Which Banks Have Savings Buckets for Your Financial Goals?

Managing personal finances involves setting aside funds for various future needs and aspirations. Individuals save for diverse objectives, from short-term expenses like a vacation to long-term goals such as a home down payment or retirement. Organizing these distinct savings goals within a financial framework simplifies the process and enhances the likelihood of achievement, helping individuals visualize progress and maintain discipline.

What are Savings Buckets?

Savings buckets are a digital method for compartmentalizing funds within a single savings account, dedicating money to specific financial objectives. These features, sometimes called sub-accounts, savings goals, or digital envelopes, allow individuals to mentally and visually separate their savings without opening multiple bank accounts. Their primary purpose is to provide clarity and organization, enabling users to allocate funds for purposes like an emergency fund, a new car, or a significant purchase.

By creating these digital divisions, individuals can track progress toward each goal independently, fostering a sense of accomplishment as each bucket fills. This organizational tool helps prevent the accidental use of funds earmarked for one goal to cover expenses for another. It also simplifies the process of budgeting and financial planning, offering a transparent overview of how savings are distributed. Funds within these buckets typically earn interest at the same rate as the primary savings account, ensuring that money is always working towards its designated purpose.

Banks Providing Savings Bucket Features

Several financial institutions offer features allowing customers to organize savings into distinct categories. Ally Bank provides “Savings Buckets” within its online savings account, enabling users to create up to 30 separate digital compartments for various goals. This feature allows setting target amounts and dates, and funds can be automatically transferred into these buckets. Ally also offers “Surprise Savings” and “Round Ups” to automate contributions.

SoFi offers a similar feature called “Vaults,” allowing account holders to earmark money for specific goals within their high-yield savings account. Users can create up to 20 vaults. SoFi Vaults support goal setting and automated transfers, including a Roundups feature that deposits spare change from debit card purchases into a chosen vault.

Chime’s savings account includes features to automate savings, such as “unlimited savings goals” and “Round Ups,” where purchases are rounded up to the nearest dollar and the difference is transferred to savings. This digital-first platform focuses on fee-free banking and simplified money management. Chime also allows automatic transfers of a set percentage of direct deposits into savings.

Capital One 360, while not using the term “buckets,” allows customers to open an unlimited number of separate savings accounts, serving the same purpose of compartmentalizing funds for different goals. Their 360 Performance Savings account includes tools for setting savings goals and automated savings plans. This approach provides the flexibility to manage multiple financial objectives with individual account tracking.

Discover Bank offers “Savings Buckets” within its online savings account, enabling users to divide savings into various categories for easier tracking. This feature helps account holders visualize how much money is allocated to each goal and can be managed through their online platform or mobile app. Discover’s savings accounts are FDIC insured and do not typically involve additional fees for this tool. PNC Bank’s “Virtual Wallet” product integrates checking and savings accounts with three distinct components: Spend, Reserve, and Growth. This structure allows users to segment funds for everyday spending, short-term needs, and long-term savings goals, providing a built-in framework for financial organization.

How to Use Savings Buckets for Financial Goals

Using savings buckets involves a few steps to align funds with financial aspirations. The first step involves logging into your bank’s online platform or mobile application and navigating to your savings account section. Within this area, you will find an option to create or manage savings goals or buckets.

Once you create a new bucket, you will be prompted to name it, reflecting a specific financial goal such as “Emergency Fund,” “Dream Vacation,” or “New Car Down Payment.” Many platforms allow you to set a target amount and a desired date for achieving that goal, which can help in visualizing progress and maintaining motivation. After naming your bucket, you can allocate funds to it.

Funding your buckets can be done through manual transfers from your main savings or checking account, or by setting up automated transfers. Automated transfers are particularly effective, allowing you to regularly contribute a fixed amount or a percentage of your income directly into each designated bucket. This systematic approach ensures consistent progress toward your goals without requiring constant manual intervention. Monitoring your progress is usually straightforward within the banking interface, which often displays the amount saved in each bucket relative to its target. You can typically move money between buckets or back to your primary account as needed, providing flexibility in managing your finances.