5 Ways Your Fans Can Help Optimize Your Site for Conversions

I’ve been watching Facebook closely for a long time.

I’ve tested hundreds of ad iterations.

I’ve worked hard to build organic reach for myself and my clients.

Here’s what I’ve concluded: Facebook is awesome. But it’s also tricky.

Why? Because the algorithm is constantly shifting, forcing marketers to up their game, readjust their techniques, and reorient their strategies.

Here’s the thing. If you have a social presence for your business, Facebook has decided that your organic reach needs to shrink.

Again.

You know, of course, that this isn’t the first time the social giant tweaked its algorithm.

In June, Adam Mosseri, VP, Product Management for News Feed at Facebook, shared a post that detailed how Facebook was updating the news feed.

The core of the update is to prioritize posts that come from friends and family while reducing the onslaught of content from businesses and other publishers. Facebook wants users to see more posts from actual people, not businesses doing marketing.

The gist of the algorithm remains the same.

But the variability is increasing. Mosseri explained:

It will vary a lot by publisher mostly based on how much of their referral traffic or their reach is based on people who actually share their content directly…

If you’ve got strong engagement from your audience and they’re shouting your name from the rooftops as they share your content, or generate content around your brand, you’ll be far less impacted by the update.

But most of the businesses I work with aren’t enjoying that level of stellar engagement.

This is what it boils down to. If you want to improve your reach and engagement, you’ll need to find ways to leverage user-generated content (UGC) since that’s what friends and family will see first.

What I want to communicate is pretty simple: User-generated content is one of the most effective forms of content marketing available today.

User-generated content is the future of content marketing.

UGC will act as dynamite to your social media presence, accelerate your onsite content efforts, increase engagement, boost conversions, and build up a wall of defense against any algorithm the world throws your way.

Let’s talk about where the rubber meets the road—your fans helping your site become a conversion-generating machine.

Why you should put your money into user-generated content

There are a lot of benefits to UGC, and those benefits can be significant. And that’s primarily because you’re not limited to social media when it comes to working with customers to acquire and leverage it—though that’s where a bulk of your gains can come into play.

Consider for a moment that more than half of the adult users on Facebook have around 200 people in their immediate networks, according to Pew Research.

That social network graph looks something like this:

If the algorithm wants all those people to see content from their connections first, it’s in your best interest to get your audience producing or creating content about you.

And that’s not just for the sake of a little (or even big) boost in visibility.

Consumers fully admit they find branded information from their peers trustworthy—85% of consumers, to be exact.

That’s because the vast majority of them find that kind of content to be helpful when they make a decision about whether or not to make a purchase.

Nielsen’s study on this subject showed that 92% of consumers trust content and the opinions of their peers over any other kind of advertising.

UGC also has influence over that trust, according to data shared by Yotpo:

UGC is the best way to beat an algorithm that wants to topple and bury your promotions amid pictures of babies, beards, and breakfast platters.

But you’re not limited to Facebook in leveraging it.

With variations in engagement time across different social channels, you can see where there are opportunities to use user-generated content to drive up engagement as well as increase consumer trust.

Some brands are having a lot of success on other social channels and digital properties with UGC.

Below are a couple of examples of brands that leverage UGC using different channels.

A touch of wanderlust

National Geographic asked users to capture unforgettable people, places, and experiences that have impacted their lives from their travels around the world. The hashtag campaign (#wanderlustcontest) brought in tens of thousands of submissions branded to NatGeo.

And, of course, among those public submissions were some truly breathtaking and awe-inspiring photos people were all too happy to continue sharing.

Ignite user creativity

Nissan’s luxury car brand, Infiniti, ran a campaign promoting its Q30 model, aiming to leverage the content of its fans to help promote the vehicle. The New Heights contest had users print out a marker card that would display the vehicle in 3D when used with their mobile app.

Fans were encouraged to show off the vehicle in unexpected places by snapping pictures and sharing them with a branded hashtag via different social channels.

These two great examples of building campaigns and visibility from user-generated content had a couple of things in common:

1. They both revolved around contests. While this is a good way to encourage action among your followers, it’s not always necessary to give something away in order to source user-generated content.
2. These two campaigns were actively asking their fans to provide the content.

This aspect—the asking—is the most important part you need to remember.

Why? Because the majority of brands simply don’t ask. If you don’t ask for it, you won’t get it.

It’s just that simple.

So, what’s the simplest and most effective way to get UGC?

Ask your users to provide it.

If you want UGC, ask your followers to provide it

Brands don’t want to be pushy, but with UGC, you’ve got to approach it like you approach a call to action (CTA).

With a CTA, you’re telling your audience explicitly what you want them to do. It’s been proven time and again that without a clear call to action, you lose conversions.

But only about 16% of brands take the same approach with UGC, expressing to fans just what kind of content they want to see. Without that kind of direction, consumers aren’t sure what’s okay to share.

In fact, 50% of consumers want brands to tell them what they should include when creating and sharing content.

You don’t need to give away a luxury or big-ticket item when you make the ask, but you do need to ask.

Don’t sit and wait for your fans to provide you with gold.

Here are some of the best ways you can start sourcing and leveraging user-generated content for your brand and social channels.

1. Curate user-generated content with Yotpo

I’ve long felt that Yotpo is an impressive platform for sourcing reviews, engaging customers, and utilizing customer feedback to promote growth.

Now, it’s even better than ever.

Yotpo has stepped up its game with the recent launch of the Yotpo Curation tool.

This tool allows you to collect relevant Instagram photos from fans and influencers, displaying them on a single dashboard.

From there, you can tag products and handle rights management (including engagement with the original user to say thanks), inject the photos into your product pages, and even sell from your timeline.

This simplifies the tedium of trying to manually source user-generated images and lets you quickly benefit from the social proof tied to UGC.

In one survey conducted by Yotpo, 77% of consumers admitted they preferred to see consumer photos over professional shots:

That’s a clear indication of what you should have on your product pages.

Imagine the impact of having quality reviews alongside images showing off your products being used by actual customers.

It would provide a significant lift in conversions when you consider that 63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a site displaying user reviews. A study conducted by Reevoo showed that reviews alone, without any other UGC, lift sales by 18%.

The Yotpo tool turns your customers into brand ambassadors right on your product pages, plus you can create your own shoppable Instagram galleries or post that UGC to other social channels.

2. Build a community

When I talk about building a community, I’m referring to a gathering of people. Literal people in online gatherings.

You may view your social channels as individual and separate communities, but they’re really not. At least not without some kind of organization.

There are a lot of ways to build communities, e.g., Facebook groups, subreddits on Reddit.com, or communities built into your website.

A community you create and manage can give your fans a sense of belonging and make them feel connected to your brand. They’ll share a mix of personal content as well as content related to the brand as they engage with one another.

Through this engagement, you’ll see things like images, videos, and testimonials crop up that are ripe for the picking.

That user-generated content feeds back into the community, encouraging others to generate more of it, and it helps anchor prospective customers who were on the fence about making a purchase.

Giant Vapes is one of the largest online retailers of e-liquid for electronic cigarettes. It also operates a Facebook community, roughly 25,000 members strong. Members regularly share the products they’ve purchased, industry news, their opinions about interactions with the company, praise over shipping and deals, and more.

3. Give them customization and unique experiences

Customization provides your fans and customers with a sense of real ownership. They’ll naturally want to share with their friends and family what they’ve created, and you can play on that desire by asking them to do so.

