Carmen Hall: Saving cents can turn into big dollars

Small savings can turn into big dollars. Photo / 123RF

OPINION

I have never been good at saving money.

When I went to primary school every Wednesday I would get my 50 cents, the big coin with the HMS Endeavour on it, or the brown fantail one-dollar note. I’d carefully put it into an envelope inside my Post Office Savings Book.

I’d fill out the deposit slip and in those days someone from the bank would come to school and collect your money. It was a highlight and sometimes if you were lucky they had gifts. Most of the time they were money boxes and I collected quite a few piggy banks over the years.

I even remember my first big withdrawal. Mum let me draw out some money to go towards a brown velvet waistcoat and matching skirt.

It’s a pity I liked taking the money out rather than putting it in. However, two of my best school friends were and still are penny pinchers today which I believe started all those decades ago.

To be honest I didn’t get my finances in order until I met my budget-conscious husband. He likes to make extra payments on our mortgage to shave years off our time and save money on interest.

So when he read a recent NZME article that revealed how Kiwis had saved $425 million with one bank simply by rounding up their everyday transactions into a savings account, he was intrigued.

There is no doubt the cost of living crisis has impacted everyone and it is getting much harder to make ends meet and pay the bills. Saving is out of reach for some people and I think every little bit counts. In my view, it is good to see a major bank implement something that is simple and easy because every little bit counts.

An ASB spokeswoman said New Zealanders had saved more than $425m by rounding up their transactions to the nearest $1, $2, $5 or $10.

Save the Change was introduced in 2010 to help customers build their savings with the extra amount being automatically deposited into a savings account. About 180,000 ASB customers are currently using Save the Change.

Jenni Clarkson is a fan and estimated she had saved thousands over the years.

“The uses have varied from saving for something special to saving for bills. At the moment we have a holiday account and two for bills that change goes into.”

Unfortunately, we are not with ASB who runs this scheme and I think it would be great if other banks looked at running something similar.