Seems a bit obvious. But you can save money for larger expenses such as a two story house or a good quality car, putting a percentage of your gross revenue into a savings account and opening a certificate of deposit - savings certificate entitling the bearer to receive interest-. These bank accounts does not have any risk and offer higher interest rates than the checking accounts, but the money must remain in the certificate of deposit for a certain period of time (if you withdraw it ahead of time, you have to pay a penalty). That way, It will keep within your interest to not touch it when you have a sudden strike of temptation to buy something outside your scope.
My lifetime savings is in a bank's savings account which yields very small interest. I know it is better to place it in time deposit or money market but I'd rather have that money in that savings account with an ATM. My concern is the emergency need of money. There are so many cases here that in an emergency, they had to borrow from other people because the time deposit cannot be that quick to withdraw. So even if the interest rate is low, it is all right with me as long as I have the easy access to my money.
It certainly is a good way to make it a lot harder to get the money you saved. However in order to ensure that none of that money is ever spent, you also need an emergency fund because if you don't in case of an emergency you'd have no choice but to withdraw the money you wanted to be untouchable. Focus first on building your emergency fund then start saving for bigger things whilst adding a little money to your emergency fund each week or month.
When I first started working, I did have this type of bank account and I thought it was fantastic. I mean, I still think it's great. It's been on the back of my mind now for a while. But for right now, without a proper job, I'm having to hang fire a little bit. I can't wait to find a better paying job with better prospects so I can set it all up. The idea of not being to touch the money is very appealing to me. I've identified one here that requires a 3 month withdrawal notice LOL I mean, if that doesn't discourage you from squandering the money, I don't know what will. Plus if you insisted, the bank wouldl bypass that stipulation and give you your money. The only snag? You'd lose some of the interest. I think this is a really good one for me
I have a help-to-buy savings account. It's an ISA which means it's tax free and limited in how much I can deposit monthly. When I first opened the account I could deposit a set amount, and then I can add a further payment every month. The account gets interest monthly, and is also topped up to 15k at the end of a few years if I make the maximum level deposits until then - as long as I use the ISA to make a deposit on a mortgage. I can withdraw the money whenever, and there's no penalty, but I can't redeposit more than that month's deposit allowance. I think that's roughly the same as what is being described in the OP? I think it was a great investment for me, the first month I earned a much larger interest payment than I've received on any other savings accounts but if I ever desperately need money, it's there for me to withdraw.
It's wise to place long-term savings which one does not intend to touch for an extended period of time into an interest bearing account which can guarantee a reasonable return in interest. However for the sum of money which will be kept to cover expenses and emergencies, it's prudent to keep this into an account which is linked to an easy access card so that if there is an urgent need for cash it will be available on demand.
I have all of my bank accounts with the same bank for this reason, so that no matter what I can always transfer money between different accounts - and it's usually instant. I have a current account, two savings accounts, an ISA and a credit card all linked to the same log in on my online banking. I've never needed to look elsewhere as my bank treats me well and I've never had any problems with them that they didn't solve immediately and with genuine apologies.
