Even with the best technology, apps and financial tools available, the only thing that’s helped me stick it out is reminding myself of why I’m doing this in the first place. I had to find inspiring reasons to live a debt free life.

The awesome thing about finding inspiration for your personal finance journey means there aren’t any rules. Inspiration can come from anywhere (or anyone) in any form, shape or size. Here’s a few things that inspire me.

Freedom to choose

Going through the latest economic recession has taught many of us valuable life and money lessons. Our futures aren’t as secure as we thought, we took too many risks and didn’t educate ourselves about proper money management. But after that all came crashing down, we learned that we’re stronger, more resilient and smarter because of the experience.

Becoming debt free alleviates some of the pressure from bills and lets us choose what we want to do with our money. It opens up opportunities to save more, invest more, give to charities and help our kids go to college.

Lead a passionate life

This is one of the inspiring reasons I wanted to become debt free. One of my passions is traveling, so not having any debt means I can see the world and become location independent with my career. I can create a job that revolves around my life instead of my life revolving around my job.

Living with less debt means more freedom to see family and friends whenever we like, or take time off work without wondering how we’ll pay the bills when we get home. It’s the opportunity to live a more stress-free life, make decisions based on what we really want and follow our passions.

Peaceful relationships

Being in a relationship, whether it’s with your kids, your partner or your peers is always more difficult when you add money to the mix. Money fights and money arguments are one of the main reasons couples get divorced, and it’s the biggest reason my past relationship failed too.

There are so many more important things to work on in a relationship than to constantly worry about money. While becoming debt free won’t solve all relational issues, it definitely brings more peace and stability to the situation.

Better retirement

Recent studies have shown that many retirees have been unable to quit their jobs and retire when they originally planned. They weren’t able to save enough for their future during their working lives, and are having to work longer or scale back their lifestyles in their retirement.

As mentioned above, freedom from debt means we have more control over our future and retirement savings. We won’t need to rely on the (broken) Social Security system or get financial help from our kids. We can be financially independent and enjoy our retirement years.

These are just a few examples of what being debt free can mean. Now it’s your turn to share.

What are your inspiring reasons to become debt free?

Photo Credit: carolynconner

I’m Jana. I blog at Daily Money Shot, where I ramble about money at the intersection of life, pop culture and everything in between. And I’m thrilled and honored to be guest posting today at Careful Cents.

On Mother’s Day, Carrie wrote a wonderful tribute to her mother and honored her by talking about the different financial lessons she passed on. That post got me thinking about the kind of financial legacy I’m leaving my daughter.

I don’t come from a line of financially savvy women. My mother and grandmothers basically relied (or rely) on their husbands to do the brunt of the financial grunt work (paying the bills, managing insurance, monitoring investments, etc) and the attitude that was passed down to me was that a man will take care of it for you.

My mother and grandmother shop for sport (seriously, if shopping were in the Olympics, they’d medal. Every. Single. Time). My mother has no idea how to balance a checkbook and her idea of scaling back is Dunkin Donuts coffee once a day and manicures twice a month. It’s kind of depressing, really.

Since I’m in the habit of breaking bad familial cycles, this is one I’m definitely taking on. I don’t want to be responsible for a 4th generation of women who haven’t taken charge of their own finances. So I did what I needed to do. I educated myself. I read blogs and books.

I took over our family’s finances and I’m now the primary financial manager. And it is my job to impart that knowledge onto my daughter. But if I had to pick 3 things I hope she learns, here they are:

1. Be an active participant in your household’s finances. Sitting back and letting someone else control your entire financial future (and present) is not a wise choice.  She needs to know that if her money is contributing to the household, then she has a right—no, an obligation to understand how and where that money is being spent. She needs to know that she has just as much of a voice in deciding how to spend their money as he does. And she needs to use that voice to share her opinions and thoughts, particularly on major decisions like buying a house or a car. If there’s no husband, there’s no reason she can’t take charge of these decisions for herself.
2. Understand your money and where it’s going. She needs to understand just how important it is to know what her money is being used for. This goes hand in hand with taking an active role in her finances. I want her to have a budget and know how to develop one. Know how to pay bills. Learn when those bills are due. Know what accounts have been opened and how to access them.  Discuss long term investments with your husband. Understand the different types of investments. And if there’s no husband, again, that’s okay. She can do this all on her own.
3. Have a backup plan. Things, and life, happen. Husbands cheat, leave or die. Jobs disappear. People get sick. And while it’s not fun to dwell on events like these, it’s impractical not to. Speaking from firsthand experience, having a backup plan is essential to manage these types of situations. I want her to know that, while it’s perfectly acceptable to focus on Plan A, there needs to be a Plan B waiting in the wings. Just in case. I don’t want her left in a lurch because she failed to plan accordingly. Although I hope she never needs to use her Plan B, it needs to be there.

