Coaches Corner
Rachel Grimes
SMMC Assistant Director of Financial Readiness
Q: I keep using the money I put in my savings account. How can I make sure the money I am saving doesn’t get used for other things?
Rachel: If you find that you keep using the money you put in your savings account you should create a budget and track all your purchases for at least one month. This will help you understand if there are areas that you could spend less money in or if you need to decrease your savings rate because of your financial obligations. If you find that you can cut back on certain purchases, you could look at getting a separate savings account from your checking account, making it slightly more difficult to access your savings for everyday purchases.
Q: My boyfriend just proposed to me. When do you think we should start thinking about investing?
Rachel: The sooner the better. As I mentioned before, you need to have emergency funds banked to cover any unanticipated expenses if other money is committed to investing. I recently got married and definitely had a money talk with my husband. Investing is a shared priority, so we are working together on a plan for the future.
Q: What do I need to do in order to start investing?
Rachel: Before you start investing make sure you have at least a month's worth of expenses saved in case of a financial emergency. To begin investing it is important to identify what are your investing goals. If you want to save for retirement you might pick a long term investment vehicle, if you want to save for a down payment on a home you might pick a short term investment vehicle. Identifying your goals is the first step to helping you understand, when, where, and how much to start investing.