Whether it’s a customized piece of clothing, a bag, or a vehicle, customization often leads to some great user-generated content.

And sometimes you don’t even have to ask.

Scores of people got excited about the announcement of Nintendo’s Super Mario Maker. Players create their own Mario levels to play on their own or share with the community. Fans, new and old, went crazy when it launched, and YouTube was flooded with the creations of streamers, generating a lot of visibility for the brand and the game.

This video has almost 12 million views to date.

In the same vein of creating unique experiences, Hello Games is seeing images and videos of their game No Man’s Sky showing up all over the web, including a subreddit devoted to the game (a user-created community).

No Man’s Sky features a universe boasting over 10 quintillion procedurally (randomly) generated planets, each with creatures and alien plant life different from the last. That guarantees unique content, and fans have been quick to share images and videos of their discoveries since its recent launch.

When you give your audience something they’ve never experienced before and the chance to create something unique they feel they own, they’re more likely to share that experience far and wide. That builds a lot of trust and provides a lift in conversions.

4. The UGC contest

I touched on contests above with a couple of examples, but in recommending this approach, I wanted to add one more because of the success of the campaign.

Back in 2014, Starbucks invited fans to decorate their white cups with customized art. Fans were asked to submit the images through Twitter with the #whitecupcontest hashtag for a chance to win. There were thousands of entries, and, of course, a constant stream of buzz that drove customers to their local stores.

.@Starbucks doodle on your cappuccino #WhiteCupContest http://t.co/37P0ZBZcqd http://pic.twitter.com/uQv3L3n3Rf <put up with crap coffee though?

— damoward (@damoward) September 6, 2014

I’m mentioning this contest specifically because it pulls in elements from my last point: let users customize and do something unique.

You don’t have to have a multi-million dollar budget to add customization to your product line.

Sometimes, you just need to give your customers a blank canvas and set their creativity free.

5. Use videos on product pages

Yotpo can strap a rocket onto your conversions with user-generated images, but don’t let the rocket run out of fuel.

If you can get your fans and customers generating videos of your products in use, those should be added to your product pages as well.

Explainer videos are great, but there’s nothing that sells a product faster than a video showing real, happy customers, who are 100% satisfied with their purchase.

Here are some quick stats that show how effective product videos really are:

• 90% of users admit that seeing a video about a product helps them make a purchase decision
• 36% of customers trust video ads; imagine the trust you gain from earned media
• 64% of visitors are more likely to buy a product after watching a video online
• Product videos can increase conversions by as much as 20%

Conclusion

Aside from those five tips, it goes without saying that you should absolutely be using product reviews on your website and social channels such as Facebook.

Leverage that social proof, and find creative ways to team up with your customers.

A large portion of your audience are happy to create and share content for you—they just need to know what you’re looking for.

Tell them how to help, inspire them to get creative, and watch your conversions climb steadily as your collection of UGC grows.

Are you using user-generated content right now to build trust with your audience and increase your brand’s visibility? What techniques are you using, and what’s the most successful?

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Your Vision for Retirement – and How to Save for It

Retirement means different things to different people.

To my parents, it largely means a simple day-to-day life. It means plenty of time to engage in their hobbies and interests at home. It doesn’t include any major changes in lifestyle after retirement, just a lot of additional free time. Without the expense of having to work and without the cost of some of the conveniences necessary to keep working, their life is actually far cheaper than it was before.

To my wife, it means travel. Not necessarily high cost travel, but doing things like visiting every national park in the United States or going on fairly low key international trips together. While the cost of our professional lives will drop, our life will take on additional expenses due to the travel and other things she wants to do. We’ll probably need as much or more in retirement than what we do now.

Then there’s my vision. For me, retirement simply means the financial freedom to launch whatever career I want to launch, and that means the freedom to throw my heart and soul into becoming a successful novelist. I’ll earn some income from this – and potentially a lot of income – and the expenses are pretty much nonexistent, all things considered. The amount of money needed in retirement for this path is the lowest of all of these options, because it’s pretty cheap like my parents and has a good possibility of additional income.

(For those curious, Sarah and I are planning on a hybrid of our two paths. When we’re not traveling, I plan to be writing as much as I can, so we’re meeting in the middle.)

Obviously, a person’s retirement planning changes radically depending on the kind of path they wish to follow. Let’s take a look at some of the potential routes one might follow.

Retirement as Perpetual Vacation – $$$ Needed

To an extent, this is the path that Sarah envisions for our retirement. She’d love to spend the summer on the road in an RV, going all over the United States and Canada, visiting cities and national parks and weird roadside attractions, just the two of us. Although it’s not quite as expensive as some things we might be doing, it’s certainly expensive.

Does your vision of retirement involve doing or buying a lot of expensive things? Does it involve tons of golf? Does it involve lots of travel? Does it involve no more work?

If those things sound like the retirement you’d like to have, you’re going to probably need more income than you currently have, which means you’re going to need to kick your retirement planning into overdrive.

You’re going to have to save as much as possible each year. The general rule of thumb is that if you save 10% of your income starting at age 25, you’ll be right on time with retirement at age 65. This assumes a “normal” retirement, meaning that your expenses go down a little bit mostly because you’re not commuting and buying a work wardrobe, but living your life more or less the same as before. If you’re going to elevate your lifestyle in retirement, you need to be saving more than 10% per year starting at age 25 in order to retire with this lifestyle.

You’re probably going to have to retire later rather than earlier. There are two big reasons for this. First, people often don’t start saving for retirement until after age 25, and since forty years of retirement savings growth is necessary to make these numbers work, you’re going to have to retire later if you started later. Similarly, many people do not commit to saving more than 10% of their income to retirement. If you add both of those factors together, it’s very likely that in order to have this type of retirement, you’re going to have to wait unless you’re willing to save far more than 10% per year.

Retirement as Hobby Time – $$ Needed

This is the path that my parents have taken. It’s what I like to think of as a “quiet” retirement, in that it doesn’t involve a lot of travel or flashy purchases, but it also doesn’t involve a continuation of work.

This is the perfect path for someone with low-cost hobbies or interests that they really want to dig into when they retire. My father, for example, is a voracious gardener, and my mother has a ton of hobbies that have bloomed since they both stepped away from the workforce. None of them are particularly expensive hobbies, but they’re all personally fulfilling ones.

This path will require much less money than the “expensive” retirement plan. In fact, your overall living expenses will drop as you’ll no longer need to pay for commuting or other such expenses.

You can save a modest amount each year and make it here. If you start saving around 10% of your income each year starting at age 25, you’ll have a very solid financial basis for this type of retirement when you reach 65 or even when you reach 60 or 62. You can save a little less than 10% of your income and still make it by age 65, or you can start a little later (preferably before age 32 or so) and still make it by age 65.

You can actually retire early (or retire on time if you have a shorter timeline) if you save aggressively. If you’re at age 25 and you start saving, say, 15% per year, you’ll be able to retire with this lifestyle around age 50 or 55. Similarly, if you wait until age 35 or 40 and start saving 15% of your income each year, you’ll be able to retire at a typical retirement age with this lifestyle.

Retirement as Second Career – $ Needed

This is the path I want to follow. I want to be working until I am actually incapable of it, though I eventually want to move more and more toward working purely on projects of my own interest, such as my long-planned sci-fi series of novels. I’ve got a lot of ideas of things I’d enjoy doing once I stop writing for The Simple Dollar (should that become less interesting to me down the road), but none of them really involve just digging into hobbies.

