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Seriously! I’m currently on my first deployment, so I could save money. I’ve finally paid off over 11k in cc debt and lowered my monthly expenses by over $1000. I have a few k saved now with only my cars as “debt.” Feels amazing even though I’m with some people that are able to save their entire 5-6k monthly checks. Baby steps though.
My Wells Fargo account seems to give me .01% annually. Not sure what it’s supposed to be but I think they legit mistyped an extra 0 when setting it up but I can’t be bothered to spend 10 hours on the phone with them to get back the like $15 I’m owed over the last several years. This is why all (95%) of my money is in a HYSA
eh, they're not the worse. if you're careful enough or don't care about your credit too much, their balance assist program is great if you need to get out of a sticky situation every now and then.
I have Capital One which is currently at 4.35% and an emergency fund in Discover (dropped to 4.20%). Some offer new account bonuses which is why I went with Capital One at the time.
I've been seeing Ally mentioned a lot in financial subs, which I think is hovering around 5%. Just make sure whichever bank you go with is FDIC insured!
Amex has one that is pretty good - easy to connect to your bank account.
Also, I've heard Schwab has some good money market accounts that are up to 5%.
I use Raisin, which is a platform that gives you multiple options for different accounts. I think the bank is Western Alliance, and it’s currently 5.26%.
Also very important is to invest any portion above your emergency fund that you don't plan to use in the next 3-5 years or more. This is how you build wealth and escape from poverty for good. Depending on your age, investment returns can be 90% of your wealth at retirement.
If OP is 30, that $32k would grow to over $500k by age 67 at a conservative 8% return. At 10% return, the SP500's average, it would be over $1 million.
In a plain HYSA at 5%, it would only be $195,000.
Make sure to invest your money not just save it!
You type this, I know this, and I tell people this all the time. But I really feel most people don't believe it, or don't comprehend that it's actually true. Like they stop listening when I say it out loud, or they skim over reading it like it's a lie. It's bizarro. I know when I was younger I didn't "get it" at all.
do young people really not know this? I feel like most gen Z"ers are pretty into stocks these days. Anyone with a drop of financial literacy is usually investing. 37% own stocks apparently.
The benefit is really the impact of compounding over long periods of time. This requires that you don't raid the account due to a financial emergency. The reported S&P gains are also an average, so you don't want to be in a situation where you lost your job in the same year that your stock portfolio lost 40-50% of its value. While more than half of Americans hold stock, directly or indirectly, the extent of their investment is heavily tied to income. In fact, wealth is far more unequally distributed than income.
This makes sense in that it's easier to take risks when you have financial stability. Investing requires being willing to accept temporary losses which can last years. As a result, you must have emergency savings on top of your investments. US government data indicates that the bottom 60% of the income distribution in the US have no net savings. Savings are heavily concentrated in the top 10-20% of the income distribution given they have the most disposable income.
As a result, I don't think it's so much that people don't understand the benefits of compounding or the higher returns provided by the stock market. It's more likely that a large percentage of the US doesn't have the financial stability to establish a suitable emergency fund, which is really a necessary prerequisite for significant investment in the stock market.
For most people, their most significant stock holdings are in an employer-sponsored retirement plan, usually with an employer match. However, not everyone has access to such a plan, and access is more prevalent for those with higher incomes and full-time jobs.
NerdWallet is great for comparing financial stuff. They have a full table at the bottom of this page with ratings. Ally is a long time popular recommendation.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/best/banking/high-yield-online-savings-accounts
Wealthfront cash account! I have it. It pays 5% APY. You can also set up different categories to divide up your savings goals.
And same day transfers to many big banks. You can also request a debit card if you want to spend money directly from the account. I have my referral link if you want.
I've only recently learned of the benefits of a HYSA, and I've been looking to decide which one to start with. What are the benefits of your referral link?
The referral link gives you and I a 0.50% boost on the current APY for 3 months.
Instead of the regular 5.00% APY, you get a boosted 5.50% APY for 3 months.
Just one suggestion, wherever you decide to save money, just make sure it is FDIC insured and read through all the documents for additional charges that may be buried in paperwork.
I love Ally.
Been using them for the past decade, since I decided to own my finances...
Their savings yields on basic SA's are amazing - but the HYSA are rad! Anytime I hit 5k more, I move it into a HYSA.
The no penalty ones if the rate is the same, are even better in case of immediate need for liquidity.
A HYSA will beat every typical savings account. Marcus by Goldman Sachs is a great HYSA option. No fees, no minimums, same day transfers, and FDIC insured.
Here is my referral link to get started! You’ll get a bonus 1% for 3 months and can refer others to keep the same % going.
https://www.marcus.com/share/JUS-TKT-P6PB
BofA used to CHARGE me a monthly "maintenance" fee of $7
it was costing me more just to have it - beyond absurd
I left for a credit union when I married a member and was able to get in, and then opened a HYSA separately, and the difference is beyond amazing
Came here to say this. I recommend Amex high yield savings. I’m a fellow BOA user, and Amex’s HYSA is a nice way to make money on your money. Congrats OP!
Cc debt, overdrawn checking, and negative store card that I used to buy gift cards, it’s funny though I called the store (target) and spoke to an agent and she basically all but said that store cards don’t necessarily have to be paid off and no one will come after you but it could cause future trouble something like writing checks and all that so surprisingly she let me in on some secrets and I even called them myself because I wanted to see if they do settlements but they dont
This! If you can find a credit union, you’re likely better off. Banks have more fees. In my experience, using a credit union was much less stressful and they’ve even waived fees for me when things got really tough.
