Nickel and Dime Your Way to Retirement

Maybe you've seen the commercials. Charter One Bank is offering a new service that they've dubbed the "Keep the Change" program; a service that allows customers to round they're purchases made with their debit and check cards up to the next dollar, and the change difference is placed into their savings account automatically. The principal? Spend $52.50 on groceries, and Charter One automatically rounds that charge up to $53.00- of which .50 is transferred into a high-yield savings account. Sounds like a great idea to me. But what about those of us who bank with institutions that don't offer that program? Here, learn how to nickel and dime yourself into a growing savings account all by yourself.

Groceries. Gas. Phone bills. Utilities. Meals. What, exactly, do you put on your check card? If you use it frequently, a spare change savings program might be just what you are looking for. Most of us are ill-savers. That is, we don't save money like we should, and we piddle what little we have away on meaningless items that we can't remember a few months later. But what if you could save without trying? Sounds like a great idea, doesn't it? Well, it's possible. With very little effort on your part, you could end up with hundreds, even thousands, in a savings account that grows over time.