The best high-yield savings accounts live up to all the hype. After all, what more could you need in a savings account than no fees, zero risk, full liquidity, and excellent earning potential?
Whether you’re building up an emergency fund, saving for a down payment, or preparing for your next Euro trip, it’s hard to go wrong with a high-yield savings account.
Currently, online investing platform Betterment offers an industry-leading annual percentage yield (APY) of up to 2.39% on its high-yield savings account if you join the waitlist for its checking account. Otherwise, the interest rate is 2.14%.
Betterment debuted its Everyday Savings account this summer with an eye-popping 2.69% APY, though it didn’t last long. Less than two weeks later, the Federal Reserve announced an interest rate cut of a quarter-percentage point and Betterment slashed its rates too — a good reminder to choose a savings account for all its features, not just the APY.
Despite the rate drop, Betterment’s high-yield savings account still earns up to 25 times more than a typical savings account. You need an initial deposit of $10 to open the account, but it’s fee-free, allows unlimited transfers, and is FDIC-insured up to $1 million.
To see how an initial balance of $10 plus additional monthly contributions of $10, $100, or $1,000 would grow at the highest interest rate Betterment currently offers, we plugged the numbers into the compound interest calculator on Investor.gov.
Below, you’ll see the total balance (your contributions plus your interest payments) at the end of one year and at the end of three years. Note that the interest on this account is compounded monthly.
Also note that the calculation assumes a constant APY of 2.39%, though it’s unlikely this would remain the same for up to three years since interest rates are variable.
The takeaway: The more you save, the more you earn. While there are rules of thumb for how much you should be saving in retirement accounts and in your emergency fund, financial planners recommend starting wherever you can. No amount is too small, and once you start, it’s easier to keep going.
To make saving feel effortless, consider setting up automatic transfers from a checking account or even directly through your payroll provider. When you save off the top, you quickly adapt to living on less.
The Betterment Everyday Checking account is set to become available later in 2019 and will have no maintenance or overdraft fees and no minimum balance. The account comes with a Visa debit card, and Betterment will reimburse all ATM fees for accountholders.