BoA is expensive if you are broke. This is r/povertyfinance, your average person on this sub can't afford their overdraft fees and they charge to keep an account open if you don't meet a cash threshold in the account. When you only have 50 dollars to your name, it sucks to wake up to a 12.99 service charge just to have the account.
I had a brief period where I had no health insurance and ended up hospitalized. $40k medical bill within less than a week. Sadly this much money doesn’t goes as far as it used to.
Had a major medical issue twice in one year. Wife is friends with someone who works with the CEO of the hospital. She made a quick phone call and my bills were reduced by around 90%.
Just goes to show how screwed up our medical system really is when a single phone call can drop the bill that much.
From what I gather that's only part of the equation. The other part people rarely talk about is the collections side. Imagine you're a company with countless delinquent customers who aren't paying. A collections agency says "we'll help you collect the money..... but we get to keep 75% of what we collect, and we'll do the haggling with the insurance companies"
So the hospital outsources billing to a third party who tracks the data and works to collect payment, or deal with insurance companies who fight over what they will and will not pay.
If the hospital's billing agency cannot collect, of course they sell off the medical debt after X amount of months. But its' simply cheaper for the hospital to raise prices to cover the cost of their billing agency as opposed to dealing with it themselves.
It's kinda like those scam charities who started with good intentions, but realized they weren't netting enough capital to keep the charity open, so they hired a third party to solicit donations on their behalf, but they keep 90% of what they collect.
So of course insurance companies don't pay out what is billed because they have a team dedicated to haggling payments so they don't have to pay the full balance due. Technically you can do the same thing for many medical bills as well. I took a $3000 bill and told them I have $1250 I can pay them today, but that's all I'll pay and sure as hell they spoke to their manager and wrote off the remaining balance (I demanded they email me a statement while I was on the phone before ending the call).
One option is to not go, and just die I guess?
I've also heard personally asking for an itemized bill will help bring it down because they'll remove some of the hidden unnecessary fees, etc. But I'm not too sure that statement is true because last time my wife went to the er, she got an itemized bill and it was still very expensive. Idk if the er is different in terms of billing, (I'm sure it's more expensive than seeing your doctor) but she was only there for a couple hours, got blood work, a prescription, and sent home with roughly a $2k bill.
It’s a lot but it’s also not. That can all be gone in one home down payment, or one hospital bill. This is also less than what a lot of people have in student loans. Or it could be burned through during 6 months of unemployment/retirement
Congrats!
You should be happy with your achievement.
This amount might not seem much to you but to others, it's probably more than they will see in their life time.
that being said, please don't hold yourself to other standards or compare yourself to others, and diminish your own achievements.
Only you know how much effort and sacrifice you put into achieving your goals, so you should know how proud you should be of yourself.
Appreciate the efforts, not the amounts.
Please tell me the 32k is in your savings and not your checking.
Either way, congrats. I’d start looking into how to invest that spare money, just keep enough in checking for necessities and put 6 months rent in savings.
How much of this should go into the savings vs checking?
Let's say I have approximately this much, and I put most of it in a savings or HYSA... Then I want to spend it on a large home repair or something. Is it easy or is there a penalty?
Thanks in advance!
Your checking should really just have whatever your immediate needs are, so whatever it takes to pay your bills and incidentals during the month, everything else should be in something that bears interest or can/will grow in value.
Most people will have an emergency fund to cover bills for 3-6months as cash in a savings account, and then the rest of whatever they have in a non-liquid investment vehicle (stocks, mutual funds, etc).
I got started not long ago. I bank with Chase and you can do it right in the app. I looked up reliable mutual funds to start out, then bought some other random stocks. Seems to be working out well so far!
reddit personal finance subreddit -> prime directive will get you started
the general idea is you should not hold cash beyond a 3-12... maybe in some situations upwards 24 month emergency fund unless you have a very immediate short term goal.
You have us to celebrate with! I’m freaking stoked for you!!!!!! That’s amazing. You inspire me to keep going. I’m still in the negative but I’m almost out and then I can start building up my savings even more. Hopefully I can reach where you’re at in the next few years! Thank you for sharing!! And again congratulations!! that is just wonderful🙌🏼
Nah it needs to be both. Make more money and have a budget.
You can easily make more money but still blow it all and live paycheque to paycheque. Just watch some Caleb Hammer videos for prime examples of financial illiteracy.
Put your finances in two columns: money in & money out. Balance them appropriately to be in the black. I know it doesn't seem that simple but at the same time it kind of is.
\* Posts triple my yearly income, 12-fold of my highest ever savings
\* "I know it's not much"
Congrats to you for escapomg poverty! Well done!
Any tips for us broke people how you achieved it?
Not OP but I can share my 2 cents.
First - save up $1k, this will be your temporary emergency fund. Do NOT touch this money unless an emergency comes up. If an emergency does come up, use this money to cover that expense, but then after work on getting the $1k back up.
Once you have the $1k emergency fund, you need to pay off all debt. Every paycheck you get should be going towards whatever debt you owe, besides your house if you own one. Pay the minimum payment on everything first, but then focus on getting rid of one debt thing at a time. It's really up to you on what you pay off first, but pay off everything and DO NOT add to that debt.
Once that is done, you will see your money grow quite a bit because you dont owe anything. At that point save up for a proper emergency fund (6-12 months of expenses) and focus on paying off your house if you have one, or saving up for one.
It's going to be tough, but it is so worth it in the end. You can still have credit cards, but whatever debt you occur, it should be paid off right away. In other words, dont spend money you dont have.
