5 Accounts Every Nurse Should Have
Hi friends! When I took a look at my overall financial situation a couple years back there were certain things that I found made it easier for me to reach my goal. In my opinion there are 5 accounts that nurses, or really anyone should have if applicable.
**Before we really get into it I do want to note that I am a financial coach but I am not a financial advisor. These are tips that are based on my own experiences, but when it comes to what to invest in and such, please seek someone licensed in investments.
1. Checking account to pay bills
This should be your run-of-the-mill checking account. You can have it at a local bank. If you have direct deposit you can deposit enough to cover your bills. This account may not even need a debit card since most places that you pay such as mortgage, utilities, etc. allow you to to link a bank account.
However, if you choose to have a debit card, it should be one that is kept securely at home and not used when shopping.
This is for a couple of reasons, the first being that that you can automate your payments and once you get to know your budget you will not even really need to think about paying bills.
The second reason is more for security. If you keep your bill money separate from your spending money, should you ever have a case of identity theft you do not have to worry about whether the funds for your bills will be available.
2. Buffer Account
This is an account that you can keep at the same bank or a different one. You can use this one for your spending money or emergencies on the smaller side.
This account can also just hold extra funds on the off chance that you miscalculate your monthly bills, this account will have easily transferable funds. I like to keep $1k in my buffer account.
3. High interest savings account for emergency fund
This is where you would want to keep the bulk of your savings. I suggest a high interest rate account because you could keep it in your regular banks savings but the interest rate usually varies between .001% and .002% whereas a HYSA currently varies between .40% to .70%. The interest rates in the accounts can fluctuate but there are a ton of options out there.
This article by Nerd Wallet highlights some of the best HYSA IN 2022. Ally is not on their list but I do like them because you can put your money in virtual “buckets” if you are someone who utilizes sinking funds. Non matter what you choose for a HYSA, anything is better than .002%.
4. Roth IRA - if eligible
This is where talking to a licensed financial advisor is going to come in handy. (The nice thing is that some of the top options, such as Fidelity and Vanguard for where to put your Roth offer free guidance if you call them.)
For the cutoff income to be able to have a Roth for the 2022 tax year, a single person has to file with a modified gross adjusted income of less than $144k while married couples are cut off a MGAI $214k.
If you call and speak to an advisor and you make more than the allotted amount you may consider investigating a backdoor Roth.
5. 401k/403b
If your employer offers either of these options be sure to use them. If your employer offers a match be sure to match it 100%. If you are in debt payoff mode, you may hear that you should not invest while you pay it off, but I firmly believe that when you retire, your future self will thank you for having spent so much time investing.