For those who are just entering the world of adulthood (or those who already have), what are your opinions on saving money while still young?

I’m 35 and have never saved any money. You have to have extra money to save.

I am finally in a position where I can save money. But hey, I might die tomorrow. I’m not too worried about it.

@tinyfaery that’s exactly it- I don’t see where saving money is going to take me because if I die tomorrow no one is going to bring it up to heaven for me.. and if my car dies tomorrow everything is gone

You should save so that you always have a stash of cash you can use when you’re in trouble.

Dude, start saving now. It doesn’t have to be tons of money…. It could literally be a dollar a paycheck, or like I used to do, 5 dollars a paycheck. Over a few years it makes a huge impact.

I do 25 dollars a paycheck now (just graduated college in June). It’s not so much that I miss it, but it is enough that after a few months I look at my savings account and stocks and grin a bit.

SAVE MONEY now. Trust me, it pays off big time. Just make a savings account and put X dollars a week into it, and tell yourself you can’t take any money out of this except for life changing events. In my case the list is engagement ring, house, finish paying off student loans, wedding planning… that type of stuff.

I would love to save some money. Unfortunately right now I don’t have any extra money to save

Do it.

I am a terrible saver if I have to do it actively. That’s why when I got my first “professional” job that had a 401K plan, I immediately maxed out my automatic contribution to 16% gross. It was difficult at first losing that money every paycheck, but after a while you forget about it and adjust.

In short time, I managed to sock away $50K toward retirement. Luckily I had it when my wife was laid off for two-and-a-half years. Borrowing from that was one of the reasons we managed to keep our house while she was unemployed.

Do it. As @westy81585 said, even if it’s a dollar a paycheck. Something, anything.

I guess it really depends on how much you value money and how fearful of the future you are.

I do see your points @cprevite @westy81585 – I guess I just feel like you have to save everything and that’s what’s making it difficult. I set up a savings account without a debit card so I had to physically go to the bank and take money out (which is not in the state where I go to school) but everytime I turn around I’m taking all the money out for books and tuition fees so it’s basically nothing… It always feels so pointless if I’m just gonna take it back out again

Yeah, save your money. You never know when you are gonna be out of work, or need new tires, or what ever. Life throws all kinds of stuff at you and if you are living paycheck to paycheck you are gonna get yourself in trouble.

I have found it works best when you start with them as children.

When they get money for their birthday or a holiday. 50% to do with as they wish. 50% goes into saving.
Letting them know that they still have the money. It is not being taken away, just being held on till later in life.
Teaching them self control early in life will make a big difference later in life.

I’m with @tinyfaery
We don’t know for how long we will be here, save a millon bucks, I guarantee you the day before you decide to buy that sailboar you always wanted you are going to get hit by a car… I do have an emergency fund (very small though)_ but U’d rather use what I make each month to makes those around me happy, and make myself happy, there is a verse in spanish that reads “el que come, come manjares, el que guarda, guarda pesares…” I could’t find a way to put in english, but in short words, enjoy now, later may be too late…

Young people often have this attitude that they will live so long, they can take care of retirement later. Or that they will be dying tomorrow, so it doesn’t make any difference.

You will be retiring some day if you don’t die first. Social Security won’t be worth shit then, so you’ll have to take care of yourself. You’ll have to have savings, or you’ll be working when you’re bent over with osteoporosis and trying to get a liver transplant.

Several others have told you already that if you save a dollar per pay check, you are making a huge difference in your future needs. If you ever saw a return on investment chart about this, you’d be amazed. Right now, you are all sitting on Microsoft stock in its first few years. You can sell it for a drink or a smoke if you want. Or you can save it for when you are old, and just want to be able to get into a hot bath without falling over and breaking a hip.

Anyway, even if you are living paycheck to paycheck, you can still save $5 per paycheck. It is just a matter of discipline. Instead of that frappuccino at Starbucks one day, you have water. Just once. Or skip a pack of smokes. Or stay away from the pot one day a week, or walk to the store instead of taking the bus. Everyone can find one thing worth $5 every week that they can do without.