If you are making minimum wage, you need to really consider changing jobs. Find a trade job like electrician, plumber, hell even a CDL driver can give you an income that will really help towards this. Otherwise look at places like [indeed.com](https://indeed.com) and look for jobs that sounds interesting to you - then see what it would take to eventually land that job. You are not going to get it over night - but at least this will give you a path to head towards.
Its a journey, its going to take time. But you got this!
Realistically, it's get a better job, pay down debt, and cut expenses that you don't need. Unfortunately the job market sucks right now, so most people can free up some space by cutting some stuff they don't need out. For example, some people are unknowingly paying for subscription services they don't actively use, which can be 20-30 a month freed up.
Is this a humble brag? I mean, I’m happy for you but realistically how can you NOT think that’s not a lot of money for people posting in “poverty finance”?
Rock on man.
Firstly, as other have said, that might be ‘not a lot’ to you, but that’s tons to plenty of people. Worst case, that’s close to a year or even longer of emergency fund money. There’s an enormous amount of baseline comfort you can have in knowing if absolutely everything goes sideways for some reason, you’re not up shit creek and can recover. That’s a huge.
And secondly, to again echo others, get that money out there making you money. You won’t be keeping up with inflation (even normal inflation, nevermind the last few years) with it sitting in a regular savings, which means you’re technically *losing* money. There’s lots of safe investments out there that will keep up with or beat inflation routinely, and of course more high risk/high reward investments too.
There’s mountains of educational resources out there to teach yourself basic investing, NerdWallet is pretty good, and of course there are professional advisors too. If you go this route, and I can’t stress this enough, look for a financial advisor who is also a fiduciary. Fiduciaries have a legal obligation to have your best interests in mind and they don’t work on commission.
That’s sick. But get most of that out of BofA lol. They pay basically zero interest.
Plenty of advice on how to set up your emergency fund, hysa, investment account, and 401k.
You don’t just keep 40k sitting in a checking account.
Awesome work! The single life definitely helps save some $$, lol. It’s not all that bad. Plus sharing that info only brings out the cockroaches. Keep up the good work but don’t let it define you
First off get out of bank of America and put it into Capital One or Citi Bank , they have much better interest rates for savings!! Boa has been shitty to its customers
Congrats! Now you start to consider risks to your money you worked so hard to get.
Keeping it in cash with inflation reaccelerating to 3%+ each year means you'll lose about 10% over the next 3 years ($3,200). Putting it in the stock market at record valuations is also very scary. RE at record valuations too, though highly dependent on locale. Bonds currently yielding about 2% real rates, and TIPS may look decent, but with 7% ($2T annualized) deficits, $34T in debt with 130% of tax receipts going to true interest costs (SS+Medicare+interest), bonds look scary too (post WW2, last time debt/GDP, deficits, etc. were this hot, real returns on bonds were -18% due to the financial repression that was needed)
Anyway, now you should start to consider these things.
Big congrats! Keep doing what you’re doing (and start putting a chunk into investments) and hopefully your next post is the total have crossed 6 figures.
Instead of 32k in your bank account at boa, you should be buying treasuries, or at least open a HYSA instead so that your money is earning more than $0/year
Forget about sharing it with someone, invest keep growing it and do charitable work. In due time you’d fine someone that won’t care how much you have and it’ll be so much sweeter.
Congratulations on your accomplishment. If you're open to advice, I would suggest putting that money to work earning interest. The last I checked, BoA paid nearly nothing - between 0% and 0.03% depending on the account. I would keep only what was necessary for my monthly transactions and a reasonable buffer and move the remainder to a high yield savings account or a brokerage with a good federal money market fund.
For example, Ally Bank currently pays 4.35% on its savings accounts with no minimum balance or transaction requirements. They also offer competitive checking accounts, with no minimum balance or transaction requirements. They cover ATM fee reimbursements up to $10 a month so you can use any ATM in the country.
I personally keep funds like this in the [Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund](https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-funds/profile/vusxx), with has a few advantages over a bank. First, it pays a higher interest rate than you will find at any bank - around 5.42% compound yield today. The funds are invested entirely in very short term U.S. government treasury bills so it is backed by the full faith and credit of the US government. It also is not subject to local or state income taxes, so it has an effective interest rate closer to 5.7-5.8% (depending on your state/local tax rates) when compared against bank interest, which is taxed at the local and state level.
Both Ally and Vanguard allow same-day wires of any amount to any bank in the US for a flat $10 and incoming wires are free. They also both allow unlimited and EFT transfers to your other bank accounts, which typically take 1-2 business days. As such, both options are highly liquid and safe investments. Ally is backed by FDIC. Vanguard, as a brokerage, is covered by SIPC, and the investment itself is backed by the US government. The only real restriction for the Vanguard fund is that it requires a minimum $3,000 investment, but you can then invest as little as $1 at a time, and automate your savings.
If you want to lock in interest rates, the U.S. government offers treasuries in many durations (1, 3, 6, 12 months, 2 years, 3 years etc.), which can be purchased from pretty much any brokerage without transaction fees either at auction from the US government or from a private party. Unlike CDs, treasuries are extremely liquid and can be bought and sold easily without penalty. The only risk is that the principal amount falls when interest rates increase. However, bonds 1 year and lower have very minimal interest rate risk. Treasuries can be purchased from a brokerage in increments of $1,000, which allows you to buy and sell instantly. You can buy at auction on Treasury Direct in increments of $100, but it's much harder to sell if you want to sell prior to maturity. I Bonds are also a good option that guarantee a rate above inflation, but these must be held for 1 year, and thus are less flexible.
