Fuggedabout Yuh Savings

Work sponsored retirement accounts. If your company offers a 401k , 403(b), or similar retirement plan, you have the option to contribute directly from your paycheck. Your company may have even already set you up with a default contribution. You are free to modify this at any time. If your company offers a match, try to contribute at least enough to get the full company match. If you’re unsure if you’re contributing or how much you’re contributing or should be contributing, talk to your HR department and they can help you.

An HSA linked to your health insurance. If you have access to an HSA through your company insurance, you can have contributions come directly from your paycheck. If you manage your HSA independently, the bank holding your HSA should have an option to set up automatic contributions.

Set up automatic contributions to an IRA. The brokerage you have your IRA through should have an option to set up automatic contributions.

Automatic transfers to an after-tax brokerage account. This would be an account separate from your retirement accounts where you can buy and trade stocks, bonds, funds, etc. A popular option for beginners is Robinhood. <— That’s an affiliate link that will start you off with a free share of stock. And you guessed it, it’s got an option to set up automatic contributions.

Another option is to use a service called Acorns. When you connect your spending accounts to Acorns, it rounds up your spending to the next dollar and transfers that change into an investment account for you. So for instance, when my electric bill was auto-drafted (yes, you should automate your bill pay as well as your savings), it was $146.30. Acorns rounds that up to $147 and takes that $0.70 and puts it into an investment account for me. I’m not going to miss that $0.70, but over time, you do that a few hundred times (think about how many transactions you make over a number of years), and you build a decent little stash. I opened my account just a few months ago and I’ve already got over $100 in it, just from spare change! The basic service, which is what I have, is only $1/month and if you use my link, you get $5 to get you started.

Set up automatic transfers to a savings account. It’s always a good idea to have some uninvested cash saved for a rainy day…or when a global pandemic shows up and treats our lives like a Pop-o-Matic. I recommend 3 to 6 months worth of expenses. To aid in building this stockpile, set up a regular automatic transfer from your checking account to your savings account.

If you are paid via direct deposit and your employer allows you to allocate portions of your paycheck to different accounts, use that feature to create a “Savings” checking account (not a typo). You can determine an amount to allocate to this account and then transfer it to an actual savings account (for your emergency fund), an IRA, an after-tax brokerage or any combination of the 3. To my earlier point, you won’t miss the money because it goes to a separate account from the get go.

Coordinate your automatic transfers to align with when you get paid. For instance, if you’re paid on the 1st and 15th of each month, set up your transfers for the 2nd and 16th. This way, you won’t run into potential overdraft issues, but the transfer still happens quickly enough that you don’t have time to spend/miss the extra cash.