l just got a new job that pays well and enough for me to save off of. l was thinking about starting a savings account to help save me some money for the future. l am really worried about the banks and the economy. Would it be a wise idea for me to start a savings fund? l am a college student and l bank with Bank Of America.

bank accounts are suppose to be insured up to $100,000 by the fdic for each account and if congress passes the new bill $250,000 so as long as you do not have more than that in your account you should be safe. if you do get more than that in one account you can always open another one but right now you really should save as much as you can

Stick with an FDIC insured bank, so u know ur money is safe (and federally insured). Savings account is a good start, but they do not earn very much interest. Here is what l would recommend. See if ur bank offers any short term Certificate of Depotsits, also called CDs for short.

This is how a CD works: A CD is an interest earning account that pays more interest to u than a typical bank account. You deposit a set amount of money into a special CD account, & the catch is that u cannot withdraw from it for a certain amount of time. The length of the CD (how long u cannot withdraw the money) is something u negotiate with ur bank, usually in 1, 3, or 9 month increments.

Make sure, before setting up a CD, that u can go without that money, & that u will not need to withdraw from it before the CD expires, otherwise the bank will charge u & u might actually lose money. Start out with something simple, like a $100 CD for 1 month. Then, as u earn more money from ur job & from ur interest earnings, increase ur deposit or CD length. The longer the CD, the higher interest rate the bank pays you.

Also, consider opening a mutual fund. Typical mutual funds require a minimum of $1,000, so this might not be feasable just yet. But, they can be very helpful for long term investments. Mine has increased from the initial $5000 l deposited 2 years ago, to about $6500. It currently fluctuates between $6200 & $7000, but with this current economy, it might be lower than usual. But remmeber, mutual funds r LONG TERM investments, which over time, will increase in value. CDs r short term investments.