Do it. In fifty years, you’ll be amazed, and you’ll be trying to remember who was that crazy guy who told you to do it, because you want to go put a flower on his grave. Then again, maybe in fifty years I’ll be doing just fine, thank you, because I saved enough money to get the highest quality health care I could and to live as healthily as I could (ain’t it weird that it costs more money to live healthily than it does to treat your body like shit?). I’ll only be 103.

Don’t buy shit you don’t need.
Never get a credit card.
Never get a loan.

Needs:
Beer, posing car, nice cloths, pizza, batchelor pad, GOOD STEREO!, laptop, beer, ipod (for the stereo!), three holidays to the sun every year, beer,kinder eggs, quilted toilet paper, a good frying pan, DISH WASHER!, super soaker, sunbed (ahem, not for tanning!), vodka, second car (for the shopping!), zambooka, table football, sauna, butler, er, an BEER!

Wants:
A warm dry place to live, a heathy body and mind, 8 hours sleep a night, to be loved, to be needed.

(hang on, something wrong there!)

I think people should start saving money as soon as possible. I started putting $50 to $100 into my savings account per paycheck as soon as I got my second job. I couldn’t afford to do it with my first job, but I’m glad that I was able to for my second. It’s a really good thing that I did start saving, because I ended up having to have my tonsils removed, and even after insurance, I still owed over $1,000. If I hadn’t saved any money, I would have been completely in debt and screwed.

You’d be surprised at how quickly you can save money. Especially when the bank starts adding interest to what you have in there already. Even if you’re of the opinion that you’re too young to worry about the future, think of it this way: Save money for a big purchase – something you really want but can’t afford at this point. How awesome would it be to save up and actually be able to buy the item? On top of that, if you save enough money, you’ll probably still have money left to spend after you buy what you’ve been saving for.

There’s all of that, but there’s also the fact that I don’t think most people in my generation have thought about how hard retiring is going to be for us. There will be no Social Security, there probably won’t be anything – because nothing is being put into place for us now. Retiring with no money saved isn’t just going to be hard, it will be practically impossible for us. To me, saving money is about how much someone values money itself, it’s quality of life in an older age.

I am in college now, and I have always been stingy with my money. Once I got out of the “spend all your money on ice cream because you are six years old” stage, I have been a cautious spender. Most of my peers think that my stingy habits are odd, but I quite like the fact that I have already started saving for retirement before I really enter the workforce.It’s only funny ‘cause it’s true.

@Pazza, actually I think you got it just right. ;)

Saving money is important. Even if it’s not for “long term”, saving money and being stingy in college helps you to develop good financial habits, which are esp important for when you leave college.

I am pretty stingy with my money, each month, I pay my cell phone bill, about 3 meals out (I limit myself once a week – it’s like a cheat meal). No credit cards, debit only. I use mobile bank text messaging to keep track of my balance.

Because of the miracle of compound interest, a dollar saved when you’re young will make more money for you through your lifetime than a dollar saved later. There’s a saying, Early Money Is Like Yeast. It raises dough. ;)

A dollar saved at 2% interest, compounded quarterly, will be worth $2.71 in 50 years. However, that same dollar saved ten years before retirement, other calculations the same, will get you only $1.22. Calculate compound interest here. That doesn’t sound like much money, but if you find a better interest rate (like in a 401k) and sock away more than a dollar, those incremental savings add up.

I was young once, and I understand not having much to save. I also understand the allure of a beer with your friends, instead of saving that extra ten bucks. However, now that I’m in my late 30s, I understand that I pissed away that beer years and years ago, and am looking ahead and wondering if I will have enough money to retire on, or if I will have to work until I drop dead. Giving up a small indulgence when you’re younger helps you to have more indulgences later – like fishing with your grandkids instead of having to be the Wal*Mart greeter when you’re 70.

You are young. You will not live forever. Put as much away as you can, so when you really need it, you will have it. :)

I got my first job out of college.
I bought a brand new car (putting a down payment, out of my savings account).
I invested in mutual funds and a Roth IRA.
6 months later I moved out of my parents’ house and into my own apartment.
8 months after that, I got laid off.

