I’m a former bank manager. Here’s where I told my sister to put her savings in order to earn up to 200 times more

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Eric Rosenberg is a former bank manager. When his sister started getting a paycheck at his first job, she asked him where to put her money.
They reviewed all of her accounts, and decided the right place for her emergency fund was an online high-yield savings account, where she can earn interest of 2% or more — about 200 times what she’d been earning at a traditional bank.
Also, her money is readily available in case she needs it quickly.

After working as a bank manager and more than a decade of writing about personal finance, my little sister finally came around and asked me for advice on how to handle her money. When she started her first job and started getting a paycheck, she wanted to make sure she was doing things right.

We sat down and reviewed every financial account she has for a major money overhaul. When the makeover was complete, she found herself with better accounts that were a better fit for her needs. One of the most important financial protections for anyone is an emergency fund, and that was one of the first places we focused to level up her savings.

Start with a focus on interest rates

Before our chat, my sister had her money at a large, traditional brick and mortar bank. The problem with using an old-school bank for your savings starts with interest. The average interest rate on a savings account at any of the largest banks in the US is typically below 0.10%. In some cases, you’ll get a paltry 0.01%! That’s far less than inflation, which means you are effectively losing money with this type of account.

The best online banks, on the other hand, typically offer 2% or more on a savings account. If you move from an account that pays 0.01% to one that pays 2%, you are getting 200 times more. That is far from insignificant.

You should never pay a fee for your savings

One of the biggest downsides of checking and savings accounts at the big banks with physical branches is the fees. Most of these accounts charge a fee if you don’t meet certain minimum requirements.

Fees are a big money maker for banks, but savvy savers don’t pay them. My favorite online banks (and most credit unions) don’t charge any fees for savings accounts with no minimum balance. If you’re not careful, you’ll give the bank more in fees in a month than you would get over years of interest at a low rate.

If you need to withdraw from your emergency fund for a medical bill, car repair, or anything else, it is possible you would go below the bank’s minimum balance to avoid a fee. Her old bank did this to her, which was part of her motivation to make a change. While the $10 fee may not seem like a big deal, you shouldn’t have to pay to store your money in a bank. They make money by lending it out. Charging savers for going below a minimum balance is a terrible practice that I wish would end.

But for today, you can avoid them by moving to a bank that doesn’t have minimum balance requirements or other silly fees on savings accounts.

I told her to put her money in a high-yield savings account

Once we finished looking things over, I told my sister she should move her emergency fund to either Capital One or Ally. Both banks offer competitive interest rates, have no minimum fees, and offer excellent customer service. I have banked with both and encouraged my sister to choose between the two.

We looked over the account details together and she decided on Ally. The month after she moved the funds, she called me excited about earning so much in interest. Every month since, she is far out-earning what she would have had at her old bank, and she has not paid a fee since.

I suggested this setup even if she didn’t move her checking, though both of these banks offer excellent checking accounts as well. In her situation, it is unlikely she would need access to her funds in less than three business days. In a real emergency, she can pay for the cost with her credit card and transfer funds from her emergency fund to pay off the bill before the due date, avoiding any interest charges.

Put your money to work

Your money is too important to ignore. And while moving funds to a new account at a new bank may seem like a hassle, opening an account with an online bank is painless in most cases. You can open a new savings account at most popular online banks in just a few minutes in your pajamas sitting on the couch from your smartphone or laptop.

Even if it took a few hours, which it shouldn’t, it would be worth it in most cases. With a $5,000 emergency fund, you would earn just four cents per month at 0.01%. At 2%, you would take home $8.33. Thanks to compounding, the benefit of a higher interest account grows every month.

If you want the same brotherly advice I gave my sister, here it is: Get out of a low-interest, high-fee account as fast as you can. Just a few minutes of work to pick a new account pays huge dividends for years to come.

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