List of cool stuff to save up for
Before making any saving decision, you should be aware of what your stuff to save up for the future goal. Have you ever thought about how to save and why you need to save money? What are your thoughts on savings? It’s not just about putting cash aside. You need to think beyond that and develop a better strategy to improve your financial future.
Inflation gradually lowers the value of your money, meaning it buys less over time. Everyone faces financial challenges and surprises at some point in life, but these can be managed more easily by setting clear savings goals for the future. A single smart strategy of defining clear financial goals can transform your financial future forever.
This guide on smart stuff to save up for will help you identify essential items that are worth saving for, like building an emergency fund, buying a home or vehicle, or travel and vacation funds.
Table of Contents
1. Starting a Business: Stuff to Save up For
If you are planning to start your own business and become an entrepreneur, then you need a lot of money. It is a great goal to save up for. You will need a business startup fund for different things like equipment, legal fees, insurance, licenses and permits, marketing, and the everyday costs to run your business. You should gather your business startup funds in advance (1 to 2 years), depending on your income and savings strategy.
Goal: Suppose you are looking to start a gift shop in 1 year and need a business start-up fund.
How to achieve: Here is a step-by-step guide to achieving your goal.
- Calculate business start-up cost: Calculate how much total amount you need to start a gift shop business. Your total estimated business startup cost is around $21,900, as below.
- $10,000: Initial inventory
- $900: Rent
- $5,000: Shop Setup
- $1,000: Permits and Insurance
- $2,000: Marketing and Advertising
- $3,000: Operational Costs
- Set a timeline to start a business: You want to start a business in 1 year.
- Set a monthly saving goal: You need to save $1,825 ($21,000/12) monthly from your income.
- Open a high-yield savings account: Automate monthly fund transfers in this savings account.
- Special Note: Keep this savings to use it for a business startup fund only. Do not spend anywhere else.
Starting a new business is the best stuff to save up for your financial growth.
2. Save up For Quality Investment
You want to generate long-term value by investing in high-quality financial asset classes like real estate, equities, bonds, commodities, and mutual funds and ETFs. All these asset classes have the potential to generate wealth in the long term. You can consider investing in any of these asset classes as per your risk-taking profile and financial goal. Also, you can diversify your investment in different asset classes for better return and lower risk.
Goal:
- Build a fund: $20,000 in 6 months for quality investment.
- Investment time horizon: Minimum 20 years.
- Expected return on investment: I need a 6%-8% average annual return on investment.
How to Achieve:
- Build a fund for quality investment: $20,000 needed in 6 months for investment. You need to save around $3,333 every month to build an investment fund. You can deposit this amount in a secure savings account.
- Research different asset classes with historical returns. Example:
- Stocks : Between 8% and 10% annually since 1928.
- Bonds: Between 4% and 6% annually since 1928.
- Gold: Between 4.5% and 5% annually since 1928.
- Real Estate: Between 4% and 4.3% annually since 1928.
- Choose an asset class to invest in: You can diversify your investment in stocks (50% – 60%), bonds (30% – 40%), and gold (10% – 15%) asset classes. Diversification will provide you safety on your investment. You can get an average 6% – 8% annual return on your investment over a longer period of time.
- Special Note: Prevent using that fund for any other need or want expenses.
3. Stuff to Save Up for : Home & Living
Having a comfortable home is a dream that everyone aspires to achieve. It requires lots of money if you are planning to buy a new home or upgrade an existing one. With smart planning and saving, you can easily achieve your goal of owning a new home. This stuff to save up guide will help you to build a fund for your home & living.
Goal:
- Need around $135,000 in 2 years for
- Down payment of home: $80,000
- Essential Furniture: $15,000
- Appliances: $20,000
- Home Decor: $10,000
- Smart Home Technology: $10,000
How to Achieve:
- You need to save around $5,625 every month to build a fund for buying a home and essentials.
- Open a separate account to save monthly savings by automatic transfer and earn interest on savings.
- Special Note: Do not use this fund for any other expenses.
You can read How to Start Saving For a House guide.
4. Secure Future: Save Up for an Emergency Fund
Life is unpredictable, and you might encounter unexpected expenses in the future, such as financial or medical emergencies like job loss, family needs, major surgery, home repair, etc. You cannot avoid such situations, but you can handle them more efficiently if you have enough emergency funds. It is your financial safety net, helping you handle unexpected challenges without disrupting your long-term financial plans. It will provide you financial stability, peace of mind, flexibility, and long-term protection.
The below-given detail will describe for you how to save for building an emergency fund goal.
- You need 3-6 months of living expenses in your emergency fund if you are single and have multiple income sources.
- You need 6-12 months of living expenses in your emergency fund if you are living with family and a sole earner.
Goal:
- Build an emergency fund of $2890 for monthly expenses. Want to build it in 1 year.
- Rent: $800
- Transportation: $450
- Food and groceries: $700
- Utility bills: $650
- Life insurance: $80
- Health insurance: $60
- Debt repayment: $150
- You need around $17,340 in your emergency fund to cover 6 months’ living expenses.
How to Achieve:
- You need to save around $1,445 (17,340/12) each month to build your required emergency fund in 1 year.
- Open a separate emergency fund savings account to put monthly savings in. It should be most liquid to access money whenever needed in an emergency.
- Special Note: Use this fund only in genuine emergencies.
5. Stuff to Save up for: Retirement
Everyone needs money to spend retirement life peacefully, comfortably, and stress-free. You should start saving early to build a necessary retirement fund. You can contribute a small amount from your income towards a retirement fund to build a large fund for retirement. Let us understand how you can achieve your retirement fund building goal smoothly.
