15 ways to start saving money with a small salary4.6 (5)

Ask anyone on Earth if he wants to live well, without limiting himself in anything, the answer will be positive. But not everyone has the knowledge of how to learn how to save money . The paradox of our life is that by learning to save, we raise our social status to the proper level. And since earnings alone are not enough, you need to know how to distribute it correctly. There must be order in finances.

What questions will we cover in this article:

• how to learn to live on a small salary, saving money?
• how to accumulate savings correctly?
• What are some ways to save money?

Pay yourself first

Are you familiar with the situation when you once again decided to “cut down” on expenses and spend 10% less on food this month, but, as usual, at the end of the month you again did not have enough money and had to dip into your credit card?

Yeah. To prevent such situations from arising, you need to distribute the budget from the beginning of the month. Well, from the beginning - from the moment the money appears (salary payment / fee transfer / lottery winnings). If you are determined to learn how to save with a small salary, then the first thing you need to do is set aside 10% (or at least 5% at first) of your income in a separate account. This is really ironclad. No exceptions.

The strategy “I will transfer the balance to the account at the end of the month” does not work. Our psyche is designed in such a way that we spend all the resources at our disposal. If you have reduced your resources (set aside money) since the beginning of the month, then you will automatically adjust to the new budget.

How to learn to save money in the family - a ready-made table of expenses

We offer a table that can serve as an example of how to save a family budget by assessing expenses by class:

• “1” - the most necessary (that which is impossible to do without and is an important part of expenses);
• “2” - investments of a secondary nature, with the help of which a person’s standard of living increases;
• “3” - entertainment and addictions (lead to financial losses and problems, adversely affecting physical and mental well-being).

Table - Types of expenses.

Get yourself a diary to track your monthly expenses. This could be a regular notebook, diary or notepad.

Example of keeping a cost diary

Along with handwritten notes, a modern approach to accounting for financing will be the use of special mobile applications:

• CoinKeeper and MoneyWiz 2 – on the Android platform;
• CashOrganizer and Meneger – Android and other platforms.

There are many such assistant programs. According to reviews, CashOrganizer and MoneyWiz 2 takes first place.

Personally, I have been using the CoinKeeper app for a long time.

Free applications include:

Money Lover, Money Manager, Bills Monitor, Goodbudget and others. With their help, you can organize records and automate calculations. The application itself will remind you of obligations and payment deadlines. Connecting banking transactions will save you from manually entering data on payments and expenses.

Automate your deductions

To avoid manually transferring that notorious 10% of your salary, you can automate the process. Tested on myself - it helps. It can be inconvenient to transfer money yourself or even a pity (yes, it happens). If automation does it, it’s convenient and efficient.

Most banks allow you to easily set up automatic transfers - either as a percentage of income or as a fixed amount at certain intervals.

It is best to transfer money to a savings account with the ability to deposit and withdraw. This way you can withdraw funds from your account at any time without losing interest.

Options for saving money

So, we have embarked on the path of saving and increasing our finances. The next question that you need to decide for yourself is “what to save in,” that is, which savings option to choose. Let me make a reservation right away that I am considering tools for beginners. I think that financially advanced people do not need my advice.

Money should work just like we do. Even small amounts should not lie under the pillow, but should generate income for the owner. What are the possible options?

Savings account

This is a mixture of a current account and a deposit. At any time you can come to the bank and withdraw the required amount. Interest is charged on it, but it is small.

For example, in Sberbank for the “Manage” deposit – up to 3.8%. “Comfortable” deposit in Rosselkhozbank – up to 4.3%. As you can see, the picture is approximately the same. The percentage also depends on the conditions of accumulation. Each bank has its own.

It is very convenient if you open a savings account in the same bank where you have a current account (for example, a salary account). Money can be transferred from one account to another for free.

Plastic cards with interest accrual

We have already looked at the advantages and disadvantages of debit cards, and we also figured out which debit card is better to choose. They allow you to earn higher interest on your account balance, plus cashback on every purchase. But you definitely need to study the terms for calculating interest. As a rule, there must be a minimum balance on the account every month.

Bank deposit with minimum balance

Why is he interesting? Higher interest rate compared to savings accounts. But it should be taken into account that the conditions for storing money are more stringent. Flaws:

• commission for transfers to other accounts,
• mandatory visit to the bank for debit transactions,
• risk of loss of interest upon early withdrawal.

Which bank is better to open an account in? There is no clear answer to this question.

The highest interest rate on a deposit in Tinkoff Bank is
7% .
Minimum amount 50,000 rub. If you open a deposit by clicking on this link, you will receive a bonus in the form of 0.5% of the deposit amount. I also suggest that you familiarize yourself with some of the deposits offered by the TOP 10 banks.

Metal bills

If you do not want to open a ruble or foreign currency account, you can open a “gold”, “silver”, “platinum” or “palladium” account. These are so-called impersonal metal accounts.

No need to buy bullion. Buy grams of precious metal at any time and for any period. The account will reflect its equivalent value. You can monitor quotes and sell metal when the price reaches the desired level.

For example, as of April 10, 2021, the cost of 1 g of gold is 2,905 rubles, silver – 35.86 rubles, platinum – 2,034 rubles. and palladium – 2,039 rubles. (Sberbank of Russia).

Individual investment account

What is an individual investment account? This is a special account into which you deposit money. And then you entrust their management to the bank’s specialists. Your funds are invested and generate income.

The peculiarity of such accounts is that they are not included in the deposit insurance system. But in addition to income, you can also receive a tax deduction from the state in the amount of 13%.

In Sberbank, the conditions for opening an account are as follows:

• minimum deposit amount – 50,000 rubles,
• term – 3 years,
• possibility of replenishment - from 10,000 to 1,000,000 rubles per year.

Sberbank invests in government bonds and bonds of large Russian companies.

Gazprombank also offers to open an individual investment account, through which your funds are used to purchase Gazprombank bonds. An approximate calculation looks like this.

We have not considered all options for saving funds. But others are already associated with significant amounts, so we will return to them a little later, when we have accumulated enough funds for more serious investment.

Create your own “stabilization fund”

Automatic replenishment allows you to start saving money without any problems. Your task is not to spend these funds, even if you really want to. Create your own “stabilization fund” - a nest egg that you won’t spend on nonsense and all sorts of cravings. And if you had to spend it, report the money from your next income. For example, if you spent 5,000 rubles on an urgent purchase, you get the money back at your first paycheck.

You could say the nest egg is your personal credit card. Just no interest.

So, the main secret of how to save money with a small salary is simple: you simply do not spend the money you have saved.