Where you are, and where this goes
Start with your First Fix this week. The Rich Routine™ takes you the rest of the way over time.
Where most people start
Leave it all sitting in checking, earning nothing.
Money in checking feels safe, but it loses ground to prices every year.
This week: your First Fix
Put it to work. Move extra cash into a high-yield savings account.
A high-yield account keeps the money just as easy to reach and lets it earn while it waits.
Where it ends up
Keep your emergency fund safe, and invest the rest a little every month.
Your safety net stays put, and small monthly amounts let you get used to investing.
Try it now
Find your safe number
Two numbers tell you how much cash keeps you safe, and how much can start earning.
One month of must-pays
Cash you have now
How long should it last?
Choose more if your income changes month to month or one income supports the household.
Fill in both amounts to see your safe number and how much can move.
Why moving money feels risky for Savers
For a Saver, money in savings feels like safety, so moving any of it feels like a risk. Without a number for how much is enough, every dollar seems like it should stay where it is.
Put It to Work starts with that number. Once you know how much cash keeps you safe, the money above it can earn more or be invested without putting your safety net at risk.
Put one amount to work, step by step
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The Emergency Fund Calculator works out your safe number and shows how far you are from it.
Where the money can go
Your safety net: a high-yield savings account
Your safe number stays in cash, ideally in a high-yield savings account. It's still one transfer away, and at an FDIC-insured bank it's insured up to $250,000 per depositor, per bank, for each ownership category.
Money for the next few years: also cash
Money for a move, a car, or a trip in the next few years belongs in high-yield savings too. You don't want it to drop in value right before you need it.
Money for retirement: invested
Money you'll not touch for decades can go into a retirement account. Start with any employer match on your 401(k), then consider a Roth IRA. A broad index fund is a common starting point. Its value will go up and down along the way, and those ups and downs are the price of growth over the long run.
When it gets tricky
Tap the one that sounds like you.
You're worried the market drops right after you invest
It might, and that's why your safe number stays in cash. Only money you'll not need for years goes into investments, so a drop never forces you to sell to pay a bill. Read more on what market drops mean.
You have high-interest debt
Keep a starter fund of $1,000 or one month of expenses, whichever is more. Take any employer match, then send the extra to the high-interest debt before investing more. Your full safe number comes after the debt is gone.
You'd rather start smaller
Move a small set amount every month instead of one big amount. Watching it move a few times is how investing starts to feel normal, and you can raise the amount once it does.
Your partner is a Saver too
Two Savers can keep each other stuck. Try opening with: "Are we safe, or are we stuck? Let's set a cash number that's enough, then move the rest."
How you'll know it's working
Come back in a month and tick what's true.
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After Put It to Work
The last step on the ladder above is keeping your safety net where it is and investing the rest a little every month. Once that's automatic, a Saver's money grows in the background while the cash keeps you safe.
The FUNDS planner gives that monthly amount a permanent place in every payday, alongside guilt-free spending money. Savers often need permission to spend as much as they need permission to invest, and a set amount for each makes both easier.
