© Elliot Essman 2005. All rights reserved.

These pages contain the complete 2005 revised text of Building Yourself, public speaking trainer Elliot Essman's guide to living the successful life.

Elliot Essman Public Speaking Training
Building Yourself Table of Contents
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• Economy is a savings bank, into which men drop pennies, and get dollars in return. Josh Billings (1815–1885)

Saving means putting aside and keeping it there. Put saving into your monthly budget just like any other expense: so much for rent, so much for food, so much for transportation, so much for saving. Put money into tax‑deferred accounts of course, but when you reach the limits of these, save in regular accounts. No matter what your budget, put aside something regularly. Keep at it and never stop.

And the money will grow. It will pay you back for your discipline and spending restraint many times over. The money—especially the tax deferred money—will double and redouble. Of course, you can't just let it sit in the bank. You have to pay attention to how you invest it. But without the habit of putting money aside, all the investing skill in the world won't do you any good.

The very simplicity of the concept of putting aside is difficult for some people to handle. It seems to be something that dull, uninteresting people do—people who don't know how to be hip and enjoy themselves. But it's not that at all. A “nest egg” gives you freedom against the bumps and shocks of life. It allows you to take prudent risks. As far as retirement accounts go, you can expect to be retired longer than you can expect to work. Life expectancy keeps increasing. The economic world becomes more and more unstable. The basic Benjamin Franklin advice about saving is even more true now than it was in the past when things didn't move so fast.

No—saving is not easy. Seductive ways to spend your money push at you from all sides. But, remember, you think for yourself. Do you really want to spend your creative sweat on all those shiny things they want to sell you?