When is the right time to start Saving?

Anytime. Yes. But the earlier you start the more the savings. Those who did not start saving at a early age, will vouch for it. They realize the strain. With some savings in hand, your mind is usually at peace, knowing that in case of problems you can fall back on your savings. This brings about happiness. Have you seen people around you grumpy and sad all the time, there are many such persons. Take a closer look, they don’t have any savings or their savings are would be low.

Why did this persons not start saving, there could be multiple reasons. When they were young and they started earning, they wanted to make the most of their money and started spending on needless pleasures and increased their consumptions. There were others who spent just because their friends were spending and they wanted to keep up with them.

So what happened, savings took a backseat, saying we are still young and we will save later. But as you grow, different pressures will keep coming up viz. Marriage, house, kids, their education, etc. This will never allow you to start your savings, so this is the time if you have not started, however small, bring in some discipline to start enjoying your life and getting happier.

Many persons just delay waiting for that time of the year, when they expect a bonus or for the markets to fall or for the price of gold to fall. There is no right time; every time is the right time. Start your savings, you might make some mistakes but you will learn and improve. There are many books and papers available to tell you where to put your savings, everyday.

So the earlier you start, the chances of you making money improve, since you have the time to learn from your mistakes. But if you start later and make a mistake, you will not have time to recover. Also if you keep saving small amounts over a period of time, the chances of losing money will reduce, than when you do it in one go. Saving over a period of time, helps in compound your savings.

It is best to start savings when your responsibilities are less, as we grow, our responsibilities will start increasing. Till now we were just saying saving, but what do you do to the saving, you invest. Proper investing will help your money grow and it would grow only if you invest properly. If you do not invest, Inflation will eat into your savings. What do I mean here?

Inflation means rising prices, so if you leave your savings as they are without investing, the saving will not be enough. This is another reason to invest and get a return higher than the rate of inflation. Another reason to save and invest is, you have only certain earning life, so the saving is more to take care of your retirement. Hence the earlier you start, the more comfortable your retirement.

Retirement is not the only goal in life; it is the long term goal. So the earlier you start, a smaller amount can be set aside for this goal. The best thing to do is make a list of all the goals you have to achieve and how are you going to fund them. List all short term, medium term as well as long term and start allocating your savings to each of these goals.

But before you start investing, there are some expenses which would come anytime which could eat away your savings, so first get a health insurance in place and pay off all your debts. Especially all non asset generating debts.

All the best. Start investing.