For many people, saving money feels impossible. Rent rises. Food costs climb. Salaries often struggle to keep pace. Therefore, putting aside even $100 a month can seem insignificant. But personal finance author Beth Kobliner believes that small habits could quietly transform a person's future.
Kobliner, whose bookGet a Financial Lifefirst appeared in 1996, says the most powerful financial lessons have barely changed in 30 years. Markets fluctuate. Technology evolves. Economic fears come and go. Yet the basic principles of building wealth remain remarkably steady. Speaking recently on her HerMoney podcast with financial journalist Jean Chatzky, Kobliner reflected on why slow and disciplined saving still works, even during uncertain times.
And her example was striking. She recalled meeting readers decades after buying her book. Some told her they began with only modest monthly contributions because that was all they could afford.
One story stayed with her. 'My greatest joy comes from when I meet someone in their 50s or 60s, and they say, 'I have your book, and I was young, and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't afford it, but I forced myself to put in $100 a month, and now I have $400,000.'
The idea sounds almost too simple. Save consistently.Invest steadily. Wait patiently. Yet finance experts have long argued that time matters more than dramatic financial moves. Regular investing allows compound growth to do much of the heavy lifting over decades. Kobliner says many people underestimate this because the results are invisible at first.
A single $100 contribution does not look life-changing. Neither does the second or third. But years of disciplined investing can create momentum that becomes difficult to replicate later in life. That is why both Kobliner and Chatzky admitted to financial regrets linked not to spending but to delay.
Chatzky said she kept too much money sitting in cash instead of investing earlier. Kobliner said she waited too long to automate her savings despite advising others to do exactly that. 'One of the biggest mistakes was not signing up for everything automatically,' Kobliner explained. Automation, she argues, removes emotion and hesitation from saving. Once money leaves a pay cheque before it reaches a bank account, people often adapt naturally to living on the remaining income.
Personal finance trends constantly evolve online. One year it's cryptocurrency; the next, trading apps,side hustles, orviral investing strategies. Yet Kobliner says the fundamentals remain largely unchanged since she first started writing about money in the 1990s.
'The idea of maxing out your retirement plans, making sure to be well invested in the market, and reducing your expenses, all of those things that might sound tried and true and boring, are what have worked over the last thirty years.' She also defended index funds and index ETFs, which track broader markets rather than relying on stock picking.
'Even though there's this concern like, "No, no, no, this time it's worse," certainly over many, many decades, index funds and index ETFs have been the place to be.' The appeal lies partly in their simplicity. They require less active decision-making and often carry lower fees than heavily managed investment products. For younger savers especially, Kobliner suggests consistency matters far more than perfection.
Source: International Business Times UK