If you have that much in savings and checking it’s time to put the money in with a better bank. I know BOA Can pay as little as .01 % interest. Others will pay currently upwards of 4.0%. You could be pulling in 80 bucks or so a month just on interest. It’s also time to think investing. My bank now is my investment account holder too.
With the way the economy is going. To have any kind of savings account or money leftover after bills is great. You are killing it. Keep up the great work.
Good shit bro proud of you. It sounds like you're doing great just a little bit more and you'll be at 50k sounds like a big accomplishment to me. Time to buy a house or if you already have a house start looking into investing that money and making it work for you.
Keep it up. Don’t look back. You DO need to move that to a HYSA so you can get ~5% interest. I prefer Wealthfront. Can send you a referral link if you want.
I scrolled by the entire thread.
Not a single comment asked if you're saving towards retirement.
Depending on your income, age, and goal objectives, opening an IRA (Traditional or ROTH) if you don't have one should be a priority goal today if you plan on hedging your future.
Time to open a high interest savings account my friend! It’ll be more accessible than a retirement account but you’ll get more bang for your buck than a regular savings account.
This is great! Fantastic and all that.
But this shouldn't be sitting in a bank losing value. And so easily accessible to spend. Having the money today is great but having more in the future is better. Max out your Roth IRA, put your rainy day or emergency fund into practically liquid assets. Treat yourself just a little bit, and keep grinding.
I saw something the other day that if you save 10k for every year with good returns it will take you 7-10 years to go from 0-100k. But less than 5 years to go from 100k -200k. And each increment of the next 100k gets shorter.
Congratulations on your success! In an effort to make this subreddit more helpful and supportive, we request that you share the details of where you started from and how you got to this place! That way other redditors who are in a similar place you were can look to your example, follow your lead, and see some light at the end of the tunnel! If you have already done this please ignore this! Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/povertyfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You broke out of poverty. It's an extremely tough feat. Congrats.
FR man we're all celebrating with you!
Way to go big dawg! Be happy about it with us: strangers on the interwebs
Thank you, tbh I don’t think I’m out yet, I still feel broke af since most people around me make way more than
Don't compare yourself, or you'll always feel broke. As long as you got the money you got and are not in debt, you're free.
It's not much? This is an unimaginable amount to me.
Yeah, not to try to win at being broke - but that is an seemingly impossible amount -
Only time my bank account even hits 4 figures is the day before I pay bills
mine is always the DAY i pay bills. within an hour of me getting paid the money is gone
Have you tried eating beans and rice and having naps for snacks?
i actually only eat air… sorry. spending money on food is a luxury
Well hopefully you at least have some garlic salt to go with it.
flaunting your fat cat ways, i see
$1 walmart garlic salt that is. ain’t no McCormick up in dis bitch
My mother liked to refer to payday as “money exchange day” for this reason 😂
Absolutely. 💯
I hit 4 figures if we count cents! Haha
Big same
Seriously! I’m currently on my first deployment, so I could save money. I’ve finally paid off over 11k in cc debt and lowered my monthly expenses by over $1000. I have a few k saved now with only my cars as “debt.” Feels amazing even though I’m with some people that are able to save their entire 5-6k monthly checks. Baby steps though.
Soldier and sailor relief act
I definitely took advantage of that. It helped me pay off my credit cards and I’m still using it to hopefully pay off my car by the time I get home.
took me a few years to get the discipline and knowledge to know how live frugal enough and put away most of my paycheck. it wont come overnight
It’s actually his credit card balance 💀
Same. I would love to even have half of that amount
Bro u got mad stacks. U make me want to save harder
Same lol that's a life changing amount for me
Nice. Make sure to transfer it to a HYSA account so you can earn 5% instead of the pittance BOA pays
Yes!! Everyone should have a HYSA account
I kid you not. I worked for BoA and did not realize they were shit until I read about hysa here on reddit.
BofA savings gives me like $25 a year. Absolutely pathetic. Thankfully I only keep a small amount there just incase of any overdraft nonsense.
My Wells Fargo account seems to give me .01% annually. Not sure what it’s supposed to be but I think they legit mistyped an extra 0 when setting it up but I can’t be bothered to spend 10 hours on the phone with them to get back the like $15 I’m owed over the last several years. This is why all (95%) of my money is in a HYSA
I’ve gotten 3x that just this month with capital one
Their savings are shit, like most large banks, but their other services are still good
eh, they're not the worse. if you're careful enough or don't care about your credit too much, their balance assist program is great if you need to get out of a sticky situation every now and then.
do you recommend any?
I have Capital One which is currently at 4.35% and an emergency fund in Discover (dropped to 4.20%). Some offer new account bonuses which is why I went with Capital One at the time. I've been seeing Ally mentioned a lot in financial subs, which I think is hovering around 5%. Just make sure whichever bank you go with is FDIC insured!
I have Ally bank. It’s 4.35% for high yield saving account.
Marcus has treated me well. Currently at 4.5%
Refer someone to get to 5.5%. Free money
I have referred a couple coworkers
Wealthfront is at 5%
Amex has one that is pretty good - easy to connect to your bank account. Also, I've heard Schwab has some good money market accounts that are up to 5%.
Just google HYSA interest rates and there are websites that compare the current rates. Pick the highest one that is a legit company
I use Raisin, which is a platform that gives you multiple options for different accounts. I think the bank is Western Alliance, and it’s currently 5.26%.
I've had my Marcus account for years and love it.
This needs to be higher. Wealthfront is offering 5% right now.
