Saving for your future

Words by Karolyn Blancas
San Fernando High School

Many people have had to work very hard to get to where they are, having their children watch them go to work every day. Some parents even work 12 hours a day just to put food on the table. Retirement at the age of 45 would be impossible for these hard working parents. Our parents suggest getting an education so we can obtain good jobs that will give us large amounts of money. Unfortunately most students do not take their advice seriously so they only see school as a social event.

They slack off, reach their twenties, and are still working at a minimum wage job. Many get stuck at community college and can’t even pay their own cell phone bill. There is now a solution for our generation to think about, especially if you have a job. The secret (solution) to this problem is
just saving money. I know that this is no secret but somehow people don’t get it until they are in their mid-fifties and say “Yeah, I should have saved my money”. That is why as a fellow teen I feel it is my duty to remind not only teens, but everyone to do this. The proposal is not to save every cent and dime that you earn, actually that would be terrific if you would, but there are other ways. For example, when you receive twenty dollars, imagine all you really have is ten dollars and just forget about the other ten. Put the extra ten somewhere safe. Forget about the rest and at the end of each month collect your extra earnings and put it into a bank account. At the end of every month keep putting the money into the same account, but the most important thing to do is to just forget about the account. The point of this is to keep the money going in and NOT out. By the time you’ll reach your forties that sum of money you have in the account will be a large amount of money. Also remember you must put money in every month, even if it’s as little as twenty-five, fifteen or even five dollars. Something is better than nothing. For parents with kids I encourage you to pass this knowledge on and if you have children smaller than ten years of age, you can do it for them as well, so by the time they become a teen they can keep it up and have a head start.

Other ways you can save is by taking mass transit or carpooling to school; this can also help save our environment. The most important way to save money is to realize how many hours of work it takes for you or your parents to pay for those new shoes you wanted or that shirt you are wearing. Is the time you or your parent spent working worth the shirt? If so, then you’re not saving very successfully. The point in saving is making sacrifices. There is no need in buying a 30 dollar shirt when it is just as useful as buying one that cost 5 dollars. The point is that in order to save you have to be willing to make sacrifices and if you’re not willing to sacrifice then you won’t successfully save money for the future.