North Carolina woman chooses to save
Barbara Johnson never thought of herself as someone who could save. “I never thought I could afford a big ticket item,” she said. “I just never thought of saving before.” Now she’s bought a house, created an emergency fund, paid down her debts, and started putting money in a 401(k) plan. She credits Saves with giving her “the empowerment of knowing I could save.”
Ms. Johnson came to the program when she began saving to buy a home through the Individual Development Account program offered by Experiment in Self-Reliance and Consumer Credit Counseling Services. The program had affiliated with Saves because they wanted participants to continue their saving habits after their IDA goal had been achieved.
That’s just what Ms. Johnson did. After she saved enough for a down payment on a house, she made putting money in an emergency fund her second goal. Before that, “emergency expenses would break me,” she said.
Saves also helped her develop a plan for her finances. “I was able to talk to someone and realize I could do it,” she said. She paid down her debt by temporarily working overtime. “Without a plan it was too overwhelming.” Saves also made her aware of savings opportunities she had never looked into before, like the “free money” she was giving up by not participating in her employer’s 401(k) plan.
The biggest challenge was having “the discipline to start saving ... to actually put the money into the bank,” she said. “If you’re not accustomed to saving, it is hard to get it there. It takes a lot of discipline to do it and leave it.” She got around that by having money directly deposited into her account, “because it is much easier to not miss the money if you don’t have it in your hand.”
Now she teaches her children the lessons she has learned. Each of her three children has a savings account. When they get money for presents, they save a portion of it in their accounts. “They make savings a competition of who can save more ... and make an event out of going to the bank. It really creates an excitement to save,” she said. “Saving is going to be second nature to them. They won’t have to learn it as an adult as I did.”
Ms. Johnson also shares what she has learned as a motivational speaker for North Carolina Saves. She wants people to know that “saving can be for everyone.” Her advice to Savers is to “be persistent. Be sure to pay yourself first. It is in your best interest. You have to ask yourself, ‘Am I saving this money for me, or am I going to buy a soda? Is my saving goal worth giving up this Coke? Yes, my goal is more important.”
Ultimately, it comes down to this, she said. “You have to choose to save.”