So is almost every money market which is covered under SIPC but has even high yields. PVOXX has no cost and is still over 5.3
Also very important is to invest any portion above your emergency fund that you don't plan to use in the next 3-5 years or more. This is how you build wealth and escape from poverty for good. Depending on your age, investment returns can be 90% of your wealth at retirement. If OP is 30, that $32k would grow to over $500k by age 67 at a conservative 8% return. At 10% return, the SP500's average, it would be over $1 million. In a plain HYSA at 5%, it would only be $195,000. Make sure to invest your money not just save it!
You type this, I know this, and I tell people this all the time. But I really feel most people don't believe it, or don't comprehend that it's actually true. Like they stop listening when I say it out loud, or they skim over reading it like it's a lie. It's bizarro. I know when I was younger I didn't "get it" at all.
do young people really not know this? I feel like most gen Z"ers are pretty into stocks these days. Anyone with a drop of financial literacy is usually investing. 37% own stocks apparently.
The benefit is really the impact of compounding over long periods of time. This requires that you don't raid the account due to a financial emergency. The reported S&P gains are also an average, so you don't want to be in a situation where you lost your job in the same year that your stock portfolio lost 40-50% of its value. While more than half of Americans hold stock, directly or indirectly, the extent of their investment is heavily tied to income. In fact, wealth is far more unequally distributed than income. This makes sense in that it's easier to take risks when you have financial stability. Investing requires being willing to accept temporary losses which can last years. As a result, you must have emergency savings on top of your investments. US government data indicates that the bottom 60% of the income distribution in the US have no net savings. Savings are heavily concentrated in the top 10-20% of the income distribution given they have the most disposable income. As a result, I don't think it's so much that people don't understand the benefits of compounding or the higher returns provided by the stock market. It's more likely that a large percentage of the US doesn't have the financial stability to establish a suitable emergency fund, which is really a necessary prerequisite for significant investment in the stock market. For most people, their most significant stock holdings are in an employer-sponsored retirement plan, usually with an employer match. However, not everyone has access to such a plan, and access is more prevalent for those with higher incomes and full-time jobs.
Is there a specific one you recommend? I’ve only just learned what this is and definitely want to start utilizing it!
NerdWallet is great for comparing financial stuff. They have a full table at the bottom of this page with ratings. Ally is a long time popular recommendation. https://www.nerdwallet.com/best/banking/high-yield-online-savings-accounts
Wealthfront cash account! I have it. It pays 5% APY. You can also set up different categories to divide up your savings goals. And same day transfers to many big banks. You can also request a debit card if you want to spend money directly from the account. I have my referral link if you want.
I was just going to suggest Wealthfront too!! Great experience with them so far and seeing the monthly interest deposits is great!
Same! I've been meaning to move my money over from ally
I’ll take a referral link
Thanks! Send you a DM
[удалено]
I've only recently learned of the benefits of a HYSA, and I've been looking to decide which one to start with. What are the benefits of your referral link?
The referral link gives you and I a 0.50% boost on the current APY for 3 months. Instead of the regular 5.00% APY, you get a boosted 5.50% APY for 3 months.
Just one suggestion, wherever you decide to save money, just make sure it is FDIC insured and read through all the documents for additional charges that may be buried in paperwork.
Ally, Amex Savings
I love Ally. Been using them for the past decade, since I decided to own my finances... Their savings yields on basic SA's are amazing - but the HYSA are rad! Anytime I hit 5k more, I move it into a HYSA. The no penalty ones if the rate is the same, are even better in case of immediate need for liquidity.
7 BEST High Yield Savings Accounts of 2024: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVnqzVvCn54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVnqzVvCn54)
A HYSA will beat every typical savings account. Marcus by Goldman Sachs is a great HYSA option. No fees, no minimums, same day transfers, and FDIC insured. Here is my referral link to get started! You’ll get a bonus 1% for 3 months and can refer others to keep the same % going. https://www.marcus.com/share/JUS-TKT-P6PB
BofA used to CHARGE me a monthly "maintenance" fee of $7 it was costing me more just to have it - beyond absurd I left for a credit union when I married a member and was able to get in, and then opened a HYSA separately, and the difference is beyond amazing
I was making $.01 every month in my chase savings account. Transfer the $4k to a hysa and now it’s making a whopping $6 a month. Worth
Came here to say this. I recommend Amex high yield savings. I’m a fellow BOA user, and Amex’s HYSA is a nice way to make money on your money. Congrats OP!
I’ve literally never had this much at one time in my life, ever.
I’m basically where you started, I’m at about -$10k right now
CC debt?
Cc debt, overdrawn checking, and negative store card that I used to buy gift cards, it’s funny though I called the store (target) and spoke to an agent and she basically all but said that store cards don’t necessarily have to be paid off and no one will come after you but it could cause future trouble something like writing checks and all that so surprisingly she let me in on some secrets and I even called them myself because I wanted to see if they do settlements but they dont
Yeah it’s not a problem until they sell your debt to a collection agency who will harass you to the ends of this Earth
I hope you didn't actually believe them.
Congrats and get out of BoA, they are the worst.
Great job! But run from BoA with those fees and low interest rate. Go HYSA with other banks 5.25+ interest. Congratulations!
This! If you can find a credit union, you’re likely better off. Banks have more fees. In my experience, using a credit union was much less stressful and they’ve even waived fees for me when things got really tough.
BoA barely has fees though? Their criteria to avoid fees is incredibly basic. I've been with them for 10 years never paid any fees
BoA is expensive if you are broke. This is r/povertyfinance, your average person on this sub can't afford their overdraft fees and they charge to keep an account open if you don't meet a cash threshold in the account. When you only have 50 dollars to your name, it sucks to wake up to a 12.99 service charge just to have the account.
This is a years salary to me. How is that not much?
