Best Saving Practices

[attitude]

My fiancée and are getting serious about buying a house by the end next year. She just got a job and our plan is to sock away a good chunk of money every month until we do so.

I’ve never been one to do much with my money, it mainly just sits in a standard savings account and I dabble in small amount of stocks.

My thought is to open a high yield savings account and put a majority of our savings in there. I like the fact that it can be pulled out quickly in case of an emergency or if the perfect house pops up before our planned timeline. It seems 4-4.5% is the going rate these days.

Is there any other options I should be looking at or things to look out for when open a high yield account?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Happy Smitty]

Best thing i did was get someone to do this for me. Here is who I use.
Voorhees Wealth Management Group https://g.co/kgs/HXgCJSw

Don't let Bob know i have two boats. He doesn't know about the second one.

 

[EmpirE231]

FDIC insured but most are. Something like a betterment high yield savings acct @ 4% would do the trick. Very easy to transfer money in and out when needed.

 

[CLdrinker]

Follow the stock market thread and put that money to work.

 

[attitude]

Follow the stock market thread and put that money to work.

I’d love to, but I just started a massive project at work and I don’t like messing around when I can’t watch my money.

 

[CLdrinker]

I’d love to, but I just started a massive project at work and I don’t like messing around when I can’t watch my money.

Shit I know the feeling. I have 2 projects totaling 30million and 2 smaller jobs. My brain is at capacity.

 

[DLC]

If you haven’t done so yet

make a budget & manage your spending !


We are getting ready for retirement and are socking away cash ! It’s amazing how much gets burned up by meals out, stupid impulsive wants and general bad habits you make over the years.

I see, So many guys that can’t pack a lunch and burn up 100’s of dollars a month buying food and Red Bulls / Monster drinks

 

[attitude]

If you haven’t done so yet

make a budget & manage your spending !


We are getting ready for retirement and are socking away cash ! It’s amazing how much gets burned up by meals out, stupid impulsive wants and general bad habits you make over the years.

I see, So many guys that can’t pack a lunch and burn up 100’s of dollars a month buying food and Red Bulls / Monster drinks

I do all kinds of spread sheets. I’ve had an Excel I’ve update constantly since before I even moved out on my own.

We definitely could live cheaper, but I think we’ve found a balance of responsibility and quality of life that works for us.

 

[Flatsix66]

Saving for the future, view it like you are paying yourself first.

 

[PlumLoco]

My fiancée and are getting serious about buying a house by the end next year. She just got a job and our plan is to sock away a good chunk of money every month until we do so.

I’ve never been one to do much with my money, it mainly just sits in a standard savings account and I dabble in small amount of stocks.

My thought is to open a high yield savings account and put a majority of our savings in there. I like the fact that it can be pulled out quickly in case of an emergency or if the perfect house pops up before our planned timeline. It seems 4-4.5% is the going rate these days.

Is there any other options I should be looking at or things to look out for when open a high yield account?

Thank you in advance.

3 words . . . Bi-weekly mortgage payments.
Basically you are making 13 months worth of payments in 365 days. By simply being half a payment ahead a 30 year loan gets paid off in less than 20.

 

[evantwheeler]

HYSA will help, but you’ll make a bigger dent in building savings by aggressively spending less, and then figure out how to make some cash on the side. I had a downpayment worth of savings in a HYSA last year and it wouldnt have helped me buy more house, it just would have given more of an emergency fund after spending the nest egg.

Im sure you already have an idea of how much house you can afford, so decide what you're comfortable with spending monthly and work backwards to figure out what you want to put down.

 

[WYRD]

My fiancée and are getting serious about buying a house by the end next year. She just got a job and our plan is to sock away a good chunk of money every month until we do so.

I’ve never been one to do much with my money, it mainly just sits in a standard savings account and I dabble in small amount of stocks.

My thought is to open a high yield savings account and put a majority of our savings in there. I like the fact that it can be pulled out quickly in case of an emergency or if the perfect house pops up before our planned timeline. It seems 4-4.5% is the going rate these days.

Is there any other options I should be looking at or things to look out for when open a high yield account?

Thank you in advance.