Before building a retirement fund, you should know how much fund you will need for your retirement.
Generally, you need 70-80% of your pre-retirement income to maintain your current lifestyle post-retirement.
Goal:
- Suppose you need $10,000 monthly post-retirement, and your current age is 35 years.
How to Achieve:
- You need to contribute $4,820 per month to your retirement fund by considering the below-given parameters.
- Your current age: 35
- Monthly fund you need on retirement: $10,000
- Retirement age: 67
- Life expectancy: 95
- Pre-retirement rate of return: 6%
- Post-retirement rate of return: 5%
- Inflation rate: 3%
- Open safe retirement saving account and contribute this amount in it.
- Special note: Stick to your goal and try to invest more money in your retirement fund to achieve your goal before retirement.
6. Technology: Stuff to Save up For
You can invest in technology to enhance your productivity, improve your lifestyle, save energy, and improve your skill. You can invest in laptops and tablets to improve productivity and skill, fitness trackers to monitor health, smart home devices and energy-efficient appliances to save energy, and solar panels for sustainable energy solutions. You need to save funds if you want to invest in any of these gadgets or equipment.
Goal:
- Need around 14,298 in 1 year to invest in technology.
- Fitness tracker: $160
- Smartwatch: $270
- Energy-efficient HVAC system: $12,000
- Energy-efficient refrigerator: $1498.00
- Laptop: $370
How to Achieve:
- You need to save around $1,192 monthly to create a fund of $14,298 in 1 year to invest in technology as per your wish.
- Put monthly savings in a separate savings account to earn interest on investment and achieve your goal smoothly.
- Special Note: Stick to your goal and do not spend this fund on any other expenses.
7. Saving up for Travel and Experiences: A Worthwhile Goal
It is one of the ideal goals for those who love to travel and explore new locations and countries with their loved ones. You will learn more about different cultures and traditions by enjoying joyful life on vacation. You should save a small portion of your income in advance if you are planning to enjoy your annual vacation at your dream location. Let us plan your travel goal with an example.
Before planning your trip, take time to research different destinations, flight costs, and accommodation options. This will give you a clear idea of how much money you will need for your adventure trip.
Goal:
- You are planning this vacation trip in 6 months.
- You need a total fund of $2,570 as below to explore your desired destination for a 5-day trip with a total of 3 family members. Example:
- Accommodation for 3 persons: $90 * 5 = $450
- Flight expenses for 3 persons: $1200
- Food for persons: $420
- Other expenses: $500
How to Achieve:
- You need to save around $430 on a monthly basis to achieve your goal in 6 months.
8. Saving Up for Gardening Hobbies
Gardening will reduce your stress and help you to connect with nature by spending time with it. Working in the garden will provide you exercise to improve agility and power and burn lots of calories. You will stay fit and healthy by spending small amounts of time in nature. Let us understand everything you will need and how much it will cost to achieve your gardening goals.
Goal:
- You are planning to create an indoor garden in 3 months.
- Need a budget of $6,150 as below to create a small indoor garden. Example:
- Gardening Tools: $1,500.
- Plants/Seeds: $2,500.
- Soil, Fertilizer, and Containers: $2,000
- Irrigation System: $150
How to Achieve:
- You need around $2,050 in monthly savings to achieve your gardening goal in 3 months.
Bonus: Fun Things to Save Up For as a Teenager
Fun is part of daily activities for kids, and it helps them to improve physically and mentally. Teenagers have fun ideas in their minds to save up for. Let us look at some fun ideas to save up for.
Goal:
- Buying gadgets: Example gaming console, smartphone, and tablet.
- Customized wardrobe: Save for a new wardrobe according to your style and personal touch.
- Attending concerts and events: For an unforgettable experience.
- Travel Adventures: Trip to an adventure destination with friends.
How to Achieve
- You can plan your fun activity, calculate expected cost, and start saving up for it. This is the best stuff to save up for.
Key Takeaways
An efficient and clear plan, with a focus on long-term, medium-term, and short-term goals, will help you improve your finances. These stuff to save up for your different goals will help you in achieving them quickly. Starting with small but consistent savings will work magnificently in building a substantial fund for wealth creation and financial stability. Regularly save from your income and stick to your goals. You will achieve all of them.
FAQs
What are fun things to save up money for?
You can save for dining out, entertainment, buying new clothes, and buying gadgets and games.
What should a 12-year-old save up for?
12-year-old boy wants to buy new clothes, toys, games, and books. You can buy them if necessary but avoid unnecessary buying stuff to save up for other necessary things.
How to be thrifty as a kid?
As a kid, you can save lots of money by encouraging your child to buy used items like sports equipment, textbooks, small riding toys, games, board games, and puzzles.
How long does it take to save up for a car?
Your question regarding how to save up for a car depends on the budget of your dream car and the time duration to buy it. For example, if your car budget is $20,000 and you are planning to purchase it in 1 year, then save around $1,667 each month.
How to save up for an apartment?
Buying an apartment or house is one of the long-term goals of an individual. You need to identify the down payment amount and purchasing duration of an apartment to save up for your dream house. Suppose the cost for an apartment is $600,000, the down payment amount is $120,000, and you are planning to purchase it in 5 years; then you need to save around $2,000 each month to save up for the down payment of an apartment.
- How to Fix the Steam Pending Transaction Issue (Complete Guide) - March 13, 2025
- Flipping Amazon Return Pallets: The Hidden Side Hustle Goldmine - February 28, 2025
- Emerging Investment Opportunities: Where to Put Your Money in 2025 - February 25, 2025