She's On The Money - The Top 5 Best Savings Accounts Right Now!

Episode Date: December 19, 2023

We all love an end of year best of list, so today on the show join Victoria and Bec as they chat about the top 5 best savings accounts available right now! Victoria also shares valuable insights on the different types of savings accounts out there, how they work and everything you need to know to slay your new year savings goals!  Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements.The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, my name is Natasha Nabanunga-Bamblett. I'm a proud Yorta Yorta, Kernai, Wolperi and Awadjeri woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on Awadjeri country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through. As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it. She's on the money. She's on the money.

hello and welcome to she's on the money the podcast of people who want financial freedom my name is beck syed and victoria divine do you know what i love most about end of year The parties. That is, that's probably top of the list. But speaking of list. It doesn't work for the content that you're trying to create here. Unfortunately. Okay, I'm so sorry.

Bec, wow. What do you look forward to most? Perfect. If we could be a little bit more robotic next time. I thought that was very organic. No, that was perfect. That was perfect. What do you look forward to the most, Bec?

I love a list of like best ofs of like the year, et cetera, et cetera. Oh, I love a list. Like, I don't know, do you use Notion at work? I've heard about Notion, but I haven't. I'm obsessed with Notion. Yeah, okay. If I can put it on a list in Notion, it is on a list in Notion. Like, I'm actually obsessed with lists.

Maybe I'll download it. Like, lists for everything. My Christmas list. I've written every single baby list you can think of. So, like, a list for all the baby essentials, but then all the baby nice-to-haves but not essentials but in the middle, and then all the baby luxuries. Like, we've broken them all up because I'm like,

everyone's got so much to say. Yes. I love a list. I love a list. A to-do list. you can cross stuff off that you've already done. Yes, true. And then you feel really productive. It feels really good. Sometimes I put things in there that I forgot to put in, but I actually have done it. That's what I do. And then I cross it off. It'll be like, do washing. And I'll be

like, sorry, washing machine. I'm a genius. Look at this long list that I have now completed. It feels really good. But what type of lists are we talking about, Bec, that you're super in love with today? Okay. So I'm thinking like it's kind of an all-rounder. It's like at the end of the year, we're thinking about our finances, thinking about our New Year's resolutions. We're thinking about all of those kind of things. So I guess like today, I'm mainly wanting to know about, oh, well, let's talk finances. Yeah. I feel like you guys came here to learn about finances, not baby lists. Yeah. Do you feel like that's something that is in your wheelhouse?

I don't know. I feel like this podcast, she's on the money. It's not she's on the baby list, but that is actually the garden path I led you down. I said, do you like lists? You said, I love lists. But I don't know how enamored you're going to be with this list, but I know the rest of the community is going to be. So today I thought that I would talk about the top five best savings accounts right now. So we've done the research, Bec. I have gone and looked absolutely everything up, done a little comparison. Don't worry, we'll obviously post this on Instagram so you don't need to whip out a pen and paper to remember it all. We've got your back. Made another list, just sent it to our graphic designer. Oh, yeah. God, she's good. But today we're going to be

talking about the top five best savings accounts. I actually can't wait for this. But before we do get to the list, V, I'd like to ask a few things. And this may be super obvious, but can you define a savings account? I feel like this is a good one. Because like lots of people will be like, but isn't like my normal bank account, my savings account, because that's where I keep my savings. Makes sense. No. Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. Oh.

Wrong? Okay. A savings account is a specific type of financial account that is opened with a financial institution. So a lot of people go, oh, that's banks, but it could be like a credit union or something. It's not just banks that offer savings account for the point of saving money rather than spending it. So you would know this as kind of like a transactional account. So that's usually where all your pay goes into.

Right. And then you might transfer money from your pay to a specific savings account. So the idea of a savings account is to easily deposit money on a regular basis to earn monthly interest that then allows our savings to grow even further, which is, let's be honest, very sexy. That's very nice. Very, very nice. Not bad at all. Usually savings accounts don't come with debit cards because they don't want you to spend it too easily. That makes sense.

