The Law of Saving
A great friend of mine told me a long time ago that I needed to save 10 percent of my income every month if I wanted to achieve financial security. He worked in money and knew what he was talking about, but I had to restrain myself from grabbing him by the throat and demanding he tell me how on earth I could afford to save. There just wasn’t a single cent to spare, and I remember my great frustration at trying to find what else I could cut from my budget to try and make saving a possibility. I was in survival mode, and saving was a luxury for more fortunate people.
My friend, because he was coming from a place of pure practicality, couldn’t get me past my practical objections – the fact that I had nothing left to cut – and so I rejected his theory of saving. It was only years later that I met someone who taught me the deeper meaning of saving and got me to see beyond my own objections.
Financial coach
I had seen an advert in the Linkup magazine for someone calling themselves a financial coach. I didn’t know there were such things as financial coaches, but whatever they did I was sure I was in need of it. I phoned the coach, Linda, and made an appointment, and she said she would send me some homework to do before the first session. The homework turned out to be a spreadsheet with a detailed listing of common monthly expenses. I was to fill in the form with the amounts I spent on these things each month. That was quite an uncomfortable exercise, and I left a number of the fields blank because I simply couldn’t afford them – I simply was not in a place where I could budget for yearly holidays and other “indulgences”.
When I arrived for the first session I was in a subtly antagonistic frame of mind. If she told me I would have to cut down on my already meagre expenses so that I could save I was going to let her have it! Well in the end it didn’t work out that way – instead of getting me to cut expenses she started adding to them! She made me put in a figure for that impossible yearly holiday, and she made me budget properly for the books and courses that I needed but could not afford. At the end of the exercise we arrived at a figure that was considerably larger than what I was earning. Instead of backing down and admitting she was loonytunes, she said, “Now let’s not forget that ten percent!” And then she went and added another dollop of cash to the impossible total. Part of me wanted to head right out of the door, but another part was fascinated. How was this all going to work?
The Law of Saving
Seeing I was a bit incredulous, she began telling me about the true Law of Saving. If you regularly and religiously put away a certain proportion of your income, your income will expand to cover it.
Income is not something that comes from outside us, it’s determined by our subconscious ideas of what we’re worth. Unconsciously, we all have an idea of how much money we should have available, even if consciously we desire a lot more. The idea is that if we take away 10 percent and put it where we can’t touch it, our subconscious “regulator” will increase the amount of money that comes our way to make up for the shortfall. When she explained it like this I felt a deep sense of excitement, of recognition. This was the truth, this was how it worked!
For the law of saving to really work, you need to commit to it – regardless of your current financial condition. Even if you find yourself for some months earning less than what you need to pay your obligations, you must still put away that ten percent (or 5% or 2% – just start somewhere). This teaches the subconscious mind that this saving is non-negotiable. Only when the mind has accepted this, will it begin showing you ways of increasing your income to an appropriate level. Even if you have debt – save first, and then pay your debt. This sounds counterintuitive but in the long run you will be way ahead of those who cave in and focus on the debt – for they are giving themselves the subtle message “I am debt”, and their subconscious minds are responding in the only way they can, by bringing more debt.
Focus on what you have, not what you owe
There is another important aspect of saving – the fact that you have shifted focus from the negative to the positive, from something you owe to something you are building. Suddenly, even if you have massive debt, you have planted something that is growing, and every month you can see that amount growing larger. Eventually you want to do whatever it takes to make that amount grow truly great. When this happens, paying off the rest of the debt will be easy.
Putting the Law of Saving into action:
• Start putting away 10% of gross income now (start smaller if you need to)
• Save that money even if it means borrowing from other accounts to get you through a bad month (it’s okay to loan yourself money)
• Focus on what you do have (your savings) rather than on what you don’t have (your debt)
• Get excited about new sources of income
• Increase the percentage when you’re ready for a new challenge
I have put this into effect and I can tell you it really works. And the magic really happens the first time you get tempted to quit – when that month comes when your expenses are greater than your income and you have to dip into other savings. Just loan yourself the money, put your 10 percent away, and write down what you owe that account you had to raid. Next month you’re going to pay it back, plus the 10 percent.
Resources
Financial coach (Cape Town): Linda Smith: www.financial-freedom.co.za.
Books: I recommend John Demartini’s “How to make one hell of a profit and still get to heaven.” This covers the spiritual laws of money as well as the down-to-earth practical steps of investing it.
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