By Kelly Ernst, CBS MoneyWatch featuring Shane Cummings, CFP®AIF®, Wealth Advisor & Director of Technology/Cybersecurity

Savings are a critical part of any financial plan. Without them, any number of setbacks or unexpected expenses can throw you into a tailspin it takes years to recover from.

“Things are going to happen,” says William Thompson, CFP and financial planner at Valor Wealth Partners, LLC. “Whether it’s job loss, an appliance needs replacing or the car breaks down, you need to have funds that can be tapped into quickly to respond to these issues without having to use high-interest credit cards.”

Savings accounts provide a safe place to store your money for a rainy day, while also enabling you to earn more in the form of interest. How much more depends on several factors, including what type of account you open and where rates currently stand. Read on to learn what today’s saving account rates are — and how you can secure the best one.

View top savings accounts here to see how much more you could be earning.

What are today’s savings interest rates?

The national average savings account interest rate is 0.25% as of June 1, 2023, according to Bankrate. You can earn exponentially more than that by opening a high-yield savings account, however. Bankrate reports that today’s top high-yield savings account rates are between 3.85% and 4.85%. And if you shop around you may find an account that offers an even higher rate than that.

How to get a good savings account rate

Whatever the current rate environment, here’s how you can secure the best rate available.

Choose a high-yield savings account

When it comes to earning as much interest as possible, high-yield savings accounts are the clear winner. They typically offer rates up to 15 times higher than regular savings accounts, which can add up fast.

For example, suppose you deposit $1,000 into a savings account at 0.25%. After 12 months, you’ll have earned only $2.50 in interest. But put that money into a high-yield account at 4.85%, and you’d earn $48.49 over the same period. And since interest compounds, this difference can really balloon over time.

Look at online banks

Many of today’s top high-yield savings accounts are offered by online banks. These banks have fewer overhead costs than brick-and-mortar banks since they don’t have any physical locations. They pass those savings on to you by offering high interest rates and other perks, such as low or no fees.

“For anyone that thinks they don’t have enough to save, many top accounts typically start with a $1 minimum, which is not a high bar to meet. Often they also don’t have any monthly fees, so there should not be any serious obstacles, even if someone were only looking to save less than $100 a month in an online savings account,” says Shane Cummings, CFP, CEPA, AIF, wealth advisor and the Director of Technology/Cybersecurity at Halbert Hargrove.

Plus, online accounts are quick to set up and easy to use.

“The account opening process for most of [these] banks is also very streamlined and can be done online in a matter of minutes, which is much better than walking into a bank branch and going through a much slower process in person,” says Cummings.

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