Are you making a 6-figure ($100,000) or higher income? How much do you have in saving? How much do you save per year?
In the latest survey (September 2016 by GoBankingRates) on 7000 American adults, 69% said they have less than $1000 in the bank. Close to half of participants who earn between $100,000 and $149,999 have less than $1000. One-third of participants with incomes of $150,000 and above said that they had less than $1000 in the saving. 6% of those high income earners had nothing in the bank. Where did their money go? What will they do in case they need more than $1000? What will they do in case of emergency? Taking a loan? Using credit cards?
If you are not of those who have difficulty with saving money, you can skip the rest of this article. My primary goal is to show those who have troubles with saving money how they can save even just small amount and possibly retire being a millionaire if they do it right. Saving in my definition is the money you put away without touching it for expenses.
The following steps work for a man who makes one cent as well as the man who makes millions or billions. If you only make 5 figures, it works for you as well.
First, save one-tenth of what you earn and dont touch it. Bob Proctor and Earl Nightingale put it in another way: pay yourself everything you earn from 8am to 12pm on Monday. If you earn $1000 per month, put aside $100 for your saving. Use only $900 to pay for your expenses. The hardest part is to have discipline not to touch the $100 you save. The most important thing to remind yourself of if you are tempted to use your saving is that you will spend your future without return.
If you start with $100 and continue to put in $100 each month, with 5% interest, by 10th year you will end up with $15,662.10.
Fourth, guard your capital. Remember that getting rich is not a quick venture. You must be patient and not jump into any venture that causes you to lose your saving.
Fifth, be disciplined and remember step #4. Warren Buffett follows this principle by saying “the first rule of investing is to not lose money. The second rule is to never forget rule #1”.
If you start with $100 and continue to put in $100 each month, with 5% interest, by 10th year you will end up with $15,662.10. With this amount, you are better than 60% of those who earn more than $150,000 per year. Right after your first year, you will be far better than 69% of American adults who have less than $1000 in the bank.
As I warned you earlier, you must be disciplined to religiously put $100 into saving every month without fail. You must find a way to invest your saving so that it can compound at 5% over 10 years. This is a compound interest of 5%. Buffett recommended index fund, which is historically very safe to earn above 5% return.
Another discipline you must develop is to listen only to people with credibility and expertise. In your endeavor to invest your saving, listen only to people you can fully trust and they really know what they tell you as well as they have track records to prove.
Watch out for advices from your friends, relatives, co-workers, or even strangers. Advice is too cheap. You will lose money if you do not know what you are doing.
Now, go and make a plan for your saving. Pay yourself at least 10% of what you earn, make your saving work for you, be consistent, and listen only to people with credibility. You are on your way to become rich and enjoy your life in comfort.
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PS: if you are looking for banks that pay over 5%, look over at the interest rates around the world. Please factor in the inflation rate when considering to make an investment.
A much safer investment is a low-cost index fund. The average return of the S&P; 500 stock index for the 10 years ending Dec. 31, 2012 was 7.10 percent. The S&P; 500 index mutual funds from Fidelity and Vanguard produced returns of 7.03 and 6.99 percent annually, respectively. Looking at bond index funds, the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund produced a 10-year average annual return of 5.07 percent, compared to 5.20 percent for the Barclay’s bond market index that the fund tracks. (Source: Zach.com)
About the author: Hoan Do is a certified leadership coach with John Maxwell Team. Hoan have led multiple teams at Symantec Inc. across the globe delivering world-class solutions to protect consumers and businesses. Hoan is an expert in building highly performing teams. He believes that the best leader is the leader that could grow his followers to be leaders. Hoan has been organizing mastermind groups at work to share with other leaders about transformational leadership and coaching. He has trained many leaders both inside and outside Symantec via mastermind groups, workshops, and one-on-one coaching. Hoan perfected his own method “think and lead rich” to start leaders with the right mindset before equipping them with a complete leadership development solution.
If you are curious about the above method and how you can apply it to your life successfully, open your email and send me an inquiry at coach@hoanmdo.com
The Samurai Coach 
“The following steps work for a man who makes one cent as well as the man who makes millions or billions.”
So it won’t for a woman then… Oh well.
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Seriously, Marianne?
How old are you?
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Really Marianne, this attitude will not help you, that is for sure.
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The biggest problem is, no bank is offering 5% interest for a savings account. I have seen this example hundreds of times, but have never in my lifetime see a 5% savings account for the average person. A 5% savings account would definitely help millions of people, but in order to get the 5% you need quite a hefty sum in your bank account, plus many more restrictions.
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Defensive dividend stocks are paying well over 5%, many corporate bonds pay over 5%, Many REITs pay over 5%, Fundrise, Prosper, Lending Club all yield over 5%…. Dude, there are countless ways to earn a measly 5%..
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Matthew, although you are right in that savings accounts do not offer anywhere to close to 5% interest, the author did mention to put your money in index funds which will give you, on average, a return of 5% or more if you leave your money in there for the long haul.
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You don’t need to find a savings account that pays 5%, it doesn’t exist anyway. You need to put your money where the banks put theirs. Indexes are what he was talking about. You can get a 5% or better return using an index.
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no bank ever will but permenant life insurance policies can pay upwards to 7.5 % on your money and some mutual funds can pick up 5% and if you want to live life with a little more homework you can purchase a covered call for one month and avg. 10% for those that are savy with their money . these are not recommendations but i want to show you that you can do it
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As to the riddle its Last Name
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I think you mean “Surname”or “family Nme
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I know from my own business that this is true, people are finding it harder and harder to save. Your solution is all fine and better than nothing, however, who is paying you 5%? Not any bank I know of. I believe that people are better off owning their own home base business, saving hundreds and sometimes even thousands on their taxes. Most home based businesses can be done while working your full-time job and in as little as 8 hours a week. It works for me and I make more that $5/year and save way….more than that on my taxes. I can write off a portion of almost every expense used to operate my home. There is true savings there.
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Yes, home-based business is a great idea and it works. Plus a discipline in savings will go along way. As posted by Finn above, there are quite a few ways to get 5% compound interest. A low cost index fund is one way.
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…and if you’re a single parent earning $34k per year? You think I can just sock away $100 a month? HAH! Maybe $10, but there are frequently months where I go in the hole. Financial advice is always only beneficial to those who don’t need it. I live hand to mouth and spend every dollar on SURVIVAL. You can’t grow your wealth if you don’t have any to plant.
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This is bad advice, and all you’ll end up as is a lonely scrooge with no meaningful relationships, protecting your pile of capital, and you’ll look like George Soros at the end of your life. 🙂
How about the definition of insanity for starters?
People that borrow money they don’t have, to buy things they don’t need (or even want), to impress people they don’t like.
Give 10% to benefit others, whatever that looks like for you (charity, church, family). Save 15% and live on the rest, and for sanity’s sake get rid of credit card debt at 20%+. Spend less than you earn and put some away for a rainy day.
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