I was able to pay the bills to stay in my own apartment, keep ahead on my car payments (about 6 months), and keep my independence. All because I had a savings account and unemployment benefits. It’s been almost a year since I was laid off and I’m just going back to work full time. I will now start replenishing what I had taken out. You never know what is going to happen.

All this is assuming your bank doesn’t fail, or the stock market doesn’t crash, or your employer goes into BK, etc. Nothing is certain.

Somebody’s forgetting the inflation factor!......

While it may be true for some, most people who claim that they don’t have any extra money to save are usually not as frugal as they could be. Nearly everyone I know spends money on things they do not have to buy, and that is money that could be saved.

Do it – even if it’s only a little bit. It will really help later on.

I think you shouldn’t save so much money that you don’t have any fun, and don’t experience anything because you don’t want to fork out the cash for it. But at the same time, you can’t just blow through every paycheck and be irresponsible about it. I try to save…I’ve worked since I was 16 (ok i was unemployed for three months this summer) and I have almost nothing to show for it….but I’ve had a lot of great experiences and trips, so to me that’s worth it.

The sooner you begin to save and invest.. the better. There’s just nothing complex about that part. You can always put money aside… and if your bills outweigh your income.. you need a better job or to cut back on bills.

Well, I’m 17, and I’ve saved quite a bit in my bank. I’ll be going into university next year, but my parents are paying for the majority of the costs while I’ll help out a bit with the cost of text books and such.

I personally believe that saving money is a nice thing to learn at this age. All I did was put the checks I got from work into the bank since I was 15 and take out only what I needed including: food, cell phone bills, lotions, cleansers, makeup, stuff for myself, clothing, money for fun etc. So now, I have extra money for when I need it, and also I could travel anywhere I wanted during holidays with my friends.

I guess it really depends on what people believe in though. My parents are all about saving, they’d save and then with the money, they would buy some new furniture or we’d go travelling. It’s nice to have money saved up.
I know some of my friend’s parents are all about spending though.

So, up to you.

I have had a bank account for a long time…or at least, my mom has always had one in my name. (There was a limit at her bank as to how many she could have, and she preferred having her money separated.)

That said, my mom has always been the type to say “save some for a rainy day”, and she saves a lot of money herself, so it has never crossed my mind not to save, although now that I have income again, there are definitely some things I would like to buy. (Since I am not the type of girl who spends lots of money on her hair or nails or clothes, I have money to spend on other things.)

I have paid for several trips and had spending money on others because of saving my money. I can’t think of a reason why it would be a bad idea. I’m not saying put everything in the bank—far from it. Instead, decide how much to put in the bank and how much to spend, and try to stick to it.

I started full time work at 16 years old and I really, really wish I had saved some money. My dad kept on at me to do so (still does!) and I just thought “yeah, yeah, I’ve got loads of time”. Now I am 23 years old, living on my own and although I am still in full time work I really struggle for money. I have no savings and I am living in an overdraft. Now that I live alone and have bills and rent to pay I can’t afford to save but I probably could have a few years ago when I was living with my dad and so my outgoings were minimal.

The most useful thing when you are young it to develop a habit of saving, either by finding the lowest price for products and put off buying until that price is found, or by putting aside an amount of cash, no matter how small, until it builds up.

Step one: Take all the coins you receive in change and throw them into a can until they add up to a bank deposit. Then open an account, and continue saving the coins and depositing them. You will be amazed at how much savings you will have at the end of the year by just not spending those coins.

Step two: think of something you can do without every day. Take the money you were going to spend on it and put it in your savings can. Take a granola bar, or package of nuts with you at all times. If you get hungry, don’t buy something to eat, but eat the granola bar you have. (Buy them in bulk to save even more)

Step Three: Do not drink anything but water. Take all the money you have been spending on coffee, soft drinks, and alcohol, and put it in the bank. You will find that it adds up really fast. (I suspect for most people it would be at least $25 a month, and more likely $50 each and every month).