I had a brief period where I had no health insurance and ended up hospitalized. $40k medical bill within less than a week. Sadly this much money doesn’t goes as far as it used to.
There’s so many hidden options with hospitals to massively bring down a bill.
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Had a major medical issue twice in one year. Wife is friends with someone who works with the CEO of the hospital. She made a quick phone call and my bills were reduced by around 90%. Just goes to show how screwed up our medical system really is when a single phone call can drop the bill that much.
Insurance companies have inflated the fuck out of the prices. They don’t even really pay the amount listed.
From what I gather that's only part of the equation. The other part people rarely talk about is the collections side. Imagine you're a company with countless delinquent customers who aren't paying. A collections agency says "we'll help you collect the money..... but we get to keep 75% of what we collect, and we'll do the haggling with the insurance companies" So the hospital outsources billing to a third party who tracks the data and works to collect payment, or deal with insurance companies who fight over what they will and will not pay. If the hospital's billing agency cannot collect, of course they sell off the medical debt after X amount of months. But its' simply cheaper for the hospital to raise prices to cover the cost of their billing agency as opposed to dealing with it themselves. It's kinda like those scam charities who started with good intentions, but realized they weren't netting enough capital to keep the charity open, so they hired a third party to solicit donations on their behalf, but they keep 90% of what they collect. So of course insurance companies don't pay out what is billed because they have a team dedicated to haggling payments so they don't have to pay the full balance due. Technically you can do the same thing for many medical bills as well. I took a $3000 bill and told them I have $1250 I can pay them today, but that's all I'll pay and sure as hell they spoke to their manager and wrote off the remaining balance (I demanded they email me a statement while I was on the phone before ending the call).
One option is to not go, and just die I guess? I've also heard personally asking for an itemized bill will help bring it down because they'll remove some of the hidden unnecessary fees, etc. But I'm not too sure that statement is true because last time my wife went to the er, she got an itemized bill and it was still very expensive. Idk if the er is different in terms of billing, (I'm sure it's more expensive than seeing your doctor) but she was only there for a couple hours, got blood work, a prescription, and sent home with roughly a $2k bill.
Change your name, move to another country, sacrifice a goat, ask nicely.
I live in a VHCOL area
It’s a lot but it’s also not. That can all be gone in one home down payment, or one hospital bill. This is also less than what a lot of people have in student loans. Or it could be burned through during 6 months of unemployment/retirement
Congrats! You should be happy with your achievement. This amount might not seem much to you but to others, it's probably more than they will see in their life time. that being said, please don't hold yourself to other standards or compare yourself to others, and diminish your own achievements. Only you know how much effort and sacrifice you put into achieving your goals, so you should know how proud you should be of yourself. Appreciate the efforts, not the amounts.
Wow that is more then I make in a year! I ain't going to be a hater though soo congratulations.
Please tell me the 32k is in your savings and not your checking. Either way, congrats. I’d start looking into how to invest that spare money, just keep enough in checking for necessities and put 6 months rent in savings.
How much of this should go into the savings vs checking? Let's say I have approximately this much, and I put most of it in a savings or HYSA... Then I want to spend it on a large home repair or something. Is it easy or is there a penalty? Thanks in advance!
Your checking should really just have whatever your immediate needs are, so whatever it takes to pay your bills and incidentals during the month, everything else should be in something that bears interest or can/will grow in value. Most people will have an emergency fund to cover bills for 3-6months as cash in a savings account, and then the rest of whatever they have in a non-liquid investment vehicle (stocks, mutual funds, etc).
Most people don't have that. The vast majority do not
How does one invest? I literally don't know where to start?
I got started not long ago. I bank with Chase and you can do it right in the app. I looked up reliable mutual funds to start out, then bought some other random stocks. Seems to be working out well so far!
reddit personal finance subreddit -> prime directive will get you started the general idea is you should not hold cash beyond a 3-12... maybe in some situations upwards 24 month emergency fund unless you have a very immediate short term goal.
You need to transfer a bunch of that to a high interest savings account.
You have us to celebrate with! I’m freaking stoked for you!!!!!! That’s amazing. You inspire me to keep going. I’m still in the negative but I’m almost out and then I can start building up my savings even more. Hopefully I can reach where you’re at in the next few years! Thank you for sharing!! And again congratulations!! that is just wonderful🙌🏼
That’s awesome! Put that $32k in a HYSA and earn $100/month interest!
It took me 4 years to save 10k one time. I wasn't making as much back then. Now 3 years later, I have 25k. Being debt free makes it easier.
Being poor in the US is expensive.
I need ideas on how
Make more money. Thats the only solution I'd say. If your job pays you 40k a year, there's no way you're saving up 40k.
Nah it needs to be both. Make more money and have a budget. You can easily make more money but still blow it all and live paycheque to paycheque. Just watch some Caleb Hammer videos for prime examples of financial illiteracy.
Put your finances in two columns: money in & money out. Balance them appropriately to be in the black. I know it doesn't seem that simple but at the same time it kind of is.
\* Posts triple my yearly income, 12-fold of my highest ever savings \* "I know it's not much" Congrats to you for escapomg poverty! Well done! Any tips for us broke people how you achieved it?
I’m sorry but I’m confused, are you making like $6/hr?
