Jason "Gaz" Garrett is a Branch Manager at our Rutland branch. We caught up with Gaz to find out how he personally saves to reach his financial goals.

What's your number one savings tip?

If you can’t see it, you won’t spend it. Rename the account Don’t Spend or have it in an investment portfolio account that you can’t see every day, yet your money is still working for you.

How did you start saving?

From early on, the importance of savings was taught to me. I have always placed money into a savings account when I got paid or finished chores at a young age. My mum and dad said they would help me with my first car but I had to pay half of the cost so that was a big incentive to save.

Is there a habit that you changed that transformed the way you started saving?

Not so much of habit but knowing I need money put aside for emergencies helps me to continue to save. One thing I also do is if I get a pay raise, I put that extra money into the savings as if it was funds I didn’t have before, so a bit of an extra forced saving. It all adds up.

What are some of the goals you're saving for now and how are you saving towards those?

I put money away for my daughter each week as I know we will need funds for a car and education in the next 10 years. So we are accumulating savings in there, along with her RESP for future use. Again, this is a deduction for a set amount each week that automatically goes into her account.

Further reading: Saving For Your Child's Education With An RESP

How do you save for a vacation?

We are planning a trip to Europe, which when we started was two years away. I looked at the timeline and how much we thought we would need and based our savings plan on that.

So we started by putting $100 per week into a Holiday account which, over the 2 years, would give us $10,400.This is how I broke it down: total amount we wanted to save up divided by number of weeks we had.

That gave us a dollar figure and that's what we put it away weekly. We set up an auto transfer to coincide with payroll so you don’t miss it.

Is there advice someone gave you about saving that has stayed with you all your life?

Treat your savings plan like a loan or mortgage payment. These are payments you need to make no matter what so you budget for them; saving is no different. Have it come out on the same day as payday and then you have taken care of that big step. This is so important.

You don't have to build your financial plan alone. Our financial advisors have the experience and the expertise to help you create a plan so you can reach your financial goals. Book a financial snapshot and start your tomorrow today.
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