Comments on: How to Create A Nifty Visual Savings Goal Reminder

By: Adam Lehman

Adam Lehman — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 06:42:02 +0000

i’m curious. i’m a college senior who will have very little dept coming out of school. i have a campus job that pays a dismal $70 bucks every two weeks. I have some money in savings but not that much.

What sort of savings should i be looking at? what about straight out of college? what sort of percentage of income?

thanks. you have got a great blog going.

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 15:59:42 +0000

You can also do this with a puzzle. Pick up a 100 piece puzzle at the $1 store, give each piece a number value (say, $10). Place the first few pieces on a sticky foam board/paper. Add a piece for each $10 you save until the puzzle is complete. Saving for a car? Buy a puzzle featuring a car. A trip? Get a puzzle with a topical getaway pictured. Works great for kids’ savings, too.

By: Marta

Marta — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:16:43 +0000

Great idea!! I’m going to do this for my long-term savings goal and also my student loan debt (almost paid off!). I’ve been looking for a visual motivator to keep me on task and I hope this works.

Thanks!!!!

By: Jess

Jess — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 08:54:33 +0000

ING actually does something like this for you now. It will let you enter what you’re saving for, the amount, set up an ASP (if you want) and keep track for you of your progress right in the account. It doesn’t have the nifty picture, but I really like this idea.

PS This is ING Canada I’m talking about, I’m not sure if ING US is doing the same thing.

By: Hasib

Hasib — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 22:19:52 +0000

I highly recommend certified used vehicles as a better value than a new one. The last two cars we bought were Honda-certified lease returns in excellent condition, good factory warranties, and good price.

Yes, they were each a couple years old, but still late models that looked fairly new. They usually had about 25-30K miles, with plenty left on the important parts of the factory warranty.

And I got them for the price I wanted after checking Kelly Blue Book. We’ve had great use and no real problems other than regular recommended maintenance.

The difference between a current year new model would probably have been in the $8-10K, which is money we would rather spend on reducing other debt, etc., rather than *SHINY NEW CAR*.

Thanks!

By: aware

aware — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 11:44:09 +0000

@Mrs. Micah:
“goal of earning the same as I normally earn but at lower-paying jobs.”

huh?

do you mean earn less from work, and more from investing? or???

By: morydd

morydd — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 01:40:51 +0000

I use a similar method with an accountability factor. I’ve got a script that updates a bar on my blog with my current savings goal, and my over-all savings goals. This way, I update the amount and it’s displayed for the world to see. Some people may not be comfortable with sharing that much info, but for me, it gives me quite a bit of encouragement.

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 23:23:55 +0000

It’s true, Raymond. I think charts are very encouraging–they can be a bear to keep up with, though.

I may do this next month for reaching my financial goal of earning the same as I normally earn but at lower-paying jobs.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 21:11:16 +0000

You are saving for a “new” vehicle? Not a slightly used late model?

I personally believe in this era of 0% interest to low APR a brand new vehicle is a frugal choice. I bought a new 06 F150 Ford Super Crew for a couple thousand BELOW INVOICE ( not sticker ) and financed thru ford for 60 mos 0 % interest. I took advantage of the last year’s model and got a good deal. Instead of purchasing a used vehicle I got a new one at a used price WITH awesome financing…

Jeff

By: Randy Peterman

Randy Peterman — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 20:37:41 +0000

That’s handy and those are handy tools. Its like a thermometer without the mercury ;)

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:19:36 +0000

Ya know, that would be something interesting to tie into say mint.com or any other financial program.

Upload a picture of your goal, be it the model of the car or Disney World. Place a “mask” over it in the same sort of grid. OR Every time a payment is made, a square is removed. When you see the item, you get the item. It couldn’t be -that- hard to do in flash I would guess but I’m not familiar enough to write it off the cuff.

It keeps with your idea of telling at a glance how close you are, and making it concrete instead of an abstract dollar amount in some account. NICE!

By: Money Blue Book

Money Blue Book — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:14:39 +0000

Geez, it’s true…personal finance bloggers are all about the charts and numbers. We like progress and status reports on the fly for sure.

-Raymond