The reality of this path isn’t too different than a quiet retirement described in the previous section, except that there’s a strong chance of earning significant income during this “retirement.” Thus, you really don’t have to save as much and you can actually get started even earlier.

You can save a fairly small amount each year and “retire” at a normal age with this approach. If this type of retirement sounds appealing at age 25, you can get away with it by saving a fairly small amount each year – 7% or 8%. However, I’d encourage you to save at least 10% for the simple reason that your life may change between now and then and, even if it doesn’t, saving a little more means “retiring” early.

You can save even a modest amount and retire a little early, or save a lot and retire very early. This is the path that I’m on. I didn’t really start planning in earnest for this until I was in my early thirties, but once I figured out what I wanted to do, I started socking away a large percentage each year. I hope to be doing this full time when my last child leaves the nest, which is when I’m approaching age fifty. If you start saving 15% or more of your income with the intent of diving into an unknown career when you “retire,” you can make it in just a decade or two.

Final Thoughts

Many financial articles and books talk about this “ready-made” retirement plan and give you a hard and fast number that you should be saving each month. The problem with that approach is that it removes the “personal” from the equation. It doesn’t take into account how different “retirement” might look for different people.

My vision of “retirement” looks a lot different than my parents’ vision, and that looks different than my wife’s parents’ vision, and that looks a lot different than my wife’s vision. We all have different ideas of what we want retirement to look like, so it makes a lot of sense that our retirement savings plans are going to be quite different from one another.

When you start thinking about your own retirement, don’t start with just dollars and cents. Instead, start thinking about the destination and how quickly you want to get there. The faster you want to get there, the more you want to save; the more expensive the destination, the more you want to save.

The path is up to you.

The post Your Vision for Retirement – and How to Save for It appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Halifax slashes rate on Help to Buy Isa – again

Tom Wilson

Halifax, one of two providers previously offering market leading Help to Buy Isa rates has slashed the interest it’ll pay new customers from 2.5% to 2%.

Halifax, one of two providers previously offering market leading Help to Buy Isa rates has slashed the interest it’ll pay new customers from 2.5% to 2%.

This is the second time Halifax has cut the rate on its Help to Buy Isa since the account was launched with a headline-grabbing 4% rate in December 2015.

read more

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13 Deals You Should Never Pass Up at Trader Joe’s — and 9 You Should

Trader Joe’s is a standout among American supermarkets.

From its hand-painted signs to its friendly customer service, it’s a pleasure to shop at. So much so that it’s got a non-authorized, unaffiliated, apparently-legal-enough-to-stay-in-business Canadian spinoff. Even Wegmans can’t boast that kind of brand loyalty.

And the pleasant atmosphere isn’t the only reason shoppers love Trader Joe’s so much.

Trader Joe’s boasts the best (read: lowest) prices in the business, according to Consumer Reports. Better yet, it’s a nationwide chain, so there’s probably one in your area.

But as with any bargain shop, some deals are better than others.

How We Found the Best Deals

We wanted to find out which items were knock-it-out-of-the-park deals and which were only so-so — or worse.

So we grabbed our reusable grocery bags and checked out our local TJ’s, as well as a Walmart and our main regional grocery store, Publix, to see how prices stacked up on a variety of products.

And some of our findings might surprise you.

A quick note: Grocery prices are geographically dependent and subject to constant change.

After all, the oranges in my Floridian store only had to travel a few miles, which might not be true in, say, Kansas. Plus, farming isn’t an exact science — one year’s yield might not be the same as the next!

But while your mileage may vary, pricing trends are still helpful, especially when it comes to stable, shelved items like cereal or coconut oil.

So without further ado, here’s what we discovered about the best and worst deals at Trader Joe’s.

What to Buy at Trader Joe’s

Here are the items you’ll likely find cheaper at Trader Joe’s every single time.

1. Cheese

I. Love. Cheese.

If you do, too, you’re definitely going to want to check out TJ’s cheese case.

From espresso-rubbed Bellavitano to triple-creme Brie, Trader Joe’s boasts lots of options. The store also frequently cuts its cheese wheels small enough that you can get a wedge for less than $5 — a nigh impossibility at my local Publix.

And gourmet cheese does not exist at Walmart, at least at my local store. Looking beyond cheddar pays off, I promise!

Even better, Trader Joe’s stocks both pricier imports and cheeses made here in the states, so you can try pretty much any exotic, creamy variety you desire on the cheap.

2. Cereal

Trader Joe’s has great deals on cereal — so long as you’re not a stickler for the big-box brands advertised during Saturday morning cartoons.

You can get a big box of “Joe’s O’s” for just $1.99, with regular-sized boxes of tons of other varieties starting in the mid-$2 range and going up to about $4.30.

Most regular-sized boxes at my local Publix started around $4, so I’d consider TJ’s a win. That said, if you’re serious about cereal, you could save more by buying generics in bulk at a vendor like Walmart or a warehouse club store.

3. Bananas…

… if you don’t eat a ton of them.

The bananas at Trader Joe’s are sold by the piece (19 cents per banana, when I checked) rather than by the pound, as at most other grocery stores.

So if you’re like me and only want one or two bananas in a given week, you might save a lot just buying what you want, rather than watching a whole bunch go brown before your eyes.

(Psst — if this happens to you frequently, check out our post on how to store produce to keep it fresher longer. You’ll never guess the secret to keeping bananas yellow and firm!)

4. Eggs

Here’s the thing.

The eggs at Trader Joe’s are dirt cheap — cheaper than Walmart’s, even.

But Trader Joe’s doesn’t carry any ethical eggs, despite the appearance of “cage-free” or “vegetarian-raised” on the label.

(Confused about the differences? Check out our guide to what all those egg terms actually mean.)

We recommend you find a vendor that sells pasture-raised eggs.

But if you’re already planning on buying cheap, conventional eggs, TJ’s is the place to do it.

5. Frozen Pizza and Prepared Foods

5second / Getty Images

Trader Joe’s is well-known for its creative options in the frozen, prepared foods aisle.

From the simple and delicious (mac and cheese bites) to the full-on gourmet-to-go (burrata, prosciutto and arugula flatbread) there’s stuff you definitely want to eat in the Trader Joe’s freezer — and it’s all pretty darn well-priced.

Prices start around $2-$5 depending on the item, and most packages are large enough to enough to feed a family of four — or, you know, you by yourself on the couch during a movie marathon.

I will say this: The frozen goods at Trader Joe’s are less about the all-in-one, prepared, single-serve meals we used to call TV dinners (think Lean Cuisine) and more about a dish to prepare as needed or all at once to incorporate into a family meal.

So if you want a Hungry Man dinner, look elsewhere.

As far as frozen pizzas are concerned, I think Trader Joe’s offers great value. Its pies start around $4 and could easily feed a family with a tossed salad on the side — and I didn’t see DiGiorno going for less than $5, even at Walmart.

Plus, as with the rest of its prepared foods, TJ’s has lots of organic and vegetarian options.

However, none of the pies were gigantic. So if you’re looking to feed a teenager sleepover, maybe head to Walmart — heaven knows you’ll need to pick up a flat of paper towels, anyway.

6. Olive Oil

OK, first things first: If you regularly buy olive oil from anything but a specialty store, you’re probably not getting a pure product.

