Money is Like a Bar of Soap

By Jeffery A. Keill Senior Wealth Advisor, CFP,CIM,FMA,FCSI, CEA

Money flows in and out of our lives. We breathe in earnings and we exhale expenses. At a very fundamental level money is a store of value earned by individuals in exchange for their time, sweat, and skill. Once we make this exchange of our resources to earn money, we then need money to redeploy to cover our needs. Breathe in, breathe out. Food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and all the other items in our life. At some point the questions then becomes, a) what to do with excess money that we have or, b) what can we do to have excess money. Excess money, be it simply from lack of spending or from a premeditated assault to one's cashflow, becomes saved for some future utility. This blog is about the fundamental concepts about creating and protecting savings so that we can build a future of financial security. In other words - how to save and create a ”firewall” around your savings against its biggest predator- ourselves.

Think of money like a bar of soap. The more you use it the less you have. Here are some simple ideas to help us build up and protect our savings:

• Visualize and Define your Goal: Without purpose there is no direction. Have you ever bought a ticket to go to no particular destination? In order to get somewhere we want we need to plan the journey otherwise you will likely end up somewhere you did not want to go.

• Nickname your Savings: As much as behaviour can damage someone’s financial well being understanding these nuances can help you succeed. Humans have a fondness for mental accounting. They like to organize and create patterns and systems so the complex becomes simplified. We can do the same with our savings by having separate accounts for separate goals. The next step is to ensure that each account has a nickname such as “My House”, “Kitty’s Kitty”, Jeff’s Irish Travel”. You will be less likely to draw from a designated account associated with one of your defined goals.

• Pay Yourself First and Systemize it: For most people the easiest way to save is to establish an automatic savings plan. It is one thing to have a habit of manually moving money each pay to a savings vehicle but having it automated greatly improves the likelihood of the action. No decisions. No other noise to compete for the decision to save.

• Firewall Your Savings: Keep your short term impulses out of it. Make access to your savings a two step process. Keeping your savings out of your “swipe” range to avoid unfortunate damage caused by impulses. Online shopping vendors with saved credit card information create one-click dopamine hits.

• 24 Hour Rule: When you are about to make that purchase that you know is impulsive- usually there is a sense of “I must have” or “that would be cool”- delay clicking the Buy Now. Wait 24 hours and come back to it. This will greatly help you avoid overspending on clutter, gadgets, and future yard sale items.

• Track Progress: As creatures who react to rewards it is important to track progress. As you build up savings towards some particular goal, the feeling of accomplishment will feed your desire to continue to save.

• Beware of Lifestyle Creep: As time goes by and as we get older our incomes begin to naturally rise as we bring more value to the work force through experience. If we do not adjust our savings to match our increasing incomes we effectively will be saving less and less. If the money is not saved and spent. This excess amount that is not saved as income grows is known as Lifestyle Creep. Being aware of this tendency over time is important to those who become great savers.

These are only a few of the many ideas our Advisory Team has about developing good saving habits. The next conversation is what to do with those savings. Investing is the second step in the Savings and Investment process that leads to financial independence.

Last edit August 13, 2025