Saving Money

How to Build an Emergency Fund An emergency fund keeps you afloat when your regular income can’t. Learn how to start one and grow it. In 10 seconds An emergency fund keeps you afloat when your regular income can’t. Try saving at least three months’ worth of expenses, so your finances can handle a sudden job loss or medical emergency. In 1 minute An emergency fund helps protect you from the most common financial crises. It helps cover unexpected expenses that don’t fit into your regular budget, and buys time to find a new job or manage a transition. For most people, the goal is to have enough funds set aside to pay for at least three months of living expenses, including food, housing, and other essential costs. But exactly how much you need depends on your situation. If you have more dependents or greater risks, you may need more than that to feel comfortable. Ideally, you should automate deposits into your emergency fund to make sure it grows each month until it reaches an appropriate size. You may also want to put this money into a cash account or low-risk investment account to help it grow faster, as long as you are ok with taking on this risk. Betterment makes both of these options easy, and with recurring deposits, you can make steady progress toward your goal. In 5 minutes In this guide we’ll cover: Why you should build an emergency fund How much you should save How to grow your emergency fund You can’t anticipate every financial disaster. But with an emergency fund, you can reduce their impact on your life. It’s a special account you don’t touch until you absolutely need to. If you’re like most people, this is one of your first and most important financial goals. Without an emergency fund, you could find yourself taking on high-interest debt to avoid losing your home. Or unable to meet basic needs, you may have to make hard choices about which necessities to live without.  So, how much should you save? What should you do with the money you set aside? And what counts as “an emergency”? Your emergency fund is personal. It needs to fit your life, your needs, and your risks. Some may only need a few thousand dollars. Others may need tens of thousands. It all depends on your regular expenses and how prepared you want to be. How large should your emergency fund be? For most people, the goal is to have enough to cover at least three months of expenses. That’s rent or mortgage, utilities, food, and anything else you pay every month. If you unexpectedly lost your job or had a medical crisis, your emergency fund should be enough to help you through most transitions.  Some folks should save more. If you’re a single parent or the only person with income in your household, a sudden loss of income would have a greater impact. If you work in an industry with high turnover, or you have a serious medical condition, you’re more likely to need these funds, so you may want to save more, such as six months of your monthly expenses. It may help to think of your emergency fund as time. This isn’t just a target dollar amount. It’s months of time. How long would you like to keep the bills paid without a job? How much would it take to do that? That’s the amount you should save. There’s no magic number that’s right for every person. And since it’s based on your current cost of living, the amount you’ll want to save will change with your expenses. Live more frugally, and you may be more comfortable with a smaller emergency fund. Get a bigger house or apartment, add a family member, or spend more on basic needs, and you’ll need a bigger emergency fund. How to build an emergency fund The hardest part of building an emergency fund is figuring out how saving fits into your life. It helps to work backward from your goal. Once you know how much you need to save, decide when you want to save it by. The sooner the better, but choose a timeline that makes sense for you. Then break your goal into chunks—how much do you need to save each month or each paycheck to get there on time? The last part is easy. Make your savings automatic with recurring deposits. You make the commitment once, then see steady progress toward your goal. You don’t have to think about it anymore. Set up a Safety Net goal with Betterment, and we’ll take care of this for you. Set how much you want to save and when you want to save it by, then decide how much you can put toward that goal each month. Create a recurring deposit, and you’ll start saving automatically. This video sums it all up. Where should you put your emergency fund? A lot of people put their emergency fund in a savings account at a bank. It keeps their money liquid, and it’s federally insured by the FDIC. So there’s little risk of losing what you’ve saved. Obviously, you want your emergency fund to be there when you need it, so it’s understandable why so many people are drawn to savings accounts. But it may not be the best way to grow your fund, either. Most savings accounts generate so little interest that they’re basically cash. It’s a step above putting money under your mattress. And like cash, savings accounts will usually lose value over time due to inflation. Thankfully, you have options. You can generate more interest without taking on much more risk. Here are some alternative places to put your emergency fund. High Yield Cash Account Like a regular savings account, most cash accounts are federally insured. But unlike a traditional savings account, these can generate meaningful interest. A high yield account takes your money further, and it’s still highly liquid. Certificate of Deposit (CD) A certificate of deposit, or CD, is basically a short-term investment. It lasts for a fixed duration, such as 12 months or 5 years. At the end of this period, the CD “matures,” and you typically earn more interest than you would with a high yield cash account. CDs are federally insured and still low-risk, but until your CD matures, it’s not liquid unless you pay a penalty to get out of the CD early. This makes it a little riskier for an emergency fund, since you never know when you’ll find yourself in a crisis. Low-Risk Investment Account Investment accounts can offer greater growth potential in exchange for taking on more risk. While stocks are considered volatile because they frequently change in value, bonds are generally more stable. An investment portfolio consisting of all bonds can still outpace a CD, a high yield account, and inflation, while putting your emergency fund at significantly less risk when compared to a portfolio consisting entirely of stocks. If you feel investing is the right move for you, Betterment recommends giving yourself a bigger buffer, adding 30% to your target amount. That way your money can grow faster, but it’s also protected against potential losses.

