As savings are often overlooked, we see treating your weekly, fortnightly or monthly savings as just another bill you are forced to pay. This makes you understand that saving money is not negotiable and able to rapidly increase your savings account balance with little to no effort.

Read: Paying your savings account as if it were a bill.

Benefits of paying your savings through BPAY

You can schedule a regular payment in your online banking. I often schedule my bills ahead of time and only pay them when the closing date is near. You can now setup your savings no different and ensure that on any given day of the month – a transfer is initiated and noted in your BPAY history.

A few tips to boost your savings strategy

Round up your savings ammount as much as you can, e.g. if your bank balance is $1,186 – don’t just deposit $100 – deposit $106 or $186 and keep your bank account nice and rounded.

Also consider automating the payments not only through BPAY but through your employer. Many employers let you designate multiple accounts to get paid to and a percentage split of your pay. You could put 1% of every pay cheque away and you would never even notice it. It would however add up over the long term. In fact, I am going to do this right now!

As you know, Virgin Money is the financial services arm of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. Virgin Money have been in Australia now since 2003 and offer a range of financial products.

We have to say that all of us here at Savings Guide are very excited to see Virgin back in the money game. The Virgin Saver is set to turn the online saver market on its head.

Virgin Saver – A very competitive savings account

As with all of Richard Branson’s business ventures, he doesn’t do things half hearted. This savings account is proving to be one of the most competitive in the market with a market leading interest rate.

View the rates of the Virgin Saver by clicking on Virgin Saver.

Why do we like the Virgin Saver account?

• It has high interest rates and they will stay high
• It has a great intro rate followed by a high ongoing variable rate
• There are no fees whatsoever
• No minimum saving balance or deposit, ever
• 24/7 access to your money
• Protection via the Australian Government Gaurantee for balances up to $1Million dollars.

Lose your saving money virginity once and for all

We often find that many people want to start a regular savings plan but never find the time or the energy to actually get it started.

We suggest you use the Virgin Saver offer as a chance to start from scratch. Even if you have an account with another online savings provider, why not switch and take advantage of the higher interest rates? It may even get your motivation start

Wish to apply for the Virgin Saver?

Apply here by clicking on Virgin Saver.

Some savings accounts will offer introductory rates to incentivise you to join them, while others will consistently remain as industry leaders with their high interest rates for the whole time you are with them.

In the interest of helping our readers, we have put together a small list of savings account providers that we believe to be of the highest quality, highest return rates while maintaining the customer service that we need from time to time.

ANZ Online Saver

The ANZ Online Saver offers competitive interest rates, a big bank peace of mind, no minimum balance and best of all lets you transfer funds 24/7 between your linked ANZ account.

St.George Directsaver

I personally really like the St.George Directsaver accounts, I actually have 6 of them! I seperate my different savings plans into accounts that are linked to my St.George account. St.George have always given me great customer service and will continue to be my everyday bank for years to come. The St.George Directsaver accounts are just an added bonus for me!

RaboPlus High Interest Account

The RaboPlus account is quite unique. They offer advanced security measures to ensure your money is tightly locked away, something that is very handy for those of us who cannot resist the urge to splurge! I have had a RaboPlus account for around 2 years now, I use it for the money I want to save but not have access to within 12 months – in fact, that is where I started saving for my trip in 2010 early this year. The RaboPlus account offers great interest rates and security – enough said!

ING DIRECT Savings Maximiser

The ING DIRECT Savings Maximiser is the grand daddy of high interest accounts, in a good way! They really did help develop the high interest market from years ago, offering great variable rates, no fees and security that was unrivalled. I am actually yet to try the ING DIRECT Savings Maximiser, though I am told by my close friends and family that they love it – so it gets the big tick from us!

HSBC Online Savings Account

No hidden fees, no monthly catches – just pure and utter HSBC Online Savings Account. Perfect for people who do a lot of international travel as they can also integrate your savings accounts with other beneficial accounts for people on the dash.

Suncorp eOptions Savings

No minimum terms, no contracts, high rates, no minimum balance – Suncorp eOptions Savings is clearly the lesser known of all of the above high interest rates but definitely worth a look when comparing savings accounts.

