Be a Super Saver!

Soon after my grandfather explained the concept of compound interest to me, I started a savings account at a small bank and later at the credit union at which my father was the founding treasurer. It ran in the family, I suppose, from a caterer who survived World War II rationing by purchasing sugar illegally to a dad raising daughters with high expectations.

Experts say that it’s never too late to start saving. Super savers are consistent. Most started saving in their teens or young adult years; they live modestly, take advantage of 401(k) plans or other employer-sponsored accounts, IRAs Nand Roth IRAs; they keep an eye on vehicles such as brokerage accounts, health savings accounts and 529 college savings plans. Research by the Investment Company Institute analyzed savers in 2022 and learned that members of Generation Z had more than twice the assets in retirement plans than Generation X households had at the same age.
In survey results, the majority of respondents younger than 49 agreed strongly with the statement “Knowing that I’m saving from every paycheck makes me less worried about the short-term performance of my investments.” And 82 percent of respondents across all age groups agreed that the tax-deferred growth is a large incentive to contribute. In fact, Internal Revenue Service regulations now allow employers to add automatic enrollment to new or existing 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), SARSEP and SIMPLE IRA plans unless the employee opts out or changes the deduction amount.

At the same time, to know how much you are able to realistically save, you must have a budget for yourself and your household. Several apps are available on the Apple App Store or Google Play.

You Need a Budget
You Need a Budget helps you prioritize where you spend your money and provides four rules for users to follow. In the first, you assign every dollar in your account to a specific expense, what’s known as zero-based budgeting. The second is to plan for unexpected expenses by setting aside money for them each month, variably called an emergency fund or a sinking fund. The third says to make adjustments if one expense category runs out of money; you can transfer from another category. The last is to “age your money;” when you are accustomed to spending less and budgeting, you can pay current bills out of the previous month’s budget. YNAB offers live money-management workshops online.

Simplifi and Tiller
Simplifi by Quicken integrates with your accounts to download and categorize your transactions automatically where you can see them all in one complete dashboard. It has easy-to-navigate menus and charts and creates a personalized spending plan to help you monitor your income and expenses. It also allows you to plan for the future; you can run different scenarios such as buying property or retiring early, to see how the plan changes.

If you like using spreadsheets to balance your budget, Tiller is helpful. After you link your accounts to the app, it has templates to create customized budget spreadsheets in Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel, and the sheets automatically draw in updated information about your spending and balances from the linked accounts. It can also send daily reports about your spending.

Empower
This free app is excellent for investors, as it allows you to monitor both spending and investment portfolios. Users have the option to add investment management services for 0.89 percent of their money for accounts less than $1 million. It links to bank and credit cards, IRAs, 401(k)s, 529 college savings accounts, health savings accounts, mortgages and loans and provides data encryption, fraud protection and strong user authentication. Users like the focus on growing their wealth in addition to budgeting.

PocketGuard Plus
With a subscription to PocketGuard Plus, you can create a debt-payoff plan that’s integrated into your budget. Enter details of the minimum payment and APR on your debts and PocketGuard allocates money to put toward the debt. The Basic plan is free and tracks your budget, bills, spending and income.

Honeydue
After you download, you can invite your partner by text or email to download it also. At that point, you can monitor budgets and track your spending habits for joint account. It encourages collaboration and cooperation with your partner to reach goals. Your partner can’t see your individually held accounts and vice versa.

All these apps state that data obtained from bank accounts is password-protected and will not be shared with third-party vendors. They also feature two-factor authentication to protect your financial information.

Apps are helpful, but there’s nothing like sitting down at regular intervals to review finances with your partner or on your own. A financial adviser can help you identify the best way to meet your savings goals for yourself, your partner and your family.

Sources: ici.org, kiplinger.com, ynab.com, cnbc.com, honeydue.com and pocketguard.com.