I’ve heard it said that when Americans finally taste real olive oil for the first time, they’re shocked, because the mix of oils we’ve come to accept as the real deal are so thoroughly outshone.

But if you cook with this flavorful (if fake) fat as much as I do, maybe do your wallet a favor and buy it from TJ’s from here on out.

I saw a 33.8-ounce bottle of imported olive oil for just $5.99 — while $8 for 16 ounces was on the cheaper side of Publix’s non-U.S. options. And although its import status doesn’t guarantee a genuine, quality product, it’s probably better than the giant bottle you can get for $4.99 at Walmart.

7. Nuts

Nuts are an awesome deal at Trader Joe’s. I saw a pound of almonds for just $6.99 — as opposed to the almost $10 I’d pay at Publix.

Plus, TJ’s dresses them up in a variety of roasts and flavors — from wasabi to cinnamon to good old salt — so you’re sure to find a palatable way to incorporate this heart-healthy snack into your diet.

8. Dried Fruit

Ah, nature’s candy.

Dried fruit is full of sugar, but it’s still backed by all the vitamins and nutrients other treats (i.e., Snickers) are missing.

Although I found 12-ounce packages of common fruits for $4.29 at Publix,  the smaller, 8-ounce packages at Trader Joe’s were just $2.69, which is actually a couple of cents cheaper per ounce.

Plus, they had so many options, as opposed to the small shelf of raisins, craisins and occasional cherries at the other stores.

At TJ’s, you can choose from options like dried mango, several different types of figs or cleverly-flattened banana — can you say peanut butter sandwiches? Yum.

9. Tortillas

4kodiak / Getty Images

So, tortillas at my local Walmart were priced at $1.88 for eight.

Trader Joe’s sells 12 for $1.49… and they look handmade, instead of the generic stuff on Walmart’s shelves. If tortillas make a regular cameo on your shopping list, I’d suggest grabbing them at TJ’s!

10. Ice Cream

e-anjei / Getty Images

As with cereal, Trader Joe’s ice cream selection won’t include household names — the store sticks to its proprietary stuff, as well as some other organic and specialty brands.

But while there’s no Ben & Jerry’s, you can grab a quart of one of its many tempting flavors for $4.49.

Prices are usually over $5 for that amount in grocery stores. Heck, you can spend more than $4 on just a pint, depending on the brand.

Plus, Trader Joe’s carries mochi. It’s not cheap, but if you’ve never heard of it, do yourself a favor and try it.

11. Flowers

Image Source / Getty Images

If brightening your space with some floral friends is important to you, Trader Joe’s is a great place to grab ‘em. The store’s got good-sized orchids for $12.99 (even smaller ones were $15 at Publix), and bouquets from $3.99-$9.99.

I’ve seen succulents and other seasonal specials even lower, and they don’t die instantly. While you might do better at a farmers market or florist, TJ’s knocks other grocery-store bunches out of the water.

(Please keep your flowers in water if you want them to live.)

12. Coffee

Henrik Weis / Getty Images

Full disclosure: If you’re just looking for something warm, brown and caffeinated, you can definitely get cheaper coffee at Walmart.

But if quality and source matters to you, Trader Joe’s can’t be beat. Where else can you get 13 ounces of a scrumptious, single-origin bean for less than $10?

If you’re new to the wide world of coffee for coffee’s sake (as opposed to “I otherwise cannot keep my eyes open before 10 a.m”’s sake), check out TJ’s coffee character field guide. With its prices, you can afford to experiment and find out what you actually like.

13. Wine

I’ll come clean: The main reason I suggested writing this post was to have yet another opportunity to gush about the quality and price of Trader Joe’s wine selection.

And no, I’m not talking about Two-Buck Chuck. Sorry, that stuff kind of sucks.

But if you’re willing to spend $10 instead of $2, you can find a prime example of almost any varietal or region you’re looking for. And if that means nothing to you, no worries: Just grabbing blindly in the $8-$10 range at TJ’s probably won’t steer you too far wrong.

To get you started, here’s a favorite red and favorite white of mine to try out — both were just $7.99 at TJ’s.

What to Skip at Trader Joe’s

Although it might make more sense to pick up whatever you need at the same store, the following items aren’t exactly killer deals at Trader Joe’s — so consider buying them elsewhere.

1. Peanut Butter and Other Nut Butters

BarnabyChambers / Getty Images

Although Trader Joe’s selection of nut butters might be impressive, you can probably get a brand-name product at a similar or lower price at Walmart.

And if you’re used to sweeter peanut butters, you might be disappointed by TJ’s health-geared products, which contain little but the nuts themselves — and which therefore might be too grainy or muddy-tasting for your liking.

2. Coconut Oil

Ekaterina Minaeva / Getty Images

For $5.99, you can get 29 ounces of coconut oil at Publix… but only 16 ounces at Trader Joe’s.

Yes, the latter is organic, but since the science around organics is shaky at best (and since rampant greenwashing means the label might have less to do with the food itself than with how much money the producer has to spend on fancy certifications), this one’s a no-brainer for me.

3. Frozen Fruit

BravissimoS/ Getty Images

Prices at Trader Joe’s were good, but nothing jaw-dropping.

It carried a 1-pound bag of frozen cherries for $3.69, which was on par with Walmart, where you could buy a bigger size for less per ounce — not an option at TJ’s.

4. Produce

Noel Hendrickson / Getty Images

While some of the produce at Trader Joe’s is well priced, some is definitely not. For instance, the avocados that were $1 apiece at my local Publix were $1.69 at TJ’s when I checked.

And hit-or-miss pricing isn’t the only issue.

If buying local produce is important to you, Trader Joe’s doesn’t fit the bill. Unless you live in California, the origin of almost every piece of fruit I saw in the store.

However, the price-per-piece model is unique among stores I frequent, and may save you some money if you’re eating alone and can only handle a little bit of produce at a time (see bananas, above).

5. Meat

luoman / Getty Images

Unfortunately, meat at Trader Joe’s just isn’t a great deal. Not only is it just as expensive, if not more than what you’ll find at other stores, it’s most likely not as fresh. You’ll notice there’s no butcher in the store, so all of it has to be shipped in and likely frozen.

Even when it comes to pre-cooked, prepared meats, TJ’s falls flat. The store’s ready-to-serve chicken breast was 44 cents per ounce, whereas Walmart’s was 37 cents and Publix’s was, shockingly, just 33 cents (although it was part of a BOGO sale).

If you want to feed your family meat and still save serious cash on groceries, you might want to try a wholesaler — or one of these other clever tactics.

6. Prepackaged Salads

I’m not talking about bagged lettuce, which falls into the “exception” category as far as TJ’s produce is concerned. The washed-and-ready leaves are often a dollar or more cheaper than what I find at Publix. And considering I have a salad almost every day, that’s a huge win in my book.

But the prepackaged lunch salads with everything included? You probably want to steer clear of those.

Although they might seem like a deal between $3 and $4 a pop, they’re much smaller than similar items you can get from your regional grocer or even Walmart.

Worse still, they’re not necessarily that healthy. If you use all the dressing, most of them have more than 500 calories — a buzzkill when you’re talking about such a tiny amount of food.

7. Milk

Maximkostenko / Getty Images

As with coconut oil, if you’re already buying organic milk, Trader Joe’s might have a workable option for you.

But there isn’t any conventional milk, and it’s hard to find a carton smaller than a full gallon, which is a lot of milk. Prices started at $3.99, more than a dollar higher than what you’d find at Walmart.