What is your prefered high interest account?

He shared with us a very insightful tip worth considering when setting up a term deposit or high interest bank account.

He stated that when considering a new account (savings account, term deposit or other investment), it is important to consider how many days it will take to set up the account and to transfer your money. If your money has to site in a non interest bearing transaction account for, say 5 days to wait for paperwork to clear, then this can have a dramatic effect on the effective interest rate you are getting.

What does this mean for your cash?

For a 90 day term deposit at 4% p.a. interest, a 5 day delay reduces the effective interest rate to 3.78%.

As you can see, you may find a high interest rate for your money, but unless you have the cash in that account for EVERY day of the term deposit from day one, you will be getting a lesser return than originally thought.

This loss on transfer may change your selection of accont, ie you may prefer an account with a slightly lower nominal interest rate, but with a faster set up process.

What does that mean?

Well imagine if you could get yourself into the mindset that saving money was like paying a phone bill, it is not something you have the option of doing – you must do it! Genius!

Regular Savings Plan

So why not start a regular savings plan and look at it as a bill to pay each month with the rest of them, sit down come pay day and deposit the $100 or $200 you have budgeted directly into your nest egg account and write it off as money you cannot get back.

I personally use this method for growing my savings rapidly, in fact I get the company I work for to split my pay directly on pay day, 80% goes to my everyday account while 20% is deposited directly into my high interest bank account. Doing this I don’t even notice the missing dollars.

This used to scare me a little bit in the past, the idea of not having all my money in my everyday account each pay day – could I really live without that $100-$200? The answer was YES, I have been doing this for over 1 year now and my savings account is really starting to look nice – logging in to check the balance is even fun as I get to see the number rapidly growing!

This is such a simple tip for saving money that I think everyone who has ambitions to start saving money should really give it a shot.

Offering no minimum initial investment or ongoing balance plus earn full interest on every dollar in your account calculated daily, paid monthly. Unlimited free transaction to linked account and no establishment or transaction fees.

Why go with Macquarie Cash XL?

They are very established and professional in the way that they deal with their money. Your high interest account would be safe and provide constant returns at 7.75%p.a.

Why use a High Interest Savings Account?

Using a high interest savings account allows your money to earn higher than normal interest rates on your cash. Earning interest on your money can be an effective method of increasing your overall savings sum while utilising your unused money to make you more money!

Example of why you need this account

Without a High Interest Account

Imagine you had $5000. You put it into your everyday normal account and dont touch it for 12months to allow you to save some money up for a TV you wish to buy. All of a sudden, 12 months is up – you have exactly $5000 in your account still.

With a High Interest Account

You have $500. You deposit it into your RaboPlus High Interest Account that has some of Australia’s highest interest rates and you let it sit for 12months. All of a sudden, 12 months is up – you now have $5416.39 in the account from your high interest earnings. That means you made $416.39 from an interest rate of say 7-8% over 12months – easy money if you ask me!

What are my reasons for considering a term deposit?

That is what I would like to look at as term deposits are very much back in fashion this year and they will provide you with a good 6-12month investment strategy while the current market situation rides the waves of the storm.

Benefits of term deposits

Term deposits are a way of saving money into a specified account. The benefits of term deposits are that your money is extremely safe and locked away for a set period of time at an agreed upon interest rate.

Why use term deposits?

They are safe to use, you will not lose your money, you will not be able to access the money for a set period of time (which is good for us people who tend to scoop savings out occasionally) + term deposits generally offer higher interest rates for larger returns on your money.

Investing with term deposits

If you are interested in investing your money into a term deposit, I would suggest looking around and using sites such as Money Manager to find the highest interest rates and lowest fees. Please note that you should not be charged a fee for term deposits, so if the one you are looking at does – i suggest you keep looking around. Raboplus tend to have quite good term deposits.

Term deposit VS High interest account

This is the big question, to put in a high interest savings account or a term deposit.  I would use a high interest account over a term deposit if you need to readily have the funds available. If you wish to put the money out of reach for a set period of time, then I would suggest a term deposit as that way you cannot touch it, you cannot spend it, and your savings will continue to grow. It all depends on how good you are with money.

