With Halloween right around the corner, it’s time to ward off financial nightmares and treat yourself to smarter money moves. Just like putting together the perfect costume that gets you the top prize, selecting the right tools for your financial strategy can lead to savings success.
We explore seven tricks to financially prepare for Halloween and beyond. Whether you’re on a fixed income and looking for innovative ways to create more pocket money or you’re simply looking to stretch your dollar, you’ll benefit from incorporating these practices into your finances.
If you’re letting your money gather cobwebs in a low-interest account, it’s time to upgrade to a high-yield savings account (HYSA). This is the reason I switched to an HYSA that offers more than 4.00% APY, several times the national average annual percentage yield of 0.46%. This HYSA pays me hundreds of dollars in interest every year.
Right now, the best high-yield savings accounts are offering up to 5.00% APY — and some go even higher. Think of it: A $10,000 balance in a 4.00% APY account would yield a return of $450 a year. That’s hundreds more than you’ll get by parking those funds at your neighborhood bank. And many HYSAs compound interest daily, leading to higher savings for you.
When shopping for a high-yield savings account, look for those that don’t require a minimum balance or high fees. Some even offer signup bonuses, giving your balance a quick boost out the gate.
I find that online banks and credit unions typically offer more competitive APYs than traditional banks. Just make sure your bank is protected by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance, or insured by the National Credit Union Administration, if your account’s with a credit union.
Expert take: Here's why my high-yield savings account is worth it — even after the Fed rate cut
If a certificate of deposit (CD) is like a single financial ingredient, then your CD ladder is the entire potion. Each CD comes with term that's like an expiration date — you lock in a deposit, and you get that deposit and interest back at the end of the term.
However, you don’t need to lock your deposit into one long term to reap the benefits of CDs. Instead, you can leverage short-term gains with long-term stability by building a CD ladder. To create my own CD ladder, I spread $20,000 across CDs with different terms — six months, nine months, one year and two years. Here’s an example:
This way, my CDs mature on staggered dates, giving me access to portions of my money even before the longest CD in my ladder matures. The power of this passive income potion lies in the way the “rungs” of your ladder protect you against interest rate changes. Once you open a CD, your APY is locked for the entire length of your CD’s terms. This means you can lock in and continue earning high APYs even after the Federal Reserve cuts its benchmark interest rate again this year or the next.
That’s why I usually put money I don’t immediately need in CDs. This has helped me save up enough money for several purchases, including a new cauldron (OK, it was actually a new state-of-the-art laptop). Just keep in mind CDs typically come with early withdrawal penalties, meaning that you may lose a few months of earned interest if you “break” a CD to access your money before your term matures.
Dig deeper: How much should you keep in a certificate of deposit?
Investing used to scare me more than haunted houses. However, I’ve found that automated investing platforms can greatly simplify the process of selecting and managing assets for me. These robo-advisors use algorithms to create and manage an investment portfolio for you that’s made of stocks, mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
In January 2024, I started with just $50 using SoFi Automated Investing, one of the best investment platforms on the market. From there, I set up regular transfers from my bank account, and SoFi Automated Investing uses my money to invest in a mix of low-cost ETFs. As of October 10, 2024, my portfolio sits at $6,805, including $445 in profits — a 7% gain.
What I love about these automated investing platforms is that they typically offer automatic rebalancing of my investments to keep my portfolio on track. Some even automatically use underperforming investments to offset my profits, which can lower my tax liability. It’s like having my own financial wizard that keeps me from spending hours researching individual investments and worrying about when to buy or sell.
Automated investing platforms typically charge low or no management fees, making them a cost-effective way to invest compared to traditional financial advisors. However, keep in mind that investing in stocks, mutual funds and ETFs is more risky than putting your money in HYSAs or CDs. This means you can potentially lose money, even if historical performance has been positive.
Dig deeper: How to use an automated investing platform to put your money to work
High-interest debt is the stuff of financial nightmares. It’s costly to pay off, and card debt can even outlive you if you can’t pay it off. If you’re struggling with credit card balances or have a large upcoming purchase, a 0% intro APR credit card might put your mind at ease.