8. Soap

Malyeuski Dzmitry / Getty Images

I hate to say this because I really love some of the scents Trader Joe’s soaps come in, like clean laundry and rosemary.

But it only carries its proprietary brand, which means you’ll pay $3.99 or more for a regular-size bottle of hand soap, or $2.99 for 25 ounces of dish soap.

It won’t break the bank, but there are definitely better options in bigger sizes if you go somewhere like Walmart — especially if you aren’t concerned with the words “natural” or “organic” appearing on the label.

9. Paper Products/Miscellaneous Home Goods

MoreISO / Getty Images

Since you’re a Penny Hoarder, I’m assuming you already buy most of your paper home goods in bulk.

Unfortunately, that’s not possible at Trader Joe’s. Toilet paper only comes in one package size, which holds six normal-sized rolls priced at $3.99. Again, it’s not expensive — but you can do a lot better if you buy a bigger package elsewhere.

The same is true of other home goods, like paper towels and cat food, which is a shockingly outpriced $5.49 for three pounds.

Also: Where are the trash bags?! It’s nice to pretend you can always be sustainable, but sometimes you have to throw some stuff away.

Love Shopping at Trader Joe’s?

Although some deals are better than others, Trader Joe’s is a great bargain grocery store, and if you go the easy route and just buy all your groceries there, you’ll still probably end up saving money.

But in the end, the best store for you depends on your priorities.

For me, Trader Joe’s is almost perfect.

It’s partly because I live alone and profit from the per-piece produce pricing.

Plus, wine and cheese are basically my favorite non-people things on the planet. Since I’d happily eat a wine-paired cheese board for every meal in my life and be perfectly happy (if a little unhealthy), it’s like TJ’s was made for me: cheap nuts, dried fruit, cheese and wine! Done and done.

To figure out your best grocery store, the best course of action is to perform your very own grocery store comparison. Then you’ll know where to find the best prices for the items you actually buy.

Here’s a printable chart to help you get started — a quick, no-nonsense way to make sure you’re paying as little as possible for groceries.

We’ve got tons of other resources to help you save on groceries, too.

Check out our guide on how to start couponing — TJ’s does accept manufacturer coupons, although the company doesn’t have many of its own!

And while I haven’t seen Trader Joe’s show up on Ibotta yet, make sure you’re using the app when you shop at other stores. I mean, it’s free money just for taking a picture of your receipt.

And no matter what you do and where you shop, know where your money’s going. Just keeping track of how much you spend on food could be eye-opening — even life-changing.

Here’s our guide to starting a budget — and how to set financial goals once you do.

Because I don’t know about you, but a good deal of my financial goals revolve around food.

Your Turn: What are your favorite deals at Trader Joe’s?

Jamie Cattanach is a Trader Joe’s enthusiast and staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Her writing has also been featured at Word Riot, DMQ Review, Hinchas de Poesia and elsewhere. Find @JamieCattanach on Twitter to wave hello.

The post 13 Deals You Should Never Pass Up at Trader Joe’s — and 9 You Should appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Up to 11,000 gas customers hit by energy billing blunders

Helen Knapman

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Up to 11,000 households have been wrongly billed for their gas, Energy UK has revealed.

Up to 11,000 households have been wrongly billed for their gas, Energy UK has revealed.

Customers who’ve overpaid will be contacted by their provider and refunded with interest by the end of October. In some cases, an ex-gratia compensation payment will also be made to reflect the inconvenience caused. 

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Don't let career breaks dent your state pension

Rachel Lacey

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Despite the introduction of a new state pension in April this year, there is still widespread confusion about National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and their impact on the amount of pension people are eligible to claim, according to new research from Aegon.

Despite the introduction of a new state pension in April this year, there is still widespread confusion about National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and their impact on the amount of pension people are eligible to claim, according to new research from Aegon.

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Paying This Much More Each Month Could Save You $1K on Your Student Loans

If your student loan debt is gargantuan, you might feel like you’re on a Sisyphean treadmill of bills — paying and paying and never getting closer to a $0 balance.

Throwing in an extra $25 a month would probably be futile… or would it?

A recent NerdWallet post about paying extra on your student loans inspired me to do the math.

Yes, that’s how much I love you: I did math. Well, sort of; the Student Loan Hero calculator did it for me.

Specifically, I wanted to know how much money you could save by paying $25, $50 or $100 extra on your student loans each month.

Here’s what I discovered — plus, what to think about before you start paying extra.

Should You Pay Extra on Your Student Loans?

Let’s say you have $28,950 in loans, the average amount held by a 2014 graduate of a public or nonprofit college.

And let’s say your interest rate is 6%, since it’s the average of the rates between 2010 and 2014.

Assuming those numbers, you’re paying $322 per month on your loan — or $38,568 over 10 years (including $9,618 in interest).

Here’s what would happen if you paid…

An Extra $25 per Month

You’d pay off your loan in 9.1 years and save $1,010 in interest.

An Extra $50 per Month

You’d pay off your loan in 8.3 years and save $1,808 in interest.

An Extra $100 per Month

You’d pay off your loan in 7.1 years and save $3,024 in interest.

Wow.

With just an extra $25 per month, you could pay off your loan a year early — and save more than a grand in interest.

But, this comes with one big BUT…

When NOT to Pay Extra on Your Student Loans

Don’t pay extra on your student loans if you have high-interest debt or aren’t yet saving for retirement.

Your number one priority should be clearing out high-interest debt like credit cards, followed by saving for retirement.

Although it’s undeniably tempting to wipe all of your debt clean, pause when it comes to paying extra on student loans, which have a relatively low interest rate.

The power of compound interest means your money will better serve you in a retirement fund — and the earlier you start, the better.  

“A $1,000 contribution made at age 25 would typically be worth $20,000 or more at retirement age, while the same contribution would be worth about $10,000 when made at age 35,” MONEY explains.

In other words? Retirement returns “tend to dwarf the value of prepaying student loan debt, especially for recent graduates.”

A CNN financial planner agrees: “Millennials are going to be so much more dependent on their own savings for retirement. We don’t want to see young people shortchange themselves trying to pay off student loan debt sooner than it needs to be.”

In past research, I discovered that — if you start at age 21 — you only need to save $25 per week to retire with enough money.

So, resist the temptation to pay off your loans early. Instead, start saving for your future.

Need some extra dough to get started? Here are some ideas:

• 29 Smart Ways to Make Money on the Side in 2016

• 21 Side Jobs That Pay More Than $20 per Hour

• This Woman Took a Hard Look at Her Expenses and Figured Out How to Save $175 a Month

Your Turn: Do you pay extra on your student loans?

Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.

The post Paying This Much More Each Month Could Save You $1K on Your Student Loans appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Moneywise users expect base rate to remain at 0.25% for foreseeable future

Helen Knapman

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Four in 10 (40%) Moneywise.co.uk users expect the base rate still to be at 0.25% this time next year, according to our latest poll result.

Four in 10 (40%) Moneywise.co.uk users expect the base rate still to be at 0.25% this time next year, according to our latest poll result.