End of next year's only 20 months away. You have to have some kind of an idea on how much money you want to have at the end of that time period 20% down is the industry Norm. On a half a million dollar home that is $100,000 in cash. That's roughly $5,000 a month you will need to put away into a 4% APR high yield savings account. If you're down payment is half that, figure 2,500 a month.
Make it a game between you and your fiancée where are you do something special every time you make a contribution to the savings account and reach that monthly goal. Put it up on a poster board and once the monthly goal is met do something special. Doesn't have to be big, special dinner, romantic evening, movie night, oral sex, anything just make it a goal that is fun for the both of you. Sounds silly but this reaffirms positive behavior which in turn becomes habit forming which will lead lifestyle changes that become everyday routine.
Might take you longer than 20 months because that's a lot of money starting from nothing but figure out what your budget is set the time frame then set the realistic monthly goal and go for it.

 

[attitude]

End of next year's only 20 months away. You have to have some kind of an idea on how much money you want to have at the end of that time period 20% down is the industry Norm. On a half a million dollar home that is $100,000 in cash. That's roughly $5,000 a month you will need to put away into a 4% APR high yield savings account. If you're down payment is half that, figure 2,500 a month.
Make it a game between you and your fiancée where are you do something special every time you make a contribution to the savings account and reach that monthly goal. Put it up on a poster board and once the monthly goal is met do something special. Doesn't have to be big, special dinner, romantic evening, movie night, oral sex, anything just make it a goal that is fun for the both of you. Sounds silly but this reaffirms positive behavior which in turn becomes habit forming which will lead lifestyle changes that become everyday routine.
Might take you longer than 20 months because that's a lot of money starting from nothing but figure out what your budget is set the time frame then set the realistic monthly goal and go for it.

We aren't starting from nothing, but if we could save an additional 50-60k in the next 12-18 months I would be happy. Plugging numbers into a high yield calculator, it shows after 18 months we would have an additional month of savings in interest accrued.

My hope of putting 20% down on a home has long sailed away, as with almost all first time buyers. Realistically what I would like to be able to do is put 3-5% down and still have a large nest egg leftover. Either to do renovations, or if the house doesn’t need anything start buying toys.

 

[dave29]

As my father would say, "it's not how much you make, it's how much you save".

 

[rrrr]

In my experience, a divorce is an excellent tool to change one's financial status. After ten years of being married to the Blonde Texas Shopaholic, my young ass was dragging from working so hard and the checking account was still empty.

Even though all I left with was some dishes, a bedroom set, entertainment center, a rather stupid Springer Spaniel, and slept in my Barefoot Nautique's storage stall for a couple of weeks, life improved immeasurably.

Then I met Fonda, she introduced me to the idea of saving and investing money instead of spending it, and laid out the concept of how credit scores work. Now I'm old and beat up, but everything is paid for and I can buy stuff like a new lawn mower.

But she's a unicorn. They're hard to find.

 

[SLT Kota]

Automatic transfers also help put things on autopilot. When I was saving for a house I set up an autotransfer to move a set amount to savings the day after each payday. This made me stick to my budget and I never had to worry about forgetting to move money into the highyield savings.

 

[Todd Mohr]

We aren't starting from nothing, but if we could save an additional 50-60k in the next 12-18 months I would be happy. Plugging numbers into a high yield calculator, it shows after 18 months we would have an additional month of savings in interest accrued.

My hope of putting 20% down on a home has long sailed away, as with almost all first time buyers. Realistically what I would like to be able to do is put 3-5% down and still have a large nest egg leftover. Either to do renovations, or if the house doesn’t need anything start buying toys.

If you do a new build on a home from a big builder in a new tract, you can move in with just 5% down and the builder will pay all of your closing costs. That saves you 15- 20k that you can then use for upgrades after you move in. Be careful about the upgrades from the builders, way overpriced and it’s easy to add over 100k to the price of the home. You should be shopping now, you probably only need 10k to get the build started and it will take 6-8 months to the time you need the rest of the down payment.

 

[PlumLoco]

I doubt there is any advice you could receive that is more important than finding a partner who is a saver at heart. Buying cars new and eating meals out are both areas where tons of money gets wasted. A philosophically aligned spouse is the best way to achieve your financial goals.

 

[JL95]

Fastest way we started to see progress for us was to throw everything that was left in our checkings on Thursday night into savings. Worked out well. Sometimes it was $40 sometimes it was $300-500/week. Watching it grow was fun as hell. (AVERT YOUR EYES RDP BILLIONAIRES)

 

[attitude]

If you do a new build on a home from a big builder in a new tract, you can move in with just 5% down and the builder will pay all of your closing costs. That saves you 15- 20k that you can then use for upgrades after you move in. Be careful about the upgrades from the builders, way overpriced and it’s easy to add over 100k to the price of the home. You should be shopping now, you probably only need 10k to get the build started and it will take 6-8 months to the time you need the rest of the down payment.

