Stashing Money Away for a Rainy Day
At some point in your financial life, you will find that your idea of savings has evolved and you want alternatives that can help your money work to create a better future. A regular savings account, while a great thing to have for emergency purposes, is not the ideal account to put your money for long-term investments. It offers one of the lowest interest rates than other types of savings accounts. Instead of opting for this, you can learn more about what kinds of savings account are there out there that can help you build future wealth on the money you already have. Here are a few examples.
Money Market Accounts
These accounts offer better interest rates, but can come with a larger minimum requirement. You will have to tie up your money for some time, but the money is still accessible to you to withdraw.
Certificates of Deposit
These accounts tie up your money and will penalize you for withdrawing it before the CD matures. You do get a higher interest rate, depending on how long you want to tie your money up. The longer the CD term, the more interest you will get.
Foreign Currency Accounts
If interest is not the only reason you want to use a different savings account, you might want to look into foreign currency accounts. They consist of a CD that either is held in a foreign currency or multiple foreign currency denominations. The reason to do this is to diversify your money so that if one currency falls, your savings in a different currency might hedge the loss.
Retirement Accounts
For long-term savings, look at a 401K or IRAs. These types of accounts can be on a pre-tax basis and directly deducted from your paycheck. You will tie up your money until you are officially of age to retire, which is usually 65 years of age. Taking money out earlier will trigger an early withdrawal penalty that at times can be as high as 30% of your withdrawal amount. That’s an incentive put in place to keep you from raiding your retirement funds before you actually have a chance to retire.



