How to Save $10K Effortlessly. 4 Saving Tips

Summary

In this informative video, Nischa, a qualified accountant, introduces four effective strategies to simplify and accelerate the savings process. She discusses Parkinson's Law to emphasize the importance of setting aside a fixed percentage of income for savings, regardless of the total amount. Nischa also highlights the benefits of meal prepping and planning ahead to avoid unnecessary expenses. She recommends utilizing saving technology, such as apps that automatically transfer money into savings accounts, and emphasizes the value of a yearly financial review to assess spending habits and identify areas for improvement. The video also features a sponsorship from brilliant.org, an online platform offering interactive lessons to master complex topics, including data analysis.

Takeaways

• 💰 Saving money quickly is challenging due to rising costs and the ease of online purchases.
• 📊 A significant percentage of adults in the US and UK live paycheck to paycheck and have minimal savings.
• 🕒 Parkinson's Law suggests that work (or spending) expands to fill the time (or resources) available.
• 🚫 Implementing a strategy of saving a percentage of income immediately can force financial discipline.
• 🍱 Avoiding last-minute spending on things like food delivery can lead to significant savings over time.
• 📅 Planning ahead for meals and other expenses can reduce costs and provide better options.
• 🛠️ Utilizing saving technology, such as apps that automatically save money, can streamline the saving process.
• 💡 Yearly financial reviews can help identify areas to cut back and improve spending habits.
• 🔍 Analyzing spending line by line can reveal opportunities to reduce costs or find cheaper alternatives.
• 📈 Learning data analysis skills can improve personal finance management and other areas of life.
• 🎓 Platforms like Brilliant.org offer courses that can enhance skills useful for personal finance and beyond.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video?

The main topic of the video is discussing four effective strategies to simplify and fast track the saving process.

Who is Nischa and what is her profession?

Nischa is a qualified accountant who discusses personal finance and self-development on her channel.

What is Parkinson's law and how does it relate to personal finance?

Parkinson's law is a concept that suggests work expands to fill the time allocated for its completion. In personal finance, it means spending will expand to consume all available funds if one does not set aside a portion of income for savings.

What percentage of adults in the US are living paycheck to paycheck according to the video?

According to the video, 61% of adults in the US are living paycheck to paycheck.

What percentage of adults in the UK have less than £1,000 in savings according to the video?

The video states that 34% of adults living in the UK have less than £1,000 in a savings account.

What is the second saving strategy mentioned in the video?

The second saving strategy is not to be a last-minute person, which means planning in advance can save money on takeout, overdrive fees, and transportation costs.

How can technology help with saving money as mentioned in the video?

Technology can help with saving money through apps that calculate how much one can afford to save each week and automatically move money into a separate savings or investment account, or by rounding up purchases to the nearest pound and saving the difference.

What is Plum and how does it work?

Plum is an app available in the UK that analyzes spending to determine how much one can afford to save, and then automatically transfers the money every four or five days. It also rounds up purchases to the nearest pound and saves the difference.

What is the fourth saving strategy discussed in the video?

The fourth saving strategy is doing a year in review at the end of each year to evaluate and improve financial habits, which involves consolidating all accounts and analyzing spending to find areas for reduction or improvement.

What is the main benefit of doing a yearly financial review as suggested in the video?

The main benefit of doing a yearly financial review is to ensure that one is not only moving forward with their finances but also moving in the right direction, identifying areas to cut costs or find cheaper alternatives.

What is the role of brilliant.org in the video and what does it offer?

Brilliant.org is an online platform that provides thousands of interactive lessons to master complicated topics such as artificial intelligence, programming, and data analysis. It helps in developing skills that are foundational in any field and can be learned in as little as 15 minutes a day.

Outlines

00:00

💸 Effective Strategies for Fast-Tracking Your Savings

Saving money quickly is challenging due to rising costs and temptations. Many adults live paycheck to paycheck. This video offers four strategies to simplify saving. The first strategy is using Parkinson's law: allocate a portion of income to savings immediately to prevent spending expansion. Start with saving 10%, then gradually increase.

