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Saving More Money, Now & Later

You could save today & tomorrow,
often without that penny-pinching feeling.
A message from Belco Retirement & Investment Services

Directly and indirectly, you might be able to save more per month than you
think. Hidden paths to greater savings can be found at home and at work, and their
potential might surprise you.
Little everyday things may be costing you dollars you could keep. Simply
paying cash instead of using a credit card could save you four figures annually. An
average U.S. household carries $9,000 in revolving debt; as credit cards currently have
a 13% average annual interest rate, that average household pays more than $1,000 in
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finance charges a year.
The typical bank
customer makes four $60
withdrawals from ATMs a
month – given that two or
three are probably away
from the host bank, that
means $5-12 a month lost
to ATM fees, or about
$60-100 a year. A
common household gets
about 15 hard-copy bills a
month and spends roughly
$80 a year on stamps to
mail them – why not pay
bills online? Automating
payments also rescues you
from late fees.1
A household that runs full loads in washing machines and dishwashers, washes cars
primarily with water from a bucket, and turns off the tap while shaving or brushing
teeth may save $100 (or more) in annual water costs.
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Then, there are the big things you could do. If you are saving and investing for
the future in a regular, taxable brokerage account, that account has a drawback: you
must pay taxes on your investment income in the year it is received. So, you are really
losing X% of your return to the tax man (the
percentage will reflect your income tax rate).2
In traditional IRAs and many workplace
retirement plans, you save for retirement
using pre-tax dollars. None of the dollars you

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