In your early 20s, a savings of $10,000 can be a great safety net and, as I found out, it’s a pretty realistic milestone. That is, if you have a plan.
For me to hit that goal at that age, I mapped out my own strategy. I prioritized getting money into my savings account as often as possible, even though I wasn’t earning much. Instead of overthinking my spending categories or cutting every expense, I simply moved whatever I could from my checking to my savings account, and I stayed consistent with that habit over time. Here’s how I saved $10,000, and the financial tools that helped.
I started saving before I had a full-time income
I didn’t wait until I had a full-time job to start saving. While I was still in college, most of my income came from internships and work study, so it wasn’t consistent or especially high. Still, I wanted to build the habit early, even if the amount felt small.
At first, I set aside about $50 each month by automating transfers from my checking to savings account. This way, I didn’t have to remember to do it — and I wasn’t tempted to spend the money because it was already out of my checking account before I even noticed it.
Saving from irregular income helped me get comfortable putting money away without overthinking it, and it showed me that saving didn’t require a big paycheck. At that point, too, I was just using a traditional savings account, so I wasn’t earning much interest on my balance.
I increased my savings when my income changed
I graduated from college in 2020, but I was unemployed for about a year. During that time, I was able to collect unemployment, which was my only form of income at this point. I also didn’t have many expenses: I lived at home with my parents and my student loan payments were on pause.
That’s not to say I wasn’t contributing at all — I helped with things like groceries and household expenses. I also wasn’t cutting out every “fun” purchase. I love beauty products (especially hair products) and ordering out, but I grew up with a frugal mentality so I was always aware of how much I was spending.
Because of the income I received from unemployment, which was about $600 per week at the time, I took advantage of that low-expenses period. In addition to the $50 that was automatically transferred into my savings each month, I would regularly move any extra money from my checking into savings once my balance went above what I knew I needed (anything over $1,000). Having this $1,000 benchmark gave me a clear cutoff point between what I needed for short-term expenses and what I could comfortably set aside.
Within a year, from December 2019 to December 2020, I had saved just over $5,000.
I opened a brokerage account and, finally, a HYSA
I continued these same strategies into 2021, but one of the biggest shifts came when I opened a brokerage account. At the time, I still didn’t have a full-time job and wasn’t sure when I would get one, yet I wanted to start investing and contributing to something similar to a retirement account.
Again, I started small with $200 in the account, and I let it sit there for a few months while I got comfortable with the extra risk that I took on by putting my money in the market. By around September, I added another $500, which I transferred from my savings account, and, from there, I began contributing $200 per month consistently.
If you’re doing something similar today, there are plenty of brokerage platforms that allow you to start with small amounts and low or no minimums. The key is choosing something accessible and sticking with it.
For example, Fidelity’s minimum balance requirements vary depending on the investment vehicle selected, but there’s no minimum for the Fidelity Go account and only a $10 requirement to invest with a robo-advisor. Betterment also doesn’t require a minimum investment account balance, but there is an ACH deposit minimum of $10, meaning each deposit you make should amount to at least $10.
Fidelity Investments
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Minimum deposit and balance
Minimum deposit and balance requirements may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. No minimum to open a Fidelity Go® account, but minimum $10 balance for robo-advisor to start investing
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Fees
Fees may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. Zero commission fees for stock, ETF, options trades and some mutual funds; zero transaction fees for over 3,400 mutual funds; $0.65 per options contract. Fidelity Go® has no advisory fees for balances under $25,000 (0.35% per year for balances of $25,000 and over and this includes access to unlimited 1-on-1 coaching calls from a Fidelity advisor)
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Bonus
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Investment vehicles
Robo-advisor: Fidelity Go® IRA: Traditional, Roth and Rollover IRAs Brokerage and trading: Fidelity Investments Trading Other: Fidelity Investments 529 College Savings; Fidelity HSA®
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Investment options
Stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, CDs, options and fractional shares
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Educational resources
Extensive tools and industry-leading, in-depth research from 20-plus independent providers
Pros
- No commission fees for stock, ETF, options trades
- No transaction fees for over 3,400 mutual funds
- Limited-time special offers
- Abundant educational tools and resources
- 24/7 customer service
- Over 100 brick-and-mortar branches across the U.S. for face-to-face support
Cons
- Fidelity Go® has a 0.35% advisory fee per year for balances of $25,000 and over
- Some of Fidelity’s mutual funds require reaching specific thresholds
- Reports of platform outages during heavy trading days
Betterment
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Minimum deposit and balance
Minimum deposit and balance requirements may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. For example, Betterment doesn’t require clients to maintain a minimum investment account balance, but there is a ACH deposit minimum of $10. Premium Investing requires a $100,000 minimum balance.
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Fees
Fees may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected, account balances, etc. Click here for details.
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Investment vehicles
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Investment options
Stocks, bonds, ETFs and cash
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Educational resources
Betterment offers retirement and other education materials
Terms apply. Does not apply to crypto asset portfolios.