Buying A Home: Down Payments, Mortgages, And Saving For Your Future Your home may be the largest single purchase you make during your lifetime. That can make it both incredibly exciting and nerve wracking. Purchasing a primary residence often falls in the grey area between a pure investment (meant to increase one’s capital) and a consumer good (meant to increase one’s satisfaction). Your home has aspects of both, and we recognize that you may purchase a home for reasons that are not strictly monetary, such as being in a particular school district or proximity to one’s family. Those are perfectly valid inputs to your purchasing decision. However, as your financial advisor, this guide will focus primarily on the financial aspects of your potential home purchase: We’ll do this by walking through the five tasks that should be done before you purchase your home. 1. Build your emergency fund. Houses are built on top of foundations to help keep them stable. Just like houses, your finances also need a stable foundation. Part of that includes your emergency fund. We recommend that, before purchasing a home, you should have a fully-funded emergency fund. Your emergency fund should be a minimum of three months’ worth of expenses. How big your emergency fund should be is a common question. By definition, emergencies are difficult to plan for. We don’t know when they will occur or how much they will cost. But we do know that life doesn’t always go smoothly, and thus that we should plan ahead for unexpected emergencies. Emergency funds are important for everyone, but especially so if you are a homeowner. When you are a renter, your landlord is likely responsible for the majority of repairs and maintenance of your building. As a homeowner, that responsibility now falls on your shoulders. Yes, owning a home can be a good investment, but it can also be an expensive endeavor. That is exactly why you should not purchase a home before having a fully-funded emergency fund. And don’t forget that your monthly expenses may increase once you purchase your new home. To determine the appropriate size for your emergency fund, we recommend using what your monthly expenses will be after you own your new home, not just what they are today. Open your Safety Net Get Started 2. Choose a fixed-rate mortgage. According to 2020 survey data by the National Association of Realtors®, 86% of home buyers took out a mortgage. This means that most people have to choose which type of mortgage is appropriate for them, and one of the key factors is deciding between an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) and a fixed-rate mortgage (FRM). Betterment generally recommends choosing a fixed-rate mortgage. Here’s why: As shown below, ARMs usually—but not always—offer a lower initial interest rate than FRMs. Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Visualization of data by Betterment. But this lower rate comes with additional risk. With an ARM, your monthly payment can increase over time, and it is difficult to predict what those payments will be. This may make it tough to stick to a budget and plan for your other financial goals. Fixed-rate mortgages, on the other hand, lock in the interest rate for the lifetime of the loan. This stability makes budgeting and planning for your financial future much easier. Locking in an interest rate for the duration of your mortgage helps you budget and minimizes risk. Luckily, most home buyers do choose a fixed-rate mortgage. According to 2020 survey data by the National Association of Realtors®, 89% of home buyers who financed their home purchase used a fixed-rate mortgage, and this was very consistent across all age groups. Research by the Urban Institute also shows FRMs have accounted for the vast majority of mortgages over the past 2 decades. Source: National Association of Realtors®, 2020 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends. Visualization of data by Betterment. 3. Save For The Upfront Costs: Down Payment And Closing You’ll need more than just your emergency fund to purchase your dream home. You’ll also need a down payment and money for closing costs. Betterment recommends making a down payment of at least 20%, and setting aside about 2% of the home purchase for closing costs. A 2020 National Association of Realtors® survey shows the median down payment amount for home purchases is 12%. As the chart below shows, younger buyers tend to make smaller down payments than older buyers. Source: National Association of Realtors®, 2020 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends.  Visualization of data by Betterment. But is making an average down payment of only 12% a wise decision? It is true that you are often allowed to purchase a home with down payments far below 20%. For example: FHA loans allow down payments as small as 3.5%. Fannie Mae allows mortgages with down payments as small as 3%. VA loans allow you to purchase a home with no down payment. However, Betterment typically advises putting down at least 20% when purchasing your home. A down payment of 20% or more can help avoid Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI). Putting at least 20% down is also a good sign you are not overleveraging yourself. Lastly, a down payment of at least 20% may help lower your interest rate. This is acknowledged by the CFPB and seems to be true when we compare interest rates of mortgages with Loan-to-Values (LTVs) below and above 80%, as shown below. Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Visualization of data by Betterment. Depending on your situation, it may even make sense to go above a 20% down payment. Just remember, you shouldn’t put every spare dollar you have into your home, as that will likely mean you don’t have enough liquid assets elsewhere for things such as your emergency fund and other financial goals like retirement. Closing Costs In addition to a down payment, buying a home also has significant transaction costs. These transaction costs are commonly referred to as “closing costs” or “settlement costs.” Closing costs depend on many factors, such as where you live and the price of the home. ClosingCorp, a company that specializes in closing costs and services, conducted a study that analyzed 2.9 million home purchases throughout 2020. They found that closing costs for buyers averaged 1.69% of the home’s purchase price, and ranged between states from a low of 0.71% of the home price (Missouri) up to a high of 5.90% of the home price (Delaware). The chart below shows more detail. Source: ClosingCorp, 2020 Closing Cost Trends. Visualization of data by Betterment. As a starting point, we recommend saving up about 2% of the home price (about the national average) for closing costs. But of course, if your state tends to be much higher or lower than that, you should plan accordingly. In total, that means that you should generally save at least 20% of the home price to go towards a down payment, and around 2% for estimated closing costs. With Betterment, you can open a Major Purchase goal and save for your downpayment and closing costs using either a cash portfolio or investing portfolio, depending on your risk tolerance and when you think you’ll buy your home. 4. Think Long-Term We mentioned the closing costs for buyers above, but remember: There are also closing costs when you sell your home. These closing costs mean it may take you a while to break even on your purchase, and that selling your home soon after is more likely to result in a financial loss. That’s why Betterment doesn’t recommend buying a home unless you plan to own that home for at least 4 years, and ideally longer. Unfortunately, closing costs for selling your home tend to be even higher than when you buy a home. Zillow, Bankrate, NerdWallet, The Balance and Opendoor all estimate them at around 8% to 10% of the home price. Betterment’s research analyzed closing costs for both buying and selling, the opportunity costs of potentially investing that money, and more. It shows that the average expected breakeven time is about 4 years as shown below. Of course, this will depend on many factors, but is helpful as a general guide. Thus, if you do not plan to own your home for at least 4 years, you should think carefully on whether buying a home is a smart move at this point in your life. Source: Betterment, Is Buying A Home A Good Investment? Visualization of data by Betterment. Luckily, it appears that most home buyers stay in their homes beyond our 4-year rule of thumb. The chart below is built from 2020 survey data by the National Association of Realtors®. It shows how long individuals of various age groups stayed in their previous homes before selling them. Across all age groups, the median length of time was 10 years, which is more than double our 4-year rule of thumb. That’s excellent. However, we can see that younger buyers, on average, come in well below the 10-year median, which indicates they are more at risk of not breaking even on their home purchases. Source: National Association of Realtors®, 2020 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends. Visualization of data by Betterment. Some things you can do to help ensure you stay in your home long enough to at least break even include: If you’re buying a home in an area you don’t know very well, consider renting in the neighborhood first to make sure you actually enjoy living there. Think ahead and make sure the home makes sense for you 4 years from now, not just you today. Are you planning on having kids soon? Might your elderly parents move in with you? How stable is your job? All of these are good questions to consider. Don’t rush your home purchase. Take your time and think through this very large decision. The phrase “measure twice, cut once” is very applicable to home purchases. 5. Calculate Your Monthly Affordability The upfront costs are just one component of home affordability. The other is the ongoing monthly costs. Betterment recommends building a financial plan to determine how much home you can afford while still achieving your other financial goals. But if you don’t have a financial plan, we recommend not exceeding a debt-to-income (DTI) ratio of 36%. In other words, you take your monthly debt payments (including your housing costs), and divide them by your gross monthly income. Lenders often use this as one factor when it comes to approving you for a mortgage. Debt Income Ratios There are lots of rules in terms of what counts as income and what counts as debt. These rules are all outlined in parts of Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide and Freddie Mac’s Seller/Servicer Guide. While the above formula is just an estimate, it is helpful for planning purposes. In certain cases Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will allow debt-to-income ratios as high as 45%-50%. But just because you can get approved for that, doesn’t mean it makes financial sense to do so. Keep in mind that the lender’s concern is your ability to repay the money they lent you. They are far less concerned with whether or not you can also afford to retire or send your kids to college. The debt to income ratio calculation also doesn’t factor in income taxes or home repairs, both of which can be significant. This is all to say that using DTI ratios to calculate home affordability may be an okay starting point, but they fail to capture many key inputs for calculating how much you personally can afford. We’ll outline our preferred alternative below, but if you do choose to use a DTI ratio, we recommend using a maximum of 36%. That means all of your debts—including your housing payment—should not exceed 36% of your gross income. In our opinion, the best way to determine how much home you can afford is to build a financial plan. That way, you can identify your various financial