Best Life Podcast | Altra Federal Credit Union
Best Life Podcast | Altra Federal Credit Union
Episode 16: Deposits
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On this episode of the Best Life Podcast, we welcome back Altra’s VP of Deposit and Payment Strategies, Jennifer Cyert as she talks about the different ways Altra can help your savings grow. Whether you’re saving up for an emergency or a special purchase, saving your money can be just as fun as spending – the hardest part is getting started. We hope this gives you the jumpstart you need to kickoff your savings for the New Year!

Be sure to check out the video version of our podcast on our YouTube channel.

(Jennifer Cyert)

One of my favorite stories of someone saving for something special in all my years of working in banking was I had a little girl come in and I asked her what she was saving for. She was opening her very first savings account and she said, I’m saving up to buy a goat. And so she did save enough money and she eventually got herself a goat. She brought in pictures to show me and then I think she ended up getting another goat, too. So, you know, we all have those special things we want to save for.

 

(Tony Beyer)

Hello and welcome to the Best Life podcast, where we here at Altra Federal Credit Union are helping you live your best life. I’m your host, Tony Beyer. Thank you so much for tuning in. And we’d also like to welcome in our audience joining us via video for this podcast as well. So we ended last year with a podcast talking about how we can make our 2022 even better by making a spending plan and also coming up with strategies to save money. And I can’t think of a better way to end this year than with a podcast talking about how to make your deposits grow. I mean, who doesn’t want that? Who doesn’t want more money? So to better make sense of everything going on with interest rates, I’d like to welcome back to the podcast, Jennifer Cyert. She is our VP of Deposit and Payment Strategies. Welcome back to the podcast, Jennifer.

 

(Jennifer Cyert)

Thank you, Tony. It’s great to be here with you today.

 

(Tony Beyer)

Very good. So I wanted to ask you, what is going on with interest rates and if you could tell us a little bit about where they’ve been and where they’re going.

 

(Jennifer Cyert)

Yeah, well, you know, Tony, you’d have to be hiding under a rock to not know that there’s been, you know, a lot of “interesting” things going on with deposit rates lately. Well, you know, certainly we hear a lot about mortgage rates and auto loan rates, you know, and how those have really climbed in the last two years. But you might not have heard a lot about deposit rates. I’m glad that I get to be here to talk with you about that today.

 

(Tony Beyer)

Absolutely. And the good news is that they are rising, correct?

 

(Jennifer Cyert)

Yes, they are rising.

 

(Tony Beyer)

Absolutely. So I know that we hear quite a bit about our interest rates. We get a lot of, you know, emails, communication, everything like that. But not everybody probably knows what’s going on with deposit rates. So if you could tell us a little bit more about that, that’d be great.

 

(Jennifer Cyert)

Yeah, you know, I’d be happy to and now is a really great time to take a look at what your deposit accounts are earning. So, you know, when you get your quarterly statements, those will be coming out here towards the end of the year. You’ll probably get them early January. Take a look at your quarterly statements. Take a look at your monthly statements. You always should anyways, right? But take a look and see what they’re earning. You might be surprised to see that some of your savings accounts aren’t earning as high of a rate, especially if they’re with another institution. And we’d love to help you out with that.

 

(Tony Beyer)

Absolutely. And this time of year, getting towards the end of the year, it’s always a great idea to do a money checkup and get yourself in a better position, you know, for the next year. So talking about those savings rates, what about, you know, what’s going on day to day in some of our accounts here at Altra? What’s going on with those rates?

 

(Jennifer Cyert)

Yeah, you know, day to day, that money that you use every day, you know, in your checking account when you’re out getting groceries, buying gas and that sort of thing, that’s your day to day money and you might as well make that work as hard for you as you can. Right? So I love our A+ Checking Accounts. Those earn a really great rate. You can earn 1.75 or 2.75, depending on how you use your account. And those are a great, you know, tool to be able to make the most of your day to day money.

 

(Tony Beyer)

Absolutely. And I love my A+ Checking, you know, getting the the you know, the interest rate there and then also being able to use it on my, you know, my phone, being able to use tap to pay with my cards, with my, you know, mobile wallet, things like that. So it makes it incredibly easy in order to access my money as well here at Altra.

 

(Jennifer Cyert)

That’s great to hear, Tony. I know I was just at the grocery store and I used my phone to pay and it was nice because, you know, it’s already in your hand. Why not just use it to pay for your items as you head out?

 

(Tony Beyer)

It’s super duper easy as well. So what about money that I’m putting into savings? What’s going on with those deposit rates?