I’m sure there’s a lot more I want my daughter to learn from me. Like, don’t spend more than you earn. Or always have an emergency fund. Or don’t make big, impulsive, long-term purchases. Or that having debt will hold you back from your dreams.

It’s a pretty extensive list, now that I look at it. But I need for her to know these things. I need to break the cycle of female financial ignorance that’s been coursing through my family. That needs to be my legacy.

What financial legacy are you leaving for your children? 

Photo Credit: pocketwiley

Here’s a few things she taught me about life and money.

Always know the balance in your checkbook

In my family, I’m infamous for telling my mom to “just write a check for it”. Anytime I saw my mom make a purchase, she wrote a check. So naturally, being the smart 8 year old that I was, I thought as long as you had checks, you had money.

One day she sat me down and taught me how to write a check on my own, record it in the checkbook register and subtract it from total balance. I guess I have her to thank for my love of accounting, because ever since then I’ve been fascinated with accounts, ledgers and balance sheets.

Everyone needs their own side money-making project

Although she was a stay-at-home mom, my mother always had a side money-making project. She came up with many entrepreneurial ideas to make money working from home. She started a very successful jewelry making business, even before there was anything like Etsy or eBay.

She was an expert seamstress who sewed and embroidered all kinds of custom clothing. Her stuff was so popular, when she held yard sales, people from all over the city would line up down the street waiting.

She would stash away money for family vacations, romantic weekend getaways for her and my dad, or huge birthday parties for us kids. She was a rock star when it came to making extra money at home and saving for a special event.

Always make a list and bring a calculator while shopping

Whether it was buying groceries, furniture or clothes, my mom always had a calculator with her. This was back when we didn’t have price comparison apps or websites. So she did it the old fashioned way, with a weekly circular, a shopping list and a calculator.

If it wasn’t on the list she rarely bought it (only caving when all 4 of us kids teamed up on her) and she bought food by the unit price of each item, instead of the sticker price. That’s how I learned to shop for groceries by unit price, which shows you exactly how much you’re paying per ounce, per liter or per gallon.

Save money by picking your own food

Having a garden was my mom’s pride and joy. We had a relatively large family, so she saved money however she could. She grew fresh corn, tomatoes, beans and all kinds of herbs. We had peach trees, plum trees and walnut trees in our backyard, from which she made fresh cobblers and jams during the summer.

If our garden didn’t grow it, we would pick berries from local berry farms or buy fresh produce from a farmer’s market. I seem to have adapted a lot of her “freshly picked” shopping habits. Now, I prefer to pick my food, or buy it from a local veggie/fruit stand instead of buying it pre-packaged.

Time is more valuable than money

When I turned 12 my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer – she was only 46 years old. While losing her 3 years later taught me many life lessons, the one financial thing it taught me, was that life can change in an instant. Time is so much more valuable than money, and you need have your priorities straight. Family and relationships should come first, then your career, then making money and so on.

To sum it up: be smart with your money, but put the majority of your time and effort into your relationships. Live wisely and be frugal with your finances, but in the end all you’ve got is the wonderful memories and legacy you leave behind. And those are worth more than all the money in the world.

What lessons have you learned from your mother?

Photo Credit: rhett maxwell

How much rent can I afford?

With all the excitement of moving into a new place and getting settled in, we might have a tendency to overlook some important factors. But you can use these simple steps, to help determine how much you can afford to pay.

Calculating a new budget

A good rule of thumb is to spend about 25 – 30% of your monthly take-home pay on housing costs (rent, mortgage, insurance and etc). My current rent is 19% of the net income from my full-time job, which of course, gives me a little wiggle room.

