Power Move #3 Wake Up Your Savings

Power Move #3: Wake Up Your Savings

Are you tired of your money being the only thing in your classroom that gets to nap? It’s time to stop the snooze-fest in your bank account and get your dollars engaged.

The Lesson Plan: Saving vs. Investing

Before we ring the bell, let’s clear up any confusion. Think of your money like your students: some are sprinters, and some are marathon runners.

• Savings (Short-Term): This is your 6 months to 4 years money—think vacations, a new-to-you car, or a house down payment.

• Investing (Long-Term): This is for the long haul, like your toddler’s college fund or a retirement that actually feels comfortable.

• Checking Account (Bills only): Cash sitting in a standard checking account is lazy money, currently paying 0–0.1% at most major banks. It’s time to send it to detention—or better yet, put it to work.

  

Top 3 Power Moves to Wake Up Your Cash

Don’t let your Emergency Fund or Summer Savings Account sleep on the job. Consider these high-energy moves instead:

• Open a High-Yield Savings Account (HYSA). Interest rates are 30–40x better than the big monster mega-banks (as Clark Howard likes to say). You can compare competitive rates on sites like Bankrate.com. Or...

• Open an Individual Brokerage Account Many brokerages let you set your settlement fund to a high-yielding cash or money market option (around 4%+ at the time of writing). A set-it-and-forget-it win. Or...

• Open a Summer Cash Account with State Employees’ Credit Union (SECU). For 9-, 10-, or 11-month educators, SECU’s Summer Cash account can be a no-brainer, paying a competitive rate (around 4%+ at the time of writing).

  
  

Visualizing Your Money at Work

Lazy vs. Productive Savings

Testimonial Make your savings work as hard as you do!

I have banked with SECU (since 1994) because they fund multiple $10,000 community scholarships, have an excellent, affordable Will and Estate Planning service, and provide loans that many of the mega-banks will not touch. However, for my savings, brokerage accounts (Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab, etc.) offer excellent interest rates in their settlement funds (4%+ at time of writing) as does my HYSA with Ally Bank. Moreover, my HYSA employs behavioral finance to both motivate and organize my sinking funds by utilizing built-in FinTech to create separate buckets in the same account.— David Norman, NBCT, Retd. | Chief Ambassador, Take10™ for Financial Fitness