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Finding Your Niche: Write Up What Lights You Up

By Tara Bosler “Do what you love, and the money will follow.” – Marsha Sinetar, writer So you want to write. And you’re good at it! And you even have a tiny bit of experience! Now you’re ready to get your blog up and running. Or pitch some clients for freelance writing opportunities, right? Well, […]

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Culinary calendar Wednesday, August 24, 2016

WednesdayDansbury Farmers Market: 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., 5 S Kistler St., East Stroudsburg. Local vendors showcase their products on the grounds of the Dansbury Depot. Vendors include Vintner's Circle Urban Winery, Gould's Produce, Top Crops Produce, doTerra Wellness and more. For information, call 570-424-7540 or email info@eastburgalliance.com.Free Bread: 6 to 7 p.m., Bethel Pocono Christian Church, 799 Milford Road, East [...]

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Hey Football Fans! We Found 4 Sports Jobs That are Hiring Right Now

It is upon us.

*Cue the dramatic music and the voice of Pat Summerall*

The boisterous cheers — sometimes becoming aggressive bellows. The unwashed lucky jersey. The edge-of-your-seat, nail-biter playbacks. The sweaty men in tight pants. The buffalo chicken dip.

It’s football season, y’all, which means I finally have weekend plans: dates with my Clemson Tigers. (Alabama fans, hush.)

But no matter your team, you can go ahead and cheer for these football-centric job opportunities and turn your fanaticism into extra money.

4 Job Openings For Football Fanatics

If you score one of these gigs, you won’t have to wait until the weekend to get your adrenaline pumping.

You can live and breathe America’s favorite pastime (seriously, it’s not baseball, Kelly!) all week long.

1. For the comedian trying to work sports into a new sketch…

The crowd probably won’t laugh.

But readers of Crooked Scoreboard might appreciate it. Its mission statement made me chuckle a few times and its featured quote did, too:

“Crooked Scoreboard taught me how to shoot.” – Steph Curry (paraphrased)

The sportswriting site is currently hiring a part-time, work-from-home managing editor who should be just as obsessed with grammar as they are with sports. Depending on experience, you could make about $300 a month — a nice tailgating fund, in my opinion.

Apply on Indeed with a short, informal statement (make them laugh, of course). If the joke pans out, you’ll take an editing test.

2. For the fan who can’t stop chatting about the latest score…

Stop for a moment and try to say Tik-A-Tap five times.

This San Francisco-based digital startup is launching in September and compares itself to a Stubhub or Ticketmaster — but for high school sports.

And it’s hiring a customer support advocate. The pay is substantial: $40,000 a year. Another perk? You’ll work full time — and remotely.

You’ll answer questions and educate users about the new service, as well as foster relationships with school administrators and event attendees. And chat about #sports, of course.

The right candidate will have a bachelor’s degree, two years of customer service experience and strong phone and email skills. Experience in high school sports is a plus (think: player, coach, umpire, volunteer waterboy or girl).

Apply to the job via Indeed, and bring your competitive edge — 100 people have already applied.

3. For the player who’s ready to join the big leagues…

If you’re a lover of the game — any game, really — you’ve likely heard of SB Nation. (SB=Sports Blog, by the way)

The Vox Media blog, based out of New York City and Washington D.C., is hiring a remote, full-time sports writer to cover college football.

The description asks that candidates feel comfortable tackling (get it?) live game coverage, Xs and Os (not hugs and kisses), recruiting, data and stats, coaching changes and everything in-between (like school color confusion).

Salary depends on experience. There’s also no college degree or structured training requirement. As long as you have experience covering national college football, can crank out a good, clean story and use social media, go ahead and apply.

You’ll be expected to work Saturdays and Sundays during the season, but I suspect some of your work will involve keeping up with the scoreboard and flipping between games.

The only catch? Your cover letter should only be 140 characters, like a tweet. Check out the job listing for more information and be sure to peruse Vox Media’s other job openings, too.

4. For the one who’s convinced high school football is the NFL…

Ugh, you’re one of those. But I understand if you’re from Texas because, well, Friday Night Lights.

And you’re not the only one in the big state of Texas. TexasHSFootball.com claims to be the fastest growing media company in Texas, with 2 million unique visitors.

And it’s not just about high school — it covers Texas’ college and NFL teams, too.

The website is hiring a work-from-home writer to contribute at least two clean articles a week. You’ll research and develop news articles and coordinate photos, receive press releases and snag interviews. You’ll be trained for it all, too.

If you live in Texas and can start as soon as a QB says “hut, hut, hike,” then apply via Linkedin.

Pssst… The site’s also hiring social media, photography, marketing and videography interns, but those the positions are paid in experience.

Your Turn: Who are you rooting for this football season?

Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder and a Clemson alumna. After recently completing graduate school, she focuses on saving money — and surviving the move back in with her parents.

The post Hey Football Fans! We Found 4 Sports Jobs That are Hiring Right Now appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.

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Top 9 Best Online Savings Account Banks – Start Making Interest Today!

I remember a time when the best online savings accounts paid annual yields of 4% to 5%.

Those days are long gone. LONG gone.

Thanks to the low-rate environment, it’s not a surprise that for the past several years my clients have been griping about how their savings accounts are pay next to nothing, even from the best high-interest savings accounts.

Once you factor in fees that some banks charge, it might feel like you are paying the banks just to keep your money with them.

Does this sound familiar?

As painful as the interest situation is, looking for a top savings account to stash away some cash for a future financial goal or an unexpected emergency should be part of your financial strategy. But it can be hard to get excited if you don’t feel like you are earning any interest on your money.

Sure, interest rates are starting to go back up, but slowly. VERY slowly. But before you automatically start grumbling about how useless savings accounts are, hear me out first.

There are still plenty of online banks that offer excellent savings accounts. Don’t let you money sit in a savings account that’s going to be eaten by annual fees. You shouldn’t have to pay to let you money sit in a savings account.

In this article we will explain the importance of a great online savings account, why you need one, the types of savings accounts, and which ones will work best for your situation. Sure, you could spend hours searching for the best account, but why not let us do the work for you

Why you need a savings account

With so many options for storing your money and the low-interest rates, a lot of my clients ask, “why do I even need a savings account?” and honestly, that’s a great question.

The first reason is the obvious one – you get a slightly higher interest rate, and earning a little interest is better than no interest, right? But the interest you earn isn’t the only reason to find a good online savings account.

The other reason is a little more obvious, it forces you to save that money. Federal regulations limit the number of times that you can withdraw money from your account. If you can keep taking money out of the account, it’s going to encourage you to save. There are hundreds of thousands of places that you can open up a savings accounts, but all of them basically break down to three categories, traditional savings account, online savings account, and kids savings account.

Top 9 Banks to find the Best Online Savings Account

All the banks on my list are great places to stash your cash. However, my top savings account pick is is Capital One 360

1. Capital One 360 Savings Account

I’ve had an account with Capital One 360 Savings longer than I have with Ally. That’s because Capital One 360 (formerly ING Direct) was one of the first reputable online banks to exist. Capital One 360 is easy to use, secure, and you can connect your account to your other accounts, including your Capital One Investing account.

Here’s what you get with Capital One 360:

• Extremely competitive interest rate. The difference in rates between Capital One 360 and other banks is so small most people wouldn’t notice. If you aren’t seeking absolute best interest and are looking at the bigger picture, keep reading.
• No minimums. Like Ally, you won’t be hit with any minimum balance fees nor will you have to send a ton of money to open an account. You can open an account with as little as $1.
• Easy deposit options. Opening an account is easy — you just link a checking account from another institution like you would with any other bank. Then you transfer your funds over. You can also set up an automatic transfer. This is a great way to save up for your short-term goals. If you know you need to save $1,000 for a trip, you can set up your Capital One 360 Savings Account to withdraw $200 each month from your checking account for the next five months.
• Easy access and management. Capital One 360’s user interface is one of the best around. One of the unique things Capital One 360 offers is “sub-accounts” where you can open up mini-accounts to hold your saving goal money. So you can have a main Savings Account, but have mini-accounts for Vacation Fund, Emergency Fund, and so on.
• Other account options. You can start with a savings account and grow your finances with ING. They offer a robust set of accounts ranging from checking to savings to CDs, mortgages, and investing.

