It’s tough to find a savings account that does a good job doubling as your emergency fund account. I think the ING Orange Savings Account fits the ticket.

My wife and I recently signed up. Previously we were using Vanguard to house a money market account. The service was great. I use Vanguard for other services still. However, as most of you know, money markets are not FDIC insured. An ING Orange Savings Account is.

In our money market account (which is a mutual fund with very stable holdings), we were getting an annual interest rate of about .67 percent. Now, with our Orange Savings Account we’re getting 2.2 percent (UPDATE: we’re now getting 4.75%). You might be thinking, “2.2 percent is still so low!” And you’re right. It isn’t a lot. But when you consider that it’s more than three times what we were getting with our money market, all of a sudden the savings account looks pretty attractive - especially in orange.

We’ve recently had quite a few “emergency” expenses, including three plane tickets, an anesthesiologist’s bill, some prescriptions, a speeding ticket (that was me), four new wheels & tires for the car, along with a new battery. This all happened during October and the first ten days of November.

I’m thankful we had a reserve. If you don’t have three to six months of expenses sitting in a safe, liquid account, it’s time you get working on it. Start with step one of the Four Steps to Cash Flow and get moving! The lasting rewards are worth the temporary sacrifice.

ING has been a very simple, efficient, alternative to what we were using before for our emergency fund. I was pleasantly surprised to find that we didn’t need to sign any papers to open an account. They have many security questions they ask you, and one of those questions is asked each time you log in (along with your customer number and PIN). These extra security measures allow the entire process to be paperless.

Your interest is accrued daily. When you log in you can see how much interest you have accrued so far for the year and for the month. I enjoy seeing money being created from virtually nothing. It’s empowering to have your money be working for you (even in a small way), rather than having it working against you.

Transferring money is pretty easy also. The Orange Savings Account you open is linked to a checking or savings account of your choice. Each time you deposit money you simply log in, click deposit, enter the amount, and the money is automatically pulled from the linked account. If you want to make a withdrawal, the process is virtually the same. It usually takes between three and four days for the withdrawn money to be deposited into your linked account.

The ING Orange Savings Account may not be right for you. However, having an emergency fund is right for everyone - even stuck in a shoebox behind the fish tank. You need to make sure you have the money set aside for a rainy day. I’ve become a recent fan of the ING Orange Savings Account and will continue to promote it unless and/or until I find something better.

Start Your Emergency Fund

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