Hi everyone, I’m a college student looking for some advice on where to keep my savings.
Right now during the school year I make about $400/month from my job and receive a stipend of around $1,500/month. I’m working full-time this summer and hoping to save at least $10k total. I currently have about $5k saved.
Right now everything is just sitting in my checking and savings accounts with USAA, and I feel like I could be earning more interest.
I’m looking into opening either a high-yield savings account (HYSA) or a money market account, but I’m not totally sure which makes more sense. I’d prefer something with:
– No minimum balance
– No required holding period (I will need to use the money within a year for housing and living expenses)
– Easy access to funds if needed
For context, I also have a Discover credit card that I pay off in full every month.
Since I’ll likely be using most of this money for housing and living expenses next school year, I don’t want to take on risk – just want it to grow a bit while it sits.
Any advice on which option is better or specific accounts/banks I should look into would be really appreciated!
Edit: I should’ve mentioned that I already contribute to a Roth IRA and also invest through an account managed by my financial planner. This question is more about where to keep my short-term savings.
College student – HYSA vs money market? Where should I put my money?
byu/No-Masterpiece1766 inpersonalfinance
Posted by No-Masterpiece1766
3 Comments
High yield savings accounts and money market accounts are basically the same thing. Lots of good options:
[https://www.doctorofcredit.com/high-interest-savings-to-get/](https://www.doctorofcredit.com/high-interest-savings-to-get/)
Neither.
You need to open a brokerage account and at minimum put it into a money market (SPRXX, SWVXX, VMRXX)
This will allow you to also invest in broad index funds like VTI, and VT. You won’t want to use that for these funds since you need it for next year but having an investment account will be a leg up for the investing you will need to do in the future.
Open a HYSA since you plan to use the funds next school year. But I’d still recommend you open an investment account and get in the habit of at least putting _something_ in there, even if it’s just $20 a month.