America Saves Week

America Saves Week 2024: Saving for What Matters Most

Join Cornell Cooperative Extension of Yates County as we celebrate America Saves Week (April 8^th through April 12^th) with the theme of “Saving for What Matters Most.” America Saves Week is an annual national campaign that encourages and empowers individuals, families, employers, and communities to check in on their finances. The campaign focuses on several important topics that make up your financial landscape with a realistic economic approach, including saving for emergencies and unexpected expenses, leveraging automatic savings, retirement, and reducing debt, as well as more niche topics like talking to your family about money, understanding your employer's financial wellbeing benefits, and the mental and emotional effects of financial stress.

As always, each day of America Saves Week will have its own theme that touches on five important areas of financial wellness. These five themes are:

Monday, April 8^th | Saving Automatically

Sometimes, the smallest things have the greatest impact— like building the habit of saving, even if it’s just a little bit at a time. In fact, saving is a habit, not a destination!

On this day, we’ll collectively encourage and share the following messages, strategies, and tips:

• Set up automatic savings, either through your employer or financial institution
• Revisit the amount you contribute if you have already established automatic savings.
• Assess whether you have the best possible account for your savings and consider switching to a high-yield savings account to get the most out of savings.

Whether you choose to split your direct deposit or set up an auto-transfer through your financial institution, you benefit by automatic savings in two ways: first, by establishing the habit, and second by setting and reaching attainable milestones that will be incredibly useful when and if an unexpected expense arises.

Tuesday, April 9^th | Saving for the Unexpected

It happens to all of us: you’re saving for something that you’re really excited about, and before you know it, an unexpected event occurs, causing you to dip into your designated savings.

Every day, Americans are forced to use money they were saving for something they truly value or credit to pay for an unexpected expense.

On Day 2 of America Saves Week, we want you to embrace establishing an emergency fund, along with shifting the narrative around emergency savings:

• Begin to understand your Money Story and Money Values
• Identify your savings goals.
• Use automatic savings to begin or grow your emergency savings accounts.

Wednesday, April 10^th | Saving For Major Milestones

How do you save for the big things, like homeownership, retirement, and education, when saving for the small things is difficult? Saving for competing priorities can feel overwhelming, but there are ways to break these big goals down into reasonable, practical steps even if you aren’t where you want to be financially.

Day 3 of America Saves Week focuses on saving for major life milestones while not abandoning your other financial needs or wants. This includes:

• Getting a clear view of your financial landscape
• Establish or revisit your Spending and Savings Plan
• Learn a practical approach to saving for short, mid, and long-term financial goals.

Thursday, April 11^th | Paying Down Debt IS Saving

Just like having a plan for saving is important, so is having a plan to pay down debt. Recent reports show that individuals have increased their use of credit cards due to ongoing inflation and rising costs of basic needs like housing, food, and transportation.

Couple that with the return of student loan debt repayment, the increase in interest rates, and the ability to pay down debt exacerbate the savings crisis, hindering many Americans' ability to save for emergencies and remain financially stable.

Day 4 of America Saves Week reminds us that paying down debt is an essential component of savings.

Friday, April 12^th, | Saving At Any Age

Talking about money has been considered taboo for too long, but this mindset could be doing us a disservice. After all, it’s not what you say but how you say it.

You’ve gained valuable insights this week, and the next step is to share them and check in with your loved ones.

On the fifth and final day of America Saves Week, we encourage you to:

Talk to family members, whether it be your own kids to older generations, about your money story and goals, including retirement plans, the importance of saving, and responsibly using credit

If you haven’t, open up a savings account that correlates with what matters most to you right now

Last updated August 20, 2024