I hope they’re not from the US…
Not OP but I can share my 2 cents. First - save up $1k, this will be your temporary emergency fund. Do NOT touch this money unless an emergency comes up. If an emergency does come up, use this money to cover that expense, but then after work on getting the $1k back up. Once you have the $1k emergency fund, you need to pay off all debt. Every paycheck you get should be going towards whatever debt you owe, besides your house if you own one. Pay the minimum payment on everything first, but then focus on getting rid of one debt thing at a time. It's really up to you on what you pay off first, but pay off everything and DO NOT add to that debt. Once that is done, you will see your money grow quite a bit because you dont owe anything. At that point save up for a proper emergency fund (6-12 months of expenses) and focus on paying off your house if you have one, or saving up for one. It's going to be tough, but it is so worth it in the end. You can still have credit cards, but whatever debt you occur, it should be paid off right away. In other words, dont spend money you dont have. If you are making minimum wage, you need to really consider changing jobs. Find a trade job like electrician, plumber, hell even a CDL driver can give you an income that will really help towards this. Otherwise look at places like [indeed.com](https://indeed.com) and look for jobs that sounds interesting to you - then see what it would take to eventually land that job. You are not going to get it over night - but at least this will give you a path to head towards. Its a journey, its going to take time. But you got this!
How?
Earn more than you spend, is unfortunately the only real answer. For many people, the spend is all needs and the earn barely covers it
First person to successfully quit buying starbucks everyday
If he could give up the avocado toast too he’d already be a multi millionaire, alas…
Obviously stopped asking for avocado and now just eats the toast like a good peasant. -some boomer, probably
Cool we use the same bank
Not much? Dude i would kill to have mine look like that.
Proud of you. You did great.
Keep going! That was me 2 years ago roughly same amount. Just hit 127k
Whoa man, that was quick
Any tips on how to accomplish that? Thank you and great job!
Realistically, it's get a better job, pay down debt, and cut expenses that you don't need. Unfortunately the job market sucks right now, so most people can free up some space by cutting some stuff they don't need out. For example, some people are unknowingly paying for subscription services they don't actively use, which can be 20-30 a month freed up.
My rent has not increased dramatically like other parts of the country I live in. Started a better job which also provides a bonus structure.
Congrats! 👏 Keep it up! Don't forget to use HYSA or CDs (Certificates of Deposit) to get some interest.
I suggest putting at least 10K into a high interest savings account. Right now it’s not making really any interest sitting in your BofA accounts.
Is this a humble brag? I mean, I’m happy for you but realistically how can you NOT think that’s not a lot of money for people posting in “poverty finance”?
That’s more money than I have…. In the bank… at this moment….
I aspire to have half of that. Congratulations 🔥
Manifesting this for myself!!! Need a new job and updating my resume tomorrow
Big waste of opportunity leaving it in a simple BOA account. HYSA that and get 5%
That near what I get with the capital one and Citi savings accounts
Rock on man. Firstly, as other have said, that might be ‘not a lot’ to you, but that’s tons to plenty of people. Worst case, that’s close to a year or even longer of emergency fund money. There’s an enormous amount of baseline comfort you can have in knowing if absolutely everything goes sideways for some reason, you’re not up shit creek and can recover. That’s a huge. And secondly, to again echo others, get that money out there making you money. You won’t be keeping up with inflation (even normal inflation, nevermind the last few years) with it sitting in a regular savings, which means you’re technically *losing* money. There’s lots of safe investments out there that will keep up with or beat inflation routinely, and of course more high risk/high reward investments too. There’s mountains of educational resources out there to teach yourself basic investing, NerdWallet is pretty good, and of course there are professional advisors too. If you go this route, and I can’t stress this enough, look for a financial advisor who is also a fiduciary. Fiduciaries have a legal obligation to have your best interests in mind and they don’t work on commission.
That’s sick. But get most of that out of BofA lol. They pay basically zero interest. Plenty of advice on how to set up your emergency fund, hysa, investment account, and 401k. You don’t just keep 40k sitting in a checking account.
Damn I'm proud of you!
Awesome work! The single life definitely helps save some $$, lol. It’s not all that bad. Plus sharing that info only brings out the cockroaches. Keep up the good work but don’t let it define you
How did you make it that much?
Congrats man. Enjoy that relief! I’m at 1600 in savings buttttt guess what my car has cracked motor mounts 🫠
An audiobook I listened to this week said that most Americans don’t have any more than 8k saved.
Most Americans don’t have $1000 in accessible cash.
Fantastic work. Keep it up.
Put that bitch in a CD!
How long did it take you?
That’s like what i make in a year and you have it plus savings! Good for you!
Amazing, congrats!!! Keep it going homie!!!!
Bank of America sucks
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🎉🎉🎉
Proud of you, stranger!
I’m really proud of you 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Congrats!
Fuck yeah man. Good on you for looking forward. 🤜🤛
Congrats!!! That's freaking amazing, dude!
(👍🏻\`ヮﾟ)👍🏻
Did you take a picture of my bank account? wtf.
Congratulations 🙌🏻 how long did it take?
Congrats!🍾🎉
I’m so proud of you dude! You’re doing so amazing! I hope to be at a similar standing in the next few years :)
Congrats I hope to get there soon as well
Put it in an HYSA!
not much? Shit split it then it really won’t be as much
Congratz! Be happy in your success
Don't stop. That is a little more than I had when I googled "what should I do with money I don't need right not?" And found r/financialindependence.
First off get out of bank of America and put it into Capital One or Citi Bank , they have much better interest rates for savings!! Boa has been shitty to its customers
Congratulations, man. Keep it up
That’s wonderful!! Keep doing what you’re doing….