I’m not including my freelance writing or social media gigs, since I’m only starting to get those off the ground. Any extra income I make will go towards traveling and investing my Roth IRA. I don’t want to make the same mistake I’ve made in the past and become house rich and cash poor.

Testing it out

Just to be sure I can actually afford a higher rent payment, I will be “paying myself” an extra $300 for the next 2 months. I’ll be including it within the budget and taking the money out when the rent is due, just like a normal expense. This method has a dual purpose for me:

• I can truly see if affording a higher payment is easy or difficult
• The extra money I’m paying saving, can be used towards incidentals

Speaking of extra costs, there’s lots of other variables to consider when moving to a new place. Below is a list of added expenses to think before moving to a new apartment.

Apartment fees

Apartment fees vary widely, since some rentals are owned by companies and some are owned by individuals. Most landlords will require a security deposit equal to one month’s rent and possibly even a move-in fee to hold the apartment. Many of them even tack on application fees, administration fees and pet fees.

Commuting expense

If you plan to stay in the same general location, there won’t be much of a change in commuting or transportation costs. But if you start thinking of moving further out of the city, you might need to allot for a longer commute, which means higher gas and maintenance costs. On the flip side, if you move closer to your job, you will be saving money each month which provides more cushion within the budget.

Replacement costs

Whether you hire movers, or get friends to help, once you start moving your personal belongings, there’s no guarantee your stuff will arrive in one piece. Plus theirs a much higher chance of damaging the apartment with so much going on, which means you might ruin any chances of getting the security deposit back. So you might have to shell out extra cash to replace broken furniture and fix any damaged areas of the apartment.

Utility changes

Unless you’re downsizing, you’re probably moving to a new bigger and better place, like I am. But along with the extra space comes higher utility bills. Likewise, some rental companies include water/trash in the monthly rent while others do not. There’s additional expense for moving the electricity, TV/cable and internet to the new location which should be included in the budget as well.

Rental insurance

For me rental insurance is a must, and only costs $72 a year to have all my stuff completely protected from fire, floods and theft. Factors that determine the insurance rate include how secure (or not secure) the rental complex is, if the buildings are made out of brick or wood, in what year they were built and so on. The monthly insurance premium might go up or down, once you move to a new place.

Double rent payments

Unless you have perfect timing, your rental payments from one apartment to another will overlap. It’s hard to find a new place, move all your stuff and cancel your old lease right when your new one begins. The added cost could be pretty significant, so try wait for as long as you can, before making the move to the new place.

Special Bonus: Just for being a Careful Cents reader, you can save $10 on your rent by using WilliamPaid online for free. I started using this service 2 months ago, and I got an additional discount from my landlord, for paying with an e-check.

Read more about WilliamPaid and my experience – here.

[Disclosure: if you sign up through my link, you will get $10 and I will get a commission, but it won't cost you anything. This is a special offer just for my readers.]

Photo Credit: Pedro Kwezi

Almost everything I own has been carefully planned and thought about beforehand, to make sure I get the best deal and the best value. Below are the tactics I use to save money on practically anything.

1. Online Deals and Discounts

I do a lot of comparison shopping online to rack up extra savings. You probably enjoy shopping online for that reason too. A few of my favorite online discount resources are Coupon Chief and BeFrugal which offers some pretty sweet savings at my favorite stores.

• Barnes & Noble coupon
• Ulta coupon
• Amazon coupon
• Fossil coupon
• Betsey Johnson coupon

What are some of your favorites stores?

To get the most savings, be sure you sign up for BeFrugal’s free Cash Back and activate your account before you click to use the coupon offers. This way, you’ll earn Cash Back and score your $10 bonus.

2. Negotiating

To me, everything is up for negotiation and it doesn’t always have to be about money. Of course monetary value is important but it’s not the only factor. Sometimes you can negotiate for things that enhance your work experience, free up your time or offer a better lifestyle. Our time can be just as important (if not more) than money.

3. Bartering

The basics of bartering is when you trade goods/services for other goods/services, without exchanging money. I like to barter for lots of things like, offering to babysit for free food (or sweets) and doing bookkeeping for clean laundry. Even if you own a small business you can use bartering as currency instead of actual money.