Did you know that by using the right high interest savings account, you could effectively save a lot more money and earn money on top of your initial investment and its monthly interest?

High Interest Accounts

Why use a High Interest Savings Account?

Using a high interest savings account allows your money to earn higher than normal interest rates on your cash. Earning interest on your money can be an effective method of increasing your overall savings sum while utilising your unused money to make you more money!

I have created an example of why high interest savings account are beneficial for your overall finance scheme;

Without a High Interest Account

Imagine you had $5000. You put it into your everyday normal account and dont touch it for 12months to allow you to save some money up for a TV you wish to buy. All of a sudden, 12 months is up – you have exactly $5000 in your account still.

With a High Interest Account

You have $5000. You deposit it into your High Interest Account that has some of Australia’s highest interest rates and you let it sit for 12months. All of a sudden, 12 months is up – you now have $5416.39 in the account from your high interest earnings. That means you made $416.39 from an interest rate of say 7-8% over 12months – easy money if you ask me! Note: The interest rates above are for examples only.

Compare High Interest Accounts

I have personally held a number of different high interest accounts over the past 5 years so have a good understanding of which ones are better than the others.

RaboPlus High Interest Savings

Is the latest company to enter the high interest market – and I must say that there rates are amazingly high and I have been enjoying the greatest returns on my money in many years. They have fantastic customer service and you link the account directly with your normal account, eg; St.George Freedom account. More info.

St.George Direct Saver Account

Is still one of my favorite accounts. I have 4 of them connected to my St.George Freedom account – this lets me have different high interest savings for different purposes. Eg; Tax, Car Savings, Investment Savings etc. The interest is not as high as RaboPlus – but at the same time is very good.

• Rating: Very Good // More info.

• Ing Direct High Interest Savings were the market leader for a number of years, pioneering the high interest savings market with their ‘savings maximiser‘ product – but like many people are saying, they have recently become complacent and are now longer as competitive as many other providers.
  Rating: Average // More info.
• Suncorp Everyday Options Sub Account originnaly appealed to me as I have shares in Suncorp Metway – but after a few months of use, I realised that they had a great online system, but the interest rates were not high enough compared to that of other providers, so I closed this account.
  Rating: Average // More info.

Selection of High Interest Accounts

I have gathered together all the websites of the different high interest savings account so you can see for yourself which is best.

• RaboPlus Savings Account // RaboPlus High Interest – Apply Now!

• St.George – Direct Saver // Direct Saver – Apply Now!

• Suncorp Metway // Everyday Options Sub Account – Apply Now!

• ING Direct // Savings Maximiser – Apply Now!

I previously discussed Raboplus accounts here for more information.

They are very similar to ING except they are a lot easier to use and highly recommended. I have had no issues or problems what so ever with my Raboplus account

Why Raboplus?

Because it has HUGE% interest rates thats why! That is Australia’s highest paying Savings Account available.

Read more below:

• High Interest Available from on amounts up to $1 million
• Over $1 million earns a high ongoing rate also
• The same high rates apply to businesses, trusts and DIY super funds
• Interest calculated daily and paid monthly
• No fees, no minimum balance
• No need to switch banks – keep your current bank account for your day to day banking

Raboplus has won the Savings Guide award for best value High Interest Account. Click the award above to see the current rates and why we deem this the best high interest account available.

Rabobank / Raboplus Digi Pass

Rabobank (Raboplus) have thought long and hard about peoples concerns with dealing with money online, and have in turn created a product called the ‘Digi Pass’. This Digi Pass gives your account extra security as you are required to utilise your personally owned digi pass upon each login.

Raboplus and many other banks have labelled this a ‘two part authentication’ process by which the user needs their own memory and a device to access their account. The digi pass in turn generates a random number via producing one time codes that allow you to identify yourself to the Rabobank Raboplus system. In this sense, Raboplus is the safesty online savings account on the market.

Why I suggest Raboplus High Interest Account

1. It has one of if not the Highest Interest Rates in Australia.
2. No minimum balance or deposit length.
3. Safest High Interest Account on the market.

More information on Raboplus and Rabobank

To read more information about Raboplus I suggest you check out my comparison of high interest bank accounts as that gives more detail about Raboplus and other high interest accounts.