Yeah. So, Bec, another major benefit of all savings accounts in Australia that are ADIs. So an ADI is an Authorized Deposit-Taking Institution, and so a bank or a credit union would have to register with the government to become an ADI. You don't just automatically become one, right? So an Authorized Deposit-Taking Institution, Bec, is an institution. It could be a credit union, could be one of the big four banks, it could be any other bank, but they're registered with the government, and that means they're protected by what's

called the FCS. So that's the Financial Claims Scheme, which is a government-backed safety net for deposits of up to $250,000 per account holder. So other investments, they're not covered under this same scheme, but essentially it means, Bec, you can stress less if you've got, like, let's say, you know, three grand in your savings account and you're like, but what happens if the bank fails and crashes? Oh, yes.

Well, it's okay because the government guarantees it and you'll get your money back. Really? If you're a baller and you have more than $250,000 in that account, it means they will essentially guarantee up to $250,000, not per account per person. So let's say you're a big dog and you've got $1.5 million in your savings accounts, but you have multiple accounts, but they're with the same institution. So they're all with the same bank. They will only still guarantee up to $250,000. I have seen people who are a little bit anxious though. They go,

I'm going to break this up. If I've got $250,000 here at one bank, then I'm going to go get bank B. yeah then your five hundred thousand dollars is guaranteed that works okay that's gonna be my next question her institution her account holder not her account if that makes sense you can't just open another bank account and put the other 250 in there i mean these are really rich people problems like really unrelatable but i want you to be able to understand what that actually means yes if it came up you know totally yeah i don't know why i'm so invested in this like i'm like this is something but i want to know what rich people are doing with their money how are they breaking it up, right? Yeah, you've got to protect that stuff. I know. I love that. Okay, so V,

are there different types of savings accounts? Yes, it's so fun. Okay. So there are a number of different types. I'll go through them. So first we've got online savings accounts, then we've got bonus interest savings accounts, then we've got high interest savings accounts, then we've got introductory interest savings accounts, and I will round it up with term deposits, which you would have heard of before, right? Yes. So I'm not going to like harp on and on and on about each of these, but an online savings account is essentially an account that is available online via the web or via an app. And it means that you can't go into a bank or a financial institution in person to access your funds, make a deposit or ask any questions. A

really great example of this, very popular here in Australia, ING. They just don't have physical stores, but they're an online banking institution. Does that mean that they are less than? No. It It just means they don't have physical stores for you to go into, which for some people is really important. Sure. Most commonly, these online savings accounts have a standard interest rate, which at the time of this podcast being dropped is around 4.2%. Okay.

It's pretty sexy because do you remember when no one was getting any interest on their accounts maybe like two years ago? Yeah, I remember it being like 0.05 or something. One of the best things. So this is not the best thing for me. I have a mortgage. You do not. So in this circumstance, you are the winner here, my friend.

Thank you. But whenever you hear that the cash rate is going up and people are like, oh my gosh, the mortgage rate is going up, so do your savings accounts. So if you're saving for your first home or you've just got some savings to the side, that's actually going to be benefited by the cash rate increasing because the bank is now going to start paying a high interest rate to you. And that's when we want to have our eyes peeled and go, is there a better deal on offer here? I can't believe.

Who else could I talk to? Yeah, I cannot believe that no one knows about that. I feel like some people do and take advantage of it. But when you're, you know, sitting in essentially your chair, Bec, you would have heard all of these negative money stories going around the media right now. Like, everyone's screwed, the interest rates are going up, what are we going to do? Well, actually, if you're in a circumstance where you just have some savings and you don't have the overheads of a mortgage or like a property or any type of debt that you're repaying,

