SmartyPig Provides Plugins and Widgits for a variety of social media apps.
As long as I can recall, I’ve had a savings account. My babysitting money or my birthday money went there and sat.
Later, it became my “Just in case a check bounces” fund.
Now it’s the “major auto repair, tow bill or gigantic medical bill” fund. The sad thing is, I’m not very good at discerning planned but not budgeted expenses from emergency expenses. Well, that is to say, I wasn’t. I’ve gotten much better.
At the beginning of the year I discovered Smarty Pig
Smartypig.com is about the easiest, smartest and cutest savings method I’ve ever seen! Smartypig allows you to set a goal, and save towards it automatically. For instance, we just adopted our daughter, but there was one bill left to pay–the legal fees for her “readoption” in America. I set up a SmartyPig account and told SmartyPig the date that I would like to have saved the money by (August 2008) and it calculated that I needed to save $13 a month.
Opening a SmartyPig account requires an inital balance of $25, so it automatically withdrew $25 and then $13 every month thereafter until my goal was met.
The Account is completely free and offers very high interest rates for a standard savings account. As of this writing it’s at 2.78%, though it was higher when I first started saving. Another thing about SmartyPig is that it’s completely free.
Say you’re saving $1200 for a fancy computer or an entertainment system? You can cash out your goal with a SmartyPig preferred provider and get the money on a gift card with an extra percentage thrown in. Saving up for hunting gear? I noticed that Cabellas’ throws in another 3% towards your purchase. Cool beans!
If you’re still nervous about online banking, you don’t have anything to fear with SmartyPig. They’re tested daily and backed by the 115-year-old institution West Bank (NASDAQ: WTBA).
We’ve saved for and met two goals now with SmartyPig, and just today I began our emergency fund savings account (which we expect to fully-fund by May, but I extended the date out to keep inital deposits low).
SmartyPig is especially smart about it’s customer service. Their telephones are always promptly answered by a live person, with a domestic accent. They’re helpful and patient. SmartyPig has even answered questions via twitter (Follow @Smartypig). Their social media features include Web and Facebook widjits and buttons that you can share. You can even share contributions for a fund (Sally’s ballet lessons and the grandparents want to chip in? You can send an invitation for them to contribute.)
SmartyPig’s message and mission are both fresh and cheerful. The site is easy to use and the company provides excellent customer service, a great product and no fee. If you aren’t saving–here’s the way to start!
