Changing our spending habits is hard and takes a good deal of commitment and discipline. In fact, to demonstrate how hard it can be, it is believed that if the 90% of the world’s wealth which currently belongs to just 10% of the population were to be redistributed, it would only take seven years before it was back in the hands of the 10% again.
Of course, for most of us, the tendency is either to spend what we earn or to spend more than we earn, neither of which provides much opportunity to get ahead of ourselves and meet our longer-term goals in life. One of the great difficulties that we have in saving, however, happens because we wait to see what is left over (which is usually nothing), rather than making saving a priority. We start the month with all good intentions in terms of cutting back so that we can squirrel a bit of cash away, but somehow it is all gone by the time the next payday comes around.
One of the most effective ways to start saving though, is simply to set up a direct debit or standing order so that a certain amount of money is effectively deducted from your monthly salary and deposited into a separate savings account before you even see it. If you choose a savings account which requires a period of notice before making a withdrawal, you will be even less inclined to touch it.