you're actually in a pretty good position to recheck your savings account because you should be making sure that you're getting some money for the money that you've invested. That's very good to know. The next is bonus interest savings accounts. So while these are quite similar to the online savings accounts, bonus interest savings accounts offer their account holders what we call bonus interest for meeting certain criteria. So you've got to be careful because sometimes they'll just look like an online savings account and you'll be like, oh my gosh, I love this. The interest rates like 5% or whatever, but you actually have to deposit a certain amount per month into that

account to access that bonus. That's how they get you. You would have seen this before, right? Yeah. So the criteria is definitely going to vary depending on the banking institution and the account that you've decided to open. Like some are, I guess, age related. You need to be under a certain age or over a certain age or have like maximum deposits. So if they're offering a very sexy interest rate back, they might be like, yeah, okay, like we'll give that to you. Max 100 grand though, because like we're not going to give you millions of dollars for this. So just be aware of those things. But they also usually have, as I mentioned before, a minimum deposit each month and or a certain number of transactions that you need to meet to get that bonus interest. So you've

just got to be aware. Is that Dodge, Bec? No, not at all. It's actually just their criteria for paying it out. I think a lot of people will be like, well, why are they introducing criteria? And it's like, because obviously they want to attract you to their product, but they also want to make sure it's financially feasible. Like you are actually going to get that. Yeah. And they're actually going to have a client using the account. Yes.

And actually depositing money on a regular basis into that account. So that makes sense. But by meeting that criteria, you'll receive a base interest rate in addition to the bonus rate. So for example, the base rate might be very low. might be like 0.5% or something like that. Or the bonus interest rate could be as high at the time of recording, Bec, like 5.1%, which is very, very sexy. Therefore, the total would then be 5.15% if you meet the criteria. And then if you don't, you'll only like default back down

to that 0.05%. Obviously a rate that can be much lower than if you just go on and opened like an online savings account. So if you're seeing the shiny number of like, oh, this bonus interest savings account looks really good because I can get 5.15% because, you know, the one we talked about before was 4.2. Totally. You'd be like, well, I want the higher interest rate. Can you meet the criteria consistently? Or would it just be better to have just a standard online savings account, get that 4.2% like basically guaranteed? Does that make sense? Yeah. So I guess if you're like not guaranteed to be able to transfer or like meet the criteria every month or whatever it is.

And that's like me leading you down the garden path to once again go, I am licensed to give you general advice. Yes. This is why it is so important to understand the differences because do you know how many people slide into my DMs and they go, Vae, what's the best savings account? Yeah. I wish I could tell you what the best is and we'll go through like the top five. Yeah.

But the best for you, Bec, might actually be, you know, the bonus interest savings account because you do make those regular deposits. But for your best friend Liv, she might not be making those regular deposits and the online standard savings account is going to just be better bang for her buck and work better. Totally. Is one better than the other? No, it's going to depend on your criteria and your ability to meet that criteria. Does that make sense?

That makes so much sense. So like you can't just get what your bestie's got because it sounded good. Yeah. It might not work. That's why we've got to do our own research. Yeah, I love that. But I did it for you, so keep listening. Thank you.

The next is a high interest savings account. I feel like that one sounds the sexiest to me. Sounds so far so good. So far so good. Let me tell you, let me tell you. So high interest savings accounts are again similar to bonus interest rate accounts because of the high interest rate that you're able to achieve if you use them properly. Sure.

However, with high interest savings accounts, you are guaranteed this interest rate without having to meet the monthly criteria. Very nice. This means there'll be one total interest rate that you'll earn each and every single month without having to make a certain amount of transactions or limit your number of withdrawal. So Beck, with this one, you might be going, all right, well, the high interest savings account, that just sounds a lot like your online savings account. You are absolutely correct. However, this could be at a physical branch as well as being online. So your online savings account, let's just hypothetically call it ING, not an endorsement, just giving you a good example. It's ING. That could actually be

