10. Cell phone. Examine your bill today and cut out any unused features. Even if it only saves $1 a month, it will get you in a good habit of saving.
9. Electricity. Shut off lights and computers when you’re not in a room.
8. Food. Eat less. If you eat first thing in the morning, and don’t eat past 7, you’ll have more control of your appetitie.
7. Gasoline. Drive less. See our post on spending less on gas.
6. Depreciating assets. Buy as few as you can. These include cars, electronics, etc.
5. Insurance. Compare plans, there may be some you can do without.
4. Credit and debit cards. Ditch them. Study after study shows most people spend 5-15% more per day than people that rely on just cash. Those 2% cash back offers don’t sound so good now, do they?
3. Expensive housing. Live outside the city instead. Get some more roommates.
2. Loans. Always try to consolidate your loans into new ones with lower interest rates.
1. Everything. Try doing without as much as you can. You’ll realize that so much of what you think is a necessity isn’t really at all.

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Bank of North America has created a new savings account for customers who are tired of the low interest rates on new accounts. The new offering is called the DreamSaver Account and promises a 35% interest rate for the first five years. Unlike other high return accounts, the DreamSaver account will be FDIC insured. There are no strings attached, however according to the fine print the maximum balance for the DreamSaver is U.S. $1.

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We hear all the time how important it is to start saving when you’re young, but have you ever wondered how many people in their twenties and below actually follow that advice?

SmartYoungInvestor is currently working on a cumulation of statistics that will provide insights into the savings and investing habits of young people. Stay tuned for the results. Sign up for the newsletter to be informed when we post our findings.

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Main Street, USA - Leading personal financial analysts at The Smart Young Investor have finally declared what many have long suspected: spending that $1 on coffee each morning provides better returns than saving it. “With the top savings accounts now paying only 3% interest rates, we can no longer advise forgoing that cup of coffee in the morning for the future reward,” said SYI Vice President of Savings Advice Penny Horder. “At 3%, even if you saved $1 a day for 10 years, at the end of 50 years you’d only have accumalated $21,281, even with compounding. Is $21,000 worth more than ten years of caffeine highs? I don’t think so.”

Representatives from Starbucks were quick to jump on the news: “We’ve been teaching kids for years that ‘A penny saved is a penny earned.’ Not only is it now apparent we’ve wasted valuable teaching time, but thousands of kids have mistakenly put money into their bank accounts when they could have been developing a much more valuable addiction to caffeine.”

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