I don’t think we will be going the new build route. Call me crazy but I would rather have a 1800sqf home on 1 acre, than a beautiful 3000sqf new build. The new builds aren’t friendly to RV & boat owners.

I also think property will appreciate better than new builds. They aren’t making any more .5+ acre properties but everywhere you look there is a 2000 home master planned community popping up.

I do have my eye an a few RV garage new builds in our budget in case plans change.

 

[attitude]

I doubt there is any advice you could receive that is more important than finding a partner who is a saver at heart. Buying cars new and eating meals out are both areas where tons of money gets wasted. A philosophically aligned spouse is the best way to achieve your financial goals.

I’m lucky in that sense, she mainly just follows what I do. I handle all the finances.

I remember when we were in our early 20s and we had just moved in together she came home from the store with off brand ketchup/mustard, and single ply toilet paper. I said we’re broke but we ain’t that broke. I still keep a roll of that 1 ply toilet paper at the bottom of our toilet paper rack, it makes me smile every time I see it.

 

[attitude]

Fastest way we started to see progress for us was to throw everything that was left in our checkings on Thursday night into savings. Worked out well. Sometimes it was $40 sometimes it was $300-500/week. Watching it grow was fun as hell. (AVERT YOUR EYES RDP BILLIONAIRES)

We are going to dump all of her checks into savings, when we moved to AZ we were able to consolidate down to a single income. Fortunately her income will be strictly extra, until we buy a house…

 

[HNL2LHC]

Good for you and putting together a plan of action. Totally doable despite what the government and media are telling you. It is the best discision that you two could do.

First make sure you are both on the same page. Late in my teens early 20s thought girlfriends and I had the same goal. Sadly I was more committed than she was.

Fast forward 5 years my wonderful wife and I were on the same page. We had no desire to pay someone else’s mortgage. It was all about lowering cost of living and saving every penny that we could for a down payment. Fortunately the only expense was the wife’s Firebird and a small balance on her credit card. We paid both of those off once we were married.

Once married we chose to….
Move into a studio condo rather than a large unit.
Only the Firebird and my 3 year old FZR motorcycle
Found the cheapest meals - ramien & Mac & cheese
Take lunch to work
Treat yourself once a week at work
Treat yourself once a week for date night
Don’t hold off for your dream house - Buy as soon as you are able.

Other things to consider
After the purchase - you could be in a position that you are not able to sell ( market drop, economy or other factors )
Make sure you are good with the area or willing to rent the house.
Was just talking to a finance person last week about a couple that moved to Havasu, dumped money in the home and found they were not making the $$$$ they thought they would. Trying to sell and now loosing all the $$$ they put down.
There is also the possibility of buying in an area to be tied to the market, rent it and then rent where you can’t afford to buy,
There are many ways to skin the cat.
The people that lose $$$$ plan poorly or jump around from place to place.

Good luck with your quest. Owning property is the best thing that you can do.

 

[Frickstyle]

One thing of note, is it a HYSA or a Money Market account? I've heard a couple economist speak within the past 2 weeks and they believe the feds will adjust rates down (These savings accounts are indexed to the Fed rate), resulting in gone are the days of 4-4.5% yield savings accounts. Adjust down and hedge in your calculations to 3% (worst case).

 

[Looking Glass]

We aren't starting from nothing, but if we could save an additional 50-60k in the next 12-18 months I would be happy. Plugging numbers into a high yield calculator, it shows after 18 months we would have an additional month of savings in interest accrued.

My hope of putting 20% down on a home has long sailed away, as with almost all first time buyers. Realistically what I would like to be able to do is put 3-5% down and still have a large nest egg leftover. Either to do renovations, or if the house doesn’t need anything start buying toys.

Start buying toys

 

[dave29]

In my experience, a divorce is an excellent tool to change one's financial status. After ten years of being married to the Blonde Texas Shopaholic, my young ass was dragging from working so hard and the checking account was still empty.

Even though all I left with was some dishes, a bedroom set, entertainment center, a rather stupid Springer Spaniel, and slept in my Barefoot Nautique's storage stall for a couple of weeks, life improved immeasurably.

Then I met Fonda, she introduced me to the idea of saving and investing money instead of spending it, and laid out the concept of how credit scores work. Now I'm old and beat up, but everything is paid for and I can buy stuff like a new lawn mower.

But she's a unicorn. They're hard to find.