constituted as a high interest savings account, but it's only available online. So we're changing the rate of that. Obviously, when they're in-person, in-person companies, in-person businesses, more expensive to run back. So you're usually going to see a lower interest rate. So instead of seeing something like 4.2, you might be like seeing 3.5 to, you know, 4.2, but they might not be as stable as an online bank. An online bank is always, from my research, going to have the ability to give you a higher interest rate for a longer period of time because they have less overheads and that's their like main attraction, right? Like everybody loves ING, one, because the barefoot investor was their biggest fan, but two, because of the ease of access and the lower fees

that are associated. Yes. I was going to say, because this sounded great, great, great. I was like, where's the catch now? Usually it's just with a quote, more expensive institution and therefore you might get less back. Does that mean that it's not a high interest savings account? No, it's still a high interest savings account. And you know what? Some of them could have, oh hey beck we're going to give you five percent if you sign up with us now but you often see in person banks they will limit the period of time that you have that so for someone like ing they obviously hold the right to change it at any point but you know you might go to an anz and they'll say for the first six months and they'll be a lot clearer about what those parameters look like

just good to know does it mean that one's worse than the other no again it's about what works for you. And that's, Bec, where we lead into the second last type of savings account that I want to talk about, and that's that introductory interest savings account. So if you're willing to change your savings account on a semi-regular basis, you could say, an introductory interest savings account could actually be a good option for you. The accounts offer much higher introductory interest rates than, I guess, what you'd call the market average. However, they usually only last for about four months before reverting back to a base level. So you've just got to read the terms and conditions. This is where it pays back. Because I know if I asked you, let's be honest,

I know you well enough to be a little bit candid. If I said, Bec, do you read the terms and conditions? What are you going to say? Definitely not. But why? Is it because you're like, I don't get it. It's not worth my time. It's not worth the energy. I guess I've never read a single TNC in my life. And I figure, why would I start now? even though it's something more important like money let's be honest like if apple's like oh we've updated our terms and conditions i'm not jumping online to be like no no they're like click here to read it and i'm like yep yep and then they're like click this button i read and understood the terms and conditions on it straight away i would wonder i would love to see the

statistics of quote how long it took each person to read that document yes because like i'm sure that they have the tracking on the back end to go, oh, you know, Beck's Terms and Conditions, we sent her that update. Oh, look, she opened it. 0.2 seconds later, she had already read and agreed to the Terms and Conditions. Very fast reader. Like that's the biggest lie ever told. Yes, I've definitely read the Terms and Conditions. Anyway, but what I want you to do in these circumstances, because it's financially beneficial to you, is just have a look at the T's and C's. They will be in plain layman English. It won't be confusing, I promise. I think a lot of us don't do it, especially when it comes to banking and

financial services products, because it's overwhelming. You're like, I don't know what this is. Like, I don't really want to have to go through it. But I promise they'll say introductory rate of, you know, 5% for first four months, then we'll revert back to 0.5%. Sure. So you actually know what you're signing up for. Because if you don't want to have to change your bank account again in six months, probably not the product for you, Bec. I guess if like, and this is probably a really silly thing to say because it depends on the person. It's not. It's absolutely not.

Well, I was going to say like personally, I would be going for an introductory one. Yeah. After four months, be like, bye, and go to a different one that is like. We've got to put the work in. You've got to put the work in though. You've got to put the work in. And also it depends on. How many of us say we're going to put the work in and then don't?

I see this in the credit card space. because how many people have done zero dollar transfers or balance transfers of their credit card to another credit card and they're like, I'm going to smash this out of the water because now it's zero percent. Yes. Do they do it? No. Then they revert back to the higher interest rate and I'm like, I don't want to be a Debbie Downer. I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but I can't be trusted, which means that a lot of you can't be trusted either. So we just need to be honest and go, V, would you actually in six months do that? And I'll be like, I mean, if you forced me to, I'd probably do it.

Sure. But. If you happen to remember, happen to be in a productive mood on the day that you remember. Like my ADHD is going to go do the list today of what the best bank account is. And then I'm going to transfer to it. And I'm going to get the motivation today to change it later down the track. I've already forgotten, babe. I'm looking at something else.

