Savings and Checking Account Promotions

We’ve all heard the jokes about opening up a new savings or checking account and the cheapo “free gift” that you get for putting your trust and thousands of investable dollars with a particular banking or financial firm. How many times have you heard the free toaster thing, or the free mousepad, or free $25 CD or whatever this gimmick might be?

Well, many times the freebies that banks and financial institutions offer to get your business aren’t really all that great. Consider the fact that savings accounts, when compared to a money market account, offer a couple percentage points LESS than a money market account when it comes to interest.

Do you know how much a few percentage points of interest can mean when you’re talking about saving money for the long term? Thousands of dollars! And that’s not all, think about the principle of compound interest, where your money actually builds and builds on itself until it starts to actually compound on itself, which means it’s almost like you started off with a higher sum of money.

The thing is, savings accounts really do not make your money “work for you”. Are they liquid? Sure. Are they the most easily accessible form of liquid cash? Probably. Yes, they are good for emergency funds, but if you are looking to actually get a return on your money in the long term, please look into getting a money market!