Trying to hit a big savings goal? These financial moves and tools can help

These days, just when we think we can give our wallets a break, suddenly there’s yet another expense to pay for.

While we can’t entirely escape some of life’s biggest expenses — like weddings, home repairs, college tuition and car purchases — we can plan for them so we don’t feel completely blindsided by a massive bill.

Here are the financial tools to use to reach lofty savings goals, plus how to prep beforehand.

High-yield savings accounts let you earn more interest compared to traditional savings accounts. The more you deposit, the more interest you can earn. Of course, you probably won’t earn hundreds of dollars in interest each month (unless you deposited a lot of money), but it’s still better than receiving pennies.

CNBC Select recommends the Marcus by Goldman Sachs High-Yield Online Savings Account because it doesn’t charge a monthly fee, overdraft fee or excessive transactions fee. It consistently offers a strong APY and an easy-to-use banking app.

And if you’re able to make a larger deposit, the CIT Bank Platinum Savings account offers a higher APY on balances of $5,000 or more. You’ll earn a lower APY for balances less than that.

Experts generally recommend keeping your money in a savings account if you’ll need the money within the next three years. This way, you can avoid the market volatility you’d be exposed to if you invested instead, and you won’t have to worry about potentially withdrawing less money than you started with as a result.

A CD can help you reach big savings goals because CDs offer above-average interest and their specific fixed terms help relieve the temptation to dip into the account. Just note that a typical CD doesn’t allow for additional contributions beyond the initial deposit, so it’s a good idea for big savers if you have a large amount of funds already that you want to leave untouched. Once the CD term is up, you can access your money.

If you have a predictable deadline for your big savings goal, like your wedding in two years, you can choose a CD with a term that you’re comfortable with. In addition to being locked into the fixed term length, such as three or six months, you’re locked into a fixed interest rate so you’ll know your guaranteed return.

Alliant Credit Union and Synchrony Bank currently offer CD accounts with some of the strongest APYs on our list of the current best CD rates. Both offer CD terms between three months and five years.

If your big savings goal is for something five-plus years away, meaning you can handle a fluctuating balance without needing the cash right away, invest your savings. Doing so gives you a chance at higher returns, which can really help when saving up for something big, albeit there is more risk. For this reason, we only suggest putting your money in the market for big savings goals that you have years to reach.

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You know the saying, “What doesn’t get measured doesn’t grow?” It’s the same deal here. Tracking what comes in and out of your bank account helps you figure out exactly how much money you have to put toward your savings goals. It also helps you catch any expenses you can cut from your regular monthly spending so you can save even more money.

Budgeting apps like Empower and Monarch connect to your bank account and credit cards, automatically tracking and categorizing your transactions. You can also connect your savings and investment accounts to track your overall net worth. Monarch lets you track progress toward individual savings goals, like that vacation or new car, so you have multiple ways to get a complete picture of what’s happening to your money on any given day.

As with any financial goal, you need to set specific goals with specific numbers before you even start hitting the spreadsheets or opening new accounts.

Make a list of the purchases you’re looking ahead to this year and write down exactly how much you’ll need to pay for them. Try not to “guess-timate” because you can wind up underestimating how much you really need — then, you’ll be left scrambling trying to figure out how to bridge that gap.

Plus, getting real about the numbers may make you come to terms with any purchases that just can’t happen this year, and you can re-prioritize them for next year.

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed financial decisions. Every savings article is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of banking and savings products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.

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