By coinnews 
00:00 Speaker A
Growing market and policy uncertainty has many Americans reconsidering their spending and savings habits. So, how can you manage your money in the current environment? Here with me now, we’ve got Pierre Habis who is the Synchrony general manager. Great to have you here with us in studio, Pierre.
00:16 Pierre Habis
Thank you for having me.
00:18 Speaker A
So let’s talk about some saving strategies and uncertain environments here. What’s your general advice right now?
00:25 Pierre Habis
My advice is regardless of the environment, you have to have discipline. You have to think about tomorrow. Uh, you owe it to yourself. It’s your hard earned money. And so to put together a savings plan, this is something that we as an entire country need to do a better job with. The savings rate in February last checked was under 5%, it’s been consistently that way for decades. We got to get it to double digits. Three quarters of of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. So what what we want to encourage folks is regardless of the size, start savings. And for the folks that do have savings, let’s make sure you’re getting the right savings return on that hard working money.
01:26 Speaker A
So with all of this in mind, in terms of ways that and and types of accounts that people should prioritize for their savings strategies, especially at different phases in life, how should you be going through that kind of checklist to ensure that you’ve got the right type of savings account for what your strategy is at different stages?
02:00 Pierre Habis
Regardless of the stage in your life, you’re going to need, you should have always some level of FDIC insured dollars, simple as that. And so to make sure that you’re getting the right account, what I would ask any American, anybody who’s saving right now, look at their bank statement. If you’re not getting at least a number three in terms of an interest rate, if you’re not getting at least three, pick up and move, literally. And this is this is the discipline that people need to have and the level of responsibility that they need to have for themselves for their hard earned money. Most people open up a savings account and they don’t look at, they don’t look at the rate. There’s over $7.3 trillion in savings dollars and over five of that is with traditional banks. Fantastic. Okay, just under 2 trillion with digital banks. The difference though, is what I encourage consumers, take a look at the rate, not every bank, not every type of bank is created equal. Make sure you get the right return on your dollars. If it doesn’t have a minimum today of 3%, move it. And I’d encourage them to move it to a different bank than their day-to-day checking account bank.
04:48 Speaker A
Interesting. It’s it’s no different than the saying that we grew up with, save your money in a mattress.
05:01 Pierre Habis
It was never save your money in your pocket.
05:05 Speaker A
Right.
05:06 Pierre Habis
So it’s not easily accessible, meaning, so sometimes when you have your savings account where you’re checking, you’re using it right away.
05:17 Speaker A
Yeah.
05:18 Pierre Habis
And in this day and age with in the digital age, you have easy access and and transferability, but that extra step because it’s it’s somewhere else,
05:32 Speaker A
Right.
05:33 Pierre Habis
kind of helps encourage you to keep it separate and let it grow.
05:39 Speaker A
What type of savings vehicles then would you recommend for short-term savings versus longer term savings?
05:47 Pierre Habis
So short term is a high yield savings account. And you could find that anywhere from 3 and a 1/2% to 4% today. And that’s a fantastic return for an FDIC fully liquid account. That’s what people should have if they have a savings account, regardless if it’s $10, $1,000 or more, you should have that.
06:21 Speaker A
What should people’s thought process be if we did see the Fed cut interest rates and how does that impact the type of accounts that they might have offers from, especially thinking through their financial institutions and how paid they are to the activities of the Fed?
06:44 Pierre Habis
Consumers plans shouldn’t depend on the Fed. It should depend on when they want to retire. It should depend on what major purchase maybe they’re planning for and the time frame. And that’s where a high yield savings that’s fully liquid along complemented, continuing the FDIC theme with a CD, that’s how that works. So again, it depends on who they are and what they’re planning for. Regardless of what’s happening in terms of the financial news, their plan shouldn’t change. Their plan is about savings, retirement, college money for the kids, whatever, take care of your parents, whatever that is, liquid or CD.
07:51 Speaker A
Yeah. Well, we’re going to keep those people informed with the financial news, especially as it relates to their saving strategies here. Pierre, thanks so much for joining us in studio.
08:02 Pierre Habis
I appreciate it. Thank you so much.