Question for all the finance experts out there….my wife and I have about $70k sitting in our traditional savings account with Chase. We are looking into putting a large percentage of it into a HYSA account. Looking for recommendations for HYSA accounts and how much we should put in?
Posted by gu7716
17 Comments
Marcus has been doing alright by me. But I do feel like I’ve lost out on a few cents
Check out doctor of credit for the best rates and sign up bonuses. I ended doing rakuten + SoFi for $450 and a competitive apr.
I use Ally. It was recommended to me by my fiduciary. No complaints. The customer service is 24/7, I’ve never waited more than 2 minutes on the phone, and they’re always super nice.
How much you should keep in your HYSA kind of depends on what your goals are for the money.
HYSA are for short term goals, kind of up to 5yrs (like saving for a house) and emergency funds.
It doesn’t hurt anything to put it all in there while you’re figuring it out though.
How much to put in? What alternatives are you also considering?
capital one savings, you can also open a checking with them, and move funds between savings and checking instantly if an emergency comes up – rates are in line with other HYSA’s
We’re spread out across several institutions, in case of a computer / cloud failure.
SoFi savings ; Cap One 360 : WECU small balance special @ 8% ; Live Oak
Assuming that 70k is your emergency fund. Interest rates are going to continue falling for the foreseeable future. At a certain point chasing optimal HYSA yields is pinching pennies. The best you’re going to get are promotional rates for a short term and then the same as everyone else.
As an emergency fund you want a stable institution that offers a reasonable APR. Marcus is good. I’ve had good luck with Capital One. Neither one offers the absolute best rates but they are stable and competitive. And safe. Which is what you want in an emergency.
HYSA typically has no issues with liquidity so might as well put all of it in, save like 3-5k in checking to handle monthly auto bill pay.
Once your emergency fund is set you can look at increasing your retirement contributions, like 401k/IRA/HSA. You don’t really want your HYSA to grow much larger than what you need for emergencies.
I’ve had HYSAs at Capital One and Synchrony. I feel like these accounts are meh – you’re doing everything yourself anyway – no service, no branch. Therefore, it’s all about the rate. And therefore, Openbank. Synchrony is currently 3.65%, while Openbank is 4.2.
I use Marcus, have never had issues.
You can chase interest rates, but it’s really not worth it IMO. You could split it into two I suppose. A few banks will offer a bonus if you let your cash sit for xx months. See where there is some kind of incentive, make sure they are FDIC.
Wealthfront is cool because you can do a HYSA and also an individual bond ladder account (one log in, linked together, etc), which just auto handles T-Bills instead of a high yield savings account. If you are like me and live in a high tax city and state (NYC), this is a great and simple account to open for a $50k + initial investment and far, far better than just a traditional HYSA.
Check out Raisin. I currently get 4% with mine. One downside is it can be a bit of a pain depositing and withdrawing money. You can only link one bank account so everything has to go through that one. It also takes a couple of days for it to process but I figured if there’s an urgent emergency then I can put it on a credit card then pay it in a few days when it transfers.
Been using Capital One for 20 years. Im happy with them.
Have you considered a short term Treasury ETF instead? As others have said, rates are coming down and I think the simplicity of staying in one spot with consistently higher-tier rates is worth more than jumping around.
Even better is the state tax exemption on earnings (if applicable for your state)
So everyone is mentioning big reputable banks with great customer service. I don’t need that since the money is parked, so… Pibank is still 4.6%. A negligible wire fee if you are going to keep 70k in it for the year.
Ally is my primary bank and I keep some savings here. The EF is in Openbank, though, because the rate is a bit higher than Ally’s current rate.
I have capital one and wealthfront! Lots of people online have wealthfront codes that will get you increased apy for ~6mos as well
it’s a savings account, put everything in.