I recently heard that John D. Rockefeller used to enjoy giving 11 cents to children he passed on the street. His advice to them was to save the dime and spend the penny. I think that was quite a bit of wisdom there and I'd sure like to put it into practice. I'm not sure if the 10-1 ratio would work with all of today's expenses, but still sage advice on the bottom line regarding savings, no?

I agree, it is sage advice. However, a penny was worth a whole lot more when he did that. I think that today's inflation rate is part of the reason why people don't save more. I would be happy to save 1% at this point, much less 10%.

I think it depends on how much you make, and how much you need to spend to get by.

If you aren't making bills, it's of no use to you to invest your money. Right now your main concern should be to get your bills taken care of.

That being said, if you are caught up on bills, then you should invest as much as you possibly can. Ideally, you will end up with more money in the end, and then you can use some of the excess to buy the things you went without earlier.

I'm a big fan of not being in debt over unnecessary items while you could be investing the money instead. That's why I would never suggest anybody buy a car on a loan. Sure, you might like having a nice car, but if you invested the same amount of money, then years later, you can buy the same car with cash, AND have extra money on top of that.

Sad now, happy later, and with money to spare.

hey, thanks for that post..i haven't been really a good saver this month but i'm determined to come back to my good routine.. :)

You should save 10% for emergency funds and another 10% for things you want to do or buy.

You should have 6 months of bills saved just in case you get hurt or loose your job. You should also try to save at least 10% of your paycheck.