Knowing how to save is a virtue and more so at a time when almost half of Spanish households have had to modify their lifestyle due to inflation. Due to the rise in prices, 33% have had to change some important aspect and 12% cannot maintain the lifestyle they led, according to the Cofidis Observatory of Economy and Sustainability in the Home 2023. The study reveals that on 26 % of households, 1 in 4, cannot save at the end of the month.
An alternative, whenever possible and there is margin, is to follow the 50/30/20 rule, which in theory allows you to save with any salary.
The rule comes from the book All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan, published in 2005 by the US senator and insolvency expert at Harvard University, Elizabeth Warren, and her daughter Amelia Warren Tyagi. Broadly, it consists of dividing monthly income into 3 categories and allocating a specific percentage of income to each one: 50% to primary needs such as food or clothing; 30% to whims such as traveling or a concert ticket; and 20% savings.
For example, with a salary of 1,200 euros, 600, 360 and 240 would have to be allocated respectively. Thus, in the year they would save almost 3,000 euros.
To avoid waste, it is important to set aside the percentage that is equivalent to savings when collecting the payroll. This way it is clear from the beginning the amount that can be spent. It is advisable to enter what you are going to save in a bank account that is not the usual one.
This 20% can also be subdivided. You can have a percentage as a security cushion to cover possible incidents -repairs, changing an appliance- and another for a specific objective that you have in mind or an important purchase such as a home or a car.
Having a goal can help you comply correctly with the savings plan and not be tempted to spend part of that money on other things.
“The 50/30/20 rule is a method that is increasingly widespread and accepted by all those who, in addition to saving for the future, want to have control of what they spend monthly in an easy and simple way,” they say from Cofidis.
At the financial company, they explain that the greatest difficulty people have in complying with it is to strictly follow 30% of spending on dispensable things, which are mostly done to increase the quality of life, such as going out to dinner. home, going to the movies, a subscription to a platform or the forgotten gym fee. Company sources point out that the majority of Spanish families do not want or plan to give up vacations, so cutting back becomes an obligatory step.
For Antoni Cunyat, professor of economics at the UOC, it is a good rule as long as saving is systematic. “Not everyone can do it. You have to have a payroll that allows you to do it because current expenses eat up a large part of your salary ”, he assures.
Since it is difficult to grow income, you have to look at what is spent. Cunyat recommends “taking an x-ray of spending, writing down all the items each month to calculate current spending and how much can be allocated to savings.” Other advice that he gives is to consider the suitability of the supplies that are paid for, such as electricity, gas or telephone, and if expenses can be reduced by changing the company or contracting less power in the case of electricity. He also recommends comparing different stores or supermarkets in which you buy to reduce spending on food, one of the most weighing at home today with the mortgage or rent.
Although the 50/30/20 rule is extended, it is not the only one. There are other methods such as imagining that savings are an expense and therefore at the beginning of the month move part of our money to another bank account for that purpose, but without a specific figure. Or the 30-day challenge that consists of, starting with one euro on the first day of the month, save one more each day than the previous day until the 30th and start again the following month. If it is repeated constantly, at the end of the year almost 5,600 euros will be saved.
