Maybe you need to go public with them.

Writing down your goals helps make them real. Sharing them with others makes you accountable.

If you really want to go for it, consider entering the “Pay Yourself First” contest I’m co-hosting with FNBO Direct, the online arm of the First National Bank of Omaha.

You enter by creating a brief, 1-minute video explaining what you’re saving for, then upload the video to a special YouTube site. (You’ll find it by clicking the “Enter Now” button on the Pay Yourself First site.)

Just entering wins you a $10 Amazon gift card. Twenty finalists will get $500, and the five final challengers–whose progress toward their savings goals will be chronicled on the site for six months–will get a dollar-for-dollar match of their savings up to $5,000.

The grand prize winner gets a fabulous spa vacation.

The deadline for entries is July 31. Even if you don’t enter, you can check out the videos and follow the progress of the challengers when that phase of the contest begins Oct. 6.

TAGS: savings

Every woman needs a pile of “F.U.” money…which I’ll translate as “forget you!” money.

 That’s the stash of cash that allows you to say goodbye to a bad boss, bad job or bad relationship without worrying how the bills will get paid. Just having this money gives us power–not just power to leave, but power to choose. Knowing that you’re not trapped gives you the freedom to speak up, speak out and try to change things, because you know you always have an “out.”

 Your stash can start out small. Every dollar you add to it gives you a little more freedom. If you haven’t already, set up a high-rate savings account online at ING Direct, Emigrant Direct or one of the other online banks and then set up an automatic transfer so that at least a few bucks a week are going to your F.U. fund.

TAGS: emergency fund, financial freedom, savings

The tax rebates Congress just approved aren’t a gift or free money.

Congress created a one-time tax credit meant to reduce the 2008 tax bill for most Americans. Normally, you wouldn’t see the credit until you prepared your return next year—the one that’s due in April 2009.

But to stimulate spending, Congress decided to get that money to taxpayers sooner. Checks are scheduled to go out starting in May–$300 for most retirees and disabled veterans, $600 for most other taxpayers and $300 per child, so a married couple with one kid would get $1,500. (There are income limitations, so the amount of the credit starts phasing out for single people with adjusted gross incomes over $75,000 and married folks with AGIs over $150,000.)

You’re basically getting to keep more of your own money. But some folks have had a hard time wrapping their mind around this concept, as well as the idea that these checks are essentially an advance on their next refund.

I think it’s because so many people pay taxes through paycheck withholding. The money is whisked from their paycheck automatically and without their really noticing. So the refund they get every year at tax time feels like a windfall—rather than the interest-free loan to the government it really is.

If you’re getting a rebate check, I have a few suggestions for what to do with it in a recent MSN column. But I’d also like to suggest the following:

1. Whether you’re getting a check or not, check your withholding to make sure you’re not overpaying the government. I believe in giving tax authorities every penny they’re owed—but not a penny more. Getting more money in each check rather than a big lump sum every spring will help you contribute more to your retirement fund, pay off debt faster and accomplish your other goals.
2. Use “out of sight, out of mind” to your advantage. Since we have this mental quirk that doesn’t count money that’s already deducted, take advantage by boosting your automatic savings. Contribute another 1%, 2% or 3% to your 401(k) at work, create an automatic transfer to a Roth IRA or, if you’re already maxed out on those two fronts, set up automatic payments to a savings account to create an emergency fund. Chances are good you won’t miss it, or you’ll adapt pretty quickly, and these automatic transfers will help you create wealth.

TAGS: emergency funds, refunds, retirement savings, savings, tax rebates, taxes, withholding