Whether your dream is an overseas holiday, a new car, a wedding, or a deposit for your very own home, you'll probably need money to make it come true. But with daily expenses and unexpected bills, sometimes these dreams can seem out of reach.
But if you break that goal amount down and work towards it on a regular basis, your dream could become a reality sooner than you think!
What are your savings goals?
Ben do you have any big savings goals?
Um it’s not very exciting but maybe superannuation I guess. Retire as early as possible. Travel the world maybe. Good plan.
What about you?
Probably slowly saving for a house. But similar to you, ideally retire early and travel the world. Sounds pretty good.
I’m saving for an overseas trip to visit my sister in Europ.e We’ve both just had babies recently. Aw fantastic.
What are you saving for Sarah?
First thing is renovating the house that we’re in at that moment.
Um I’m saving for everything in my life. My dream, travel, home, retirement, whatever. My pet – future pet. To be pet.
So I’m saving at the moment for a trip next month to go to both London and France. And I’m going to the French Open which is requiring a little bit of extra savings to get there. Tickets are quite expensive.
I’m saving for an electric bike.
Wow, why is that?
Because I’m really lazy.
I’m saving for a vacation. In about a year’s time to celebrate my parents’ 70th birthdays in Italy. We’re renting a Villa.
Oh lovely.
1. Break it down
Try setting a date you want to have the money saved by. Then divide your goal amount by the number of months in that time frame. Does this smaller, regular amount fit within your budget? If not, you might need to allocate a little more time.
Help grow your savings with a Suncorp Bank account
Say you're saving for an overseas trip and you estimate that you'll need $8,000 for everything, from flights to spending money.
$8,000 sounds like a lot of money when you're starting out. But if you think of it as $333 a month (or around $77.00 a week) over two years, it's a bit more manageable. But what if you don’t have that sort of cash to spare?
$77.00 could seem like a big chunk of your weekly earnings. But you could be throwing away that much money each week without realising it. There are plenty of ways to find extra cash within your income if you're able to make a few small changes to your spending habits.
2. Earn on savings
By selecting a higher interest account like the Growth Saver Account*, you could be rewarded for your regular saving with bonus interest.
How about using those extra earnings to help reach your goal even sooner? Or you could just put it towards more bowls of pasta during the Italy leg of the trip. Either works.
3. Schedule payments
Let your account do the work for you by setting up a regular savings plan between your savings account and your everyday account. A recurring transfer means you don’t have to worry about remembering to make a regular transfer, then accidentally overspending because you have extra funds in your spending account. The hard work is done for you, so your only worry needs to be planning which tropical beaches and food districts you will visit on your holiday. Well… we wish! But automatic transfers can definitely help take some of the stress out of saving.
How are you saving?
Cutting back on paid lunches everyday. Small, little incremental savings and cut backs and that’s pretty much it.
It all adds up I guess.
Slow and steady.
That’s it!
Speaking of saving I’m really terrible at it.
I have a budget that I try and stick to pay cycle to pay cycle, and roughly try and save about 20%.
Being an impulse buyer I go out and look at something and it feels like oh I couldn’t live without this thing, thing thing belongs to me, I need this thing in my life, it always happens to me.
I’m not a big going out person. I don’t really – don’t go anywhere.
My wife’s strategy is not to not go out.
Don’t leave the house.
It’s then just looking at that disposable, whatever I want, and that’s where I take my savings from.
My problem is I like clothes, especially activewear. It’s a problem.
Activewear or house?
You know, not have as many meals out.
I have a really good system where I keep money under my mattress. So I think that’s a great way to save money. Okay, and no one could see it? Exactly.
I think food is also a really big one. Cooking, making lunches at home.
I just put it into the bank account, the savings account, but it doesn’t really work for me because I just keep withdrawing it, and spend it on something else.
If you put it under the mattress you don’t think about it.
Probably under the pillow cover.
Yeah, that would work too. Less interest though.
Help save with flexiRates
If you don't plan on using your savings for a while, you could earn more interest with flexiRates**. flexiRates allow you to lock away a portion of your savings for up to 12 months. As well as the obvious benefit of higher interest rates, this can help keep you honest with your savings goals by not allowing you to touch your savings for the allocated time period (you can withdraw funds early, but an interest adjustment will apply).
Say you're midway through your savings journey, and your favourite store has a sale. You justify digging into your holiday fund to go hard at the sale, despite the fact your wardrobe is already overflowing with clothes. Luckily, your savings are in a flexiRates fund for another 11 months, so you have to pass on this sale in order to continue earning a higher rate of interest. You’ll thank yourself a year later when you’re in a yacht cruising through the Greek Islands.
You can reach your dream with the right moves. Remember to break it down and stick to your regular goals.
Happy savings!
Published 3 July 2022
Related links and products
Handy tools
The information is intended to be of a general nature only and any advice has been prepared without taking into account your particular objectives, financial situations or needs, so you should consider whether it is appropriate for you before acting on it. We do not accept any legal responsibility for any loss incurred as a result of reliance upon it – please make your own enquiries.
Deposit products issued by Suncorp-Metway Ltd ABN 66 010 831 722 (“Suncorp Bank”). Terms and fees apply. Read the relevant Product Information Document and Terms & Conditions before making any decisions about this product. Any advice does not take into account your particular objectives, financial situations or needs, so you should consider whether it is appropriate for you before acting on it.