4. Repurpose and Reuse

I’m not overly obsessed with going green, but I like to do my part when it comes to reusing and repurposing items. There’s no reason to waste perfectly useful stuff. I like to use boxes as make-shift shelves, for my bathroom and kitchen cabinets. I reuse old clothes as cleaning cloths, and old calendars as framed art. Almost anything can be repurposed.

Repurpose boxes as shelves to easily see your items

 5. Get it For Free

Before I even think about buying new furniture, books, household items or even pets, I check to see if I can get it for free. With sites like Craigslist, eBay Classifieds and FreeCycle there’s pretty much no end to what people are willing to give away. Also, check with your family and friends to see if they have any items they are getting rid of.

6. Be a Bargain Hunter

I love thrift stores and consignment shops! I even had a small side business making over $1,000 a month “flipping” thrift store/yard sale finds on eBay. You can find some amazing deals on clothes, home decor and even art, at no where near retail price. Many items will be barely used or even brand new with tags.

7. Avoid Credit Card Interest

Credit cards are tricky but they can be useful financial tools if used properly. Being a reformed credit card-aholic, I rarely use credit cards for everyday purchases. But if you choose to use plastic, for the rewards or points, be sure to pay the balance off every month to avoid costly interest fees.

8. Don’t Impulse Buy

Impulse buys are dangerous, and after our shopping binge, we didn’t even really want all that stuff to begin with. Curb your impulse spending by impulse saving instead. Reward yourself for not giving into impulse buys, with a program like ImpulseSave. I was able to save an extra $535 in 3 months using ImpulseSave, to put towards paying down debt.

9. Time Your Purchase

If you wait to purchase something until you absolutely need it, you’ll likely pay the full sticker price. Instead, do a little planning, and be on the lookout for deals ahead of time. For example, I’m planning to move to a new apartment within the next few months. So, I’m keeping my eyes open right now, for some good deals and sales.

10. Trade-In or Resell

If it’s an electronic, book or even a DVD, it can probably be traded-in for extra cash. Places like GameStop and Best Buy offer money in exchange for items, like smartphones or video games. I live by the “in and out” rule. Nothing new comes in, until something old goes out. Sometimes I resell stuff online or I trade it in for credit towards a new purchase. This helps save money and keeps my house organized at the same time.

What are your tips for saving money?

Photo Credit: laurariumartín

Naturally the next step is to apply for a business credit card, right? Well, maybe not. Credit cards are not the only option. According to data from the National Small Business Association, about 42% of small-business owners carry a credit-card balance. Before you jump on the small business credit card wagon, consider the risks listed below.

The CARD Act doesn’t apply to business cards

Per the 2009 CARD Act, creditors have to disclose their fees and interest hikes. However, they found a (sneaky) loophole around this law. They discovered they could add “business” to their card’s title, giving them free reign to exploit and penalize cardholders, just like they did before such practices were considered illegal.

Unlike personal credit cards…

• Issuers can change account terms at any time
• Penalties and fees are basically unrestricted
• They have higher annual fees

Most cards that are targeted for business or commercial use, often result in hundreds or thousands of dollars in unexpected fees and higher interest rates.

The line of credit can be dangerously high

If you’re new to the business start-up scene, having a high credit limit is very tempting. It can be dangerous to buy the best office equipment and use credit to get your business off the ground. Taking on too much debt without the necessary resources to back it up, is a formula for failure. Instead, choose to grow with your business and avoid the high credit card limits.

You’re personally liable for the business debt

Almost all business credit cards include a personal liability waiver. Which means, once you open the account and start using the card, the issuer can come after your personal assets for the balance, if the account becomes past due. This can include charges made by the owner, business employees and any authorized users of the card.

It could hurt your personal credit history

Since you’re personally liable for business debt, if the account becomes delinquent many lenders will inform the credit bureaus. If your company can’t keep up with the card payments, you might have to dig into your personal savings and assets to keep the account current. Otherwise you risk hurting your personal credit history.

You’re at the card issuers mercy

Why do so many companies use small business cards if they’re so risky? Well, sometimes it’s the only option available. Sadly, it’s much easier to get approved for a small business credit card, than get a loan or find a venture capitalist to invest in your idea. This leaves your business at the mercy of credit card issuers, and that’s never a good idea.