I think I married and divorced your ex wife's sister. I may be a little more perceptive in that I ended the misery after 18 months. She got half and almost ruined my credit in the process. Mine was blonde Sherman Oaks shopaholic with a lot of past due credit card statements hidden in a drawer.

 

[HNL2LHC]

Keep in mind that if you can’t do the 20% you typically have to pay monthly PMI. We had to do that until the point that we could document 20% equity and Refi. Sometimes you gotta do what you can. But if you have the 20% put the $$$ money in. Our goal was to never sell any property that we bought and buy every 5 years. We were able to meet the never sell part buy on the every 5 years it was not possible because of our son’s education costs. In preparation of the second purchase we were dumping all money into the first mortgage. That was a mistake looking back. While it is not a bad thing it was $$$ that was not liquid. We were lucky as we were going to do an addition to the home and pulled out $$$ with a HELOC. That $$$ became the down payment for the second home. So it all worked out in the end.

 

[BingerFang]

If I were you, I would not play the stock market. I'd open a SoFi (that's what I have) or Ally or any other HYSA that is liquid but still paying 3.5-5% on your cash. The last thing you want to do is gamble your down payment in the stock market.

Don't be embarrassed about how much you put down, just make sure you 100% realistically can make the mortgage even if work slows down for either you or your wife, that's more important.

I put 10% down on my home and had PMI at $99/month. After 2 years I paid $500 bucks and had my house appraised and it went up 33% in market value and the lender dropped the PMI. However, this was with a conventional loan, not an FHA which I believe you can't drop the PMI unless you refinance into a conventional.

 

[Todd Mohr]

I don’t think we will be going the new build route. Call me crazy but I would rather have a 1800sqf home on 1 acre, than a beautiful 3000sqf new build. The new builds aren’t friendly to RV & boat owners.

I also think property will appreciate better than new builds. They aren’t making any more .5+ acre properties but everywhere you look there is a 2000 home master planned community popping up.

I do have my eye an a few RV garage new builds in our budget in case plans change.

I agree, the bigger property will be a better investment, I did a new build with the RV garage but my yard is tiny. Every month you rent you are paying off some other dudes house with interest, PMI, etc.

 

[bilz]

Local Credit Union is offering a 7 month, 7% cd with a 7k max deposit. It's a start.

 

[eand28]

I’m in a similar boat. I’ve been parking any extra money in a hysa and money market. I’ve read to not put your down payment money in the stock market on the chance it crashes.

 

[BHC Vic]

If I were you, I would not play the stock market. I'd open a SoFi (that's what I have) or Ally or any other HYSA that is liquid but still paying 3.5-5% on your cash. The last thing you want to do is gamble your down payment in the stock market.

Don't be embarrassed about how much you put down, just make sure you 100% realistically can make the mortgage even if work slows down for either you or your wife, that's more important.

I put 10% down on my home and had PMI at $99/month. After 2 years I paid $500 bucks and had my house appraised and it went up 33% in market value and the lender dropped the PMI. However, this was with a conventional loan, not an FHA which I believe you can't drop the PMI unless you refinance into a conventional.

We started with the ally account when we were saving for a house. It’s still our shared savings. Just plan ahead when you need to move money around or get cash

 

[DLC]

Something else to think about….

You don’t need your forever home right now !

Buy a home where you can expand and make it your forever home home
OR
buy a fixer upper live it it for 2 years clean it up and flip it All w/ the mind set that your building equity


Buddy bought a house in havasu for 350 and in 4 years added an RV garage for cash out of pocket and the house has gone up in value $200k
w/ OUT adding the RV garage !! - Zillow doesn’t know about the RV garage

He still has low property taxes based off the $350 purchase and adding an RV.

 

[samsah33]

Tons of do's and dont's out there about saving $, like quit spending $7 per day on trendy coffee...

Regardless of which advice you follow, #1 is to make a budget and track your spending against it.

What gets measured gets managed.

 

[attitude]

I’m in a similar boat. I’ve been parking any extra money in a hysa and money market. I’ve read to not put your down payment money in the stock market on the chance it crashes.

That’s my thought as well. I’ve never been in a position to have a “bunch” of money sitting but hopefully I will soon. There are a lot of different takes on what to do with your money, but it being a nest egg for a house down payment changes things up. Which is why I started this thread.

I’m am thinking a HYSA is the best way to go, and obviously budgeting accordingly.

 

[attitude]

Some else to think about….

You don’t need your forever home right now !

