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> What savings I did have where in a zero interest current account though! That's not great, but overall, I'm not making very much money from my "high-interest

> What savings I did have where in a zero interest current account though! That's not great, but overall, I'm not making very much money from my "high-interest savings account". Maybe a grand or two over decades, but even that's generous. I don't know if it's worthy of an exclamation mark. The biggest losses are prevented by not overspending and some of the other things you mentioned.

cheese4242 7y ago
Very true. Reminds me of this quote I had saved (I don't recall the source) "Personal-finance gurus obsess over buying coffee not because it is unsustainable, Vanderkam suggests, but because being a personal-finance guru is. “The strongest finance advice can be summed up in a couple sentences,” she explains. Maximize your income. Limit your big monthly expenses. But if your job depends on doling out financial wisdom, Vanderkam notes, “you have all this real estate you have to fill on your blog, your podcast, and your books. That’s where all this little stuff winds up coming in, but in the larger scheme, it’s kind of irrelevant.”
- war1025 7y ago
  This is such a true sentiment and is actually true for a lot of advice. I think it's why a lot of people end up switching to giving talks or some other repeatable income stream. Once you've written a blog post, that info is out there. But if you can make it an "event", you can give the same advice over and over again.
magduf 7y ago
>my "high-interest savings account". Maybe a grand or two over decades Huh? Either you have very little savings for someone on this site, or your "high-interest" account isn't high-interest. Ally Bank currently has 1.6% interest on their savings account, so you'd make $1000 in interest in 1 year with a balance of about $62k. If your savings account doesn't have at least 1.5% interest, then why do you have it? There's lots of places with rates of 1.5-2%.
- potatoz2 7y ago
  It's unusual to have $62k or more in a savings account. Either it's some sort of 6-month emergency fund and CDs typically make more sense (ladder or not) or it's money you want to grow, in which case investing in index funds is the better approach.
  - magduf 7y ago
    >It's unusual to have $62k or more in a savings account. You're not paying attention. The OP said it would take decades to make $1k or $2k; I pointed out it doesn't take that much money to make that in only 1 year. It's not that unusual to have $30k in savings, so that's roughly $1k in interest in 2 years, which is an order of magnitude lower than what the OP was claiming.
- isoskeles 7y ago
  Really, 2%, where? Also, that’s probably going to get knocked down this week given the announcement from the Fed, unfortunately.
  - jakehilborn 7y ago
    I get 5% interest on up-to a $20,000 balance in a high interest checking account. You'll see higher returns using a high interest checking as opposed to savings account if you can find one you qualify for. High interest checking accounts: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/high-interest-savings-to-get/#Mega_High-Interest_Nationwide https://www.doctorofcredit.com/high-interest-savings-to-get/... Automation for meeting minimum spend requirements: https://github.com/jakehilborn/debbit https://github.com/jakehilborn/debbit
    - aguyfromnb 7y ago
      >High interest checking accounts: I clicked through a few of those offers. Each one has a balance limit (after which interest drops to near zero), monthly fees, sign-up fees, or requires you to generate banking fees through another service. And how could they not? Finance isn't magic, and we are in a world of all-time low rates. There is no possible way these companies can be paying you 5% on cash without making it up elsewhere.
tiew9Vii 7y ago
In hindsight it’s something extremely basic, simple and obvious to do which is why I had the exclamation mark for my lack of knowledge. In the past couple of years I’ve made $2-3k in interest. Not much but it’s $2-3k I wouldn’t of had if sat in a checking account so to me it’s free money for holding the exact same savings just under a different account with my bank.
qes 7y ago
> I'm not making very much money from my "high-interest savings account". Maybe a grand or two over decades All that says is that you barely have any balance in the account. Maybe a couple grand.

cheese4242 7y ago

Very true. Reminds me of this quote I had saved (I don't recall the source) "Personal-finance gurus obsess over buying coffee not because it is unsustainable, Vanderkam suggests, but because being a personal-finance guru is. “The strongest finance advice can be summed up in a couple sentences,” she explains. Maximize your income. Limit your big monthly expenses. But if your job depends on doling out financial wisdom, Vanderkam notes, “you have all this real estate you have to fill on your blog, your podcast, and your books. That’s where all this little stuff winds up coming in, but in the larger scheme, it’s kind of irrelevant.”

war1025 7y ago
This is such a true sentiment and is actually true for a lot of advice. I think it's why a lot of people end up switching to giving talks or some other repeatable income stream. Once you've written a blog post, that info is out there. But if you can make it an "event", you can give the same advice over and over again.

magduf 7y ago

>my "high-interest savings account". Maybe a grand or two over decades Huh? Either you have very little savings for someone on this site, or your "high-interest" account isn't high-interest. Ally Bank currently has 1.6% interest on their savings account, so you'd make $1000 in interest in 1 year with a balance of about $62k. If your savings account doesn't have at least 1.5% interest, then why do you have it? There's lots of places with rates of 1.5-2%.

potatoz2 7y ago
It's unusual to have $62k or more in a savings account. Either it's some sort of 6-month emergency fund and CDs typically make more sense (ladder or not) or it's money you want to grow, in which case investing in index funds is the better approach.
- magduf 7y ago
  >It's unusual to have $62k or more in a savings account. You're not paying attention. The OP said it would take decades to make $1k or $2k; I pointed out it doesn't take that much money to make that in only 1 year. It's not that unusual to have $30k in savings, so that's roughly $1k in interest in 2 years, which is an order of magnitude lower than what the OP was claiming.
isoskeles 7y ago
Really, 2%, where? Also, that’s probably going to get knocked down this week given the announcement from the Fed, unfortunately.
- jakehilborn 7y ago
  I get 5% interest on up-to a $20,000 balance in a high interest checking account. You'll see higher returns using a high interest checking as opposed to savings account if you can find one you qualify for. High interest checking accounts: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/high-interest-savings-to-get/#Mega_High-Interest_Nationwide https://www.doctorofcredit.com/high-interest-savings-to-get/... Automation for meeting minimum spend requirements: https://github.com/jakehilborn/debbit https://github.com/jakehilborn/debbit
  - aguyfromnb 7y ago
    >High interest checking accounts: I clicked through a few of those offers. Each one has a balance limit (after which interest drops to near zero), monthly fees, sign-up fees, or requires you to generate banking fees through another service. And how could they not? Finance isn't magic, and we are in a world of all-time low rates. There is no possible way these companies can be paying you 5% on cash without making it up elsewhere.

tiew9Vii 7y ago

In hindsight it’s something extremely basic, simple and obvious to do which is why I had the exclamation mark for my lack of knowledge. In the past couple of years I’ve made $2-3k in interest. Not much but it’s $2-3k I wouldn’t of had if sat in a checking account so to me it’s free money for holding the exact same savings just under a different account with my bank.

qes 7y ago

> I'm not making very much money from my "high-interest savings account". Maybe a grand or two over decades All that says is that you barely have any balance in the account. Maybe a couple grand.