But that's okay. because if you looked at like someone like Jessica Ricci yeah she's a wizard she definitely keeps up with stuff like that she puts reminders in her calendar of like what time of the year to check these things and like transfer them she is who we all want to be when it comes to money but this is like a do as I say not as I do kind of podcast sure you know so anyway moving on from introductory interest rate savings accounts to term deposits you would have heard of a term deposit I talk about it a bit more when we're talking about, I guess, investing because it involves a bit more of a time commitment. So a term deposit differs slightly from a savings account on the premise

that you actually can't make withdrawals from a term deposit until your quote term or the time limit has ended. Whereas other savings accounts, they allow you to make withdrawals as necessary. Don't get me wrong, Bec, you will be able to actually withdraw your money in an emergency if it's in a term deposit, but you forfeit the money that you earned. So you would, they would say, oh, well that 5%, you don't get that because you terminated the contract early. And that's part of it, right? So the benefit of having money in a term deposit means it's locked away, which works very well for someone like me, out of sight, out of mind, can't touch it, with a fixed interest rate paid out either at the end of the term or on a monthly or annual basis, depending on how you've

chosen. Usually a term deposit does require a minimum deposit. So they might go, oh, you have to have a minimum of five grand in this account, which in Australia, the usual deposit is between five and $10,000 for a term deposit. The term period can then range from a few months to many, many years. And obviously the longer your term is for, that usually correlates to a high interest rate being paid. It's like if you were to lock in a term deposit for three months, they're going to go, well, it's not very long, is it, Bec? We'll give you, you know, 3%. But if you would like to give us your money for a year, now we're talking. Does that make sense? That does make sense, but I'm so confused as to like what the benefit for the holder is. Like, you know what I mean?

It's a safer way to make money. So I don't want to say safer. It's a more conservative way to make money. So if we go back to, you know, the investment episodes, if you haven't listened to them, go and have a listen to them. They are really, really important. We did like a mini series with Sharesies, which I think was really, really powerful. And I'm quite proud of that work, to be honest. But you might be somebody who's not ready to bite the bullet with investing, Bec. But you go, I still have like $10,000 or $15,000 sitting here. I'm not going to use that. It might be for a house deposit. It might actually just be your life savings that you're like, well, I'm never going to touch it. It's not your emergency fund, by the way. We do not put

our emergency funds in term deposits, do we, Bec? No. By the way, I'm looking at you. You're like, oh, I knew that. I just learned that right now, which is very different to an emergency fund. An emergency fund is a certain amount of money that you have allocated to be able to access in an emergency. And I want to talk about that because so many of you will go, well, it's not working for me, is it? Like if you're saying that I can get 5% back on my money, I may as well lock it in a term deposit. It's not being used right now. No, no, no. You need to be able to access your emergency fund in an emergency by just going up to an ATM. If you cannot do that, it is not in the right place. And that money is working for you, but it's not maybe working for

money for you. It's working on your mental health and making sure you're financially secure and in an okay position. Like to me, an emergency fund, it doesn't actually have to be making money. When I was a bit younger and didn't have a mortgage, my emergency fund was in an online savings account. Didn't have a debit card, but I knew that in an emergency, I could jump on my phone, transfer the money to my transaction account and use it on my debit card if I needed to pay for anything. Sure. Now I have a mortgage. My emergency fund is sitting in an offset account to my mortgage because that just makes financial sense for me. Sure. I could go on and on about emergency funds. And I have. In like the last five years of podcasting. She loves an emergency fund.

I adore an emergency fund. But when it comes to a term deposit, it could just be that happy medium between you're not ready to invest, but you also want your money working harder for you than it currently is and getting a bit of return, but you're also maybe not ready to dip your toes in the water when it comes to investing. You might choose a term deposit so that at least the money that you've made is now making some money, even if it's less. Does that make sense? That does make sense. It's a bit more of a secure, I would say, investment. Okay. That is good to know. But I'm also curious about the actual bank. Why is it good for them?

