Roselle Park woman wins $10,000 prize for saving money

What would you do if you won $10,000? Tara Siragusa of Roselle Park, New Jersey recently asked herself that question when she found out she won SaverLife's Super Saver of the Year award of $10,000.

SaverLife- a national online savings community where members get rewarded for saving- presented the Super Saver of the Year award to Tara over the holidays. The award was one component of a larger Holiday Savings Campaign launched in late 2020, which rewarded cash prizes to more than 1,000 members for saving under incredibly challenging circumstances using money from private philanthropy.

Tara, a member of SaverLife for over two years, uses the platform to help bolster her emergency savings fund. She was chosen as the $10,000 cash prize winner based on a combination of factors, including savings, consistency, her engagement with SaverLife and more.

According to Tara, the scratch-off tickets and other incentives SaverLife offers member helped her get into the habit of saving money. Tara also said SaverLife is like a friend with whom she can discuss money. "The best part about SaverLife is it takes away the taboo of talking about money. SaverLife is the friend I can have and talk to about money with. It holds me accountable for the promises I make and goals I want to reach."

“This is the first year of an annual contest to recognize our members who have worked hard throughout the year to save and improve their finances,” Leigh Phillips, CEO of SaverLife told Union News Daily. “This has been an especially hard year to save, but we’ve been blown away by the resilience and hard work of our members."

“I can’t even begin to describe how they’ve changed my life,” Tara told the newspaper . “This is incredible. I have trouble following through on things, and they’ve helped me to follow through. Money is so hard and money can be so flooring to so many people. I don’t know what to say but, ‘Thank you, SaverLife.’"

“We are humbled by the stories of our members,” Phillips said. “They are strong, they are hardworking and they are resilient in the face of unprecedented challenges. It’s very rewarding to know that we’ve been able to help our members save this year and even provide financial support. We’re proud to have given away more than $3.1 million just this year, to help our members.”