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4 smart savings moves to make this September
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Higher-rates on short-term CDs, prolonged periods of high-yield savings account interest rates and other increases in a high-rate environment have offered savers multiple options for maximizing their returns recently.
However, today’s advantageous rates may decrease later in September if the Federal Reserve follows through with anticipated interest rate cuts. Typically, when the Federal Reserve increases or decreases rates, other financial institutions follow suit.
As the economy prepares for yet another shift, we spoke to three financial experts who’ve identified four ways you can make the most of your savings to support your future goals.
Start by seeing how much more you could be earning with a high-yield savings account here.
4 smart savings moves to make this September
Depending on your financial situation, one or more of these savings strategies can help you maximize your returns:
Keep funds liquid for homebuying
With the anticipated Federal Reserve rate cuts in September, mortgage interest rates may drop again. Many prospective homebuyers will take advantage of these rates. Others, however, cannot immediately afford a mortgage with current home prices.
Nick Strain, a senior wealth advisor at Halbert Hargrove, recommends that future homebuyers keep their funds liquid, yet growing, with a high-yield savings account or a high-yield money market account instead of CDs.
“I suggest this strategy instead of buying 3- or 6-month CDs or Treasuries,” he says. “Currently, an investor typically won’t earn much more in these accounts than in a high-yield savings account.”
Alternatively, another option for prospective homebuyers who want to increase their opportunities for long term savings without tying up all of their funds is to split your funds between a CD and a high-yield savings account.
Learn more about your CD and savings options here now.
Maximize 401(k), IRA and Roth IRA contributions
One challenge adults may face when planning for their financial future is identifying how to make the most of their limited income. Thankfully, even small amounts of money can work in your favor over time.
“Maximizing contributions should be your first step,” says Vanessa N. Martinez, CEO and managing partner of Expressive Wealth, who suggests contributing to your 401(k) plan initially, before contributing to your IRA or Roth IRA.
“Not all retirement savings needs to be in a retirement account; building a brokerage account where you can set up automatic deposits to dollar cost average into the market is a great idea,” she says.
Invest in savings options for young children
As more parents support their older children as they endure economic hardship, parents of younger children may be curious about the most effective way to save for their child’s future. Martinez mentions that there are multiple ways to grow a young child’s savings account. The three that her clients tend to choose are:
- 529 plans: These are savings accounts intended for future education costs.
- Roth IRAs: These are individual retirement account in which you pay taxes on contributions.
- Gift trusts: These are trusts designed to transfer wealth between generations while reducing the need to pay tax on amounts or values that exceed the annual gift tax exclusion.
Manage inheritance slowly and methodically
No matter the value, any sum of money has the potential to help you reach your financial goals, but inheritance can help.
Senior wealth advisor at Aline Wealth, Michele Pasqualina, encourages inheritors to first recognize their initial financial goals and consider how an inheritance might change them. She suggests:
- Defining short, medium, and long term financial goals.
- Working with financial advisors, accountants, and attorneys develop savings strategies.
- Paying off interest-bearing debt and max-out retirement contributions.
- Investing in tax-free or tax-preferred options that maximize returns with minimum tax expenses.
The bottom line
Money saving strategies can only assist you in achieving your financial goals when used responsibly. The experts we’ve spoken to highlight a fact all savers must understand: there is no one-size-fits-all approach to growing your savings account.
Whether your current financial needs are best suited to a high-yield savings account or if a CD is a better long term investment, compare the best savings account options this September to see which rates you qualify for.
TRENTON, N.J. — Democratic Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver has defeated Republican small businessman Carmen Bucco in a contest in New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District that opened up because of the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. in April.
McIver will serve out the remainder of Payne’s term, which ends in January. She and Bucco will face a rematch on the November ballot for the full term.
McIver said in a statement Wednesday that she stands on the “shoulders of giants,” naming Payne as chief among them.
She cast ahead to the November election, saying the right to make reproductive health choices was on the ballot as well as whether the economy should benefit the wealthy or “hard working Americans.”
