Saving has been a culture taught and passed down for generations. The act of “putting some away” has become a widely accepted way of growing and maintaining wealth. However, what no one says to anyone is the fact that saving is hard! There is a popular perception that people who don’t save are lacking in self-control. They are seen as people who are hooked on squandering, and luxurious living. This is in fact not true. The difficulty of saving does not come from the lack of self-control, but rather from the scarcity of attention. If you have urgent needs to take care of financially, automatically the other important needs like; building a house, buying a car, college tuition fall off your radar because they are simply; less pressing.

Not Saving? Here are 3 Reasons You Should

• Saving gives you freedom

It can be most times difficult to take out some of your cash and put it into an account; if you don’t have a set goal for that money. Why save for later when you can spend on what you want today, right? But among the many reasons to save money is that even if you don’t know exactly what you’re saving for right now, you’ll likely find something you want to save for in the future. A new car, a new home, a child’s education… the possibilities are endless. Plus, it’s critical to have some cash set aside for emergency purposes as they come up. Saving gives you the freedom to dream, to aspire, to think of that vacation, that new TV set, that beautiful house. You are free to imagine just because you have the means tucked away.

• Saving gives you financial security

Think of it as having that extra man at the door whose on job is to make sure no stranger gets in unnoticed. That one man isn’t nearly enough to stop a full blown invasion but yet you sleep nice. That’s the idea of security or at least the feeling of security. Having some extra cash tucked away can give you such a feeling. No matter what happens, you know you can handle yourself; if push gets to shove. All unexpected or unwanted expenses can be kept at bay by the mere availability of extra funds.

• Ability to take risk

People who live by the paycheck often live a particular lifestyle, and are terrified of doing anything out of the ordinary. This is the inability to take risk. Saving, though in the long run, gives you the ability to take calculated risks with less worry. Take starting a business for instance, in the start of a business, the first few months, sometimes a year, cash inflow is slow, but with money saved up over time, the risk isn’t as overwhelming as should be.

Great reasons to save money don’t you think?

On the flipside of things, putting money aside can be useless if “ineffective”. This is because, those emergencies and eventualities we save for are often more immediate than we envisage them to be. Scarcity of attention confines us to present needs, blinding us from seeing what’s important. But most times what’s important costs a large sum of immediate cash that a year of monthly saving cannot give. This is why there is a type of saving called CONTRIBUTION