After last week’s post about CD laddering, a number of you suggested I check out Smarty Pig, as the rates on their savings account was competitive with the CD rates I had referenced. In fact, in nearly every case, Smarty Pig’s rate (2.15% APY, at the time of this writing) was much higher.
I deposited the minimum amount there quite a while ago in preparation for a review post (that never happened) here at Frugal Dad, and was initially attracted by their high rate. Upon returning, I was surprised to see it held up in this market of low interest rates. I am also intrigued by the social aspects of the account – being able to provide friends and family with a link to pitch in towards some defined savings goal. Imagine all those heading back to school who would benefit from a “Text Book Fund” where Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents could toss in a few bucks to go towards school expenses.
Anyone currently a Smarty Pig customer? I’d love to hear from someone using the social savings goal feature there.
The Frugal Roundup
How to Survive a Job Layoff: Next Steps? One of the biggest questions those who lose a job face is the dreaded “now what?” This post provides needed information to help prepare the growing number of Americans finding themselves out of work. (@Digerati Life)
5 Best Websites for Job Seekers. Following right up with a post that should help job seekers get back to work. When out of work, it’s a great idea to make your job finding a job, and these are a good place to start outside of your personal/professional network. (@Brip Blap)
Reader Question: I’ve Lost a Lot of Money in the Market. Should I Get Out? I moved what little I had in the market to cash some time ago, but am now picking my way through a couple solid dividend stocks that I believe have been beaten down unjustly and getting back in. (@Generation X Finance)
Making Your Time Less Money Dense. I generally try to maximize my time in the following manner: when working, I try to focus on those things that are most profitable. When at home, I focus on those things that most memorable. In between, I’m focusing on spending both time and money intentionally, on those things that matter most to me. (@The Simple Dollar)
Freedom from the Day Job. Some interesting thoughts on “work” from Philip Brewer. I’m probably one of those who has been guilty of misusing the word “work” in the past. (@Wise Bread)
Best of the Rest
- Financial Goals Mid-Year Update 2010
- Market Conversation With a Coworker
- 4 Quick Mid-Year Financial Checkups
- Teaching Kids About the Value of Money
- New Bank Overdraft Rules
It’s been a while since I lobbied you to join me on Facebook, but with a little help, the Frugal Dad fan page could soon reach 1,000 fans. If you happen to be on Facebook, I’d love it if you’d stop by and say hello.
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I currently do not have a Smarty Pig account, but I am so glad I have come across the info. The interest rate is a lot better than what my credit union offers, and I like the unique aspects of it. I will be signing up soon.
I haven’t used the social aspects yet, but I’m a big fan of SmartyPig and their interest rates. I have planned to use the social feature, since my parents promised some $ toward my wife & my belated honeymoon. It’s a tough sell though, because my parents don’t do any online banking or bill payment. They just don’t trust entering their information out there. So it might take an act of God to get my father to enter his routing and accoutn numbers…
I am currently using SmartyPig to save the taxes that will be due for the Traditional IRA to Roth conversion I did this year. You have to jump through some hoops such as setting savings targets for specific goals, but it is not something that forces a change in behavior such as the requirements for these reward savings accounts(I never use a debit card and do not plan to in the future).
Just be aware, you do not have quick access to your money. You have to close a goal and then transfer it back to your account. Both of these processes take several business days so it may be a week and a half before you have access to your cash. I still do use ING for most of my savings just because I like their site and have immediate access to my funds. But long term savings should be fine here to earn a bit extra interest.
One feature some people may like is you can get your money on a gift card instead of transferring it back to your checking account and there are various percentage bonuses for doing so. I make regular purchases from Amazon and Itunes, so one of my past goals was $500 “spending money”. When I closed the goal, in addition to the regular interest paid I received an extra 4% on $450 in Amazon gift cards and 2% on $50 in Itunes cards. As long as it does not encourage people to spend on items they would not buy otherwise, it is a nice little bonus.
Thanks for clarifying the bonus features, Art. I’ve seen the mention of Amazon and iTunes specifically in advertisements, but did not understand how the rewards bonuses were earned.
My daughter is an iTunes regular; perhaps I can encourage her to save a bit here to earn a boost on her savings. It wouldn’t take much to earn another song or two, and she’s already saving the money to convert to offline iTunes gift cards.
Just remember that the gift cards are fixed dollar amounts. So, for Itunes the smallest gift card is $10 or $15 I believe. The smallest Amazon card you can select is $25. In my case, I selected the $500 in gift cards and the interest and bonus was sent back to my Orange Checking.
Thank for posting this information Art (and for the blog post as a whole Frugal Dad). Definitely interested in using Smart Piggy for gift cards – great presents if you can bump up the end amount! Would be a good idea for group presents if everyone chipped in. Will need to check it out now.
I’m intrigued by Smarty Pig. Sounds great!
I’ve been using smarty pig now for a few weeks. I like being able to setup several sub-accounts savings goals (i.e. ‘car replacement’, ‘gift giving’, ‘vacation’) and having the flexibility for auto-deposits into each on different schedules (once a month, twice a month, every 2 weeks, etc). I did run into one small speed bump with the limitation of 6 transactions from my credit union savings account. But if I use the checking account there isn’t any limitation. The interest is only posted once every quarter. One thing you have to work around is that in order to withdraw the money from smartypig, you have to stop your savings goal. So when I want to use my ‘vacation’ savings, I’ll have to stop that goal, withdraw what I need (and if I don’t need it all, I’ll have to transfer what isn’t needed to another goal first), and then setup another vacation savings goal. Also, if you hit your goal (i.e. if your ‘vacation’ savings goal is $1000 and the account hits $1000) – it will stop depositing money into that account, so you’d want to make sure you set the bar high enough so it doesn’t stop the auto-deposits unexpectedly. All in all, for me it’s still worth the little things to work around get the higher rate. They are also pretty new so I’m sure new features are still being developed.
We use Smarty Pig for our emergency fund and our tax account since both of those are normally not touched. We’ve been happy customers so far since February of this year. Michael’s comments actually pretty much hit the nail on the head for what I was going to say.
I have used Smarty Pig several times. I saved my emergency fund and am working on a Christmas fund right now. I save for Christmas last year this way also, it was great. I just transfer the money back to my checking or savings account when I have reached goal. I think you can just leave it there also though so you can still make the interest on the account. Not sure about that though, will have to check it out.
I have been usind SmartyPig to fund two zero percent interest loans I have. We got zero percent interest for 24 months on one account and I am just putting enough in the account every month to pay it off in 22 months. Collecting the interest I would be losing by sending in the payment. I swear by SmartyPig. We all would like to have more than 2.15%, but now a days, it is better than nothing. Going to start saving for another emergency fund for me and the wife.
I have a SmartPig account and love it. The savings goals are nice because I can automatically save and see if add up until I reach my goal.
The social aspect seems silly to me. I don’t think now is the best time to be asking friends for money to help me reach my goals. Nor do I want my goals to be public.
I also don’t like that once I reach my goal, I must either start a new goal or adjust my goal in order to keep saving. Once a goal is reached, automatic savings stops.
Still, these two issues are minor and I absolutely love the 2.15% interest rate. That’s significantly higher than anything else I’ve seen around.