Sitting down with Chintake Yapa, AVP for Retail Marketing at Nations Trust Bank, he discussed why it’s essential for everyone, especially young people, to start saving right now.
Chintake is ideally positioned to speak on the subject as he comes into contact with individuals from diverse backgrounds during the course of his work and has had plenty of opportunity to study socioeconomic trends and needs.
Why is it important for young people to start saving right away?
It’s easy to overlook the importance of saving when you’re young. However, saving is probably one of the most important things you can do for yourself and your family. Think of saving as an investment in your future self.
Also, if you start saving when you’re young, you have more opportunities open to you. You can take more calculated risks in life and have a better chance of achieving more.
What do you mean by more calculated risks?
Say you start saving straight away at age 20. By the time you’re 25, you have collected a small fortune, while not having big commitments in life. Now you’re in a position to try something new, to take a calculated risk and start a business or make an investment or even a down payment for something you want to acquire. You can even be free to really pursue and choose a job that you want because you have the safety of your savings.
By starting early you’ve given yourself a lot of room to play because, even if your investment or business or whatever doesn’t work out, you’re still young, and you can start from scratch again.
On the other hand, the older you get the more responsibilities you have. Therefore, it becomes increasingly difficult to try new things.
Even if you just keep saving, having started young, you’ll have more money saved up and thus more opportunities than those who didn’t save up early on. Healthy savings can also help you deal with emergencies less stressfully.
Is just putting money away enough on its own?
Not anymore. Just putting money away isn’t enough. You need to ensure that you get the best return on your savings. That means high yielding savings accounts and investment plans that provide high interest rates so that your savings grow faster.
It’s not enough to just save, you need to make your savings grow and work for you. This means investing it wisely. Especially at the beginning, it’s important to select the right tools.
What’s the best way to start?
In the modern world, there are many paths available. The most basic is the high yielding savings account such as Nations MaxBonus, which provides up to 60% bonus on interest earnings, plus other benefits including insurance and access to funds.
Another important tool is the fixed deposit. These require you to put your money away and forget about it for longer periods, allowing it to grow. In return, you get the best interest rates.
How important is planning when saving?
Failing to plan is planning to fail. It’s as simple as that. It’s amazing what you can achieve with a plan!
At Nations Trust, we are actually able to help you with this through the Nations Personal Investment Plan. We help you commit to a 1 to 5-year plan, where you keep saving a certain fixed amount each month and earn a guaranteed 9% interest rate on your savings.
Depending on your plan, you can then reach a targeted lump sum amount by a given date.
Any final advice?
Don’t wait anymore! Start saving today and remember that you have more tools for saving now than ever before. At Nations Trust Bank, we are ready you help you. All you have to do is ask.
If you want more advice and information, speak to one of our experts today. Walk in to any of our branches or call our 24/7 contact centre on 011 4 711 411.
Remember, today is always the best day to start saving!
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