goals, and calculate how much you need to be saving on a regular basis to achieve those goals. With the confidence that your other goals are on-track, any excess cash flow can be used towards monthly housing costs. Think of this as starting with your financial goals, and then backing into home affordability, instead of the other way around. Wrapping Things Up If owning a home is important to you, you can use the five steps in this guide to help you make a wiser purchasing decision. Have an emergency fund of at least three months’ worth of expenses to help with unexpected maintenance and emergencies. Choose a fixed-rate mortgage to help keep your budget stable. Save for a minimum 20% down payment to avoid PMI, and plan for paying ~2% in closing costs. Don’t buy a home unless you plan to own it for at least 4 years. Otherwise, you are not likely to break even after you factor in the various costs of homeownership. Build a financial plan to determine your monthly affordability, but as a starting point, don’t exceed a debt-to-income ratio of 36%. If you’d like help saving towards a down payment or building a financial plan, sign up for Betterment today. Save for your home with Betterment Get Started

What is Dollar-Cost Averaging? Although it’s not always the most optimal investment strategy, choosing to dollar-cost average into the market has behavioral and psychological benefits that may help you over the long run. Dollar-cost averaging (DCA) is the practice of regularly investing a fixed amount of money over a period of time, regardless of market activity. For example, if you choose to invest $100 on the 15th of the month, every month for 1 year, you would be implementing the investment strategy of dollar-cost averaging. You don’t vary the dollar amount you choose to invest ($100), or the timing of the investment (on the 15th of each month), based on market activity. Types of Dollar-Cost Averaging There are two types of dollar-cost averaging: voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary DCA is when you have a specific amount of cash to invest, but are choosing to parcel it out over a period of time, rather than investing it all at once. Involuntary DCA is when your ability to invest depends on when you have the money to do so. Perhaps you set up auto-deposits, so that you can invest as you earn more money over time with each paycheck. The major difference between these two types of DCA is that involuntary DCA implies that you could not have invested sooner, while voluntary DCA is an investment strategy where you could have, but chose not to. Real Life Example Let’s pretend you have $1,200 sitting in cash that you can invest right now. You choose to invest that $1,200 by investing $100 per month for a period of one year. This would be an example of voluntary DCA. Now, let’s pretend you don’t have any money to invest right now, but through your paychecks you earn $100 per month that you could invest. You invest $100 per month for a period of one year. This is an example of involuntary DCA. Should You Dollar-Cost Average? This question really only applies to voluntary DCA and not involuntary DCA. If you don’t have any money sitting around to invest, then you’ll need to wait until you have the money to invest. For involuntary DCA, the choice becomes whether to invest that money as soon as you earn it, or to let that money build up over time so that you can invest the entire balance. An optimal strategy for involuntary DCA is to schedule auto-deposits as soon as you get paid. If you do have money sitting around to invest, the question then becomes, should you invest it all right away, or should you DCA it into the market over time? There are a couple of answers to this question. The Head vs The Heart The expected total return of markets is positive over time. Therefore, from a purely unemotional investment strategy perspective, it makes sense to invest your cash immediately and not DCA into the market. Studies show that a lump-sum investment will outperform DCA roughly two-thirds of the time and will consistently outperform DCA across global markets. Yet, we all know that leading with the head is easier said than done. Luckily, following one's heart can come with its own set of benefits. Since DCA is a fixed rule, independent of market performance, it is unemotional, diversifies your purchase price, and makes you less susceptible to the counterproductive behaviors people often have when investing. More specifically, DCA can make you less susceptible to the disposition effect, which is the tendency to sell assets that have increased in value, while keeping assets that have dropped in value. People significantly dislike losing more than they like winning, which is more formally known as loss aversion. This goes hand in hand with helping to reduce your susceptibility to anchoring bias, which is when you attach yourself to an irrelevant stock price and begin making investment decisions based on that irrelevant stock price at a later date. Additionally, DCA can prevent you from trying to time the market—which is generally a losing investment strategy over the long run. It also minimizes your chances of feeling regret and may reduce any potential anxiety that you “bought in at the top.” Maybe most important of all, DCA can help you establish good investment habits. After all, choosing to DCA into the market is better than never investing your cash at all. Make A Decision To recap, if you have a pile of cash sitting around to invest, studies show that investing it all right away is the optimal decision the majority of the time. However, choosing to voluntarily DCA into the market has many behavioral and psychological benefits that can have a positive impact on your investing behavior. The most important thing is picking your approach and getting started. It’s better than doing nothing and leaving your cash out of the market completely.