Saving is very similar. Imagine the myriad of places – all the various accounts – now available to save money. It’s hard to know where to put anything. But if you think of it like a champagne glass tower, it can make it much simpler.

Different types of accounts are taxed in different ways, so it can be helpful to put them in order of their tax advantages and then start “filling” your top account. As you either hit the limits or achieve your own targets, you can start filling other accounts. As your income and savings grow, you’ll start having a nice, diversified portfolio of accounts available for different times and different needs.

For example, let’s imagine that the top glass is your emergency fund. Once you have a nice little emergency fund set up, it probably makes sense to take advantage of the retirement account at your employer (likely a 401(k) or a 403(b)). Imagine your employer retirement plan as the next level of champagne glasses. Not only is the money that you contribute tax deductible now, but it grows tax deferred which means you won’t have to pay taxes on it until you start taking it out. Of course, an employer match is a nice kicker too.

The next layer of glasses includes other types of retirement accounts. Like a Roth IRA. You don’t get a tax deduction now, but it grows tax free. Withdrawals in retirement are tax free too. And you don’t have to wait until you hit the maximum annual contribution limit in your 401(k) of $18,000 in 2017 (or $24,000 if you’re 50 or older) before you open a Roth. Some people will start a Roth even while they’re using a 401(k).

Roth IRAs have limits, too ($5,500 per year per person under age 50). So if you find yourself looking for additional places to put your money, great job! Your next layer of savings could include purpose-designed accounts, like college or health savings accounts. These can also be tax deductible and tax free when used for their designated purpose. In the case of health savings account, if there’s money left at retirement, you don’t lose it, but the distributions may be taxable at that time. Still, you can have many years of tax deferred growth!

Another layer includes programs that are more rare such as deferred compensation and self-employed retirement plans. Some of these plans allow you to put away larger amounts of your income and defer taxes until retirement. However, they are dependent on what your employer offers.

So, let’s say you’re using all of that and still have money. At this point, annuities and even life insurance are additional layers or options to consider. Annuities can be funded with after-tax contributions but will grow tax deferred. Once you reach the normal retirement age (59½), you can withdraw money. Even then, only the growth portion will be taxed. Cash value and permanent life insurance policies can work in a similar way.

Still need more? Certain types of investments can be tax exempt. Interest on some municipal bonds can be federal tax exempt. It may also be exempt from state and local taxes depending on the specific bond.

I’m sure you get the idea by now. There are a lot of places that can help you avoid taxes along your savings journey. It can be a great strategy to take advantage of these choices as they’re available. As you fill each of these categories, you’ll probably find yourself naturally looking for the next best option. Whether you want to get started with your 401(k) or think you’re out of places to put your money, a discussion with your financial coach might be helpful for finding your next layer of champagne glasses. Cheers!

If you’re a certain age, you may remember Christmas clubs? At the start of the year, some credit union and bank customers designated an amount of money to be deposited each week into a special savings account. The money would accumulate, with some interest, and then be used as the holiday season arrived. By saving throughout the year, holiday financial stress was reduced, a big credit card bill in January was eliminated, and overspending was curtailed.

While these clubs no longer enjoy the same popularity, the concept remains sound. Using a bucket approach to saving can ensure you have money set aside for what matters most to you, and without taking on debt to get it.

Financial advisers agree that the most important savings bucket is for emergencies. Once that bucket is filled, establish others in your order of importance. Consider setting up a separate account for each savings bucket you want, and then fund it directly through payroll deduction. Many employers, Trustmark included, will allow you to divvy up your paycheck into more than one account directly. And once those accounts are set up, use financialwellbeing.com to keep track of them. Most banks and credit unions are also happy to set up additional savings accounts.

To enhance the success of your savings efforts, your financial coaches recommend you:

What will be in your next savings bucket? Your financial coach wants to know, and is happy to provide additional tips and best practices for successfully bucketing savings.

Josh Field Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus are those two people, The Minimalists. Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things provides a look into their lives and what the world of minimalism is all about.

Having not really bought in to the practicality of the “tiny home” movement I previously associated with minimalism, I was skeptical about what I would gain by watching this film. To my pleasant surprise, the message and the feeling it left me with were phenomenal.

The film follows Millburn and Nicodemus crossing the country on a year-long tour promoting their 2016 book All That Remains. Their growing popularity along each stop seems to parallel the growth of the idea of minimalism itself: it started small, then suddenly broke into mainstream America.

Josh and Ryan are personal friends who both achieved what they thought was “ideal success” in the corporate world before they reached the age of 30. Both assumed corporate success was the road to happiness and fulfillment, and was what one is supposed to do after college. But more money meant more things, and neither was bringing them the kind of happiness they wanted.

In between each tour stop the film introduces viewers to people from various professional backgrounds who help frame why this movement exists, why it’s getting so popular, and even why it can be quite healthy for you. We see that living minimally isn’t just about living in a tiny house to have a small mortgage, or seeing how much you can live without. It’s about living intentionally. It’s about defining your own version of what happiness and success in life is, instead of following a norm. It’s about valuing what you already have, and only buying those things that add value instead of buying things as status symbols you’ll quickly throw away after the newness has worn off.

This was the first point of a positive mental shift I had viewing the film. I thought to myself, “How do I define my own personal success? What do I value in my life? If I have a lot of things but am not happy, am I really successful?”

We’re in a time where we have the highest standard of living but also the highest level of dissatisfaction. Our environments are filled with technology and things we think will bring immense satisfaction, but don’t.

As a coach who focuses on behavior change, it was reassuring to hear that getting to minimalism takes time and is something you probably won’t do overnight. In other words, a step-by-step process. Sound familiar?

And then, in the final moments of the film, Josh said something that really hit home for me. “Love people and use things, because the opposite never works.”

The documentary runs an hour and seventeen minutes and has high production values. It’s an easy watch and is a great introduction into what minimalism is all about if you haven’t heard of it until now. At the very least, it should get you thinking that having less doesn’t mean being less. On the contrary.

To learn more about The Minimalists and where to watch the documentary, visit www.theminimalists.com. Click to view the film’s trailer: