A Savings Memory From My Youth Has Me Thinking About Saving Today

Saving is something I’ve never been that great at. When you don’t have much more than what will pay the bills, the idea of saving is great, but it isn’t a reality.

The older you grow, the more you realize that putting away even a little bit does help. I think we get lost in thinking we have to have a massive nut of money squirreled away in order to be considered a savings.

Growing up in small town New Hampshire, I remember the local bank did something they called “The Christmas Club” every fall.

You could open up a special account that people were encouraged to use to put aside and save money for their holiday shopping.

The way I remember it, you couldn't do any withdrawals until December.

My parents got me one and it was fun to put in a few dollars here and there. Going to the bank and getting my little passbook updated with the latest deposit and total amounts was a big deal.

I seem to recall little tickets too that encouraged you to set aside a set amount every week so that you would have a set amount of $500, $1000 or more saved by Christmas. Of course I wasn’t on one of these plans, but breaking it down like that it is amazing how much little deposits can add up to.

Savings is all about putting a little away on a regular basis. That is the key.

The Christmas Club growing up first exposed me to this. Later, when we had our children and set up college accounts for them it once again reminded me.

Now that we are less than a year away from receiving our first college bills for our son, the idea that we haven’t saved enough is a reality.

Few people save enough for college, but I wish I was more educated on the options when our children were young so that we could have done a better job.

Thankfully, these days there is lots of information on saving for college and I’m happy to be partnering again with Fidelity & MEFA in support of the U.Fund Dreams Tour.

This series of events around Massachusetts are intended to educate parents (and any adults thinking about becoming parents) about the importance and options of saving for college.

Stay tuned to see where it takes me and if you have any college savings tips, I’d love to hear them.

Disclosure: I have partnered with Fidelity & MEFA in support of the U.Fund Dreams Tour. As always, all thoughts, opinions  and stories are my own.