Do you regret not saving? Try this now.

"Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving".

– Warren Buffett

We all have always been hearing from people, listening to podcasts, motivational speakers, reading books on how to start saving. We know how important it is to save and how to prepare for the future. We do not want to be poor, we want to leave behind fortune for our children and family. We don't want to leave the earth with nothing left for the next generation behind us. All this starts when we take the decision to save and make our money work for us through investment. Many people are caught unprepared when they should have made use of the advice they received in the past and today, they are regretting just like I am now but the happy part is that I am given another chance because I am yet to own a family or wanting to start something to help me.

Yesterday, I made a post on how I regretted not saving when I should have. I regret ever spending when I save instead of being consistent. I will always be tempted to break the local savings box I used to save in as a child then and would spend it all. I first knew about Savings when I and my family were traveling as a small child when I saw an inscription boldly written on a big signboard on the road "Do not eat with your ten fingers"

That was what inspired me to start saving but I wasn't consistent until I grew up and was in University. I knew what hit me so hard that I promised to start saving and to God be the glory, it has always rescued me from emergencies especially when I needed money while waiting for them to send me money from home.

I spoke about the book I came across a few days ago titled "The Richest Man in Babylon" and said if I had seen this book in the past, I would have been inspired to consistently save part of my money because there was a word that struck my mind when I read it. It says "A Part of all I earned is mine to keep". This hit me so hard that I kept thinking of my past. What if I had been saving part of what I was given as a child? What if I didn't decide to break the local saving box? What if I made a strong decision to keep saving no matter what happened even when I got into University? I won't regret it at all because I know my life would have changed a lot.

So many people are like me right now, thinking if they had been saving before now. The truth is that as long as we earn, nothing should stop us from saving after removing our tithes. Never eat with your ten fingers. This means, not spending all your 100% income when you can remove part of it which is 10% into your lean purse so it will get fattened.

I learnt of the man "Arkad" from the book who became the richest man in Babylon because of his decision to pay himself first. Part of all he earned was his to keep.

Ever since I came to know about blogging platforms, that was when I started saving little until now. I am so happy that I am saving money. One thing that can stop a man from saving is when you do not have any source of income. Why wouldn't you have one or two when you are not lazy? As long as your hands and legs are walking, there shouldn't be anything stopping you.

A friend on hive commented on my post and talked about the book too and how it opened her eyes especially to the first words "A part of all I earned is mine to keep". That brought limelight to her in reading more books about finance and savings. She then said something I would like to share with you all here because if I find it worth it, I should share with you too so we would both grab the opportunity.

According to her, she said "she read books where people who started saving late did greatly because they save bigger sums". She said to me again "It's never too late to start….If you think time is against you, then increase the percentage of your savings and reduce your expenses. It will do the magic".

Yes, I love what she said and that is very true. We may think we didn't start saving early enough and you are regretting that if you had saved then, it would be something great today. As long as you are still living and earning on this platform or other places you are earning from, you can double the percentage. Let's say you could have started with 10% in the past but since you didn't do it. Now that you are working and earning, increase it to 20% and you will be amazed at what you have accumulated in five to ten years from now. It's never too late and this is what I am doing now.

If you are on Hive, you will know you have the opportunity to make your HBD work for you with the HBD APR increased to 20% from 12% earlier this year. This means when you save your Hbd, it starts generating 20% interest for you. Can you see this is another chance to make use of savings on the platform? When I knew about the change last week, I quickly transferred some of my Hbd into savings and I am earning 20% interest already. This is a great opportunity to make use of now.

Don't wait anymore if you are reading this, if you haven't been saving before and you think time is against you, increase your percentage and enjoy your future in good life. Save double of what you intend saving in the past and don't be caught up in the future regretting that you should have made use of the moment.

Thanks for reading.

Images by Towfiqu and Ahtziri on unsplash and designed on Canva.

[April 22, 2022] (No 112 article for the year)