@Newbie2018 wrote:hi all
new to the thread but not the forum.
Where is a good place to put savings for a down payment for a house and an emergency fund. Two separate savings at diff banks would make sense right? I have Pen Fed regular share and Navy Federal savings that they give upon membership both freshly opened last week. Although the PenFed is saying I have restrictions on anything other than the regular share they opened for membership right now. I was reading about the yield thing where savings gains money from sitting in the bank (I'm not familiar with it but trying to learn more).
i am in the process of bk7 341 next month.
newly started a job after being unemployed because of the pandemic for the last 2 years. They give me the option to do 401k and Roths (not familiar with these either) after my 90 day period of working for them. Would it be helpful to use this too?
Currently I have some cash that I need to put into savings for the house down payment with no plans on touching it for 2 years. I'd like to put a portion of my paycheck towards the savings where it comes out like a bill I'll never see ( bad spending habits previously so I figured this would be the easiest way for me to save).
id also like to know if there is a great budgeting app or anything of the sort that I can use to keep track of my finances.
any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
1. PenFed's premium savings pays better interest than the share savings account. Presently in the neighborhood of .55%.
2. Alliant CU's share savings pays in the neighborhood of .55%
3. Affinity FCU's Smart Savers account pays 2% on the first $5k.
4. DCU's savings account pays 6% on the first $1k.
5. SoFi's checking & savings pay 1% if you have direct deposit in any amount.
I will ditto @SouthJamaica's post upthread on savings accounts. As for budgeting I personally use YNAB and love it. Some people think it is too pricey for an app to teach you how to budget but I look at it as I am spending roughly $8.25 to save over $100 a month. There are cheaper alternatives out there and I have tried them but keep coming back to YNAB. I am sort of in the same boat as you on trying to determine where to put savings to yield the best return. Only downside is when you find one (like a credit union for example) you are required to join as long as it isn't geofenced and you could very easily end up with several accounts at different institutions. Good luck on you future savings.
Credit_Master
There are lots of accounts that give you a high percentage for $X amount of dollars, but then the rate for anything over is abysmal (0.10% or less), so unless you want to open up 5 new accounts across several banks to squeeze out every penny (like me lol), you may just want to pick one bank with a high yield savings account and park it there, with auto deposits every paycheck. I bank with Discover, and I have a few separate savings accounts with them (Emergency Savings, Wedding Savings, & Holiday Savings). I have a set amount that comes out of my checking after I get paid every two weeks, and I don't touch the money. Easy Peasy.
