8 High-Yield Savings Accounts with Buckets

Bucketing is a great way to reach your savings goals. Whether you’re saving for something specific like buying a house or paying for college, an account with saving buckets can help you get there.

We’ve researched hundreds of banks, credit unions, and accounts and rounded up a list of the best high-yield saving accounts with buckets. These accounts let you earn high interest rates while saving for specific goals.

8 Best Savings Accounts with Buckets

Here are the best high yield savings accounts with buckets you can open right now.

• Ally Savings Account
• Capital One 360 Performance Savings
• Betterment Cash Reserve
• Wealthfront Cash Account
• Milli Savings Account
• SoFi Checking and Savings
• Sallie Mae SmartyPig Account
• One Account

1. Ally Savings Account

• Monthly fee: $0
• Opening Deposit: $0

Why We Chose This Account

Ally Bank, Member FDIC, is one of the most popular online banks, and its high yield savings account is one of its best products. In addition to paying a competitive yield with no fees or account minimums, it’s known for making saving easy with buckets and boosters like recurring transfers and roundups.

Ally provides you with popular savings categories to get started, like vacation or emergency funds that you can customize. You can also create your own buckets from scratch. Then, Ally gives you a breakdown of how your savings are being distributed in each category.

Learn more at Ally.com

2. Capital One 360 Performance Savings

• Monthly fee: $0
• Opening Deposit: $0

Why We Chose This Account

With no account minimums or fees and a consistently competitive APY, Capital One’s 360 Performance Savings Account is another good option to consider. You can also easily save more toward your specific goals and view your progress in the Capital One app.

While they aren’t called buckets, Capital One notes that you can create multiple Performance Savings accounts for each of your specific financial goals to keep them on track. You can also set up a savings plan with automatic transfers.

Learn more at CapitalOne.com

3. Betterment Cash Reserve Account

• Monthly fee: $0
• Opening Deposit: $10

Why We Chose This Account

Betterment is a popular online financial institution that offers investing services and cash accounts. The Cash Reserve account touts a highly competitive APY, has no monthly fees, and gives you up to $2 million of FDIC insurance.

We like the account’s streamlined savings goals. You can designate buckets for things like buying a new couch or an emergency fund and set up automated recurring transfers to keep your goals on track.

Learn more at Betterment.com

4. Wealthfront Cash Account

• Monthly fee: $0
• Opening Deposit: $1

Why We Chose This Account

Wealthfront is another investing platform with a competitive cash account that can help you meet your savings goals. It offers industry-leading savings rates, and you get up to $8 million of FDIC insurance through Wealthfront’s partner banks.

When it comes to savings buckets, the hybrid checking account makes it easy to split your deposits up, with buckets for short and medium-term goals and the ability to designate funds to your investment account for long-term goals.

Learn more at Wealthfront.com

5. Milli Savings Account

• Monthly fee: $0
• Opening Deposit: $0

Why We Chose This Account

While the name might be less recognizable than some of the banks on this list, Milli is a legitimate financial platform with a competitive online savings account. The Milli Savings Account keeps things simple with no fees and account minimums.

Instead of buckets, Milli lets you create up to five savings jars. You name your jar, set a goal amount, and choose your end date. Milli will help you stay on track with recommendations for how much you need to save to reach your targets and notify you when you do.

Learn more at Milli.bank

6. SoFi Checking and Savings

• Monthly fee: $0
• Opening Deposit: $0

Why We Chose This Account

SoFi is a popular lender and banking servicer that offers a hybrid checking and savings account, giving you the best of both worlds. The account pays a competitive APY on your savings balance and has convenient savings tools like roundups on your debit card purchases.

SoFi calls its buckets “vaults.” Once you’ve created a vault for a specific savings goal, you can automatically send money to it from roundups on your debit card purchases or your direct deposit paychecks. It’s a great way to set and forget your savings goals.

Learn more at SoFi.com

7. Sallie Mae SmartyPig Account

• Monthly fee: $0
• Opening Deposit: $0

Why We Chose This Account

Sallie Mae’s SmartyPig account was made specifically to help you reach individual savings goals. Once you open the account, you can set your goals and give them timelines. From there, you can designate automatic deposits and get progress updates.

