Love Ya, SmartyPig!

So where are you saving your money?  I have looked at the area brick-and-mortar banks, and the interest they are offering for their saving accounts in insulting!  Is there an alternative?  Yes!  There are many online banking institutions that offer rates many times higher than the local banks can or will offer.  When you start looking at these online saving institutions, keep one thing in mind - if you find a better rate or better perks at another institution then move your money!  Don't develop an allegiance to any online bank.  Always remember, it's your money, and you need to earn as much interest on that money as possible!  Since I started using online savings institutions, I have switched banks several times.  If I find a better deal, I am on it!  Another thing that you want to make sure to check is that the online savings institution is guaranteed by the FDIC.  No FDIC - look elsewhere!

The online savings website that currently has my favor is SmartyPig.  This is a great place for individuals who have $50,000.00 or less in their account.  The current rate is 1.35% APY on amounts of $50,000.00 or less.  Over $50,000.00, the rate is .50%.

SmartyPig has a feature that is hard to find at other savings institutions, and that feature is the ability to have separate goals.  In a traditional savings account, all of the money is lumped in together.  However, with SmartyPig, you can have separate savings goals, and when you add money to the account, you can either add the money to one of more savings goals that you have already created,or you can create a new savings goal. 

Let me give you an example.  After you have signed up for your SmartyPig account, let's say you want to save for a vacation and a new TV.  Well, for each, you would create a goal that gives the name of the goal (e.g., Vacation), the amount that you will need to satisfy that goal (e.g., $1500.00), and the date by which you want to meet that goal (e.g., December 15, 2011).  You would then fund that goal, so we will say that you start out with an initial deposit for that goal of $250.00.  SmartyPig will keep track of that information, and they will let you know how much you have saved, how much you still need to save in order to meet that goal, and they even give a visual of a pig as it fills up with savings (It's cute)!  Of course, you would do that for each goal.  The next time that you want to put money in your SmartyPig account, you simply log in, select the goal, click the Add Money button, and add the money to a goal. The money is then transferred from your regular bank account to your selected goal within your SmartyPig account.  Confused????  Watch the SmartyPig video as the video can explain the process much better than I can!

Even if you don't use SmartyPig, make sure your money is working for you!  Remember-the institution must be federally insured before you can even begin to trust it!