05:02

🥡 Planning Ahead to Avoid Costly Last-Minute Decisions

To save money, avoid being a last-minute person. Meal prepping and planning can prevent expensive takeout habits. Planning can also save on overdraft fees and transportation costs. It allows using reward points and finding better deals, providing better financial control and savings.

📱 Leveraging Technology for Savings

Use technology to aid savings. Apps can automate transfers to savings accounts and analyze spending. For example, Plum in the UK helps manage savings automatically. These tools align financial habits with goals, making the saving process easier and more efficient.

📅 Annual Financial Review for Long-Term Savings

Conducting a yearly financial review can significantly enhance savings. This involves consolidating and analyzing all accounts, categorizing spending, and identifying areas for reduction or cost-cutting. Though tedious, this process provides a high return on investment by optimizing financial management.

📊 Continuous Learning and Data Analysis for Financial Improvement

Brilliant.org offers courses to enhance skills like data analysis, crucial for understanding personal and business finance. Using platforms like Brilliant can improve critical thinking and financial management, helping to make informed decisions. They offer interactive lessons in various fields, aiding in continuous learning.

👥 Sharing Knowledge for Broader Financial Literacy

Sharing financial tips can benefit others. Nischa recommends sharing the video and related resources with those looking to improve their financial habits. She provides links to additional content and tools for managing money effectively, encouraging viewers to spread financial literacy.

Keywords

💡Saving Money

Saving money refers to setting aside a portion of one's income for future use rather than spending it all. It is the central theme of the video, as the speaker outlines strategies to help viewers save effectively. The script mentions the difficulty of saving amidst increasing costs of living and the temptation of easy spending, making it a crucial concept for personal finance.

💡Parkinson's Law

Parkinson's Law is a concept that suggests that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. In the context of the video, the speaker applies this law to personal finance, suggesting that if one allocates a specific amount of money to be saved, they will find ways to adjust their spending to accommodate it, thereby saving more efficiently.

💡Paycheck to Paycheck

Living paycheck to paycheck describes a situation where an individual's income is spent entirely on necessary expenses, leaving little to no savings. The script cites statistics showing a significant percentage of adults in the US and UK living in this manner, highlighting the importance of the video's saving strategies.

💡Spending

Spending is the act of using money to purchase goods or services. The video discusses controlling spending as a key to saving money, emphasizing that one's spending will expand to consume all available funds if not managed properly.

💡Meal Prep

Meal prep refers to the practice of planning and preparing meals in advance, typically for the week ahead. In the script, the speaker contrasts the cost savings of meal prepping with the expense of frequently ordering takeout, illustrating a practical way to save money.

💡Planning in Advance

Planning in advance is the act of organizing and preparing for future events or needs before they arise. The video emphasizes the financial benefits of this approach, such as avoiding last-minute costs and having more options for savings and rewards.

💡Saving Technology

Saving technology refers to tools and applications designed to assist with financial management and saving money. The script mentions apps that can automatically calculate savings and transfer money to separate accounts, demonstrating how technology can facilitate better financial habits.

💡Year in Review

A year in review is a comprehensive evaluation of one's financial situation at the end of the year. The video suggests this as a method to identify areas for improvement and savings, by consolidating accounts and analyzing spending, which is distinct from the ongoing process of budgeting.

💡Budgeting

Budgeting is the process of creating a plan to manage one's income and expenses. While the video focuses on saving, it contrasts the yearly review with the monthly budgeting process, suggesting that both are important for financial health.

💡Brilliant.org

Brilliant.org is an online learning platform mentioned in the script as a sponsor of the video. It offers courses in various fields, including data analysis, which the speaker recommends for improving analytical skills that can be applied to personal finance and other areas.

