5 Behaviors of Highly Effective Savers

Today's blog is a guest blog from the team at Debt.Org. Special thanks to the writer, Alanna Ritchie.

Managing personal finances successfully requires more than understanding numbers and having good accounting skills. In order for debt management solutions to be effective in helping you get out of debt and stay that way, they must be supported by changes in behavior.

Adopting five behaviors of highly effective savers can help to ensure that once you gain control over your debt and finances, you'll be able to keep that control in the long-term. Try incorporating these behaviors into the way you operate your personal finances, as well as your life in general, and you'll be sure to see positive results:

Set Incremental Goals

Setting a huge, generalized goal may end up overwhelming you, rather than moving you forward. Take that big goal – to get out of debt, perhaps – and break it into smaller, very specific steps with a workable, realistic time schedule. For example, when preparing for an upcoming big expense, set a weekly goal for saving for it.

Be a Good Record Keeper

Keeping track of what comes in and what goes out assists you in understanding the effects of your financial choices. When you are working to regain control of your finances, being a good record keeper will show you the positive results of your efforts, supplying even more motivation to keep up the good work.

3.       Own Your Situation and Your Choices

If creditors are pressing you or your credit card interest rates have skyrocketed, the bottom line is that such things are a natural consequence of your past behavior. Accept it, own it and deal with it, rather than being angry at the people calling or your credit card company. It will reduce the stress in your life and help you to be more focused on what has to be done. Maybe think of joining a credit union. They normally have fewer fees, lower interest rates on loans, more services and higher dividends on deposits than banks.

4.       Prioritize Properly

Place long-term well-being over instant gratification. Expand your vision beyond what you want in the moment to what you hope for and really need in the future by putting money in savings before you spend any for pleasure. Apply this concept to credit card use. Make financial choices—like putting money in savings or making a credit card purchase only if you know you will be able to handle payments—with the future in 

mind.

5.       Evaluate and Adjust as Needed

Effective savers are good at evaluating their own behaviors and situations and making the necessary improvements. They strive to be honest about their weaknesses and work hard to improve them. That is because they keep their goals and the big picture clearly in mind.

When you make these behaviors a part of how you manage your life and your finances, you'll be able to make the most out of the opportunity that debt settlement or other debt-related solutions offer you. All the work you do to eliminate debt will be wasted if you don't supplement the effort by developing behaviors that will keep you from returning to that position again.

Alanna Ritchie is a content writer for Debt.org, where she writes about personal finance and little smart ways to spend (and save) money. Alanna has an English degree from Rollins College.

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Our next Free Financial Education Workshop is this Wednesday. Credit Myths and Repair will explain the top ten myths of managing credit. We will address balances, payments, collections, and judgments.  The workshop is fun and informative. You will learn more about credit than you had ever imagined!

Credit Myths and Repair

6:30 PM - Wednesday, August 28th. 

5615 Chesbro Ave, San Jose CA 95123

To RSVP, please contact gmeyer@meriwest.com or call 408-365-6328