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There aren’t actually many secrets when it comes to saving more money.
While there are plenty of gimmicky ways to go about it, the majority of saving advice is surprisingly practical. The best pieces of advice about saving involve ways to make it easier on yourself, both mentally and in terms of how simple it is to actually put the money away.
It’s worth noting that these methods are best suited for those who have extra income to save. If you feel like you can’t save as much as you want to, try scaling down your savings goals or waiting. Getting through the pandemic is the most important part — if you’re struggling right now, it’s OK to hold off on saving.
But, if you do have a few extra dollars to set aside each week, whether it’s $100 or $10, here are the secrets no one’s been keeping about saving.
1. Automating your savings will save you time and energy
If you have to manually move your saving each week or month, you might be tempted just to skip it or put it off until next time. But, setting up automatic deposits is an easy way to make sure you’ll be adding money towards your goals.
Most banks allow you to create automatic deposits from a checking account to a savings account or investment account. It usually takes about five minutes to set up, and can be changed in the future to fit your budget.
The funds are automatically directed from your checking account towards your goal, putting saving on auto-pilot. This method takes saving off your to-do list and off your mind, and builds your account consistently.
2. Saving for a goal, not just saving for the sake of saving
Saving is a lot easier when you’re motivated.
Having a goal in mind is a good place to start when it comes to saving — whether you want to buy a house, a new car, or just have an emergency fund, a dollar-amount goal is essential.
Saving towards a goal will keep you motivated, and it also means there’s an end in sight. If you’re not working towards a goal, it won’t feel like there’s ever any reward, and you might not feel as good about doing it.
Setting a goal, whether it’s big or small, will give you something to celebrate. You’ll have a better sense of why you’re saving, and will be more motivated to keep at it.
3. Keeping multiple bank accounts will help you hide money from yourself
If your savings account is tempting you, it might be time to move it to a different bank.
Having all your banking in one place is nice for convenience. But, if you find yourself logging into your checking account, seeing the balance in your savings, and pondering a transfer to buy something, it could be in the wrong spot.
Keeping your savings at a separate bank can keep your savings balance out of sight and out of mind.
4. Using a high-yield savings account
High-yield savings accounts are worth the hype.
They offer higher interest rates than traditional savings accounts, and other than that, function the same. These accounts earn interest rates multiple times what a typical savings account would. While the rates can change often — and dropped drastically along with all interest rates during the pandemic — high-yield savings accounts are still an easy way to make money work harder.
They’re most commonly offered by online banks, including several you may already bank with. They offer a number of unique perks not available to many traditional savings accounts, like the ability to create buckets within one larger savings account for multiple goals. They’re flexible, and will make your savings grow even faster when combined with the tricks above.
Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Personal Finance Insider team. We occasionally highlight financial products and services that can help you make smarter decisions with your money. We do not give investment advice or encourage you to adopt a certain investment strategy. What you decide to do with your money is up to you. If you take action based on one of our recommendations, we get a small share of the revenue from our commerce partners. This does not influence whether we feature a financial product or service. We operate independently from our advertising sales team.
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