Here’s the thing about me and money: I don’t like doing things with it unless it involves 1) making more of it or 2) using it to get myself a little treat.
I have never been big on saving or investing. Historically, this has been because in my 20s and the first half of my 30s, I had a lot of consumer debt that I didn’t manage to pay off until my Etsy shop hit it big in 2020-2022. Once I was able to eliminate some credit card debt, I was able to start substantially saving for a house. Between me and my husband, we saved almost $50,000 that we put directly toward our house down payment and some much-needed renovations.
Investing, however, was still too intimidating for me. I always knew that retirement and investing accounts were something I needed to do eventually, but the picture in my head that accompanied “successful stock investor” was always a guy in an expensive suit aggressively making phone calls and snorting a white powder off his desk.
My limited vision of investing finally changed when a bunch of Redditors started getting rich off Gamestop stocks. I didn’t join in on the fun, but it did inspire me (and my husband) to spend a few weeks going down investing rabbit holes until we each opened a Fidelity account and put a little money into some index funds.
I still have my Fidelity account, but I haven’t been investing regularly because I don’t have the mental energy to make financial decisions or think about anything other than “what baby stuff do I need to buy from Target this week?” It’s still been nagging me in the back of my mind, however, because whenever I think about the women before me who weren’t allowed to make their own money, open their own credit cards, or invest in their retirement, I’m reminded that I need to do SOMETHING for future me. So many women were robbed of these opportunities so I have no right to be lazy and take my position for granted.
First things first: I am not a financial expert or advisor, just a silly little blogger who writes about things I do that work for me. With that being said, I do want to share two things that I’ve been telling my friends about who are in the same position that I was in a few years ago: they want to buy a house or save money more diligently, and they’re thinking about their financial future and retirement now that they’re pushing 40 but have no idea where to start.
Two Life-Changing Financial Moves You Can Make Right Now, No Matter How Much Money You Have
If you’re in a position where you know you need to level up your finance game but you feel overwhelmed by what you’re supposed to do, here are two of the simplest things you can do as a beginner that will make a big difference in your life:
Open a High-Yield Savings Account
High-yield savings accounts are regular savings accounts that have a higher interest rate than the one you likely have at your bank next to your checking account. I have been using Smarty Pig (I hate the name too) since 2011 and recommend it to all my friends.
I’m sure you’ve heard that federal interest rates are absurdly high right now: this is bad news if you want to buy a house or car, but it’s good news if you have a high-yield savings account. Currently, my Smarty Pig account has an interest rate of 4.25% APY. That’s the highest it’s been since I’ve had the account. If you’re saving for a house, a car, a vacation, or growing an emergency fund, there’s no reason why your money should be sitting in a regular bank savings that makes a penny per quarter when you could be making actual dollars every month with a HYSA.
It’s also beneficial to have an account that’s totally separate from your bank so it takes longer to transfer money than the instant transfer. I keep a small cushion in my bank savings just in case I need fast cash, but the vast majority of my emergency fund is in Smarty Pig.
Another fun perk to Smarty Pig is that you can create separate “buckets” for different savings goals. I have an emergency fund, a car fund for when my lease is up and I want something bigger, and a baby fund that will replace my husband’s loss of income when he takes paternity leave. We share that one, so we’re both contributing to it when we can.
There are tons of different high-yield savings accounts out there, so do your research to find one you like. Smarty Pig has some of the highest interest rates I’ve found, but I know CIT Bank is also a popular choice with high rates.
Up Next: Open an Acorns Investing Account
(Disclaimer: I am in the Acorns referral program, so if you click my link to open an account, we’ll both get a little bit of cash as a bonus. A girl’s gotta eat)
In January of this year, I finally took the recommendation of a financial blogger on Instagram and opened an Acorns investing account. Acorns focuses on what’s called micro-investing in ETFs, also known as exchange-traded funds. To do this, you link the app to your checking account and whenever you buy something, Acorns rounds the purchase up to the nearest dollar and invests that difference. So if you spend $82.50 at Target, Acorns rounds it up to $83 and puts the extra 50 cents in your investment account. It’s about as hands-off as it gets, which has allowed me to passively invest without even thinking about it.
Here are a few reasons why I recommend Acorns to all my family and friends:
Acorns manages your portfolio for you. This is a pro to some and a con to others, but I think it’s perfect for beginners who would otherwise invest nothing. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) invest your money in some of the biggest companies in the country: think Meta, Ford, Microsoft, etc. So instead of you choosing exactly where your money goes and making your own risk calculations, you let Acorns know how risky you’re feeling and how “ethical” you want your portfolio to be and they make those decisions for you. I chose moderate risk and high ethics because personally I don’t want to invest in weapons manufacturers, so my portfolio does not include those types of companies.
Acorns fees start at a flat rate of $3/month. Their fee structure is low for me, personally, because my round-up investments are frequent enough that the $36 I spend per year is practically nothing. There is also a $9/month plan which gives you more customization options for your portfolio and allows you to open other types of accounts, such as an investment account for your children.
I also used Acorns to open a Roth IRA retirement account, something I’ve intended to do for years.
Overall, this is one of the simplest ways for beginners who think investing is out of their league to passively invest based on what you’re already spending. I still have a more traditional investing account with Fidelity, but I don’t have the time or energy to make decisions on where I should put my money at any given time, so Acorns is perfect for me at this stage in life. You can read more about it and open your account with a little bonus here.
The Most Important Step: Just Get Started
These are not normally topics I talk about on this blog because I’m more knowledgeable about making money than knowing what to responsibly do with it. However, I know a lot of my readers are women who are trying to level up their financial independence in whatever season of life they’re in, so I felt it would be beneficial to write this post about two of the simplest ways you can start saving and investing right now.
The most important step: Just start DOING it. Opening up the HYSA and putting $10 in it and opening an Acorns account with automatic round-ups is better than hemming and hawing for the next 6 months because you want to research every bank on the planet before you start. You can always move your money in the future if you find something better, but there are no benefits to waiting when interest rates are this high. Make your money work for you!
Interested in making more money to save and invest? Check out some of my top posts:
How to Make and Sell Digital Products Such as Wall Art, Planners, and Coloring Pages
How to Start a Print-On-Demand Store
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