💡Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the ability to analyze and evaluate information in a reasoned, logical manner. The video implies that developing critical thinking skills, such as through courses on Brilliant.org, can be beneficial for making informed financial decisions and understanding data.

Highlights

The video discusses four effective strategies for simplifying and fast-tracking the saving process.

61% of US adults live paycheck to paycheck, and 34% of UK adults have less than £1,000 in savings.

Parkinson's Law suggests that work expands to fill the time allocated, and spending expands to consume all available funds.

Suggests setting aside 10%, 20%, or even 30% of income as soon as it hits the bank account.

The importance of not being a last-minute person to save money, such as avoiding takeout and meal prepping instead.

Planning in advance can save money on overdrive fees, Uber costs, and provide better options like using reward points.

Utilizing saving technology, such as apps that calculate savings and automatically move money.

Apps like Plum in the UK analyze spending and automatically transfer savings every few days.

Year-end financial review as a strategy to evaluate and improve financial habits for the following year.

Consolidating all accounts into one tracker to categorize spending and evaluate each category.

Asking three questions for each spending category: Can it be cut out, reduced, or replaced with a cheaper alternative?

The ROI of spending 6 to 7 hours on a yearly financial review is highly beneficial.

Brilliant.org is an online platform offering interactive lessons to master complicated topics like data analysis.

Brilliant.org's data analysis fundamentals course is recommended for improving business and personal finance.

The video includes a free tracker for monthly budgeting.

A yearly review is compared to rowing a boat, checking the broader horizon to ensure moving in the right direction.

The video offers a free trial link and a discount for Brilliant.org to improve critical thinking and learn new skills.

Transcripts

Saving a lot of money in a short amount of time is  not easy on one hand we're fighting The increased  

cost of accommodation food clothing and on the  other we're battling everyday Temptation in a  

world where pretty much anything can be bought  with a single click in fact the data shows that  

61% of adults in the US are living paycheck  to paycheck and 34% of adults living in the  

UK have less than £1,000 in a savings account so  in this video I wanted to walk you through four  

effective strategies that will simplify and fast  track your saving process if you're new here I'm  

Nischa I'm a qualified accountant and on this  channel we discuss all things personal finance  

and self-development new videos come out every  single week let's get into it the very first thing  

I want to talk about is Parkinson's law and this  is a concept that was coined in the 1950s and in  

simple terms it means that your work will expand  to fill the time that you allocate to doing it  

for instance if I set myself 3 weeks to plan and  release this video it will take me 3 weeks I'll  

procr resonate I'll come across something new and  go down a rabbit hole watching different videos  

on that topic I'll find a way to make that work  expand to take up the full 3 weeks whereas if I  

give myself 48 hours to release this video I'll  find creative ways to get it done and very likely  

the quality between the two videos wouldn't be  too different this same principle can be applied  

to personal finance where the resource instead  of time is money your spending will expand to  

consume all available funds if you let yourself  spend all of your net income you'll find a way  

to do it but if you take away 10% as soon as  it hits your bank account on payday and put it  

into another savings account that you can't touch  you'll find a way to make that remaining 90% work  

and if you think putting 10% away is doable try  20% and living on the remaining 80% try 30% and  

living on the remaining 70% you'll be surprised  by what you can do and you might be listening to  

this thinking that's ridiculous no way can I make  this work that's where the fourth saving strategy  

I talk about comes in where I go into more detail  on how you can make this work with what you have  

the second saving strategy is to not be a last  minute person when I worked in my corporate job  

during the busy weeks and months I would get a  takeout about three to four times a week I'll be  

on my way home it'll be late I'll be hungry and  on my way home I'll just order something from  

deliver or Uber Eats so that it's ready for when  I got home and I did this week after week because  