Pros
- No trade or transfer fees
- Good for automated investing
- Customizes users’ portfolios around their financial goals, timeline and risk tolerance
- Users can assign specific investing goals (short- and long-term) to each portfolio and invest using different strategies (less and more risk)
- Quick and easy to set up account
- Able to sync external retirement accounts to your Betterment retirement goal so all your accounts are in one place. Premium plan users get unlimited access to a financial advisor (otherwise, one-time advisor consultations cost a fee ranging from $299 to $399)
- Advanced features include automatic rebalancing, tax-saving strategies and socially responsible investing
Cons
- Base price for investing accounts is $4/month – recurring monthly deposits totaling $250, or total Betterment account balances reaching $20,000, automatically switch you to an annual price of .25% of your investing account balances
- Premium plan requires $100,000 minimum balance
By July 2021, I finally secured a full-time job, which meant more consistent income. Once this happened, I then opened a high-yield savings account with Marcus by Goldman Sachs and increased my monthly transfers from $50 to $100. I moved the portion sitting in my traditional savings account into the high-yield savings account, so I started earning that higher return fairly quickly.
Marcus by Goldman Sachs High Yield Online Savings
Goldman Sachs Bank USA is a Member FDIC.
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Annual Percentage Yield (APY)
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Minimum balance
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Monthly fee
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Maximum transactions
At this time, there is no limit to the number of withdrawals or transfers you can make from your online savings account
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Excessive transactions fee
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Overdraft fee
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Offer checking account?
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Offer ATM card?
Pros
- Strong APY
- No minimum balance or deposit
- No monthly fees
- No limit on withdrawals or transfers
- Easy-to-use mobile banking app
- Offers no-fee personal loans
Cons
- Higher APYs offered elsewhere
- No option to add a checking account
- No ATM access
If Marcus isn’t the right fit for you, there are many high-yield savings accounts on the market. The EverBank Performance Savings, for example, offers a solid yield and comes with no minimums required or monthly fees.
EverBank Performance℠ Savings
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Annual Percentage Yield (APY)
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Minimum balance
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Monthly fee
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Maximum transactions
You may conduct up to 20 external transfers per day, subject to a maximum of 10 transfers that pull deposit funds from a linked external account into your accounts at EverBank and a maximum of 10 transfers that send deposit funds from your accounts at EverBank to a linked external account, and up to 50 total external transfers per month.
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Excessive transactions fee
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Overdraft fees
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Offer checking account?
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Offer ATM card?
Pros
- Strong APY
- No minimum balance required
- No monthly fees
- Free ATM card and no ATM fees
Cons
- Limited physical branch locations
What mattered most to me wasn’t the specific bank I used, but rather separating my savings from my checking account and earning more interest than a traditional savings account offered.
By the end of the year, I finally reached my savings goal of $10,000.
I tracked my progress
To keep myself motivated during my savings journey, I used the Snowball Wealth app, a financial tracking and education tool that helped me set goals like saving $10,000 and building my net worth. While that app is no longer available, the idea still applies. You can use any expense tracker or financial app that lets you see your progress clearly.
Empower is a free tool that allows you to link your bank accounts, credit cards, brokerage accounts, 401(k)s, loans, mortgages, etc. and you’ll receive automatic updates on the balances of those accounts. You’ll also see a cash flow tab that categorizes your transactions and a budgeting tab that tracks your spending, providing a comparison view from the previous and current month.
Empower
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Cost
App is free, but users have option to add investment management services for a fee
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Standout features
A budgeting app and investment tool that tracks both your spending and your wealth
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Categorizes your expenses
Yes, but users can modify
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Links to accounts
Yes, bank and credit cards, as well as IRAs, 401(k)s, mortgages and loans
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Availability
Offered in both the App Store (for iOS) and on Google Play (for Android)
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Security features
Data encryption, fraud protection and strong user authentication
Pros
- Free to use
- Includes money-tracking dashboard, plus a net-worth tracker
- Syncs to your bank and credit cards as well as other financial accounts
- The Currency blog offers financial planning tips
- Security features include data encryption, fraud protection and strong user authentication
Cons
- Budgeting features aren’t as comprehensive as other apps
- Investment management services come with cost
Quicken is another option that offers users a personalized spending plan based on their income and costs, then adjusts it as they spend in real time. It also offers features, such as alerts for upcoming bills, spending limits and unusual transactions, as well as personalized savings goals (like what I used) and credit monitoring. While it does come with a $36 annual charge, that’s lower than many other budgeting apps out there, which typically range from $8 to $15 per month.
Quicken Simplifi
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Cost
50% off limited time offer: $2.99 per month for the first year, then $5.99 per month (billed annually).
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Standout features
Users can run customizable reports based on their spending, income and savings. Personalized spending plan adjusts in real-time.
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Categorizes your expenses
Yes, but users can modify.
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Links to accounts
Yes, bank, credit card and investment accounts and loans
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Availability
Offered in both the App Store (for iOS) and on Google Play (for Android)
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Security features
Financial data from bank servers transmitted using 256-bit encryption
Pros
- Syncs with bank, credit card and investment accounts
- Customizable reports based on income, spending and savings
- Robust investments dashboard
- Refund tracker
- Credit monitoring
Cons
- No free tier
- No bill pay feature
- Quicken data can’t be imported
What I’d do again (and what I’d change)
If I were starting my savings journey from scratch today, or if I were saving with higher expenses, I’d still focus on the habits that made the biggest differences: having a clear goal, automating each month and moving extra cash whenever possible. Those small, consistent actions matter more than the exact amount you can put away.
I think what I’d do differently is to be more intentional about where my money sits. I’d open a high-yield savings account sooner and think earlier about separating short-term savings from investing.
For anyone trying to save with more expenses on their plate, it’s OK if your progress feels slower. Saving consistently, even in tiny increments, is still powerful over time.
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