Like A Christmas Club, But Better

Because we just finished celebrating Christmas and it was so very lovely (I’ll blog about that later), I have had this thought rattling around in my brain and I’d like to share it today.

Back in the day, my first “real” job was at a bank. I remember feeling so very grown up when I learned how to balance my bank account to the penny every month.

Also, we had a thing called the “Christmas Club.” This ingenious invention was designed to help you save for Christmas all through the year.

This is how it worked: you opened an account at the beginning of the year and decided how much you wanted to save by the time November rolled around and broke that up into a manageable monthly amount. You would then get a special deposit slip booklet and you would add your pre-determined amount to your Christmas Club account every month.

By the time November rolled around, you had a nice little sum that was ear-marked for Christmas spending and it was relatively painless. I loved that feeling. It felt very adulty to be disciplined in setting money aside that I knew I’d want at the end of the year.

I always loved that. I felt sooo adult when I saw that balance growing every month. In fact, I think Painless Savings should be a concept that should be taught in schools. Maybe under the Life Skills banner. 

I continue to utilize the “Christmas Club” concept to this day. But, because it’s just that much easier, I set up an automatic monthly deduction from my checking account to a savings account. I look forward to late November with a big smile on my face. “Kids, we will be definitely be celebrating a Merry Christmas this year!”

This is one of the reasons that I am a big fan of the ScholarShare 529 Plan. It’s a beautiful form of Painless Savings, but for college. And you save throughout, not just the current year, but for years to come. When those beautiful grandchildren of mine are ready for college, there will be funds waiting for them to help make the college dream happen.

Also, please stop what you’re doing and take a moment to appreciate my two grand-boys, Sebastian and Asher, that I’ve had together in my area code for the past week. Thank you.

So, back to painlessly saving for college…

It happens via easy monthly deductions and it has all the feel-good qualities of an investment in their futures. How cool will it be when I get to say, “Kids, you will definitely be going to college!”

It’s the Christmas Club concept but a thousand times better. 

Look at me! I’m adulting so hard right now.

For more information about ScholarShare, click here. Questions? Would you like to know more? Connect with ScholarShare on Facebook and Twitter. 

**This is a sponsored post on behalf of ScholarShare for which I received compensation. All opinions are 100% my own.**