Philadelphia woman saves automatically
Seeing the Benefit of Baby Steps
“Honestly, I thought I brought Alethia in for them, our parents,” she said. “Once she started presenting that workshop, I thought, “Oh my God, that is for me.”
Lindsay had attended other financial workshops in the past, but they lacked the concrete actions steps that had caused her supervisor to favor Philadelphia Saves. “It’s not that I didn’t hear it before or see it before,” she said. But Calback’s practical, “down-to-earth” approach finally got through. “She made it seem doable. For the first time, I could really see myself saving.”
Responding to Calback’s persuasion, Lindsay signed up on the spot, becoming the 50,000th person to enroll in America Saves in the process. (See related article, this page.) She chose creating an emergency fund as her first goal, she said, because when she’d tried to start saving in the past, “that’s what had me strike out many times – something that came up that was unexpected.”
Before she could do that, she had to choose a bank account to put her emergency savings in. In the past, when she got her paycheck, she would get it cashed at a check-cashing place, paying $7 each time. The workshop helped her realize that she could start to save that amount, she said.
So, the next time the credit union came in to give a presentation, she signed up to have her paycheck direct deposited. In addition to the amount she is saving for an emergency fund, she chose to have $10 from each paycheck deposited into savings, $5 in a vacation fund, and $5 in a holiday account. “This workshop has really triggered off a domino effect,” she said.
Reading the savings tips in the newsletter and brochure and meeting with a financial planner have also made her more conscious of how she can cut back her spending, she said. She drinks water instead of soda, uses coupons at the grocery store, and has cut back on her eating out.
It helps that several people in her office also signed up with Saves when she did, Lindsay said, because they support one another. Between her supervisor, her co-workers, and the people from Philadelphia Saves, “I have support around me. You have like a cheerleading squad – people who know, who are experienced.”
One important lesson she’s learned from Saves, she said, is that “there’s nothing wrong with taking little baby steps.” Taking those baby steps has given her a new outlook, she said. “I feel like I’ve got a little hope, whereas before I couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
“For the first time, I could really see myself saving.” --Kathleen Lindsay, Philadelphia Saver