The bottom line is: having access to high credit limits, being at the mercy of the creditors and having no other options is a recipe for disaster. Before applying for a small business card, consider cheaper alternatives and resources for funding your business. Using a credit card can be unwise because you’re promising future income to pay current expenses. Enter into this decision with caution, the risks may out weigh the rewards.

Photo Credit: WI-LO

The Super Duper Simple Book On Money, by Alan Akina has 5 money principles everyone needs to know. For a limited time in May 2012 we can download the ebook for free.

About the author

“Born and raised in Oahu, Hawaii, Alan Akina grew up in a broken home. His parents divorced when he was six years old, leaving him to fend for himself and his younger brother. They moved around from house to house and between friends and family members. He was considered poor, and lived in the projects.

After many years of struggling, researching, and learning the basics of finance, Alan Akina wanted to teach others. So, he followed his passion and started 101 Financial in Hawaii in 2002 with the goal to helping Americans get financially educated. Today, thousands of families across the nation have turned to 101 Financial to break the chains of financial bondage. 

Alan Akina and 101 Financial have received numerous awards including the Bank of Hawaii Community Leader of the Year Award, the Pacific Business News Top Forty Under 40 award, the BBB Business Ethics Award, Mayor Mufi Hannemann’s Pacific Century Fellows class of 2008 inductee, Inc. Magazine’s INC 500 fastest growing companies in America, and Hawaii’s Fastest 50 growing companies for four years in a row. 

Alan is the host of Fox Affiliate KHON 2 Morning News: Financial Fitness and Watch Your Wallet Wednesday segments. You can catch him every Monday and Wednesday morning on the KHON 2 Wake Up 2Day Show. 

Alan is married to his beautiful wife LeeAnn and they have 5 amazing kids (Keanu, Kawika, Kiani, Kihei and Kiliana). He and his family live on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii.” - Source

About the book

This book is comprised of four parts with five simple money principles, and includes 1-page money worksheets (with videos):

Part One: This thing called money

Part Two: Where can you go?

Part Three: The 5 super duper simple money principles

1. Money In
2. Money Out
3. Money We Owe
4. Money We Grow
5. Money We Share

 Part Four: What’s next? Financial peace of mind

This book is about 100 pages long and can be read in about an hour. It comes with 1-page worksheets that are simple but fun to fill out. I really enjoyed the “money we grow” worksheet that lists different types of assets.

It’s nice to see where I’m going and where I’ve been financially. I downloaded the book to my computer and saved it to my iPad, so now I can reference it (or re-read it) anytime I’d like.

The book makes a great gift for your kids, your spouse, your family members and all your friends. 

What you will learn

Life in the middle class costs more than it ever has in the past. Most of us don’t take care to watch our money in and money out. Why? Because we have no where to turn to for financial education, no one is teaching checkbook management 101.

Unfortunately most individuals and financial institutions cannot effectively help us with personal finance management.

So how do we find the key to financial peace? By reading books, blogs and listening to other people’s experiences – like in this book! It will give you hope, while helping you learn the basics of understanding money.

It really is the simplest and easiest financial book you will ever read. You can even read it to your kids, to help them get a jump start on financial education.

My favorite quotes

“The biggest struggle I found in helping people get out of debt, is to first enable them to realize they have a debt problem.”

“A bank’s interest is in making interest, by getting us interested in paying them interest.”

Who is this book for?

No matter your educational background, financial achievements (or lack of) you can learn something from this simple book. It will only take about an hour, but I promise you will come away very inspired. Who will benefit from reading this?

• Kids
• Teenagers
• Adults
• Family and Friends
• Coworkers
• Bosses
• Everyone

Connect with Alan and get the book

• Buy the book on Amazon
• Twitter.com/AlanAkina101
• Facebook.com/AlanAkina
• YouTube.com/101FinancialLLC

[I did not get paid to write this, and I did personally read the book. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.]

I’ve been getting more and more interaction on social media and lots more feedback here on Careful Cents. Thank you so much to everyone! I really enjoy blogging, reading your comments and getting your emails.

I can’t thank you enough.

Each month I like to feature other blogs, authors and posts I enjoyed reading. There are so many awesome bloggers, that share a wealth of information, I can’t help but pass it on.

This is also a great way for me to keep track of my updates and progress for my anti-resolutions and leap list goals.

