Do you give your online savings account a nickname? Well, you should! Giving your account a name is a surefire way to help you reach your savings goal. At first, this sounds too simple or even a little hokey, but the psychology of the trick works. Naming your savings account brings a feeling of guilt if you try to dip into it for something other than the financial goal it was created for.
Naming Your Online Savings Accounts Keeps Your Focus
Naming your online savings accounts helps you keep your eyes on the prize so to speak. It is fairly easy to dip into your savings without thinking of the consequences if the account is not earmarked against a specific financial goal that you have set. But, it is a lot harder to swipe money out of a high yield saving account when you look at your online bank statement and see the words “Family Vacation To Disney World” with a balance next to it instead of the simple heading of savings account. Naming your account helps you mentally reinforce your commitment to your family’s financial goals. It may be purely psychological, but it will make you stop and think before you raid that account. Giving your savings account a nickname may be just the trick you need to keep you on track.
Nickname Your Savings Account As A Budgeting Tool
Another added benefit of selecting a nickname for your savings account is that you can use this feature and multiple savings accounts as a way to help you budget. Most people struggle with budget and sticking to a budget every month. It does not help the fact that some bills such as insurance or property taxes are only paid semiannually or annually. Budgeting for these items can be a nightmare that you may often overlook because these bills are due so infrequently. But, you can fight the urge not to include them in your family’s budget by giving them their own high yield savings account with its own nickname, such as “car property taxes”. While this may not be the sexiest name to give a savings account, it will help reinforce the need to save for this yearly event every month. You can even set up automatic transfers into this account every month. Budgeting with savings account that you nicknamed can help you stay on target for many of the items in your family’s budget.
Banks Let You Give Your Online Savings Account A Name
Almost all online banks allow you to create either multiple savings accounts or subaccounts. ING Direct lets users create multiple ING Direct subaccounts quickly and easily and give them any name that you choose. Look for a bank, such as ING Direct, that does not require you to keep a minimum deposit level in your account. Then you can set up as many separate online savings accounts or subaccounts as you need depending on how many financial goals you have. Do you have a vacation coming up? Are you saving for a new iPad2? These are just a few great ideas for financial goals that can benefit by having their own name on a savings account.
Using a nickname for an online savings account can be a great reminder of why you are saving money in the first place. It serves as a reminder reinforcing your savings goals. Have you ever named one of your online savings accounts? Do you name them simply after a financial goal or do you have other creative names you give the accounts? I’d love to hear what works for you. Let us know in the comment section.
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Good tip Hank! One more thing to note is to find out how the sub account is created. If it is created as another account and you don’t use it for a year, the bank can disable the account due to inactivity.
If the account is ‘virtual’ like ING Direct’s then the activity on the main account applies towards virtual accounts.
Something to be aware of.
well i’ve never seen that way – but yes, it does sound more precise when you break it up into different savings acct for different purposes. thanks!
I like this idea…I can think of all kinds of all kinds of names. My kids would probably opt for the name “meow-meow”. This is what they named the cat that shows up every day at our house for cat treats.
That’s a good idea, esp. if you are saving for a particular thing. We just call ours “emergency fund” and leave it alone. Maybe we’re just too busy to be more creative…
I use PNC Virtual Wallet, which allows me to create named sections within my savings account, then set a target amount for each section. Right now I have one for Christmas, a vacation in 2012, my friend fund (it’s a thing I’m doing on the blog to save $1 for every person who subscribes or follows me), emergency fund, and my Jayden fund (saving for my son). Had an iPad fund but I finally saved enough to buy it!
I like having a purpose for every dollar I save. If the money is just sitting there, it’s too tempting to move it to checking and spend it. This way, I know exactly why it’s there, how much more I need, and how many months I have to reach my goal. It’s the only way I’ve ever been able to save money.
I remember when I discovered account nicknames. It completely changed the way I budget. I have about 8 checking accounts setup, each with a nickname. It’s basically a modified envelope system. My paycheck gets direct-deposited into my main checking account. On the 1st and 15th of the month money is transferred directly from main checking into the other checking accounts and into my savings and investment accounts. Without the nicknames it would be impossible for me to keep track of which account is which. It’s incredibly convenient and I recommend it highly to anyone that’s having trouble figuring out where their money actually goes.
My savings account nickname is “Ferrari” because I want to save up for a Ferrari!!!
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