How to hide your money?

You immediately think that this is an illegal act. You regularly hear of bank fraud, scam warnings and money being siphoned from someone you know in your joint account.

Why is hiding money so wrong? Hide from whom - the bank, a family member, your spouse, the Tax Department or from someone you owe money to?

Nope, it is all about hiding money from yourself. Often you are the thief, the culprit, the big spender.

I came to New Zealand as a poor migrant with $50 in my pocket. I didn't have much to hide. But I had goals like any other Kiwi - to succeed and be debt free.

Ways to hide your money

For over 20 years I have been hiding money from my sight. Why and how? You see, I have a main bank where most of my accounts are held. I access it almost daily and see how much I have, make transfers, pay my bills and save some cash. But I also want to save some money for the future. But temptation is more powerful than the devil. When I see lots of savings I have this urge to spend it on something I did not plan for. So how can I hide some money? I could put it under my bed or in a safe in the wardrobe. I tried but it did not work as I had the key to my safe and worried about someone stealing the money from under my bed. In fact, a friend of mine once lost $30,000USD from under his bed that he had saved and brought from overseas.

So I came up with a cunning plan to hide some of my own money. It was a simple plan. I set up a savings account at another bank. I set up an automatic transfer from my main bank account to this outside bank account. On the first day of each month $100 was auto-transferred. I forgot all about this bank and the transfer as I did not deal with the other bank on a daily basis. A few years later I was curious. I checked the balance in the other bank account and found $8,000. It had grown with compounding interest! So I repeated this idea and today I have hidden my money in three other banks and all are alive and doing well.

Click the "HIDE" function

But wait, there is a better way to hide your money. Most banks today offer a "HIDE" feature in your own bank. You now have the ability to "hide" a Savings Account from yourself by simply clicking "Hide". Then simply forget about it for a while. As they say, out of sight, out of mind.

If you are bad at saving or your temptation is too great. Sight unseen can become a serendipitous revelation. It is like a treasure hunt. You buried it deliberately. You know where you hid it. You just had a brain fade. After sometime, you go gold digging.

Has hiding money worked for me?

Of course. I paid off my mortgage 25 years ago. I have no debts other than the usual bills - grocery, power, rates, petrol etc. I came from a village in India. I live on my own 10 acre lifestyle village in West Auckland. One wife, two cows and 200 chestnut trees.

Hidden money is so sweet. Try hiding yours.