The Stages of Saving

Guest post

I have been thinking a lot lately about the things that people save money for. Depending on what stage of your life you are in, the purpose of your savings can be pretty different. When you are in your teenage years, you are probably thinking about saving for a car. If you are somewhat financially independent, you are probably also thinking about saving for college. When you are in your twenties-thirties you are thinking about saving for things like a house and/or a wedding. When you are in your forties-fifties the cycle kind of starts over, only this time you are probably saving for your children's first car, and their college funds. Hopefully, you are also able to start putting some money away for your retirement. This is probably the most important thing, especially in today's economic climate. I know many people of the baby boomer generation who have had to put off their retirement for years because they had not saved money and banked on pensions and 401k's that have lost money or are no longer available to them and they didn't have the savings to make up the difference. Then, once you are retired, if you are like my grandmother, you save up to have extra money to spoil your grandkids with! Me, personally, I am twenty something and not interested so much in saving for a house or a wedding (thought I guess that would be the responsible thing to do) but more interested in saving up to be able to take a trip some place really awesome. I am not talking about a short vacation here either, I am hoping to put away enough money to stay somewhere for 6 months to a year. Depending on where I decide to go this could mean a substantial amount of savings, but I know it will be well worth the effort!