Top 5 Favorite Posts

10 Personal Finance Tips for Young Adults - Young,Cheap Living. This blog is one of my favorites! Kraig shares some common sense advice for young adults, many of which are mistakes I’ve made or wish I could change too.

8 Financial Products that Keep the Middle Class, Middle Class (article and podcast)- MoneyPlanSOS. Not only is this an awesome podcast, it’s a great blogpost too. It scared some good financial sense into me, since many things on the list I’ve been guilty of doing.

Why I Got Rid of My Credit Cards (Despite the Rewards) – GoGirlFinance. As you may already know (or not) I’m not a big fan of credit cards, and only use mine for business expenses. Alissa shares some great reasons why we should pass on the rewards and get out of the never-ending debt cycle.

Outsourcing Online Business Tasks to Earn More Money – ModestMoney. Outsourcing work can be a powerful means to being more productive while earning more money. Jeremy shares some reasons why outsourcing is a smart idea, and resources to get started.

How to Plan a Budget Party (YouTube video) – OnTargetCoaching. This video is part of Financial Literacy Month, and it’s a really fun spin for couples who set budget meetings. It was even picked up on a video by Charles Schwab.

Popular Staff Posts I’ve Written

Fun Ways to Workout and Get Fit Without Joining a Gym - ReadyForZero Blog

Lessons From a First Time Home-Buyer - Yahoo!Finance

Lies About Money that are Hazardous to Our Wealth Health – On Better Terms Blog

Featured in the Media

I started off 2012 with the goal to get featured on a major media websites, like Lifehacker or The Consumerist. This month I officially met that goal!!!

I’ve been featured on The Consumerist several times, but this month I was featured on Lifehacker too.

Get Every Last Drop from Your Spray Cleaners – Lifehacker

Save Money While Spring Cleaning – The Consumerist

Guest Posts

This year I plan to publish at least one guest post per month. Below is the list of guest posts for April.

6 Ways Paying Off Debt is Like Being a Runner – DirectBanc Blog

My Most Embarrassing Lessons in What NOT To Do with Money – The Debt Princess

Inspiring Reasons to Live a Debt Free Life – Young, Cheap Living

Other Awesomeness

I’m a regular guest for a weekly podcast on iTunes, and it’s been some good exposure and more subscribers each week.

As a participant of Financial Literacy Month, I recorded my first (and second) YouTube videos. You can watch them here and here or YouTube.com/MoneyPlanSOS. Let me know what you think!

I conducted my first interview with Jaime Tardy of Eventual Millionaire. She’s a huge inspiration for me, and I feel her interview can help all of us entrepreneurs. Check out the interview here.

Photo Credit: John-Morgan

Previous Balance – $3,701.74

I reached another huge milestone this month, the 75% mark! Since I started in November 2011, I’ve paid off $6,400.35 (including interest) or just over 75% of my loan balance.

Progress and Payments

I made some pretty awesome progress this month and here’s the breakdown.

• Semi-monthly double payments – $630
• Freelance income – $477
• Withdrawal from ImpulseSavings account– $535

Extra income total – $1,012

Total extra payments – $1,642

At the beginning of this year I opened up an ImpulseSave savings account. Anytime I fought an impulse buying urge, I transferred that money to my savings account.

Within 3 months it was over $535, which is rather shocking to me! So, I decided to put that money straight towards paying off my car loan.

Since adding to my freelance income with my new steady side gig, I’ve increased my income by 30%. Here’s an updated screenshot of my progress using the ReadyForZero debt payoff software.

New Loan Balance – $2,069.59

The daily interest rate last month was $0.35 a day and now it’s down to $0.20 a day.

It’s awesome to watch my chart balance keep going down. And if you notice the update, I will be debt free in 3 months instead of 5 (which was last month’s estimate).

However, I still intend on becoming debt free within the next month!

The debt free countdown begins!!!

They are AWESOME and I’m completely obsessed with them. If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you will see how much I love using this financial tool. I even got my family members in on the action now (they love it too).

The service is by invitation only but totally worth it once you get in. Like with Pinterest and Gilt, the best things are always by exclusive invite only.

What is ImpulseSave?

How It Works from ImpulseSave on Vimeo.

About ImpulseSave and Their Mission

At ImpulseSave our goal is to make saving as easy, fun and rewarding as spending; and to transform saving from a mundane “if-I-get-to-it” into a creative, collaborative and impulsive part of your daily life!

