{"id":218,"date":"2009-04-09T07:34:46","date_gmt":"2009-04-09T14:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.knuetter.com\/christian\/?p=218"},"modified":"2009-04-09T07:34:46","modified_gmt":"2009-04-09T14:34:46","slug":"automated-savings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.knuetter.com\/christian\/2009\/04\/09\/automated-savings\/","title":{"rendered":"automated savings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, I wrote about how I tried to actively manage my finances<\/a>, in order to better afford the things that are important to me.<\/p>\n

There have been a few simple methods I’ve used over the years to help me with my finances.\u00a0 The first is really easy – simply subscribing to a financial magazine.\u00a0 I tried a few over the years (and I haven’t had one now for a couple) but I found that just getting a monthly reminder in the mail that financial planning is something you should be considering was enough to keep me engaged – I’d check in on my 401k allocations, think about whether I was saving enough money, and pledge to get better at doing both.\u00a0 Of course many of those pledges were unrealized, but if even a few came to fruition, that’s still once a quarter where I did something to improve my financial standing.<\/p>\n

Lately, I’ve been enjoying all of the content that the ‘new’ web has to offer including podcasts and blogs.\u00a0 One blog that I’ve come across lately that I like is Get Rich Slowly<\/a>.\u00a0 This site offers straightforward advice on how to think about your finances and how to apply that to your living situation in a sane way and hopefully build wealth while you’re at it.\u00a0 The problem with this site, for me, is that many of the topics are for people just looking to get control of their situation – get out of credit card debt, live within their means, etc.,\u00a0 This (thankfully) hasn’t been me for many years.\u00a0 But, again, the check-in from time to time on these topics is a good reminder to myself to think about what I’m spending and saving.<\/p>\n

By far, the most successful method I’ve had for thinking about savings – was to remove thinking from the equation (go figure).\u00a0 I started with an automated 401k program at work (years ago) but I’ve built that to what I have now: A fully though-out system for putting money away.<\/p>\n

Each paycheck I receive gets broken into different parts automatically and stashed into various accounts.\u00a0 In January my company overhauled its payroll system which was the perfect opportunity for me to overhaul my savings plan.<\/p>\n

Right now it works like this.\u00a0 Each paycheck:<\/p>\n