Save $10 a Day
Saving money doesn’t have to be an enormous burden. You can put away a significant amount of money over time by saving as little as $1 per day. If you’re able to save more, say, $10, then you could have as much as three-quarters of a million dollars over time. We’ll give you various scenarios to help you see how small, regular contributions to your savings add up over time, and we’ll also give you tips on how to save $10 a day easily.
Assuming No Interest Earned
Let’s say you begin tucking away money under your mattress or in a sock drawer. Even without interest, savings still accumulate to a substantial amount over time. Here are a few scenarios:
- If you save $1/day for 50 years, you will have $18,000.
- If you save $5/day for 10 years, you will have $18,000.
- If you save $5/day for 50 years, you will have $90,000.
- If you save $10/day for 10 years, you will have $36,000.
- If you save $10/day for 50 years, you will have $180,000.
Factoring in Interest
Of course, when most people save, they have the sense to put it in an interest-bearing bank account of some kind. Assuming a 5% APY on your account, here are a few savings scenarios:
- If you save $1/day for 50 years, you will have $79,134.
- If you save $5/day for 10 years, you will have $23,772.
- If you save $5/day for 50 years, you will have $395,668.
- If you save $10/day for 10 years, you will have $47,544.
- If you save $10/day for 50 years, you will have $791,335.
Small Changes Make a Big Difference
As you can see, saving even a modest amount of money every day over a few decades can add up to over $790,000. Saving $10/day is very feasible. To do so, you might consider making the following cutbacks:
- Brew your coffee at home
- Don’t buy a newspaper
- Carpool with a friend to work
- Bring your lunch
- Pay down your credit cards to minimize interest expense
- Buy generic food items