Have you ever embarked on a new savings goal, only for the early enthusiasm to dissolve into demotivation and disillusion? For some people, this happens in the days after the first few months, for others, it takes a rhythm breaker like illness, loss of a job, or bad business. Demotivation and disillusionment are common issues in saving for even the most experienced savers.
Avoiding this is simple; understand what you want to achieve and, importantly, why you want to achieve it.
Quantifying saving milestones is crucial, as is setting deadlines of meeting them. For example, for someone new to saving looking to purchase an asset we might set a goal of saving regularly over 6 months to achieve at least a third of the asset value. This quantified specificity is important in forming an appropriate saving discipline. Sounds easy huh? Milestone setting is not as easy as it sounds. First of all, it requires discipline because it forces you to be honest about what you are capable of committing to given practical (e.g. time and other commitments) and financial limitations.
If your milestone is time-based, establish who are you trying to show your capability to? Often it can be a partner, children, parents, friends (or people that have said you couldn’t do it). When you’re deep into saving and feel like stopping, learn to stop thinking about the discomfort and start thinking about how proud those people will feel and how proud that will make you feel. When it gets hard, go back to the reason you’re doing it in the first place.
Setting your milestones is obviously important but understanding the motivation behind them gets you halfway to meeting them. The other half? Well, that’s what the Mombo Sacco team and a specific digital saving account are for. May demotivation and disillusionment never darken your door again.
Mombo Sacco Saving Milestones based on the saving account opted for.