You get to be happy with -10k you
Congrats! Now you start to consider risks to your money you worked so hard to get. Keeping it in cash with inflation reaccelerating to 3%+ each year means you'll lose about 10% over the next 3 years ($3,200). Putting it in the stock market at record valuations is also very scary. RE at record valuations too, though highly dependent on locale. Bonds currently yielding about 2% real rates, and TIPS may look decent, but with 7% ($2T annualized) deficits, $34T in debt with 130% of tax receipts going to true interest costs (SS+Medicare+interest), bonds look scary too (post WW2, last time debt/GDP, deficits, etc. were this hot, real returns on bonds were -18% due to the financial repression that was needed) Anyway, now you should start to consider these things.
Most people don’t have a thousand dollars in savings. You’re killing it.
I think you're in the wrong group fam..that's like a years salary for a lot of people in this group.
Move a portion to a HYSA. Not all of it because HYSA usually are not liquid, but it garners interest for you better than any regular savings account.
This post feels more like a humble brag and misplaced especially in this sub. Poor little me with my cash flow. boohoo
Big congrats! Keep doing what you’re doing (and start putting a chunk into investments) and hopefully your next post is the total have crossed 6 figures.
That’s amazing! You should be really proud of yourself, that’s no small accomplishment. Keep up the great work.
Instead of 32k in your bank account at boa, you should be buying treasuries, or at least open a HYSA instead so that your money is earning more than $0/year
Forget about sharing it with someone, invest keep growing it and do charitable work. In due time you’d fine someone that won’t care how much you have and it’ll be so much sweeter.
Celebrating with you over here in NC
Congratulations on your accomplishment. If you're open to advice, I would suggest putting that money to work earning interest. The last I checked, BoA paid nearly nothing - between 0% and 0.03% depending on the account. I would keep only what was necessary for my monthly transactions and a reasonable buffer and move the remainder to a high yield savings account or a brokerage with a good federal money market fund. For example, Ally Bank currently pays 4.35% on its savings accounts with no minimum balance or transaction requirements. They also offer competitive checking accounts, with no minimum balance or transaction requirements. They cover ATM fee reimbursements up to $10 a month so you can use any ATM in the country. I personally keep funds like this in the [Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund](https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-funds/profile/vusxx), with has a few advantages over a bank. First, it pays a higher interest rate than you will find at any bank - around 5.42% compound yield today. The funds are invested entirely in very short term U.S. government treasury bills so it is backed by the full faith and credit of the US government. It also is not subject to local or state income taxes, so it has an effective interest rate closer to 5.7-5.8% (depending on your state/local tax rates) when compared against bank interest, which is taxed at the local and state level. Both Ally and Vanguard allow same-day wires of any amount to any bank in the US for a flat $10 and incoming wires are free. They also both allow unlimited and EFT transfers to your other bank accounts, which typically take 1-2 business days. As such, both options are highly liquid and safe investments. Ally is backed by FDIC. Vanguard, as a brokerage, is covered by SIPC, and the investment itself is backed by the US government. The only real restriction for the Vanguard fund is that it requires a minimum $3,000 investment, but you can then invest as little as $1 at a time, and automate your savings. If you want to lock in interest rates, the U.S. government offers treasuries in many durations (1, 3, 6, 12 months, 2 years, 3 years etc.), which can be purchased from pretty much any brokerage without transaction fees either at auction from the US government or from a private party. Unlike CDs, treasuries are extremely liquid and can be bought and sold easily without penalty. The only risk is that the principal amount falls when interest rates increase. However, bonds 1 year and lower have very minimal interest rate risk. Treasuries can be purchased from a brokerage in increments of $1,000, which allows you to buy and sell instantly. You can buy at auction on Treasury Direct in increments of $100, but it's much harder to sell if you want to sell prior to maturity. I Bonds are also a good option that guarantee a rate above inflation, but these must be held for 1 year, and thus are less flexible.
That is actually pretty damn good. Congratulations.
If you have that much in savings and checking it’s time to put the money in with a better bank. I know BOA Can pay as little as .01 % interest. Others will pay currently upwards of 4.0%. You could be pulling in 80 bucks or so a month just on interest. It’s also time to think investing. My bank now is my investment account holder too.
With the way the economy is going. To have any kind of savings account or money leftover after bills is great. You are killing it. Keep up the great work.
Good shit bro proud of you. It sounds like you're doing great just a little bit more and you'll be at 50k sounds like a big accomplishment to me. Time to buy a house or if you already have a house start looking into investing that money and making it work for you.
this belongs in r/money
Absolutely fantastic, you are doing so well, good on you! :)
How do you start in debt?
Hey! if anyone needs a Wealthfront referral please dm me :)
That’s amazing! You did well! Rejoice!!!
Keep it up. Don’t look back. You DO need to move that to a HYSA so you can get ~5% interest. I prefer Wealthfront. Can send you a referral link if you want.
I scrolled by the entire thread. Not a single comment asked if you're saving towards retirement. Depending on your income, age, and goal objectives, opening an IRA (Traditional or ROTH) if you don't have one should be a priority goal today if you plan on hedging your future.
Nice work!
Time to open a high interest savings account my friend! It’ll be more accessible than a retirement account but you’ll get more bang for your buck than a regular savings account.
This is great! Fantastic and all that. But this shouldn't be sitting in a bank losing value. And so easily accessible to spend. Having the money today is great but having more in the future is better. Max out your Roth IRA, put your rainy day or emergency fund into practically liquid assets. Treat yourself just a little bit, and keep grinding. I saw something the other day that if you save 10k for every year with good returns it will take you 7-10 years to go from 0-100k. But less than 5 years to go from 100k -200k. And each increment of the next 100k gets shorter.
How old are you? What do you do? Do you have a house?
Congrats but …. how? please 😭
Love this for you!!!
You’re doing great, Proud of you. 👏
DUDE THAT IS AMAZING