Did you know that if you carry a balance of $3200 on a credit card and only pay the minimum each month, you could end up taking 28 years to pay it off and wind up paying $15,350 total with interest! Crazy, huh?
With SmartyPig we can put this sort of scenario in reverse, but you’ll have to practice patience rather than instant gratification- not a bad thing to teach your kids! Here’s how it works:
Set up a savings goal and contribute to your SmartyPig account on a regular basis, say, once a month. EARN, rather than PAY interest on your money (currently APY 1.35%). Once you’ve reached your goal, you can get a cash boost of up to 14% when you cash in on a retailer gift card such as Best Buy, Amazon, Travelocity and more (or just withdrawal your cash + interest)
- Set up a Savings Goal: You’ll have full control over this whether big or small.
- Plan your contributions: You can choose to contribute automatically from your checking or savings account once a month, twice monthly, every 14 days or none. If you choose none, you can make deposits to your goal manually when you have the extra cash or when you receive a SmartyPig gift card.
- Share your Goal: You can share your goal with friends and family via Facebook, Twitter or with a widget you can embed on your blog. This is a great way to share your progress and achievements. It’s also perfect for many different situations. Maybe you have a 12 year old who wants to start saving for a car already. They can share their goal with family members who can then make contributions as gifts for birthdays, good grades and more to help them reach their goal.
- Reach Your Goal: Once you’ve reached your goal, you have three unique redemption options. You may put all of your savings plus interest on the flexible SmartyPig MasterCard® debit card, have it sent back to your bank, or receive up to a 12% cash boost on your savings by placing it on a retail card like Amazon.com, Best Buy, Travelocity or Macy’s. You can even split your savings among the three as you see fit.
Setting up your savings goals and contributions is quite easy. The site is simple to use and walks you through each step. It feels good to see your goals being met and it’s good encouragement to keep plugging away.
New to SmartyPig is the MasterCard Cash Rewards Card that can help you achieve your goal even faster. You can opt-in to receive the card when you set up your goal or anytime thereafter. The initial card fee is $4.95 but it’s reloadable (free) and you can earn up to 10% cash back on all of your purchases. There are other fees associated with the card but if you read the fee chart, most can be avoided.
SmartyPig is awesome for all sorts of savings goals from short term, small goals to larger goals such as a family vacation, wedding & honeymoon, a new car or even a home! It’s also a great way to teach your kids about money and saving. Find out all about SmartyPig and the way they can help make your goals a reality.
A complimentary product/service was provided for this review, however, all opinions expressed are our own. This is a sponsored post and we were paid for our time. See Mommies With Cents disclosure policy for more details.