[originaltext] You probably don’t have much in the way of savings, and with

You probably don’t have much in the way of savings, and with all your expenses, it doesn’t look like you’ll be able to improve that situation soon. [26]1f you wonder how to cut comers, there’s an obvious place to look at your spending habits. Do you buy a soda each weekend? Waste one dollar a day for forty years, and when you are set to retire, you’ll find your account is short by 190,000 dollars. Grab a calculator and you’ll discover that, over forty years, going out to dinner twice a month at forty dollars each time amounts to half a million.  [27]Even a pack-a-day cigarette habit will lighten your retirement account by 330,000 dollars. And the same with cable TV and those cool earrings. They will probably amount to as much as one million. [26]So, the first clue to accumulating wealth is this: focus on your spending habits. Here are a couple of tricks to help you save even if you swear you can’t afford to. Stop buying things that fall rather than rise in value. Pay yourself first. [28]Before you pay the monthly bills, send 25 dollars to a mutual fund. Stop spending coins. From now on, spend only paper currency, and keep the change every day. Get your family involved, and you’ll double your savings. Use discount tickets at the supermarket, but use them correctly. How? If you really want to make these tickets worthwhile, [28] you actually must invest into your mutual funds the amount you save by using the tickets. Otherwise, you are wasting your time and your money.