If you compare Ally and Capital One 360 you won’t find much difference in interest rates. Capital One 360 has been around longer from an online banking standpoint, and they are definitely trustworthy. Open an account with Capital One 360 today.

2. Chase Bank – Best Signup Bonus

Chase Bank is not as competitive on the interest rates, but they do have the best signup bonuses of any bank in the country.  You have to jump through a couple of hoops to get the full $250.  You get a $150 bonus for setting up a Chase Total Checking® account and setting up direct deposit.  You then get an additional $100 bonus for setting up a Chase Savings(SM) account and depositing $10,000 or more.  If you already have a sizeable emergency fund this might be a good way to net an extra $250 in your favor.  The details of the offer are:

• Get up to $250 when you open a new Chase Total Checking® account with Direct Deposit and/or open a new Chase Savings(SM) account, deposit $10,000 or more in new money and maintain a $10,000 balance for 90 days
• Get a $150 bonus when you open a new Chase Total Checking® account and set up direct deposit
• Get a $100 bonus when you open a new Chase Savings(SM) account, deposit a total of $10,000 or more in new money within 10 days, and maintain a $10,000 balance for 90 days
• Access to over 15,500 Chase ATMs and 5,300 branches
• Chase QuickDeposit(SM) lets you deposit checks almost anytime, anywhere with the ease of taking a picture. Just point, snap, and deposit.

Chase is also a big bank for physical locations with thousands of branches and ATMs across the country. Open an account with Chase today.

3. Compass Bank BBVA

Compass isn’t the most popular bank on our list, but it’s one you should know about. BBVA Compass is one of the top largest U.S. commercial banks based on deposit market share. They offer a wide variety of products and services, everything from small business loans to online savings accounts (because that’s why you are here right?)

• Interest rate. BBVA Compass offers tiered interest rates that compound to make your money grow faster.
• Low initial deposit. While you are required to make an initial deposit, it’s a minuscule $25.
• Account options. You’ll have the freedom to choose between several different account types: Everyday Savings, Money Market, or CD account.
• Beware of fees. One of the few negatives of BBVA is their monthly service fees that come along with their accounts. It’s only $15 a month, but it’s something that should be noted when opening up an account.

If you haven’t heard of Compass Bank BBVA, you should take the time to familiarize yourself with the organization, their online savings account will make it worth your time.

4. Discover Bank

Discover moved into the banking business a few years ago. Their rates are competitive with other online products, so it is definitely a firm to include in your search for a top savings account.

The product offerings are similar with Discover, but I really like Discover’s online CD. The rates on the CDs are very nice compared to some other players in the industry.

Here’s what you get with Discover Bank’s Online Savings account:

• Great interest. To attract customers, Discover often has some of the highest interest rates available.
• Several account options. You can start with a savings account and expand to an online certificate of deposit, IRA CDs, or a money market account.
• Low minimums. This is the only place that you might downgrade Discover on a bit. The other institutions on this page require no minimum or a super low deposit to open an account. Discover requires a $500 minimum deposit. However, there are still no minimum balance requirements or fees for going below $500, so it isn’t much to worry about once you get your account open.

If you are interested in creating a CD ladder to reach a goal or as part of your emergency savings strategy, Discover is a great place to start.

5. USAA – Best for Military

*Be aware that you must have a family member this is serving/has served in a branch of the military to open an account with USAA.

Aside from being an exceptionally reputable organization, as an online savings account, USAA offers several unique benefits that the other banks on this list don’t. You can get a HUGE variety of different products with USAA. They offer just about any financial or insurance product you could ever need, and having all of your account and product in one place is an impressive advantage.

What you’ll get with USAA

• Use just about any ATM. If you ever need to get money out of your online savings account at an ATM, you don’t have to worry about those ATM fees. You will be able to use more than 60,000 “USAA-preferred” ATMs for free. They will also refund you the fees of any ATM that isn’t one of the preferred machines.
• Low initial deposit. Similar to some of the other accounts, USAA does require an initial deposit, but it’s only $25.
• No fees. With a USAA savings account, you will not have to may any service fees or any fees if you transfer money to another bank.

If you have a family member that has ever served in the military, it’s worth checking out an online savings account with USAA.

6. Ally Bank

Ally Bank is one of my favorite banking institutions. (Yes, we bloggers are a weird bunch and have favorite banking institutions while the rest of the world goes about their normal lives.)

Why do I love Ally so much? Let me quote myself from an article earlier this year, Best Online Checking Accounts:

Ally Bank was built on the premise of getting rid of all the crazy fees that normal banks charge while giving customers great rates and great customer service.

I mean, seriously? How can you not love that? A bank that is fighting to end banks gouging customers will get my vote every time. In the linked article above I told you how great Ally’s checking accounts were, but the saving options are great, too.

Here’s what you get with Ally:

• High yield interest rate. You won’t earn more interest with a reputable online bank.
• No minimums. At all. That means no minimum deposit, no minimum balance requirement. No minimum balance fees. In fact, you can open an account with as little as $1.
• Easy deposit options. You can fund your account or add additional deposits via easy online transfer from your current bank, mailing in a check, wire transfer, or simply scanning in your deposit.
• Easy access and management. The user interface is top-notch and you’ll be able to transfer funds to and from your other bank easily.
• Other account options. You can start with a savings account and grow your finances with Ally. They offer a robust set of accounts ranging from checking to savings to CDs and IRAs.

Ally is built on not gouging customers for every penny they’ve got. That’s a great bank, and one of the reasons I use this bank in addition to Capital One 360. Open an account with Ally Bank today.

7. Synchrony Bank

Synchrony has gotten very competitive in offering the some of the highest interest rates for deposits. They do not offer as many products as many of the other online banks, but they put their focus on what they are good at — vehicles for saving.

Here’s what you get with a Synchrony online savings account:

• High Interest – Synchrony is dedicated to being competitive on interest rates to attract new clients.
• Low minimum – It only requires $30 to open an account and you avoid a $5 monthly fee by maintaining a balance of $30 or higher.
• Easy Access – Many of the online banks only let you do transfers. Synchrony also has a debit card option to make accessing your cash easier.
• No Balance Dependence – Some banks increase your interest rates the more money you put in. Synchrony gives you the same interest rate no matter how much or how little you put in.

8. American Express High-Yield Savings Account

Just like Discover, American Express, the credit card company that offers fantastic cash back now has a banking arm that offers great interest on your account.

Rates are currently very competitive with some of the larger, well known online banks. Account access is not as sophisticated as you see with other banks, but you don’t need that sophistication if you are just looking for a solid place to keep some of your cash. If American Express Savings offered a full suite of financial products like mortgages and checking accounts on top of the savings account and CD, I would be more concerned about the website. But this is a pretty basic product: deposit money, earn interest, watch it grow.

