Next time you buy that jazzed-up cuppa joe or go on a mad, crazy bender at a dollar store, consider the wisdom of Gary Foreman, a former financial planner who writes for U.S. News & World Report. Foreman’s “How Saving $2.75 a Day Can Change Your Life” points out that saving $2.75 a day will lead to $2,000 in two years.
Using half of that, $1,000, Foreman stretches the sum this way: “Let’s assume you earn a steady 8 percent per year on the investment. That’s less than the historic average going all the way back to 1928.
“That $1,000 investment will be worth $2,159 in 10 years and $10,063 in 30 years, all without any additional money or work on your part.”
Of course, many people are in the hole financially and that’s where the $2.75 comes into the equation.
“If you’re $1,000 in debt, where will you get the money to pay off the debt and make a $1,000 investment? Here is where the little change comes in. Saving just $2.75 a day, or $19.25 a week will produce $2,000 in two years,” Foreman says.
That’s $1,000 to pay your debts, $1,000 to invest.
Reading this might make you want to race out to buy a piggy bank for your daily $2.75 contribution, but purchase something when an old shoebox will do the trick nicely? Ain’t gonna do it.
Foreman, by the way, is the founder of TheDollarStretcher.com, which offers advice on everything from how to transfer your credit card balance to ridding your yard of pesky moles.
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