Stats and Facts:

• 53% of American’s won’t have enough to retire
• 64% of American’s don’t have even $1,000 in their savings account
• Only 40% of American’s actually sit down with a budget and allocate savings
• 50% of Americans couldn’t come up with $2,000 if they had to
• ImpulseSavers are saving an ADDITIONAL $4,000 a year on average
• ImpulseSavers are actively saving towards 3 goals, on average
• The interest rate on an ImpulseSave savings account is 0.40% APY

Is ImpulseSave Safe?

• ImpulseSave employs the same high-grade encryption used by financial institutions and government agencies.  All your financial information is encrypted in transit, and in storage.
• We meet or exceed all industry standards to safeguard your data.
• Your money is held in your new FDIC insured savings account.

The short answer: Yes. The long answer: We are built like Fort Knox. Your financial information is so secure that even our own servers can’t read it.

How Does ImpulseSave Work?

• Specific Goals: instead of a nebulous “emergency fund” now you can save towards your vacation, a wedding or your kids education separately in one savings account!
• ImpulseSave: You can impulseSave via SMS text, via Instagram, on the ImpulseSave site and soon via iPhone App
• Autosave: Weekly autosaves ensure that you’re ALWAYS making progress towards your goals, even if it’s only $5 a week (less than $1 a day)
• Success Driven: We send you weekly updates on your goal progress and encourage you every time you make a save!
• Social: Comment on a funny save, encourage those who are making good decisions – be inspired to save yourself!
• Mobile: Our iPhone app is almost complete, but we offer several other ways for you to save instantly anytime, and anywhere! For example you can save via text, instagram and our mobile site!

CLICK THE PIG TO GET STARTED NOW!

What Are Current ImpulseSavers Saving For?

Vacation!

Jessica works hard and knows she deserves a vacation. But this year, instead of putting it on the credit card, she’s going to Paris with the cold hard cash she saved in her ImpulseSave account!

Life After College!

Hilary is a senior in college saving towards well, life after college and starting out right. By impulsesaveing everytime she goes out with friends she’s already saved up 6 months of rent and feels confident and prepared to tackle her student loans!

Killing Credit Card Debt!

Brad LOVES the autosave feature because it ensures that no matter what this month brings, he’ll pay off his balance.

Plan Our Wedding!

Christine and Torey ImpulseSave for their wedding. No matter what they’re doing – whether they’re grocery shopping, or cake testing, they can make sure they’re prepared for the Big Day! 

What Do Current Users Say About ImpulseSave?

Below are real quotes from real users taken from Facebook Twitter and the ImpulseSave site.

• “I cannot stop saving! ImpulseSave has turned me into a save-aholic! ”
• “I have saved more with@impulsesave than any other avenue I’ve used. I love it!
• “I’ve saved $92 in 27 days with ImpulseSave! Patting myself on the back!”
• “Saving with ImpusleSave is so easy! It’s amazing how easily I forget the $ is in a separate account.”
• “Thanks to @impulsesave I’ve officially become a saveaholic. Definitely better than being a shopaholic!
• “If you’ve always had trouble getting motivated to save money – you NEED to try @impulsesave – it’s AWESOME. #save-a-holic
• “My mom wanted coffee – I wanted to ImpulseSave”

Come ImpulseSave with me!

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the deal with your mobile app?

We started development on our iPhone mobile app April 2nd (Android next) so when we say it’s coming soon,  it’s coming soon and we can’t wait to show you!

Why do users have to autosave?

We allow you to autosave a minimum of $5 a week (that’s less than $1 a day). Why? Because if you can’t do $5 a week towards that goal – it’s never going to happen.

Why are you guys a private site?

ImpulseSave is an exclusive site and there is a good reason behind it: We want everyone to have the experience they deserve. We want you to know us, trust us and understand that not only do we care about what your goals, but also that your security is our number one priority.
Does ImpulseSave cost money?

No. ImpulseSave is FREE and always will be. We don’t believe in minimum balances, transfer fees or any other banking mumbo-jumbo. Our concern is getting you to that goal.

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I use this savings account personally, so if you have questions please contact me. I’d love to help. And no, I’m not getting paid to write this or compensated in any way. I just love saving money