Life just moves at its own pace, and our daily habits from spending to grooming are all created by self! Sometimes we are great about things like grooming and getting our hair, teeth and outfits just right and then there are the other things, that we generally over-spend on like hair, teeth, clothing, and so on, because we have always spent what we spend. As we move along in life, we find a partner, create a home, continue to spend as we always have, and accumulate more luxury items, after all life is divine right? Our partner gathers luxury items, and before you know it, the theme of life in your home becomes, “spend, spend, spend” rather than, “save, save, save!” Now, as time progresses, you and your partner decide on a family and then the expenses roll in the door more than ever, and spending continues, while saving may not. Tax refunds are used for those little vacations you wanted, you work as a team to buy a new car, and you dine out more because it is so darn easy, but S-T-O-P because you have you considered a college fund yet for those growing kids that make the days merge together quicker than a race car driving laps? I am all about living life out loud, lavishly and enjoying the good life, but you have to apply the brakes just a bit in order to successfully save for college. Here’s how to lavishly live financial success out loud and start changing how to save for college in your home with your partner!
It’s hard to figure life out, and often we learn through our mistakes. Punishment, as I might wrongly look at it, is not saving enough money for college and then having to obtain that unforgiving student loan that you end up co-signing on because your spending did not cut out the luxury items, the fancy cars or the spending on fancy vacations that have come and gone! Now it’s time to learn from the expert on how to cut back, and start changing how to save for college while still enjoying life!
Meet Financial expert Nicole Lapin who has teamed up with Capital One Bank to help consumers ‘Challenge Your Savings’ to make saving up for those bigger purchases simple and easy. Nicole believe that when it comes to financial goals like saving for a college education, individuals need to get into the nitty gritty – no detail or expense is too small when you’re trying to get a sense of your overall financial picture, especially when it comes to saving. Here are Nicole’s Tips to help you achieve that success and start funding college.
1. * Cut out one “luxury” item. If you have high-interest debt, cut out one luxury expense—like dining out weekly or a pricey monthly salon visit—and put use every available dime toward paying down your debt. This will give you a nice financial bump in two ways: 1) once the debt is gone, you’ll find yourself with even more “fun” money because you’re no longer paying off yesterday’s fun money with interest; and 2) you might find that you’ve lost a taste for those expensive habits that got you into trouble to begin with.
2 * Work as a team. If you and your spouse are trying to save for a shared expense, such as the down payment on a house or a new car, set up a “matching” savings plan and get there twice as fast. You can easily track it all with 360 Savings from Capital One’s My Savings Goals tool. To add even more incentive, for every dollar your spouse saves against your goal, pledge to match a dollar. Not only does this method give you both skin in the game but a little friendly competition will move those savings along more quickly.
3. * Take advantage of tax refunds. Stop seeing your annual tax refund as free money. It’s not free money; it’s your money. As soon as you receive your refund, transfer those funds directly into your savings account to give it a bonus boost.
4 * Capital One Bank prides itself in helping individuals get more out of their savings. That’s why their 360 Savings accounts require no fees, no minimums and provide great interest rates that better support and get you to your savings goals faster.
After reading the tips from Nicole the big picture becomes narrowed down to a small one, as it is once again back to babyhood to get the answers we all seek: BABYSTEPS achieve large footprints on the road to success when saving for college. It is necessary to take out ‘little’ things to gain bigger ones, actually making this very simple-to-follow advice. The other key piece is the 360 Savings Account, which you can learn more about here:
Changing how you live is changing how you save for college and the Capital One 360 Savings offers success in just a few steps. First be able to let Capital One 360 Savings know what you saving for, so you have a GOAL set to reach. Then, begin to calculate your goal figuring out how much you need to save and by when. Finally tracking that savings journey is the big picture here and it will help you see your success because while before your success was based on that luxury car you got and can see daily, now the numbers that are adding up are your success that you need to celebrate. Lavishly live your financial success out loud as you start Changing How To Save For College with Capital One 360 Savings.
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