Start saving in small ways to escape pain of bad spending habits

By Joyce Gathu

Saving plans: If left undefined, the desire to save money will remain mirrage without practicability

It is not enough to nurture a desire to save money. The desire must be quantified into tangible achievable figures.

While many think so, the idea that one could have some money tucked away somewhere is attractive to many.

“Unless you have some definite saving plan, you are unlikely to realise your desire to save,” Ted Radwoli, a financial experts warns.  “Left undefined, your desire to save will remain an idea because you have shown inability to synthesise it into a product,” he adds.

Achieving set goals

But, what most newcomers into the concept of saving do not understand is that a mere desire to save, while it is a good beginning, is not enough.

Saving is a goal. Something you can write down and say, ‘this year I want to save money.

“It is like someone in Nairobi saying they want to travel. If you leave it at that, wherever you go will become your destination,” says Alice Gakii, an economist, adding that one must be clear about where they want to go.

“The same concept applies to saving money. How much money do you intend to save? Is it Sh50, Sh100, 000? You must put a figure on it,” she expounds.

Financial experts advise that saving is a goal that requires specific targets to feed it.

Martin Muthomi, a stock broker says this does not mean that a desire to save is without a reason doesn’t improve your situation.  “That desire must be defined in ways that are measurable.  If I want to save Sh100, 000, left at that,  figure is meaningless,” he adds.

Strong desire

Muthomi adds that one ought to move from a strong desire to achieve a certain goal, to tangible and measurable targets.

This means that one must decide to save a particular amount, within a particular period and also the small amounts that will be going into achieving the amount desired, must be clearly defined.

“Sh100, 000 in ten months could mean Sh10, 000 per month. So Sh10, 000 becomes your target, that feeds into your goal of Sh100, 000,” Gakii expounds. According to financial experts, a time frame helps keep your desire to achieve a certain goal, alive. “If you want to achieve a goal in six months, you become anxious the closer this period gets to elapsing and you will work even harder, to achieve it,” Ken Kareithi, a businessman, explains.

Dividing goals into targets breaks it into manageable pieces that will eventually lead you to the bigger picture. “Once that is done, what remains is your commitment as well as the continued flow of income to keep this commitment alive” Muthomi tells Business Beat.

 This, he says will require one to be purpose driven to achieve the set targets. “You must remain focused on the end goal,” Gakii adds.  While ore people are at different stages of realising the desire to save, there are those with the money but lack a plan of how to go about it. Others have the desire to save but feel as if what they have is too little.

“To those with little, they must begin small, they must understand that for every ten shillings they earn, one must not be spent,” Muthomi advises. “With time, you will realize that it’s not always about how much you have, but what you do with it,” he adds.

Savings plan

Muthomi advises people whose income is limiting to “make commitment to themselves that with time, for every Sh10 made, two must be saved.”

 Financial experts advise people to persevere, because the beginning might be difficult and daunting.

 But there is a category that neither suffers from a lack of a saving plan, nor a perceived insufficiency of income from which to create savings.

 “This is a category of those who simply lack a commitment and the patience to build something big from small contributions over a long period of time,” Muthomi expounds.