll be room for vacations in the budget.

{relating to: Cash savings or retirement savings? Where should you hide your cash if you’re not sure what you’re saving for?}

Readers, what about you – how have your savings goals changed in method or theory over time? If you could travel back in time, what would you tell yourself?

Stock photo via stencil.