Save a Ton of Money With This One Simple Trick

Society has really forced this consumerist idea into us, so you really can't blame someone who isn't good at saving.

We actually think we need all the things we have when we really don't. We convince ourselves we don't want to live like hermits, so it's better to spend all our money and have fun. Sure, you want a decent standard of living.

So, here is one trick to keep your standard of living high, but also help you save money.

It's really simple, but first I want to explain why most financial advice doesn't work for most people.

Most financial advice just tells you to save more and more of your income. Some recommend adjusting your lifestyle, others find neat ways to increase savings, but it's all really the same thing.

But people aren't willing to save even 5% of their income, who thinks they can get to 20%? These goes are great and it's what you NEED to save if you ever want to retire, but with today's mindset, nobody can do it. There are a hundred other things you want to spend your paycheck on.

So, of course you need to be saving, and you should be saving more. You should be cutting back your expenses too and investing your money in solid investments. But you aren't.

You need to stop lifestyle inflation.

Lifestyle inflation is simple how your lifestyle gets more expensive every time you have more money in your pocket.

Get a nice raise? You buy a nice car to match. Get a promotion? Now you have a house.

You get the idea.

It's really hard to stop this too because it's everything you've always wanted.

So, I suggest finding some percent of your income you can actually save, even if it's only 1 or 2%. Next, every time you get a raise or a promotion, save half of it and spend the other half.

Let's say you earn $4,000 each month and you're saving 5% which is $200. Let's say you get a get a 3% raise so now you're earning $4,120. Under the old advice of saving "X%", you will simple start saving 5% of that raise which is only worth peanuts. The rest of the money goes straight to your spending account.

Nope, you need to save half. You should start saving $260 per month. Suddenly your savings rate jumps to 6.3% (260 / 4120). You are saving more, AND spending more. You can live a better life and also save more money. Why isn't everyone doing this?

Save more and spend less

You can also mix this with very modest spending decreases.

I know everyone in the government thinks they can't cut spending by 1%, but I assure you, it's possible.

Try cutting just 1% of your spending budget this month. That is only $40. Think you can find $40 in spending cuts?

Once you have mastered this, then try to cut another 1%.

Keep doing this and see your savings skyrocket

The power of compounding these and compound interest

Alright, so now you have jumped your savings from 5% up to 6.3%.

Then you cut your spending by $40 so your total savings is $300 or 7.3% of your income.

That's not bad, an extra $1,200 in savings each year. Maybe it doesn't seem like a lot, so let's look at the power of compound interest.

Over the course of 30 years at the S&P500 average interest rate of 8%, your extra $100 is worth about $148,000.

Now do you think you can make these small changes and save that money?