Forbes Advisor

Set it and forget it — how to automate your savings

September 14, 2023

For many of us, retirement savings is something that — if we think about it at all — we worry about chiefly right ahead of the registered retirement savings plan deadline in March.

But there’s a school of thought that suggests automating your savings, rather than scraping up a lump sum at the last possible minute, is the way to go. Save with SPP took a look at what others are saying about this important topic.

At the Young and the Invested blog, automated savings is defined as “savings that happen passively — that is, without you having to do something every time you save.”

Through automated saving, the blog continues, “a predetermined sum of money is automatically transferred into a savings account or similar financial vehicle.” This happens on a recurring cycle, the article adds, typically “monthly, or every paycheque.”

So — how to do this? The article suggests that if all of your pay is deposited in your chequing account, you can set up — via online banking or a banking app — a regular transfer of some of that money to your savings account.

An article in Forbes Advisor continues that thinking, and advises that you make sure the savings account you choose offers high interest.

“To maximize your savings, choose one of the best high-interest savings accounts, which offer rates that are 10 times higher than the national average. Consider switching banks if your current account doesn’t pay much interest. Online banks often have the most attractive interest rates,” the article notes.

Another idea in the Forbes piece is the concept of boosting savings when you are cutting expenses. Say what, now?

“If you decide to make some cuts to your monthly spending, it’s important that you actually follow through with putting that extra money in savings. You can do this by increasing automatic transfers to your savings by the amount you plan to cut from your spending,” the article explains.

Now we get it. If you cut back on cable or a streaming app or two, don’t just spend that “saved” money — boost the amount you are transferring each month into savings.

The article also reminds us that when we get a raise, our monthly savings should get a raise too.

The U.S. articles mention the idea of using apps that “round up” spending, directing a portion of what you are buying into savings.

One such app, reports the Money Reverie blog, is called Moka (formerly Mylo).

The Moka app, reports the blog, connects to your savings account, and then does a little rounding up.

“For example, if you buy a cup of coffee for $3.25 with your credit card. The Moka app rounds up your purchase to $4.00 and saves the extra $0.75 in your Moka account. If you order that coffee everyday for one year, that’s $273.75 you have saved up. Your money would be automatically transferred from your chosen funding account to your Moka account,” the article explains.

We’re sure there are many other such “fintech” apps to choose from, but the idea of “rounding up” to save seems to be a good one.

If you’re a member of the Saskatchewan Pension Plan you can automate your savings in one of two ways. You can set up pre-authorized contributions to SPP from your bank account, or you can set up SPP as a “bill” via your online banking app and make automated bill payments to your future you. Automating savings means setting it and forgetting it — you can let SPP invest your savings for your future. Check out SPP today!

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Written by Martin Biefer

Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. A veteran reporter, editor and pension communicator, he’s now a freelancer. Interests include golf, line dancing and classic rock, and playing guitar. Got a story idea? Let Martin know via LinkedIn.


Combing the Interweb for the best retirement savings tips

October 6, 2022

Years ago, when we were working away at Lakehead Living in Thunder Bay, Ont., a colleague asked us if we were contributing to a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP).

“What’s that?” we asked. And once it was explained that you would get a tax refund for contributions made to an RRSP, the 25-year-old us was in – starting off at $25 per month.

What’s the best retirement savings tip out there? Save with SPP decided to have a look.

Start saving today, advises the Merrill division of Bank of America. “Start saving as much as you can now and let compound interest — the ability of your assets to generate earnings, which are reinvested to generate their own earnings — have an opportunity to work in your favour,” the bank advises.

At the InvestedWallet blog there are two tips of note – to “fund your retirement account with side hustles,” and to “ditch the lavish vacations.”

Using “side hustles,” such as “flipping furniture, using a 3D printer to make money, or completing freelance gigs” is a great way to boost savings – direct your profits there, rather than to buying furniture or taking trips, the blog advises. And on big annual trips, Invested Wallet suggests cutting back on “destination” vacations (the average vacation in the U.S. costs $1,145 per year) and instead, doing something affordable during time off and putting the saved cash into retirement.

The Forbes Advisor offers up a couple of good tips – get rid of your debt now, and not after you are retired, and “practice retirement spending now.” The first one needs no further explanation – debt is harder to pay off when you are living on less.

The “practice” tip is intriguing. Basically, the article suggests that most retirees will live on 80 per cent of what they were earning before retiring. We had a friend who was fearful about living with her first mortgage. So her husband said look, let’s bank the difference between our rent and the mortgage in the run-up to buying the house, and live on the reduced income. This idea worked, her fears were abated and by now we’re sure that house is paid for.

At Sun Life, a variety of tips are included, with a sound bit of advice being “take full advantage of your employee pension plan.” A lot of times, the company pension plan may be optional. You don’t have to join. But if you don’t, you are missing out on putting away money for retirement, often with an employer match.

If you are in a defined benefit pension plan, be sure to find out if there are ways to purchase service for periods of time when you were off on a maternity or parental leave. Your future you will thank you later.

We’ll add a few others we have gleaned over the years.

Make your saving automatic – contribute something towards your retirement every payday, and up it when you get a raise. You will be paying yourself first.

A nice place to put your Canada Revenue Agency tax refund is back into your SPP or RRSP account. You’re making the refund tax-deductible.

Start small. We started with $25 a month nearly 40 years ago. Don’t think you have to start off big, or you may never start off at all!

If you haven’t started saving yet, a wonderful resource to be aware of is the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. It’s open to any Canadian with RRSP room. With SPP, you can contribute any amount you want, up to $7,000 per year, and can transfer up to $10,000 a year from other RRSPs. SPP will pool your contributions, invest them at a low cost, and grow them into a future source of retirement income. Check out SPP today!

Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!

Written by Martin Biefer

Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. A veteran reporter, editor and pension communicator, he’s now a freelancer. Interests include golf, line dancing and classic rock, and playing guitar. Got a story idea? Let Martin know via LinkedIn.