“I will fight because the purpose of politics and the purpose of our vote is to give the people of our communities and our nation a bold voice,” she said.
Bucco congratulated McIver on the victory in a statement but said he’s looking forward to the rematch in November.
“I am not going anywhere,” he said in an email. “We still have a second chance to make district 10 great again!”
Who are LaMonica McIver and Carmen Bucco?
McIver emerged as the Democratic candidate in a crowded field in the July special election. A member of the city council of New Jersey’s biggest city since 2018, she also worked for Montclair Public Schools as a personnel director and plans to focus on affordability, infrastructure, abortion rights and “protecting our democracy,” she told The Associated Press earlier this summer.
Bucco describes himself on his campaign website as a small-business owner influenced by his upbringing in the foster system. He lists support for law enforcement and ending corruption as top issues.
The 10th District lies in a heavily Democratic and majority-Black region of northern New Jersey. Republicans are outnumbered by more than 6 to 1.
It’s been a volatile year for Democrats in New Jersey, where the party dominates state government and the congressional delegation.
Among the developments were the conviction on federal bribery charges of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who has denied the charges, and the demise of the so-called county party line — a system in which local political leaders give their preferred candidates favorable position on the primary ballot.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who’s running for Menendez’s seat, and other Democrats brought a federal lawsuit challenging the practice as part of his campaign to oust Menendez, who has resigned since his conviction.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs at same Brooklyn detention center that held R. Kelly, Sam Bankman-Fried, other high-profile inmates
A second judge refused to grant bail to Sean “Diddy” Combs on Wednesday and he could remain in federal custody at a Brooklyn detention center until his trial for sex trafficking charges. Combs joins other high-profile inmates, such as singer R. Kelly, fallen cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, rapper Ja Rule —even Al Sharpton served a brief stint— who were held at the same federal detention center.
Notorious for its horrible conditions —inmates won a $10 million class action settlement after enduring frigid conditions during an 8-day blackout in 2019— the waterfront industrial complex, MDC Brooklyn, houses 1,200 inmates.
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Violence and corruption have long plagued the facility; U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown of the Eastern District of New York wrote the detention center had “dangerous, barbaric conditions” in a recent sentencing opinion. Two inmates were stabbed to death in recent months and several correction officers have been convicted for smuggling contraband and accepting bribes.
Combs joins a list of high-profile personalities that have landed at the MDC Brooklyn, partly because the city’s other federal detention center, MDC New York, closed in 2021, also due to horrible conditions. The disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in his cell there in 2019. “Numerous and serious” instances of misconduct among corrections staff gave Epstein the opportunity to kill himself, a subsequent federal watchdog investigation found.
Kelly sued the federal detention center in 2022 for wrongly putting him on suicide watch after his sentencing. Kelly sought $100 million because he said the detention center knew he wasn’t suicidal after he was convicted in 2021 for racketeering and violating the Mann Act, which bars transporting people across state lines for prostitution.
Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Former crypto billionaire Bankman-Fried survived on bread, water and sometimes peanut butter when he was in the MDC Brooklyn, his attorney said, because the detention center continued to serve him a “flesh diet” despite requests for vegan dishes.
Ja Rule stayed at the MDC Brooklyn for a brief time before being released after serving most of his two-year sentence for illegal gun possession. Most of his prison time was spent in a state prison in New York.
Sharpton served a 90-day sentence in 2001 and went on a hunger strike for protesting the U.S. Navy bombing of the island of Vieques, in Puerto Rico.
Combs was taken into custody on Monday and according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday he was charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution.
His attorney Marc Agnifilo told CBS News, “It’s impossible to prepare for a trial from where he is,” after a first federal judge denied Combs bail on Tuesday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky agreed with prosecutors who argued the hip-hop mogul, who is accused of using his business empire as a criminal enterprise to conceal his alleged abuse of women, is a flight risk and poses an ongoing threat to the safety of the community.
Agnifilo said the part of the detention center where Combs is being held is “a very difficult place to be.”
contributed to this report.
