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At IAA Credit Union we strive to build personal relationships that promote smart financial decisions. We hope the resources below help our members expand their financial knowledge and help them utilize our products and services to their full potential.

Plus, check out even more resources from our Partner GreenPath Financial Wellness.

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5 Tips to Jump-Start Your Savings Plan

Feb 4, 2022

It’s human nature. We’re all wired to meet our immediate wants, whether it’s indulging in a tempting bowl of ice cream, spending more time than we planned scrolling through social media, or treating ourselves to an impulse purchase. Unplanned expenses or emergencies are other common life events. A car or a house repair, or even a weather-related emergency, can make a dent in our budget.

Whether it’s the struggle of delaying immediate rewards for greater benefit in the future or an unexpected expense, people looking to build successful savings habit often run up against these very human challenges.

To help manage these realities, here are five tips we suggest to jump-start your savings.

1. Build Your Budget

To set yourself up for savings success, build a simple budget. Think of it as a road map that tells you exactly where you are in terms of monthly income and expenses, what money is available to save each month, and if you’re on track. A budget helps you monitor and track your financial progress. The most important part of your budget is updating and monitoring it regularly. With Money Management you can track your monthly spending, set goals to keep savings on track, and much more. download today.

2. Set SMART Goals

The SMART acronym provides a strategy for reaching savings goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and anchored within a Time Frame. As an example, depending on your specific situation, perhaps you can tuck away $20 each week to hit an annual savings goal of $1,000. Measure your progress each week and modify as needed. By keeping it SMART, you will more likely achieve savings goals when bite-sized amounts are saved over a realistic timeframe.

3. Manage Debt

Many people find it hard to save money when struggling with high credit card debt. The longer you carry large balances, the more of your monthly payment is applied to interest, and the less you have to tuck away in a savings account. You will save the most money by starting to pay as much extra as you can on your highest-interest debt first, and then once that’s paid off, move on to your second-highest interest debt, and so on. IAACU is offering a limited-time balance transfer to help consolidate into one easy payment.

4. Build Your Emergency Fund

A savings plan should include building an emergency savings fund to handle unexpected expenses and setbacks that can come up suddenly. A general rule of thumb is to set aside three months’ worth of living expenses in your emergency fund.

5. Set it and Forget It

The most successful savers automate monthly deposits to make them as painless as possible. Decide how much you can put into savings and set yourself up with an automated transfer into a saving account or a higher paying club account. Begin with an amount you can afford to put into savings and look at your big-picture plan to set your savings goals in the long term.

Originally published by: GreenPath Financial Wellness adapted by IAACU