Any suggestions on who to start a savings account with?
October 30, 2008 by admin
Filed under Questions and Answers
perfumeholic asked:
if I am planning to start saving $850.00 a month, into a savings account, which would give me more money over say a year or two; an account that compounds daily or monthly? And, any suggestions of whom I can start saving with? Or, would it be wiser to save up and invest the minimum required for a money market account? The reason I am so interested is I am a single parent and trying to save up for a home, the more you can pay down, the lower the monthly payments will be, and hopefully the better the home I can afford.
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if I am planning to start saving $850.00 a month, into a savings account, which would give me more money over say a year or two; an account that compounds daily or monthly? And, any suggestions of whom I can start saving with? Or, would it be wiser to save up and invest the minimum required for a money market account? The reason I am so interested is I am a single parent and trying to save up for a home, the more you can pay down, the lower the monthly payments will be, and hopefully the better the home I can afford.
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FRANCIS M on Sat, 1st Nov 2008 2:53 pm
If You Live on the East Coast in the NY
Jesse on Sat, 1st Nov 2008 9:53 pm
First off, congratulations on being able to save such a great sum of money and while being a single parent. I’m in the mortgage industry and it is very tragic out there for those folks who couldn’t put any money down as they’re losing their homes left and right. You’re heading down the exact right path!
Few things to look into in order of low to high return:
1) Savings account = very low interest but safest investment (INGDirect is a good call here)
2) Money Market account with bank (check out bankrate.com)
3) CD = better interest rate but money is locked up. Some folks “ladder” CD’s so you might put $850 in a 3 month CD the first month, then $850 in a 6 month CD the second month and so on. It takes a bit of work but gets you better interest with the safety of being at a regular bank. (bankrate.com will have the latest info)
4) Money Market Mutual Fund = better interest rates but no FDIC protection. The first three will typically of FDIC protection so if something goes wrong the government will protect you for up to $100,000. I don’t sweat the FDIC when in comes to Money Market Mutual Funds as they’re typically just as safe and have never in their history lost money. (I like Vanguard’s Prime Money Market account at)
5) Treasury Notes = even better with safety of government. You can go to for more information.
6) Short term bonds = riskiest but probably the best return you’re going to get. You can invest in these typically through any broker such as Scottrade.
I’d recommend #4 as it’s safe and will give a decent return. I’d also look up Eric Tyson’s Dummies series books. He’s a great writer and has written a bunch of books on buying a home such as:
Home Buying for Dummies
Mortgages for Dummies
Personal Finance for Dummies
They’re all great books that will give you some insights on how to go about purchasing a home and maybe even getting into one faster.
HTH…
iocook on Tue, 4th Nov 2008 11:27 am
Daily compounding will be better than monthly. Pretty much any bank would be fine, what you are looking for is the best rate of return.
Rather than a savings account though I would suggest you look into other investments. A money market fund or an ETF investing in fixed income securities. While you might pay a little for the investment they should give you an after their fee return that is better than a savings account. Also, I would suggest look into a Roth IRA. The investment income will accumulate tax free (your savings account interest won’t) and you can use the funds to make a first time home purchase without paying tax.
Laissez-Faire Guy on Wed, 5th Nov 2008 3:54 pm
Most brick and mortar banks pay a tiny amount of interest, usually less than 1%.
Go to and do a search of banks paying the highest interest rates on savings.
Right now there are several online banks paying around 5.30% in interest.
When checking out the account, see if you can have a portion of your paycheck automatically deposited into that account by your employer, or see if you can instruct your savings bank to automatically deduct from your checking shortly after each pay period. This way you automatically save and get used to living on less.
wetttnwyld1 on Wed, 5th Nov 2008 8:28 pm
very good question! u should first check around in ur area who the major fed funded banks are? get their pamplets; @ the percent rates for both daily, and mon compds. u may also want to check into what each co’s trust accts. are paying for a pers. trust acct. u may find that at the end of 1-2 yrs the comp. intrsts. will have given more cash in ur pocket in intrest, compare the $ ratio? good luck.
reetha s on Fri, 7th Nov 2008 8:50 am
check this link its good
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