Joining with friends and family to meet financial goals
By John DaSilva, Senior Manager for Project Development,
Kenan Institute Asia
Everyone
knows that saving money is never easy.
In addition to rising living costs, an array of new consumer products and
other temptations are constantly putting a strain on household budgets.
To deal
with this, there is a lot of expert advice on how to save money – some of which
you learned in the Citi-K.I.Asia Teacher’s Money Sense project, a financial
literacy training, you went through.
Suggestions such as make a budget and stick to it, understand wants
versus needs, etc. Perhaps you have gone further and made important costs
reductions in your life, such as checking your mobile phone plan to make sure
you are not spending too much, or being sure to unplug appliances when not in
use to save money on your electric bill. All of these are important and can
help put you on the road to financial freedom.
But there is one piece of advice that may rank above all others in determining
how well you meet your financial goals – this is having a good support system.
There is a
good deal of evidence now that shows the company we keep – family, friends,
co-workers – plays a key role in how well we can delay gratification – save money
for the future instead of spending it today.
If we spend time with people who eat too much, we will likely eat too
much. If we spend time with people who
drink too much, we are likely to drink too much. The same goes with spending. If we are with people who continually put
pressure on us to spend money, then we are likely to spend money too. Thankfully, there is a way to turn this
behavior to your advantage. And that is
by finding people with similar financial goals and establishing a support system
with them to help limit spending and encourage saving.
So why not
form a savings club with like-minded friends and family today. Meeting regularly, you can support each other
and help work toward good financial behavior.
Additionally, group members can exchange money saving tips, pool
resources to buy items in bulk and potentially develop join investments. There are many possibilities. The first step is to talk to people you know
and see if they are keen to save money.
Then, form a group with clearly stated goals, followed by a buddy system
to lend support when under pressure to make bad financial decisions. Finally, establish a meeting schedule and
stick to it. Such a plan is the basis of
most successful behavior change strategies – and can greatly increase your
chances of meeting your financial objectives.
