World Savings Day – October 31, 2020
World Savings Day highlights the necessity of savings in every individual’s life. Savings not only means setting aside a monetary sum to secure our future. Savings encompasses a lot of essential factors which in general means ‘economising’ or ‘reserving’ a part of our stock to look forward to a bright future. Savings help us secure our future, along with preserving resources by avoiding wastage. World Savings Day is celebrated on October 31st every year. In this article, we shall discuss more on World Savings Day 2020 concerning its history, significance, theme, celebration and FAQs.
World Savings Day History
The World Society of Savings Banks started the World Savings Day for the first time on October 31st in the year 1924. The day was formally begun by Filippo Ravizza, an Italian Professor who also named it as the “International Savings Day”. Mr Ravizza declared this eventful day mainly to bring awareness amongst the family groups to save for their future, to save for their children, medical emergencies and unforeseen circumstances.
It is a necessity to save money for children’s’ education needs and to bring hope for a secure future. Information on the need to save and the various areas that were available for saving were some of the information to be told to the common public through this day. As on today, World Savings Day has taken on a more significant role with commercial participation across the globe. Banks, financial centres, trade organizations and other monetary establishments are doing their bit to encourage saving amongst the broader population.
Customers ranging from homemakers to top people in business and high flyers are encouraged to participate in World Savings day. They are educated to contribute to save money and build a brighter future for themselves as well as for the world around us. Saving money in banks and other instruments increases the national savings of a country, thus making individual nations more productive by the day.
There are particular examples where governments celebrated Savings Day within their countries much before World Savings Day came into existence. Spain began celebrations within its land in the year 1921 and Germany followed suit a couple of years later in 1923.
Significance of World Savings Day 2020
Nobody is new to saving. Almost all of us have saved pennies in our childhood to buy a cherished gift sometime later. A lot of savings guaranteed a more significant contribution, while small savings brought in a budget gift. In any case, savings led to more happiness and rewarded individuals in the future.
None of us has our future forecasted precisely. It is all uncertain, and the best thing to secure ourselves in tough situations is through proper saving measures. Financial security is essential for a bright future. Saving money and investing them further in the right commodities yield good returns, thus creating a sizeable contingency for one’s future.
People save money for many reasons. It could be for their old age, retirement, children’s education and marriage, to buy property, jewellery or expensive vehicles or to conquer an unfulfilled dream in their lives. Saving brings in a disciplined habit of setting aside a monetary sum at regular time intervals and creating a contingency pool for standby. It helps an individual to cut down on his unnecessary expenses and instead focuses his attention on gaining higher returns.
Saving money is equivalent to earning money. We all face uncertainties in our health, and medical treatments are very costly. This brings in the necessity and compulsion to save for a brighter and greener tomorrow.
World Savings Day 2020 Themes
Here we discuss some past year themes that have fascinated the world towards saving:
- The theme of the year 2016 was “Grabbing hold of your financial future”.
- 2017 had a beautiful theme in place – “Know and Plan your finances to live a better life”.
- 2018 presented a questioned theme – “What do you wish for?”
- The theme for 2020 is much awaited, and exciting ideas and innovative ways are called in from around the world to suggest novel ways to celebrate the day.
A theme is usually a representation of an event, an idea or a scheme that helps us to carry out the designated activity in a much more colourful and attractive way. World Saving Day themes are usually concentrated around money, investments, funds, savings and pooling monetary resources. They help communicate the message of saving money, helping oneself allocate a sizeable amount periodically for the future.
World Savings Day Celebrations
Among all the events celebrated the world over, World Savings day can quickly be acclaimed to be the oldest. Saving induces responsibility in a person. This responsibility is needed for the self, family as well as social position in society.
World Thrift Day is not about a day’s celebration, but it’s a consistent practice for a lifetime. We should save in whatever possible ways we can and make a pool of contingency for later use. Some of the common forms of celebrations include:
- Children should be encouraged and educated to begin with small savings. Parents can celebrate world Savings Day by gifting new piggy boxes to their children and introduce them to the concept of savings.
- Poster making competitions are held at various places to highlight the need to save and reserve assets for the future.
- Schools and colleges spread awareness among children by arranging debate competitions, quizzes, essay writing and college/poster making events.
- Financial institutions introduce attractive schemes to their customers to encourage them to indulge in more savings.
- World Savings day also gives banks and other credit societies the reason to spread awareness through campaigns and promotional activities.
- Many volunteers do film shows that actively encourage customers to make the right saving choices and not lose money on corrupt practices such as gambling and online lotteries.
- People circulate printed copies of educational material about good and trustworthy saving instruments.
- Investment companies encourage people to invest in smart choices through various initiatives wisely.
- The government does a large part of active campaigning by publicising a host of measures that have been in place from a very long time. Awareness and publicity generation forms a large part of actual savings as people need to be drawn towards attractive schemes and need to be told explicitly about the need to save.
Conclusion
“Make hay while the sun shines” is an age-old quote that remains faithful even today. We have to earn well and save enough when we are still young. To cherish our old age, we should have milestones and goals set to meet the financial needs of ourselves and our families. Responsibilities apart, we should also care for our health and plan a private fund for all the unforeseen circumstances that life throws at us.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is World Saving Day?
World Savings Day is an event to raise awareness about the importance of savings for both individuals as well as for national interest.
2. How do we celebrate World Saving Day?
Different banks and financial institutions spread awareness through campaigns, volunteering initiatives and sponsored walks. Also, schools conduct essay and debate competitions, poster events and quizzes.
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