Just Do It! -- how to start saving

Sometimes it is hard listening to "older folk." I know many of the things told to me in college went in one ear and out the other. So, I won't be surprised if you just skip over this. Try, however, to give it a few minutes thought.

Many of you in college are thinking that money is tight. It is hard to get enough cash together to pay for the happy hours, Starbucks and -- horrors -- cigarettes! There will come a time when you are likely to look back at your college days and see how much you could have saved if you had focused on it. This is especially true if you are one of those "failure to launch" types that is still living at home.

The hardest part is just getting started. I would challenge you to set a goal today of trying to save just $50 to $100 a month. How hard would that be? It might be as simple as giving up your daily Starbucks fix ($5 day x 20 days a month). The 50 bucks is for those of you that can't give it up completely and need to do every other day. Give up cigarettes and you free up a lot of loose change! Happy hours are a very personal thing so I will leave it up to you to decide whether you can free up any funds there.

The next step would be to open up an account to accumulate these funds. A saving account at your local bank might do (make sure you understand any fees). While I am not recommending any particular firm (and am taking no money from them), I might suggest you look at E*trade bank or any other bank that has a similar deal. E*trade allows you to open up a saving account that is currently earning about 5% with $1. That is right -- one dollar! You can also set up an automatic monthly transfer from your main bank account. That automatic thing is quite important because it keeps you focused once the initial willpower wears off and you are hankering for that Starbucks. Here is a link to the description of the E*trade account. https://us.etrade.com/e/t/home/completesavings?_skinnertab=bank I like E*trade because it sets you up for the next step -- investing. Please remember that this is only a suggestion. Do some more research about other brokers and banks and pick the one that is right for you. The important thing is to get started.

I want to keep this brief (so that you will read this!). Motley Fool has a FREE online seminar that shows you how to get started in greater (and better) detail. I suggest you take a look at it.

http://www.fool.com/seminars/sharebuilder/index.htm?sid=0008&lid=000&pid=0000