Years of study or the beginning of active life often rhyme with small income, and therefore difficulties in putting aside. However, according to a Yougov study conducted with 18-34 year olds for the PLUM application, and published on September 24, this age group manages to spare everything. Nearly 8 out of 10 respondents say they manage to put money on the year. It must be said that the lack of financial security seems to worry them: 45%of respondents claim to save to have a safety net, before thinking of travel (42%) or the purchase of equipment (31%).
Building precautionary savings – that is to say a reserve of three to six months’ salary – is indeed an essential step before moving on to more ambitious investment projects. To check this first box, what advice can we give to the 21% of 18-34 year olds who do not manage to put aside at all?
Economize automatically at the start of the month
The very first advice that can be given to beginners in savings is to try, when possible, to put aside at the beginning of the month. A method that simply avoids being short of money to storage when the end of the month approaches. By programming an automatic transfer as soon as you receive your salary, for example, you will no longer need to think about garnishing your woolen stockings. “The automatic transfer allows” to get into it “more easily and to erase the inertia which prevents starting to save”explains Céline Haddad, expert in personal finance at Plum.
At the start of the way, no need to try to put aside staggering uprights: “Better to start small, but regularly: 20 euros spared automatically each month will be more over a year than 200 euros placed at once”adds the expert. This is all the more true in terms of savings, “Small streams make the big rivers”. This is evidenced by the second trick: the savings challenges, which consist in forcing you to put aside small amounts in a recurring way.
Challenges of challenges and rounding
Take the example of the 52 -week challenge: it involves increasing your savings effort by one euro each week. You save 1 euro the first week of the year, 2 euros per second, etc. It may seem nothing, but you will come to the year at … 1,300 euros aside. For tighter budgets, the challenge is available with cents: by saving one more penny every day, we reach a total of 667 euros After a year, with, on the last day, a savings effort limited to 3.65 euros. “This may be enough to finance a trip or vacation, for example, the average cost of which is around 800 euros, according to our respondents”supports Céline Haddad.
Finally, the last tip to combine automatic savings and accumulation of small amounts: the rounding method. Thanks to certain applications (Goin, Ismo, Plum, Trade Republic, etc.), you can, when you set a purchase, pay the upper rounding. For example, you pay 2 euros for a crescent at 1.30 euros, and 70 euro cents are saved. It may seem tiny, and yet “Our users who use this feature are surprised, as they simply reach their expenses to save a Thirty euros per month“, Details Céline Haddad.
As a bonus: to force yourself to do with something, it is better to have a goal: “We never spare anything for anything, you have to give meaning to your savings, that is to say to have a more or less concrete project: going on a trip, buying something important for yourself, etc. It is always more motivating to know why we save, especially when it is difficult “concludes the expert.