Lessons a coin jar can teach about financial discipline

HYDERABAD: What do you do with the loose change in your pocket? Most of us may think or do nothing about it, but believe it or not, spare coins have enough firepower that can let you indulge in some of life’s luxuries from time to time. 

If you think that tossing coins in a piggy bank is best suited for kids but a wasteful activity for adults, think again. Because, loose change is equally valuable and when accumulated little by little, it’s this small sum that snowballs into hundreds or thousands of rupees that lets you pay for things without burning your wallet. Importantly, saving small change makes you principled, rekindles financial discipline, promotes household budgeting and reinforces the habit of saving.

Why is it important for adults? One of the crucial tenets of financial discipline is frugal spending.  It also means, savers will have to forego discretionary spend more often they would imagine or desire. But, dutifully saving loose coins can pay for a few luxuries such as an expensive designer handbag, or indulge in a guilt-free body massage, or have that sinful Michelin-star lunch, or buy that bottle of imported wine without your monthly expenses or credit card bills going out of hand.

When done with force, such small change can even let you buy those plane tickets for a dream vacation. 
The beauty of these adult piggy banks, financial advisers say, is that the daily deposits in the jar are too small and you already have the coins with you without much purpose. Moreover, it’s an easy way to save. 
But how do you go about it? There are several ways.

One obvious method is to aimlessly accumulate change whenever they are found in spare. Two, one can consciously put aside a fixed sum with an objective in mind (say buying something worth Rs 5,000 or more). Accordingly, daily amounts can be assigned as small as Rs 5 or RS 10, but are added everyday and at the end of the year, you’d be left with substantial sum that can be spent without regrets. 

Another fun way is to keep adding change equivalent to the number of days. For instance, if you add Rs 1 or Rs 5 on day one, each passing day should see multiples there of.  Though at first, the exercise may make you feel thrifty or appear as a trivial thing to do, but in the end you’ll arrive at the inevitable conclusion that every cent counts.

The utility of coin jars
The beauty of these adult piggy banks, financial advisers say, is that the daily deposits in the jar are too small and you already have the coins with you without much purpose.