Pennies Today, Dollars Tomorrow

An extra $100 a month
Take a person who saves just $100 more a month, which amounts to $1,200 more a year. If you put an extra $1,200 in your kindergartner’s college fund every year, it would turn into $22,318 by the time he/she heads to college. That assumes a pretty conservative 5% growth rate.

So, where are you going to come up with an extra $100 a month? Here are a few tips on finding cash without drastically changing your lifestyle.

Contribute an extra 1% of your salary to your 401(k) or other pre-tax savings plan. Because the money is withdrawn before taxes, you’ll “lose” less than 1% from your take-home pay. You likely won’t notice the difference, but your retirement fund will fatten up faster.

Review your credit card bills and cancel anything you don’t use. (Gym membership? Magazines you don’t read?)

Look at your car insurance. It probably renews automatically, so giving it a once-over can be a great way to find savings. Ask for a lower rate, increase your deductible, or switch to a competitor with a better deal.

Review your 401(k) and see how far you’ve come!
It’s easy to forget you have a savings account through the company that offers you a match on your contributions up to 4%. That’s free money! And, the company contributions are not limited to a vesting schedule. Review your account  and take a look at your beneficiaries just to be sure your money is going where you want.