I didn't take a few hours out on a Sunday to meal  prep and think about a healthier solution for the  

week instead I'm still guilty of sometimes doing  this but planning in advance can save you a lot of  

money it will save you in overdrive fees because  you're setting up some time to check your bank  

account it will save you in Uber costs or taxi  costs because you've saved yourself enough time  

to get public transport instead and planning  in advance also gives you options to do better  

you can use your reward points to book your next  flight you can get a good quality umbrella instead  

of waiting until you're caught in the rain to  buy whatever is available there are times when  

last minute flexibility is useful but often it  costs you money and limits you with options the  

third saving Str strategy is to utilize saving  technology with almost every habit that we want  

to stick to or want to try there is some sort of  technology that will help make it easier for us  

if you're trying to reduce your social media  consumption there are apps like one sec that  

forces you to take a deep breath before opening  the app giving you a second or two to rethink your  

decision if you want to improve your Fitness there  are apps that will help you do that and in the  

same way if your focus is to save more money you  want to lean into the technology that's available  

to help you out with that there are apps that  calculate how much you can afford to save each  

week and then automatically moves money into a  separate savings account or an investment account  

there are accounts like Plum if you're in the UK  which analyzes your spending to work out how much  

you can afford to save and then it automatically  transfers the money over every four or five days  

you can also through that round up purchases to  the nearest pound and then save the difference so  

for instance if you're spending 130 it will round  that up to2 and then you can automatically save  

the remaining 70p if you want to check out Plum I  have the link for that in my description you want  

to find the right apps or the right technology  that will help you align your habits to your  

goals and make the process of saving a lot easier  the fourth point which is arguably the one that  

will really make a difference if you stick to it  is doing a year in review at the end of each year  

we usually do a full evaluation on other areas in  our lives we look at what went well what didn't  

how we can learn and improve for the following  year a great way to save a lot of money in a short  

amount of time is by doing the same evaluation  in detail top to bottom with your finances this  

is different to a monthly budget which I have  a whole different video for and a free tracker  

that comes with it I'll leave a link to that here  but think of this monthly budget as you rowing the  

boat you're moving forward month by month whereas  a yearly review is you stepping back to check the  

broader Horizon checking that you're not just  moving forward but you're also moving in the  

right direction so once a year I'll consolidate  all of the bank accounts that I have my debit  

card accounts my credit card accounts into one  one main tracker that money will have all the  

money coming out of my account I'll categorize my  spending and then go through each category line by  

line asking myself three questions can I cut this  out or cancel it completely can I live with less  

of it or can I get the same thing cheaper from  somewhere else I'm not going to [ __ ] you this  

isn't fun it's not interesting but you only need  to go through this once a year but the ROI from  

this exercise and just carving out 6 to seven  hours to do it is so worth it I gave myself 7  

hours to do it last month on a flight back to the  UK I've recorded my entire process I don't know  

if it'll be useful or just a boring video but if  you want to see it let me know and I'll show you  

how I went about analyzing the numbers and the  data one thing that has really helped me analyze  

data as well as develop a bunch of other skills  is brilliant.org who are very kindly sponsoring  

this video brilliant.org is an amazing online  platform with thousands of interactive bite-sized  

lessons where you can Master complicated topics  such as artificial intelligence programming data  

analysis all these topics and skills that are  foundational in any field and you can gradually  

learn them in as little as 15 minutes a day I  highly recommend their data analysis fundamentals  

course we don't realize how much we use data  analysis in so many things from understanding  

how to improve our business through to looking  at our personal finance checking our content  

analytics to improve our content and the way it  performs even if you're not after data analysis  

and you're someone who just wants to keep your  mind active and improve your critical thinking  

skills there will be a course in here for you  I highly recommend checking Brilliant out they  

add new lessons every month to keep things fresh  you can join 10 million other people using the  

free trial Link in the description below and  if you do enjoy it and want to continue you  

can also get 20% off of your subscription as  well using the same link brilliant.org/Nischa  

thank you so much for watching if you find this  content useful please share it with someone else  

who'll benefit someone who is looking to get  good with money and I also have a video right  

here on how I manage my money on a monthly basis  where there's also a free tracker see you there