That is great to hear Sasha, congratulations! You may know this, but in case you get $500 more at the beginning of 2016, you can still deposit that amount and count towards your 2015 contribution for your Roth IRA. That way when you save more in 2016, it won't count towards your 2016 contribution limit.

I almost reached my goal this year of saving $5,000. I am about $500 short. I put this money into my Roth IRA and hope that was a wise move. It is so difficult to save money these days and make any sort of gain on this money.

In relation to Chris's blog on Common Financial Goals for 2015, who has successfully completed their financial goals for 2015? If so, what were your goals and how did you achieve them?

That is great to hear! If you don't mind me asking how much you were able to save % wise when you were saving between $2,000 to $4,000 a month. It would be very helpful for people to know and use that as a guide. I set a monthly goal to save roughly 30% of my income per month, but I usually am only able to save 25% of my income. Some months are better than others, but I always try to set a high goal so I can work towards achieving it.

I know exactly what I need to do to save more - go back to a budget. I manage to save between $2000 and $4000 a month, but when I was on a budget, that number was more consistent and I was saving about 25% more. I'm glad I saw this thread because it's motivated me to work up a new budget and stick to it.

Hi Bloodfood, I wanted to follow up to see if you wanted to go through your savings plans to see if I could help your specific situation out given your age group and standards. I am happy to talk through your case in detail and provide some additional insight.

Sure, I understand the advice I said below is very simple and high level. Each person’s case is unique and will be different based on their situation. What is important is people usually have a lot of difficulty even starting and don’t know how they can even start saving. If you live by the above mantra, it should help at least you get started.

I would be happy to give your case a much more detailed look and help you where I can. What don’t you tell me your goals and current plan, and I can give your case a more detailed analysis.

FrankN wrote: The ability to save is very important for your life and future. The best way I like to think about it is paying yourself first. In my opinion that is one of the best ways to start saving and accumulating wealth. Every paycheck or payment you receive, you should automatically put a portion of that income into a savings or investment account. If you “pay yourself” first, then you know how much you will have left over for your everyday expenses. It will become easier to save, and you will appreciate it once you see how much money you have saved when you retire!

Sir this is the most simple advise one could give, but mostly people here are looking for a consolidated plan which suits their age group and standards. I have been working on that since last 3 months and could expect some help from you as well as you and I are thinking on the same frequency.

The ability to save is very important for your life and future. The best way I like to think about it is paying yourself first. In my opinion that is one of the best ways to start saving and accumulating wealth. Every paycheck or payment you receive, you should automatically put a portion of that income into a savings or investment account. If you “pay yourself” first, then you know how much you will have left over for your everyday expenses. It will become easier to save, and you will appreciate it once you see how much money you have saved when you retire!

To control your expenses you need to know where is your money going unnecessarily, a friend of mine also told me to save money its not that I have to save because I don’t have much just for the sake of a good habit, I cut down my expenses almost by 30-35% and started saving around 70-80 bucks a month a and around a 1 year later I had a bad accident, I broke my jaw, 4 fractures in left leg, 3 in left arm and around 30 total fractures there is a need of immediate surgery and all i left with is that saved money. Saving of my life saved my life.

You know I started this thread over 4 years ago ! I have re-read all the posts since then and although the economy is somewhat better than in Jan 2008, everybody is on the same page and doing what they can to save what they can. I wish good luck to us all in our attempts to save.......

After losing my job 2 years ago and having to start over, you bet I save. I hope I never have to see the day again where I pawn almost everything I own just to pay bills. It's been a very tough 2 years but you know the saying.........."What doesn't kill ya, makes you stronger". While that is true, I'd prefer to be a little less strong and have an easier go at it.

Well said. A successful person always learn from his last mistake. Same happened with me last year when I was not able to maintain my savings due to my extra expenses and within three months I realize that and I started saving again and maintain my all saving accounts.

Most of the time, the little things that go unnoticed are really those that can help with big savings.

I agree if Americans did more of that, more cash would be avaliable for investment and spur the economy, lttle things like that would superimpose a recission squash it and start a new birth of AMerican resilence. Kudos

I read an article from the web that we can save some money on buying groceries! Was surprised that even coupons can really help a lot.

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/personal-finance/7-ways-to-save-money-on-groceries-1.aspx

Most of the time, the little things that go unnoticed are really those that can help with big savings.

I read an article from the web that we can save some money on buying groceries! Was surprised that even coupons can really help a lot.

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/personal-finance/7-ways-to-save-money-on-groceries-1.aspx