Last year, New York City school children went door to door collecting pennies. By asking for only 1% of a dollar, they were able to raise $1 million for charity.

Sometimes small actions yield big results. Take a look at three examples of how adjusting your finances by just 1% can make a real difference over time.

1. Boost Your Retirement Contribution
Making contributions to an employer-sponsored retirement account via payroll deductions can be a convenient way to save for retirement. But because these contributions come out of your salary automatically, you can easily lose track of how much you're contributing, and end up with less than you should have--or could have--for retirement.

If you're not already saving the maximum amount allowed, why not commit to steadily increasing your contributions by 1% (or more) each year? For example, if you're earning $33,000 per year, and you're currently contributing 10% of your salary to your retirement account at work, you'll have approximately $394,000 by the time you retire in 30 years, assuming an average return of 8%. But if you increase your contribution by 1% (to 11% of your salary), your retirement account could be worth approximately $433,000--10% more--by the time you retire.*

2. Review Investment Expenses
When you're focused on returns, it's easy to overlook the costs associated with investing. However, it's important to periodically review investment expenses and their impact on returns. These vary widely, but even a 1% difference can be significant over time. For example, the following table shows what a $200,000 investment might be worth in the future, assuming an annual return of 8% before expenses are taken into account. (Note that taxes and inflation are not considered.)*

Of course, there are other things to be concerned about when investing. For example, you may want to consider potential ways to generate higher returns through your asset allocation and investment management choices, taking into account your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon.

3. Refinance Higher-Cost Loans
Concerns about the economy have led to rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. With some interest rates falling to their lowest levels in two years, now might be a good time to think about refinancing a higher-cost loan or mortgage. As the following examples show, interest rates don't need to fall far for you to save money. Here's what you could potentially save by reducing your interest rate by just 1%:

• Refinancing a 48-month, $25,000 car loan to reduce the rate from 6.99% to 5.99% could save you approximately $553 in interest over the life of the loan
• Refinancing a 25-year, $400,000 mortgage to reduce the rate from 6.75% to 5.75% could save you approximately $74,166 in interest over the life of the loan

*This is a hypothetical example, and does not reflect the performance of any specific investment.