How are they making money out of this? I love this question. Okay. So banks make money by you putting your money into their bank account, right? And that doesn't make sense. But what do you think they do with that money? They lend it to people who want mortgages and loans. Oh.

So they're lending your money out. And as much as you probably didn't know this and the banks are going to go, no, no, no, we don't touch individuals like savings accounts. You've always got access to it. That is true. But their funds under management, so the total amount of money that they have in their kitty, essentially, the more that they have, the more they can lend out. And right now, while interest rates are going up, the banks are like essentially cacking their dacks a little bit, Bec, because

they're going to need some more money because people who are in debt are maybe not making their repayments. So it makes sense to go, oh, Bec, we're going to entice you a little bit. If you put more money in your bank account, obviously your 10 grand is not going to change the world. But if all the Becs in Australia are now putting more money into their bank account, that bank is more financially secure. So if you look at what it costs to get a mortgage at the moment, it will be higher than your average savings account. The savings accounts are always slightly under what the mortgage rate is for that bank. Right. So banks are making money by you putting money in there and then they essentially lend the money out. Do not get me wrong. That is

an incredibly simplified version of what happens because obviously the RBA, so the Reserve Bank of Australia, they manage what's called the cash rate and often banking and financial services institutions will borrow money from the government or borrow money from even bigger institutions to lend out. But one of the ways that they keep money coming through the door is to have you have your money sitting in an account that ultimately they do have access to. Is it safe and secure? Yes. It's one of the reasons why the government has that guarantee scheme. Yeah. It's why they go, no, no, no, don't worry about it, Bec.

Like, you'll definitely get your cash back. But in the background, they do have a lot more money to play with and lend out to other people. Okay, that makes sense. I've always been curious about that. I like that you asked because it's one of those things that we often don't think about. Yeah, I'm always like, okay, we're putting our money. Why are they paying me to have my money? Yeah, how are they making this money?

They are making a lot of money. Okay, V, now that I know how banks make money, my mind can be put to rest. And I think that let's go to a really quick break. And on the other side of the break, the moment you've all been waiting for, including myself, Vy's going to tell us her top five best savings accounts right now. Don't go anywhere, guys. It's juicy. Welcome back.

Okay, Vy, I'm so excited. We've talked about the ins and outs of savings accounts. And now it's time for the moment of truth. What are your top five best savings accounts right now? All right, Bec, are you ready for the top five best savings accounts? I'm so ready. Joke's on you. I'm going to do a caveat here because obviously they're not, quote, the best.

They are just the accounts that currently have the highest variable interest rate at the moment. I'm going to go through the maximum variable interest rate, who the institution is, what their standard variable rate is, whether there's an intro period or not, or if there's any conditions. I'm going to go, obviously, from lowest to highest. So you have to listen to the rest of my podcast. That's very clever.

genius right so first things first we've got the me home me savings account and this has come up because it is like it's not just the top five i actually have six to present because in typical victoria divine fashion i said i want to present five of the top five accounts but then i also found one and it's the number one one but it has a few extra terms and conditions on it sure that was like it'll be like a little little something something on top right so we'll do the five plus one. Good idea. I'm just ruining the list for you. Yeah, it's a very, I think I'm following though. Yeah. But top six, maybe. Anyway, so we've got the ME Bank account and its maximum variable interest rate right now is 5.55%. Sounds good. Kind of sexy. Their standard variable rate

is 0.55%. They do need you to deposit a minimum of $2,000 each and every single month, which for some people is feasible. That's why it's on the list, my friend. And does it have the government guarantee, you ask? Yes, it does. Great. Standard variable rate means, is that like the average? It's the default. It's the default. Okay. Okay. Sorry. It's the default. So you know how we were talking before about how they have shiny intro offers and they go, oh, here's this, you know, maximum variable rate. Like this is the most you'll get from us. Sure. They have complete control of being like, we don't do that anymore.

because obviously you can't predict what the market's going to do and they need the flexibility to turn that off. So it will default back down to 0.55% if everything hit the fan. Ah, I see. Thank you. Sorry. Good, good. Number two, we've got Macquarie.

