Many of us live our lives with no provision for the future whatsoever. When hard times come we struggle and bemoan our fate, and rack up credit card debt. I am a passionate believer in having a savings account. I am going to spend a whole week on the subject in the future, but for today I just want to talk about how to set one up. Whatever your income source, a savings account is so important for setting your family up for the future. However, if you are commission based or self employed it is absolutely critical for succeeding right now as well.
My husband and I don’t just have one saving’s account. We have nine that we contribute to every month. We have a “permanent savings” account where our goal is to have saved three to six months worth of salary. We have two savings accounts for different dreams that we are saving for. We also have an “escrow” savings account for certain bills that we have to pay in a lump sum every year, and we also have a usable savings account for needs that come up like car repair. We also have retirement savings (investments) and college savings for each of our kiddos. Why do we have so many? Because I have discovered that non-purposeful money just disappears. It gets eaten, or wasted, or goes to silly things instead of what is really important to us. We save at least 15% of our income each month, not because we are rolling in money.. we have three children after all! We live on a modest salary, but we save aggressively because it is that important to us and important to our future.
Now, your bank may have a fantastic, easily accessible savings account program with your bank where you can link multiple savings accounts to your account. However, if you don’t, I would love to suggest ING direct. I am totally not being paid to promote them, I just love this program so much. I have been using ING for the last nine years. They are currently offering just over 3% on their savings accounts where most banks only offer around .50% percent and with most banks you have to keep a balance of at least $100. With ING you have to have an initial deposit, but then you don’t have any fees at all and no minimum balance. You can open as many accounts as you want and give them individual names so you will always know what you are saving for. It is linked directly to your checking account, so to transfer money you would just go to http://www.ingdirect.com/ to either transfer money in or to transfer money back to your bank account. Can you tell I am a fan? I just love any program that makes saving money so easy and accessible and gives you a great rate on your money. It is just a fantastic way to be purposeful with your money.
So if you don’t have a savings account, set one up today! OK, now I sound like a commercial, but my heart is truly just to set you and your family up for success. I could tell you so many testimonies of things my husband and I have been able to accomplish with just saving a little bit towards a dream each month. It may seem like a small amount, but if you don’t start somewhere, you are guaranteeing yourself to never get anywhere.
I know that some of you are still patiently waiting for the topic of setting up your budget when you are self-employed. There is always a way to budget no matter what your income base, but when you are self-employed it requires a little more strategy and it definitely requires the use of a savings account. I just felt like I couldn’t go any further without equipping you with the information of how to set up a saving’s account. Like I said earlier, I have so much more to say on the value of savings accounts or “storehouses”, but I just want to leave you with this thought: God loves blessing your storehouses (where you store you’re your surplus, your abundance, or even just your storage for times of famine). Deuteronomy 28:8 says,
“The Lord will command his blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.”
I love this verse because it doesn’t just say “storehouse”, it says “storehouses”! More than one, and I have nine! Bring it Lord! So if you don’t even have one, you have got to get a storehouse today in order to have blessing on your storehouse. And I promise you it will be blessed, and your family will be blessed, both in times of famine and in times of abundance.