

The second spreadsheet is shared with my partner and tracks our monthly credit-card bill. I find that by entering and tinkering with the numbers myself, rather than using an app that pulls the numbers in for me, I'm more mindful of what's coming in and going out. Instead of pulling out a calculator, I can divide those charges by 12 right in the cell to calculate my costs on a monthly basis. Some things are charged on an annual basis, like my car registration and various subscriptions - that's where the spreadsheet comes in handy. rent and internet) and average variable expenses (e.g. It lists my monthly post-tax income, minus my average fixed expenses (e.g. My cash flow spreadsheet is a guideline for my spending.

I created two spreadsheets that I use regularly: one for my overall cash flow and one for my rewards credit card. Google spreadsheets are easy to use, customize, and share with others. I'm old school when it comes to tracking my money and making a budget. Ally also displays my progress over time in charts. I've set percentages that dictate how I want any deposits to be allocated between my buckets, and prioritized which accounts to pull from when I make withdrawals or transfers. With buckets, my savings is separated into emergencies, vacations, and more, and accessible from the same, easy-to-use dashboard. Then Ally debuted "buckets," which enables savers to open sub-accounts and nickname them for specific goals. Initially I opened multiple accounts (a task completed in less than a minute) and set up automatic transfers from my paycheck and checking account. Ally makes it really easy to save for different financial goals. The rate steadily rose from there, to a high of about 2.20% in 2019, before dropping back down today.Ī high interest rate is nice, but it's not the most important thing. At the time, the annual percentage yield (APY) was around 1%, which meant my money would earn at least 10 times more than in a regular savings account. Out of sight, out of mind.Īfter hearing colleagues rave about Ally Bank, I opened a high-yield savings account there in 2017. I discovered early into adulthood that in order to build a proper emergency fund - a savings account that I wouldn't just dip into if I wanted extra "walking around money," as my grandparents would say - then I had to keep it separate from my checking account.
