With the uncertainty of the political and financial direction of the country, it is a good idea to take a more assertive and proactive approach to personal finance. Only through clear thought followed by decisive action can you put yourself on solid financial footing.
One of the aspects that should be a part of a sound financial plan is an active and growing savings account. To be clear, however, not all savings accounts are equal in stature. This requires patience and diligence to find the ideal savings account.
Once done, however, you may want to consider opening more than one.
How To Find The Best Savings Accounts
1. What Makes A Savings Account Among The Best
When it comes to finding the best savings account, there are a number of features to look for.
- Â The account should be able to be opened immediately. The best accounts will have a streamlined application process.
- No minimum deposit or balance. This allows you to grow your savings in your own time and manner.
- No fees. Fees can be a pain and eat into your savings so it’s best if the account has little to no service fees.
- Flexibility to transfer funds between accounts and to automatically direct deposit into your savings account.
- FDIC insured for your protection.
2. Define Goals And A Purpose For The Account
Once you have found a great savings account, you want to make it goal specific.
If you simply dump money in it without a plan or goal for its use, then sooner or later the urge to tap into it will happen. After the first time, you’re more likely to dip into those funds again.
Your savings account should have a clear purpose and you should rename the account to reflect that purpose. It could be saving for a car, college, or the down payment for a house.
The point is that, once it is clearly defined, it is easier to stay disciplined and on course when you know what you are saving towards.
3. Create Multiple Accounts For Different Purposes
Now that you have down the hard work of sifting through savings accounts from various institutions to find the right one and have given the account a purpose, you should consider opening up another account. Clearly, you have more than one goal to reach.
Setting up a purpose-driven account will help you reach those goals. That’s not to say you should simply keep opening up multiple accounts. You will want to set a limit of maybe three accounts.
Once the goals that those accounts were opened to fund are reached, new goals can be established and the account should be renamed to reflect that. Keep the number of accounts reasonable allows you to better manage them.
Savings accounts are a vital part of your personal portfolio for a number of reasons. They are not only useful for growing your worth but when used to pursue goals, they also teach you how to be financially disciplined. That can help you out in the long run.
Finding the best savings accounts doesn’t have to be difficult. Online resources such as the LivelyMe.com Blog make it easy for anyone to learn more about personal finance and saving accounts. Give them a visit and let me know what you think of their resources.