Buy a home where you can expand and make it your forever home home
OR
buy a fixer upper live it it for 2 years clean it up and flip it All w/ the mind set that your building equity


Buddy bought a house in havasu for 350 and in 4 years added an RV garage for cash out of pocket and the house has gone up in value $200k
w/ OUT adding the RV garage !! - Zillow doesn’t know about the RV garage

He still has low property taxes based off the $350 purchase and adding an RV.

Our “dream house” would be a home built from 98-05 ish and not remodeled, on .5 acres+. Maybe someone who moved out here to retire and kept the home original but in good condition. I like that era of home the best, there seems to have been a lot more thought put into architecture than current homes.

That would give us a livable home but something that can be improved on and hopefully build some sweet equity.

That’s the other negative of new builds. Not only is there not much to improve on equity wise, but the builder ruins any hope of equity with rate buy downs on their new homes.

 

[shintoooo]

Give me all your money and I'll double it and give it back to you in a year. Trust me bro.

Do you have Cash App?

 

[attitude]

Give me all your money and I'll double it and give it back to you in a year. Trust me bro.

Do you have Cash App?

Do you own a DCB or a fleet of all black boats?

 

[JL95]

I have a TON of Steel Coils $$$ we can double our money bro trust me

 

[attitude]

I have a TON of Steel Coils $$$ we can double our money bro trust me

I was actually thinking about selling tires to RDP members for some side cash. Partners?

 

[rrrr]

Give me all your money and I'll double it and give it back to you in a year. Trust me bro.

Do you have Cash App?

Just think, soon he'll be struttin' in Black Diamond territory!

 

[NicPaus]

I was actually thinking about selling tires to RDP members for some side cash. Partners?

Good idea if you can get the ones that fell off the truck.

I just left the tire shop 1500 lighter. I could use 3 more sets. $4700. If I replaced all my tires that need replaced currently it would be painful. All my trailer tires are over 5 years old and I have like 13 trailer plus spares.

 

[Havasu blue label]

3 words . . . Bi-weekly mortgage payments.
Basically you are making 13 months worth of payments in 365 days. By simply being half a payment ahead a 30 year loan gets paid off in less than 20.

Save your house payment that you will have when you purchase it .

 

[attitude]

Good idea if you can get the ones that fell off the truck.

I just left the tire shop 1500 lighter. I could use 3 more sets. $4700. If I replaced all my tires that need replaced currently it would be painful. All my trailer tires are over 5 years old and I have like 13 trailer plus spares.

I wish…

I was just joking about some other members misfortune though.

 

[PDQH2O]

Strongly suggest you consider a financial advisor that is a fiduciary. We did that when seriously thinking about retirement. He took what we’ve saved through our years of 401k and other savings and has done a great job of watching out for the stock market pitfalls for us. One of the best financial decisions we’ve made and we live a comfortable life.

 

[Cooter01]

Setup a HYSA and done. Average now is around 4%, keep it simple and live below your means. The cash stacks up!

 

[attitude]

What’s the best HYSA? Ready online, a lot of people like Ally, right now it’s 3.6%.

 

[Cooter01]

What’s the best HYSA? Ready online, a lot of people like Ally, right now it’s 3.6%.

I use Amex, 3.70 currently. You can get better rates maybe 3.80, 3.90, yet usually they want a minimum contribution within 30-60-90 days. I very much like Amex customer service.

High Yield Savings Account Online with no Fees | Amex US

Maximize Your Savings with an American Express High Yield Savings Account. Featuring Competitive Interest Rates & No Fees. Open an Account Today!

www.americanexpress.com

 

[2Driver]

What’s the best HYSA? Ready online, a lot of people like Ally, right now it’s 3.6%.

Schwab is awesome. Lots of options to choose from, easy to move money. This isnt something you need to pay a broker a chunk out of your ass to do. Schwab MM is 4.3%. You can buy just about anything you want through them. If you need help a lot of it is free or you can hire them as well.

 

[evantwheeler]

What’s the best HYSA? Ready online, a lot of people like Ally, right now it’s 3.6%.

I read up on them last year and there were a ton of them with higher advertised interest rates that had terrible reviews about getting your money out. I chose to sign up for a promotional deal at Wells Fargo (where I have banked for 2 decades) and it was 12 months at 4.5% with $25k in new money brought in. I had just sold my boat so that qualified me with the new money. They also look at direct deposit from payroll as new money, and they gave a 30 day window to hit the new money target. Last week I was in there and I think they had a similar deal, but the rate was slightly lower and term was shorter. I think any of the big banks will have promotional offerings like this, I would go with a trusted name over a couple of tenths of a percentage point personally....