 

(Jennifer Cyert)

Sure. Well, you know, first of all, we always encourage everyone to have an emergency fund built up. You know, and so we have a special savings product so you can save for anything special that you want, whether that be your emergency fund to cover, you know, unknown or unexpected expenses or to save for something special coming up. So those are a great place to put some money just to make sure that you have it in case an emergency comes up. And you should need to spend some money.

 

(Tony Beyer)

Absolutely. And that should be an account that you can access very, very easily as well, which you could do with really any of our, you know, savings products and things like that for the most part. So also, if you’re able to tell us a little bit more, you know, that emergency fund, again, 6 to 12 months, we’ve talked about, you know, having those living expenses, you just never know what’s going to happen. And I like to say with with your health, with your career, your living situation, those you depend on, those who depend on you, transportation, appliances, all of those things, you just never know what’s going to happen. So having that money and savings, so once I have money in my savings account and it’s grown to a good balance, I’ve got that emergency fund, you know, what else could I do with my money perhaps to make it grow a little bit more?

 

(Jennifer Cyert)

You know, that emergency fund is so important. One of my favorite stories of someone saving for something special in all my years of working in banking was I had a little girl come in and I asked her what she was saving for. She was opening her very first savings account and she said, I’m saving up to buy a goat. And so she did save enough money and she eventually got herself a goat. She brought in pictures to show me. And then I think she ended up getting another goat, too. So, you know, we all have those special things we want to save for. So make sure that you have that money set aside not just for emergencies, but for those purchases that you want to make and have goals for. And then after you get a little bit more money saved up, then it’s time to start saying, you know, how can I make this money grow a little bit harder for me? And you know what the hardest thing about saving money is, Tony?

 

(Tony Beyer)

What’s that?

 

(Jennifer Cyert)

Just getting started. Just getting started. So here at Altra, we try to make it easy for you. You can open up a savings account online, right within online banking. Or you can step in and see any of our our financial service representatives at the branches and they’ll help you get started. It’s really very easy. Once once you get that account open, you’ll find that you enjoy saving money almost as much as you enjoy spending money.

 

(Tony Beyer)

Absolutely. When you have money saved up, I mean, not only for emergencies, but also those opportunities, you’re able to take advantage of those. And that could lead to a goat, you know, who knows with those. And then as far as your money being protected, what kind of insurance or what kind of things do we have here at Altra?

 

(Jennifer Cyert)

Yes, your money here is protected by NCUA insurance. So you know that your deposits that you have, whether they be in your savings account or a money market savings account or even a certificate of deposit, those are all going to be insured deposits that are very safe.

 

(Tony Beyer)

Excellent. Very good. So that’s all the questions that I have for you. But it’s really encouraging news that, you know, deposit rates, that those are going up, it’s going to put more people, more money in people’s pockets as well. Is there anything else that I haven’t talked about or any questions that I haven’t asked? Jennifer?

 

(Jennifer Cyert)

You know, I wanted to just talk about our certificates specials, because that’s a really popular account that we have right now. And I looked back and two years ago we were paying 0.70% annual percentage yield on our 13 month Thrive Certificate, which is very popular. And right now that’s paying 3.8% annual percentage yield. So that’s just what a difference two years can make. Right? A lot has happened over the last two years. So you can take, you know, as little as $1,000 and put that into savings and that earns a great dividend for you to be able to help your money grow faster. And again, that can also be opened online or in our branches, too.

 

(Tony Beyer)

Excellent. Yep. And you can get more information on our website at altra.org or you can stop in any of our offices and talk to some of the friendly employees that we have here at Altra Federal Credit Union. So I really appreciate you taking the time. I know you’re incredibly busy, Jennifer.

 

(Jennifer Cyert)

Never too busy for you. Tony.

 

(Tony Beyer)

Oh, thank you. And again, we’re speaking with Altra Federal Credit Union’s, VP of Deposit and Payment Strategies, Jennifer Cyert. Thank you so much for being on the podcast.

 

(Jennifer Cyert)

It’s my pleasure.

 

(Tony Beyer)

Well, that’s going to do it for this episode of The Best Life podcast, presented by Altra Federal Credit Union. If you have a topic or something that you’d like us to cover, you know, let us know. Send me an email at tjbeyer@altra.org and who knows, it may make it into a future episode. Don’t forget to follow the Best Life podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Or you could find it at altra.org. So as always, thanks again, be well, and we’ll talk to you again soon.

 

(Jennifer Cyert)

I just threw in that whole part about the goat, but it is my favorite saving story, so if you want me to do it over again without the goat, I totally would.

(Tony Beyer)

I loved it. I loved the goat. I wanted to make a Tom Brady joke. I was just like Tom Brady. Awesome!