David Capriccio on Smart Saving

With a twenty-year career in financial investment and corporate finance under his belt, David Capriccio has enjoyed financial successes that would be the envy of many. In his personal finances, he has kept to a strict savings regimen that ensures he has plenty to live on and will long after he retires. When asked for some tips on smart saving, David Capriccio began by talking about setting up an emergency fund.

An emergency fund is a six-month savings account; that is, the account contains enough to pay your current expenses for six months, should financial disaster strike. David Capriccio acknowledges that this level of savings can be difficult for many to achieve but notes that making small changes in daily routines can add up to big savings. Packing your own lunch and saving $5 a day, for example, means $150 per month in extra savings, according to David Capriccio. That’s enough to make a sizeable contribution to a savings account each month from just one small change. Make a few such changes, says David Capriccio, and you may find your savings ballooning before your very eyes.

Once you have established an emergency fund, David Capriccio’s advice is to pay down any outstanding debts, such as student loans or car payments. Some people advise paying debts first, and David Capriccio recognizes this but his personal philosophy is to have savings in case of disaster and then focus on paying back what you owe.

David Capriccio has been fortunate in that he has had such great financial successes and he knows that not everyone has the kind of financial flexibility that wealth can give. That is why he advises modest changes in daily lifestyle in service of future financial freedom and personal pride. If you can make savings into a kind of game, where you set achievable goals and watch those goals happen, says David Capriccio, you will find that savings become a part of your lifestyle.