In addition to its convenient savings tools, SmartyPig also pays competitive interest regardless of your account balance. And if you like the account, you can refer friends and earn $10 for every referral that joins, sets up a saving goal, and makes a contribution to it.

Learn more at SallieMae.com

8. One Account

• Monthly fee: $0
• Opening Deposit: $0

Why We Chose This Account

One is an online financial platform that offers a streamlined cash account with checking and savings features. It has no monthly fees or minimums, and you can enjoy an impressive APY, early pay, and 3% cashback on up to $50 of purchases at Walmart per year.

In terms of savings buckets, we found that you can create up to three savings goals at one time. You can edit these goals, see your progress, and view recent and upcoming activity on the goal, like a transfer from your debit card to your savings goal.

Learn more at One.app

Benefits of Using a Savings Account with Buckets

Savings buckets can give you a lift when you’re trying to save for specific goals. Here are a few of the biggest advantages of prioritizing a savings account with this feature:

• Focus: With savings buckets, you can clearly define and prioritize your financial goals, from saving for a down payment to planning for retirement. This visual representation of your goals helps you stay focused since you can see your progress in real time.
• Better budgeting: Separating your savings into distinct buckets encourages better budgeting habits. You can allocate specific amounts to each bucket based on your priorities, making it easier to stick to your savings plan and avoid overspending.
• Flexibility: Savings buckets are highly customizable, allowing you to create as many or as few buckets as you need to align with your goals, although some banks cap how many buckets you can have.
• Automated savings: Many banks and financial institutions offer automatic transfer options so you can set up recurring transfers from your checking account into your savings buckets.
• Reduced temptation: With savings buckets, each of your goals is isolated, making it less likely that you’ll tap into funds that you’ve designated for specific goals.
• Easy tracking: Savings buckets provide a clear visual representation of your progress towards each goal. You can easily track how much you’ve saved and how much more you need to reach your target, which can be a powerful motivator to stay on track.

What Savings Goals Should I Create Buckets for?

Everyone’s financial situation is unique. Ultimately, you should create savings buckets for whatever goals you’re prioritizing.

That being said, here are some common savings buckets people create that you may want to consider adding to your savings account:

• Emergency fund: An emergency fund is a crucial personal finance goal everyone should have. It’s a safety net for the unexpected and should cover at least 3-6 months of expenses.
• Retirement savings: Saving for retirement is a long-term goal that ensures your financial security later in life. Rather than just relying on your savings account, you’ll want to consider a retirement account like an IRA.
• Down payment: A lot of people create a bucket to start saving for a down payment on a house.
• Education expenses Saving for education expenses like college tuition, room and board, or student loan repayments is a common goal parents and students set up buckets for.
• Travel: Setting aside money for vacations, trips, or bucket-list adventures can help you enjoy these experiences without negatively impacting other areas of your finances.
• New car: Saving for a new or used car purchase is another common goal people set up savings buckets for.
• Home improvements: Homeowners often save for significant home renovations, repairs, or upgrades with savings buckets as well.
• Special events: Saving for weddings, milestone birthday celebrations, or other special events is also a popular use of savings buckets you might want to consider.

Our Methodology

At BankBonus, we’re committed to thoroughly researching and reviewing bank accounts to provide you with accurate recommendations you can trust.

Here are some of the factors we considered to formulate our list of the best high-yield savings accounts with buckets:

• Interest rates: The cornerstone of a high-yield savings account is the interest rate. We compared the annual percentage yields (APYs) offered by each financial institution, prioritizing ones that consistently offer higher interest rates than average.
• Buckets: We focused in on the functionality of each bank’s buckets, looking at how customizable they are and considering how well they help you track your progress and set your goals.
• Account flexibility and accessibility: We also considered factors such as minimum balance requirements, monthly fees, and withdrawal limitations.
• Features: We also assessed each institution’s online platforms and mobile app and looked at the features each account offers.
• Reputation: We’ve also analyzed customer reviews, ratings, and industry recognition to gauge the level of service and trustworthiness of each of the banks and fintechs on the list.