Hi, my name is Mei Carmer, and I am an Associate Financial Advisor here at Katterhenry Investment Group of NEST Capital. In case you missed our Finance 101 Seminars, you’re in luck. Welcome to Episode 3 of our 8 episode video series highlighting the various topics we discussed. In this video, we are going to talk about saving. There are so many things to save for, so we will be discussing paying yourself first, emergency funds, saving for your goals, and investing.

                Paying yourself first refers to setting aside money for savings as part of your fixed expenses. It should be included in your budget so you ensure you are saving money – rather than hoping you have money left over. Be intentional about saving. This includes your emergency fund, your goals, and your investments. An emergency fund is money you have set aside for when life unexpectedly happens; like if your car broke down or you had an unexpected trip to the doctors. The money is intended to help cover and ease the burden of things you didn’t budget for. It is good to start with $1,000 minimum, but a safe amount of money to have in your emergency fund is 3-6 months of your living expenses. You should also be saving towards your goals and the larger things in your budget. Also known as sinking funds, putting money aside each paycheck so you don’t have to come up with the money all at once is helpful. For example, setting aside half of your rent each paycheck so  it doesn’t come out of one paycheck or saving a set amount each month for your family vacation can be helpful for planning purposes. Finally, investing should be included in savings since you are saving for your future. Investing can be employer-related or self-directed. Your place of employment may offer some sort of retirement benefits like a 401k or something similar. Take advantage of saving for retirement this way as the money comes out before you get your paycheck, which makes it easier to save. Plus, some employers offer a contribution match, meaning that if you put in money, they’ll contribute money on your behalf; this is free money, so take advantage. You can also invest yourself in either IRAs or brokerage accounts. We will dive deeper into what these are in Episode 7, so stay tuned! This has been Episode 3 of our 8 episode Finance 101 video series. Episode 4 will discuss debt.

Investment products and services are offered through Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC (WFAFN), Member SIPC. Katterhenry Investment Group of NEST Capital is a separate entity from WFAFN.