So Macquarie savings account comes in at 5.50% BEC, but their standard variable rate is 4.75%. Whoa. So still a little bit higher. So that kind of looks a bit sexy. That's great. for an intro period of four months. Gotcha. I see. Is there any monthly maximum rate conditions? No, there's not. So you could just use this as you go. I would just be wary of what happens when that

four month intro period wears off. Then I feel like it's like one of Australia's favorite accounts just because of the Barefoot Investor. Like he created this cult following with ING. Love ING. So that is the ING Savings Maximizer. Okay. Right now, maximum variable interest rate of 5.5% drops back down to a standard variable interest rate of 0.55%. It's ongoing. You do need to deposit monthly at least $1,000 and make five transactions.

Oh, so like they're encouraging you to spend. They're encouraging you to use that as an account that transacts. So it's a savings maximizer. Usually, you can't just have a savings maximizer account with ING. You also have to have their daily account, in which case you would need to make those five monthly transactions. Gotcha. Okay.

And when you say transactions, like, would it count if I just transferred money from one savings account to a transaction account or do I have to- Every bank is going to be different. Sure. What that looks like to ING might look very different to NAB or, you know, ANZ, which is fine. Again, you need to read your terms and conditions, but usually it's a deposit into or out of that account. It could be, you know, you paying for your MyKey. It could be you transferring some

money in from, you know, a dinner that your friend owed you cash from. Just five standard, usually, transactions. Sure. Okay. So four, we have the first option bank savings account. So that comes in at 4.75% with a standard variable rate of 2%. Pretty good. It's ongoing too. Oh, very good. So they're not going to go, oh, there's an intro period. No intro period. It's ongoing. But you do get this minimum deposit amount per month. Gotcha. It's only $100. That seems much more realistic.

That's a bit more reasonable. I can deal with that. A bit more relatable, you know. Yeah. But you can't make any withdrawals. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Okay. They just really want you to save. That's actually really cute. I kind of like it. I kind of like that. I kind of like the trap. And that's why when we're talking about this stuff, it's like not one size fits all. Sure.

You go, V, what should we be looking for? And I go, well, what's your criteria? There's so much stuff that you could be looking for. At the end of the day, you could be like, you know, talking about the type of account you want to have or your interest rate or your minimum or maximum deposit. You could be talking about like fees or even goal setting, your capability and your time frame. Like if you are the type of person that's like Beck and me, we're a bit impulsive, aren't

we, babe? Yeah, I think so. I would say. Like we're good at it together. It's why we need a producer in the room with us at all times to stop us from going rogue. So that would work for me, Bec. But I'm also feeling like a little while ago on the show, you told us about how you have a money tin because you can't get the money out because it's in a tin.

And I just feel like that might work for you too. Yeah. Well, that tin actually, unfortunately, wasn't strong enough for these big, strong hands. Did you get the can opener out? I did. I got a lot of things out. Oh, that's a bit naughty. Anything I could, I got out.

But I think this... Next time you do that, can you please film it? Make great content. I can do. This is why this would be perfect. for me and you. Yeah. Yeah. Just based on that criteria completely. So Beck, I included the first option bank savings account in my number four slot because they had that 4.75%, but then they also had that standard variable rate of 2%, which felt a little bit safer than the one I'm

going to put in number five, even though their interest rate or their maximum variable interest rate was higher. It just felt like that made more sense to me and it's my list, so I do what I want. You do what you want. So coming in at number five is the Bank of Queensland Future Saver Account. This Future Saver Account, it does have a little bit of criteria on it though. So it's for 14 to 35 year olds. Quite specific, which is why it kind of ranked a little bit lower than the other one, even though they have a higher interest rate. Their interest rate is sitting at 5.4%, which is very nice, but their standard variable rate was 0.05%. So that's obviously lower than the one before, before we were talking about a 2% standard rate. So do you see why I might have

