Budget Sense

I have been using ING bank to save money since 2008 and it is one of the biggest reasons to which I attribute my increasing interest (pun intended) in saving money.

There are a lot of places you can go to open a saving account but ING is different. Different for three reasons: higher interest rates, ease of use and last but not least, their success in making saving money a cool thing. And this last point is what I would like to focus on here.

We all know that saving money is and never was a fun or cool thing to do. It is all about shopping and spending money to buy anything and everything we desire and want. With ING saving has suddenly become cool, while spending money, not so much. This re-engineering and re-branding of the way we think about money has helped ING become synonymous with saving money and investing for the future.

As part of their effort to make saving cool and fun, they have taken full advantage of the explosive popularity of social media. This has helped it get to even more people, especially young people, and turn them into savers as well.  Their website is also ease to use and have taken the complexity out of transferring money from your regular bank. The site has lots of tools to help you with your saving. For example, you can set an automated schedule to transfer money from your bank to your ING saving account.

If you are having trouble saving money and have been a chronic shopaholic, give ING a try. It may mean the difference between renting for life or having your own house in a few years.

p.s: Full disclosure: the author of this blog, as has already been mentioned, is an ING user. If you would like to open a new account, we would appreciate you mentioning us as a referrer and we will both get a bonus referral fee of $25!  Just mention our referral code “17109393S1”

How To Create the Right Emergency Fund

By: guest author ‘Alicia Sanders‘

Unfortunately, we live in complicated financial times when lots of consumers complain that they don’t have an opportunity for

An emergency fund is for everyone and not only the poor

saving money because their budget is really tough. Many Canadian consumers don’t have any savings and that’s why when an unexpected financial problem arises they need to borrow cash to fix it. We plan our expenses and try to foresee different situations, but life is unpredictable and anything can happen. And that’s why it’s so important to protect yourself from unpleasant surprises and create an emergency fund. These savings will be your helping hand in case of financial emergency and there will be no need to apply to people you know or different lending institutions and ask for financial help. Creation of an emergency fund is a first step on your way to a personal financial independence and it’s very important to make this step wisely.

Define How Much You Need To Save

Do you know what can be called a perfect emergency fund? It’s in case your savings are enough to cover your expenses during 3 months. Make some math and count how much money you need to cover your monthly expenses including regular bills, mortgage or rent payments, food, health insurance and other personal expenses. Then multiply this sum for three and that will be a minimum for your emergency fund. Estimate your financial situation and risks of losing a job or other possible troubles and try to define how much you need to feel more comfortable. In case you have enough then you feel calm and can sleep well at night because you’re confident in your ability to fix possible financial problems.

Choose The Right Place For Your Money

It’s completely up to you where to put your savings. But of course, it’s better to put money in a place where it can make some interest so it will bring you an additional profit. You can open a savings account in a bank and it will make your savings work for you. But on the other hand, today’s economic situation is highly unstable and you never know if you can trust to one of another financial institution. So you should choose a place where your money will be absolutely safe. It will be better if this place won’t be easily available for you because there’s a risk that you will try to use some cash until there will appear an important reason for that.

Access Your Savings Only in Emergency

The main goal of the emergency fund is to protect your well-being in completely unexpected situations. Nowadays it’s popular to apply for unsecured loans from places like NorthenLoans.ca or other lending companies in case there’s a need for fast financial assistance, but if you have savings you can easily avoid borrowing and making financial commitments. Remember that and don’t touch your savings unless there’s a real emergency. Also it’s important to understand that emergency isn’t just another casual problem which may arise any day. That’s why it’s important to cherish your efforts and not forget about your real goals.