If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

One of the most basic questions anyone committed to saving money has to ask themselves isn't as easy to answer as you might think.

Are you saving for the right reasons?

I touched upon this briefly when talking about saving aggressively, but it deserves its own discussion.

When you say you're putting 10% of your salary into your 401(k), or you're pinching pennies to start a college fund, do you really know what you're saving for?

It's not enough to say "for retirement" or "for college." Sure, it's easy to say this when the goal is far off, but there's a deeper answer here.

For example, I'm saving for a house — not because I want to get into the real estate market, but because I want to provide for my family.

If you're saving to start your own business, chances are you're not doing it for the money — you're doing it for the challenge and the freedom to work for yourself.

The next time you put some money into your savings account or you decide not to make that big, unnecessary purchase, think about what you're really saving for.

Money is not the be all end all. Money is the fuel on the road to get to the be all end all.