like dropped it down a little bit? Yeah, that makes sense. Because I'm a bit rude. I didn't just go, oh, the highest interest rate is the best, which is exactly what we want you to do as well, because the highest interest rate does not equal the best. Because I obviously could rant about this for 6 million years. And I honestly have, like I've done it for five years and we haven't slowed down there. But when it comes to the investment world, often people will say, V, what's the best type of investment? And I can't answer that either. Not because I don't want to, but if you say, V, more specifically, what's the highest yielding type of investment in Australia? So what returns the most cashola? Well, it's shares. Whereas a lot of people will

want to hear me say property or like their asset that they want to invest in. Pragmatically speaking, shares have outperformed the other three main asset types in Australia. So it's shares, then it's property, then it's fixed interest, and then it's cash here in Australia. There's a hierarchy. It's just how it works. Does it mean it's the right fit for you, Bec? Absolutely not. Just because it's the highest return doesn't mean shares are the right thing for you to invest in. Yeah, absolutely. Does that make sense? And the same with bank accounts. Highest interest rate does not mean best. Same with superannuation accounts. Highest rate of return does not mean best. You need to look at the fees and the bells and whistles and everything else that you get into

it. Because as I said in my first book, and I got a lot of slack for this, I said, when you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Some people didn't like that. Well, no, that's fair enough. You don't want to be, this is what I say, it's very similar. You don't want to be Trojan horse. No, you don't. And that's what we're trying to save you from. Yes. So the Bank of Queensland to carry on about them, their intro period, there is none. Sexy. Good. But they do require a minimum monthly deposit of $1,000 and five eligible transactions. Eligible. Exactly. Key word. Eligible means you need to read the terms and conditions. And then I wanted to like do the little cherry on top. Yes, please. Which is again, a high interest rate. Obviously, when I was comparing it,

I put the first option bank higher than the Bank of Queensland. But then this is a Westpac account and it gets like to be the cherry on top because it's a lower interest rate than the Bank of Queensland, but a higher standard variable rate. So the Westpac Life account, which unfortunately is only for our listeners from the age of 18 to 29, has a maximum variable rate of 5.2%, but the standard variable interest rate is 2%. Very good. So it's a bit higher. No intro period, which is really nice. No minimum deposit amount, but you do have to have five debit card purchases each and every single month to get to that maximum variable, right? Okay. So they want you to spend a little bit. They want you to treat yourself.

They do. They want you to like be active with their product. Yeah. Which is not rude. They're not really paying you. Absolutely. Like nobody owes you anything. That could work for me. I like this. I like this relationship. You like using your debit card. I do.

So it's all good. I totally get it. But, Bec, how do you feel about that? What are your thoughts, values, beliefs and behaviours about this app? This is really interesting because I am with ING and I've been curious. Oh, look at you go. Yeah, thank you. Well, I was really curious about the interest rate and stuff

and, like, wondered why it never kind of applied to me. But it's because I'm not depositing $1,000 a month. It's because you didn't read the terms and conditions. I did not read the terms and conditions. But this is really interesting. It's got me thinking. I'm assuming with Bank of Queensland you must be in Queensland. No, no, it's just the Bank of Queensland.

Oh, very good to know. Okay. It's like the ANZ Bank or the National Australia Bank. Like they're just names. Yeah, I love this. They're just names. It's where it started. All right.

I think I'm going to have to read up on these and figure out what is best for me. What might work best for you. I love this. As Victoria says. All right. Well, let's hop off. I feel like you and I are probably going to dive deep into doing a little bit more research on what bank account might work for you because I really want to play with it too.

Lucky us. But thank you for tuning in. Hope you guys have the best week. and we'll see you bright and early on Friday. Bye, guys. The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes

and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of MoneySherpa PTY LTD ABN 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289.