- If you got engaged this holiday season, it's time to start planning to pay for a wedding and all that comes with it. Opening a high-yield savings account is a good place to start.
- A high-yield savings account can help you save for your dream wedding and honeymoon quicker, as your money earns more interest than it would in a standard savings account.
- They're simple to set up, and in 15 minutes, you could have a savings account that will help your savings and gifts earn more interest.
- See Business Insider's picks for the best high-yield savings accounts »
If you made a big step in your relationship this holiday season, it might be time to start thinking about saving.
Whether you're planning a lavish wedding, hope to splurge on a dream honeymoon, or just want to start saving for your life together, you can't go wrong by starting with a high-yield savings account.
Typical savings accounts don't earn much interest. It's not uncommon for a traditional savings account at a big bank to earn .01% interest. A high-yield savings account earns lots more, currently as high as about 2% interest, without investing your money in the market - you can take your savings out anytime.
Experts recommend high-yield savings accounts to save for any goal in the near future, from a down payment on a home to an emergency fund to a wedding or honeymoon.
A high-yield savings account can provide just the boost you need
Anyone planning a wedding could see helpful returns from a high-yield savings account, from planning for the wedding and ceremony to planning for your life together.
Personal finance writer and money expert Stefanie O'Connell Rodriguez opened a high-yield savings account several days after her now-husband proposed, and found out quickly how helpful they are. "It wasn't long until we figured we'd need at least one more shared savings account," she writes. So, in addition to their joint savings account they both funded for their wedding, they opened another joint high-yield savings account for their emergency fund.
Rodriguez writes, "My fiancé and I realized that being engaged and planning our wedding wasn't just about figuring out how to pay for our ceremony and reception, it was about building a shared financial foundation for the rest of our lives."
Similarly, personal finance writer and blogger Bethany McCamish and her fiance opened a high-yield savings account just after their engagement. Since opening it and saving over $11,000, their account is on track to earn them enough money in interest alone to pay for their flowers. "It's the smartest financial move we made for our wedding," she writes.
Make saving simpler by automating deposits
Automating deposits is the best way to bulk up your high-yield savings account for any of your goals, and this makes saving a seamless part of your finances.
Let's face it - if you have to think about making deposits, it's just another thing on your to-do list. Take that step off of your wedding planning checklist and set up automatic savings. Automating your savings will help your accounts grow painlessly each month and without any effort from you.
Starting a high-yield savings account could help you fund your wedding by your big day. Let's say you want to save $10,000 for your wedding a year from today. Use $2,500 today from each partner, for a total of $5,000, to open a high-yield savings account with a 1.8% interest rate. Then, set up automatic deposits from both of your checking accounts for $225 per month. In a year, you'll have a total of $10,535 saved up, and $135 of that will be from interest alone.
When your money earns interest and you save automatically, it's easier than it sounds to save enough for your dream wedding.
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