AMEX also has a 36-month CD that you can drop your money into to earn a slightly higher rate of return. However, the difference is so small that I can’t recommend locking your funds up for 3 years. (If you elect to close a CD before its maturity date you pay back 3 months of interest. That’s dumb.)

Here’s what you get with AMEX’s High Yield Savings Account:

• Great interest. To attract customers, American Express often has some of the highest interest rates available.
• Simple options. You have two account options: high-yield savings and certificate of deposit. Two simple choices rather than an array of confusing options.
• No minimums. You don’t have a minimum balance requirement, and you don’t get hit with a fee for letting your balance get too low.

Whichever way you go, you’ll end up with American Express’ renowned customer service to back you up. You probably won’t need it, but it is always nice to know it is there.

9. CIT Bank Savings

If you are looking for a bank to just store some of your cash in for a rainy day, CIT Bank is a great choice. CIT Bank focuses on CDs and savings account, and also IRA options.

You might think, “Why would I go with a bank that just does that instead of one with more options like online checking?”

That’s an understandable question. CIT Bank is in the upper tier of interest rates for all of these institutions, and in some cases comes out ahead of everyone else. On top of their high interest rate they also offer a bonus rate tier for customers that have more than $25,000 saved with them. Essentially, it is a loyalty bonus. Not many banks reward you for being extra loyal.

Aside from the great interest, I think it is sometimes a good thing to limit your account options at a bank. If you open up an account with checking, savings, CDs, investment, and so on it can get tempted to pull money out of the savings or CD to refill your checking account quickly. Having them separated requires more financial discipline at the cost of a little bit of convenience. I think the extra interest you are earning is worth it.

Here’s what you get with CIT Bank:

• Upper tier high yield interest rate with high deposit bonus tier. If you deposit a lot of money with CIT, you won’t find a better interest rate anywhere else online.
• Low minimums. CIT does have a minimum of $100. That’s measly. And honestly, with any of the banks on this page if you saved just $100 you’re going to earn a whopping $1 interest max in the first year. You need to save more money, but CIT requires $100 to get started.
• Easy deposit options. You can fund your account or add additional deposits via easy online transfer from your current bank, mailing in a check, or wire transfer.
• Easy access and management. The user interface is easy to use. You’ll be able to transfer funds to and from your other bank easily.

If you are looking for a place to store some cash for a rainy day and want to earn a great interest rate in the meantime, definitely take a look at CIT Bank.

A New Option: Digit.co

Another interesting savings option is Digit.co. This is a bank that uses an algorithm to determine how much money to transfer from your checking account into savings every few days. By tracking your income and spending habits, Digit.co can determine how much extra money should be going into savings. Digit promises that it’s automatic transfers won’t overdraw your account. The interest paid is very small, but it does exist. This is an account for people who want to save without needing to think about it.

Getting access to your money is easy; it’s all done through text. You text simple commands to change how much you save, to check your balance, and to withdraw to your own account. Most of the time, once you text that you want to withdraw, the money is there in the next day or two. This is a great account for saving up for a night out each month, or for other entertainment.

Consider your savings account needs, and do your research. With the right approach, you can get the most efficient use out of your money.

What to Look for in a Top Savings Account

There’s no need to let your money sit in an account that doesn’t pay any interest at all. That’s one of the worst things you can do with your money because the value of your money will slowly go down due to inflation. You need to generate some interest to combat inflation just to maintain the spending power of the money you have. However, even the highest yield savings account is unlikely to beat inflation.

Then again interest isn’t everything. There are other considerations as well when choosing from among the top savings accounts.

Interest – High Yield

For me, interest comes first. Generating interest helps protect your money from inflation. Even if inflation is really low, getting some small interest on the side will help you bolster your account over time. Interest isn’t the only important factor, but it never hurts to have someone paying you to store your cash with them.

Don’t get too caught up in chasing yields, however. Most of the time, the difference between accounts isn’t enough to prompt you to move your money every time a bank comes out with a newer, higher yield.

Customer Service

Having great customer service is another key aspect of a great savings account. If you earn a little bit more interest at one bank but the customer service is awful you will probably regret it. I like to stick to firms that have solid reputations or that I’ve had previous experience with.

The accounts on this list all offer good customer service and a good user experience.

Access

You want easy access to your funds. If you have to jump through a lot of hoops to pull money out of your emergency fund during an unexpected setback, it defeats the purpose. Other considerations when you look at savings account access:

Do you have to go to a physical branch? Or can you transfer funds online using your smartphone? What about ATM access? Can you withdraw money at ATMs across the country for free, or at least get reimbursed for the fees you do pay? Access can be a tiebreaker when you are comparing two very similar banks.

Understand the Purpose of Your Savings Account

Saving for future purchases and expenses is one of the best things you can do to stabilize your financial situation. Rather than using credit spending (and winding up in debt if you don’t pay off the balance each month), identifying your spending goals and saving up can help you buy the things you want — without ruining your financial future.

You should also understand that keeping an emergency fund available for a rainy day can be a good idea. What happens when the car needs repairs or you need to replace the dryer? An emergency fund can protect you from the need to borrow in order to meet these unexpected expenses.

While a high-yield account would be nice, it’s important to recognize that your savings account isn’t meant to help you build wealth so you can fund your retirement (learn more about investing for retirement through a Roth IRA). Rather than expecting high yields from your savings account, here’s how to think about it:

Liquidity: One of the biggest advantages of a savings account is the liquidity. Because it’s cash, it’s instantly available for you to use. You don’t have to sell shares and what for the proceeds of the sale, or jump through hoops to get your money. It’s available immediately.

This is what makes a savings account ideal for an emergency fund. You know you can get to the money immediately if you need it. The liquidity also makes it great for access your money for a short-term savings goal. You know that you will be able to pay with your savings account when you need to, or you can use the money to instantly pay off your credit card after you’ve used it to book your vacation (and earn the points).

Safety: The other reason to incorporate a savings account into your financial strategy is so that you can keep the money safe. You don’t have to worry about losing your vacation money in the stock market when you keep it in a savings account. You know the money is there when you need it for an emergency with your savings account. Plus, if your account is with a federally insured institution, you don’t have to worry about losing your money if the bank fails.

Stop thinking of your savings account as a place to help you grow your wealth, and instead think of it as a way for you to protect your assets and keep your long-term financial situation from deteriorating due to debt. You can also think of your savings account as a way to help you save for short-term goals. As long as you incorporate a savings strategy along with an investing strategy that allows you to build wealth over time, you should have a balanced approach to your overall financial plan.

Whether you are saving up an emergency fund or just preparing to spend money on a nice vacation next year, you need a great savings account to hold your money. Here are my favorite places to wring as much yield as possible out of your savings account.

Types of savings accounts

There are a few different types of savings accounts, but don’t worry, the main idea is still the same.

Bank Savings Accounts

This is the traditional idea of a savings account at a physical bank. You can walk into any local branch of a bank and open up one of these savings accounts. Normally, these accounts have maintenance fees and low-interest rates.

Online Savings Accounts

These accounts work almost identical to a traditional savings account except you manage the whole account strictly online. In most cases online savings accounts offer slightly better interest rates because they have lower overhead costs.

Savings Account for the Kids

Maybe you want to open up a savings account for your kids, that’s a very good idea! Some banks have savings accounts specifically designed for kids, but don’t’ worry, you’ll have control over the account. It’s a great way to teach your children about managing money.

***Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links which means I get paid a small commission if sign up through my link.

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