These credit cards typically require good to excellent credit and offer zero interest for a specific period of time, typically 12 to 21 months. These 0% APR offers come in two types that depend on the card’s promotion:
Intro APR on balance transfer. This offer means that you can transfer existing high-interest debt to your new credit card and avoid interest charges for the intro APR period. You’ll typically pay a fee that’s 3% to 5% of each balance you transfer.
Intro APR on new purchases. This offer means that you can use your credit card to make new purchases and avoid interest charges on these purchases for the intro APR period.
Some credit cards even come with both offers at the same time. However, keep in mind that you’ll still need to make your minimum payment each month to avoid paying late payment fees or losing your intro APR offers. You also need to pay off your entire balance within the promo period to avoid interest charges.
The key to maximizing your benefit from 0% intro APR credit cards is to have a solid repayment plan. Use the time the card offers to pay down your entire balance. Divide your total balance by the number of months in the 0% intro period, and set up automatic payments to ensure you can pay it off before the offer ends — and the higher interest rate kicks in.
Dig deeper: How to pay off your credit card debt
Cashback apps and browser extensions can help you squeeze extra savings on purchases that you’ll make anyway. For example, I use Capital One Shopping, an online shopping platform that’s also available as a mobile app and a browser extension. I’ve saved a total of $1,544 since August 2021.
Capital One Shopping works to find you the highest savings on your online shopping, automatically applying as many relevant promo codes as it can find when you check out at supported websites. You can also earn rewards redeemable for gift cards from eBay, Columbia and many other popular brands. It’s like a shopping-savvy ghost haunts my online shopping experience in the best possible way.
PayPal Honey is similar, allowing you to find coupons and earn cash back on your purchases. You can even pair your cashback software with a cashback credit card to maximize your earnings. One of my favorite cashback credit cards is the Wells Fargo Active Cash Card because it has a $0 annual fee and earns unlimited 2% cash rewards on all purchases.
Dig deeper: 7 best cashback apps to stretch your dollar and earn rewards
Halloween doesn’t need to bleed your wallet dry. This year, you can save big on costumes, decorations and more with some of the best deals online.
I’ve been eyeing Walmart’s big sale for October to find deals on Halloween decor, from festive lighting to spooky yard decorations. I love that Walmart makes it easy to do my Halloween shopping online and receive free shipping to my home with $35+ orders.
If you’re looking to make a bigger statement, you’ll want to check out Home Depot’s Halloween collection, which includes their viral 12-foot skeleton and a 7-foot plague doctor. While these yard decorations are pricier investments, they’re sure to be a show-stopper for for years to come.
Developing strong spending habits takes time, but it can be as rewarding as trick-or-treating when you were a kid. When I started a budget, I quickly grew tired of recording everything in an Excel sheet or on paper, and I was pretty excited to automate the process using a budgeting app on my phone.
Many of the best modern budgeting apps automatically categorize your income and spending, providing a simple yet comprehensive overview of your finances. With most, you enter your budgeting goals and link your financial accounts — such as bank accounts, credit cards, bills and loans — and the app automates a lot of the tedious stuff for you.
And don’t worry, these apps can’t perform any actions on your financial accounts. They simply receive their data through channels that use bank-level security to communicate between your financial institutions and your budgeting app.
Most turn your finances into color-coded graphs within dashboards that can help you to better understand your spending habits and sniff where you might be spending too much.
Also remember to budget for disasters. Earmarking even a negligible amount of money from each paycheck for emergencies like car repairs, unexpected medical bills and other of life’s curveballs can make a world of difference.
Dig deeper: 5 popular budgeting strategies — and how to find the best fit for how you save
Halloween Data Center. The National Retail Federation. Accessed on October 11, 2024.
Sweet Statistics. Ibotta. Accessed on October 11, 2024.
Yahia Barakah is a personal finance writer at AOL with over a decade of experience in finance and investing. As a certified educator in personal finance (CEPF), he combines his economics expertise with a passion for financial literacy to simplify complex retirement, banking and credit topics. He loves empowering people to make informed financial decisions that improve their everyday and long-term wellness. Yahia's expertise has been featured on FinanceBuzz, FX Empire and EarnForex. Based in Florida, he balances his love for finance with freediving, hiking and underwater photography.
Article edited by Kelly Suzan Waggoner
