René Bennett | (TNS) Bankrate.com

Saving isn’t always easy, but it pays off over time. It’s especially useful to have a solid savings foundation in place to protect yourself against economic uncertainty. And with the unemployment rate surging to 4.3 percent in August, the road ahead looks potentially rocky.

But how do you save more when money is tight? More than a third (34 percent) of working Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, according to Bankrate’s Living Paycheck to Paycheck Survey. Furthermore, 59 percent of people are uncomfortable with their amount of emergency savings, according to Bankrate’s Emergency Savings Report.

If you’re concerned about how much money is in your account, there’s no need to panic. There are simple ways to change your routine to boost your bank balance.

Key money saving tips

1. Automate your savings

To better organize your savings goals, start by getting a clear picture of your financial situation. Automating your savings is also a smart way to increase your savings.

Putting your savings on autopilot is an easy way to separate savings from spending money. It’s tempting to spend money after it hits your checking account. Automating your savings helps you avoid that temptation.

Two ways to automate your savings are to split up your direct deposit and funnel part of it into a savings account and to set up a recurring transfer from your checking account into a savings account.

Typically, you can take either a percentage of your paycheck or a fixed amount and use direct deposit into a savings account. You can also set an amount to be moved from your checking account into your savings account and then set the frequency of the transfer.

2. Set up an emergency fund

Common advice for emergency funds is to save at least three to six months’ worth of living expenses before you start saving for other goals.

The emergency fund is separate from your other savings. It is a ready source of cash for unexpected expenses and a hedge against tapping a 401(k) or other long-term savings accounts.

With worries about a continued slowdown in the job market making headlines, a sufficiently padded emergency fund can keep you from having to use credit cards or payday loans to pay bills if you lose your job.

The amount to set aside “depends on how long you expect to be looking for work,” says Judith Ward, vice president and senior financial planner with T. Rowe Price in Owings Mills, Maryland. “Households with just one worker or folks who earn commission may want a little more just because of that uncertainty.”

3. Tackle high-interest debt first

Debt is a significant obstacle to reaching financial milestones for many Americans, with 50 percent of credit cardholders carrying debt from month to month, according to Bankrate’s Credit Card Debt Survey. That’s up 6 percentage points from the start of the year.

It’s crucial to tackle high-interest debt as quickly as possible, because the interest added each month to the balance is money you instead could be saving. And with credit card interest rates averaging more than 20 percent, that debt is costing a lot of money.

A popular savings strategy for paying off debt is to zero out the highest-interest debt first. Once you’ve cleared that balance, move on to the debt with the next highest annual percentage rate (APR). This strategy, called the avalanche method, reduces how much interest you pay over the long run.

If you have multiple high-interest debts, debt consolidation can make it easier to tackle those debts by streamlining them into a single debt.

Bankrate’s Credit Card Payoff Calculator can help you calculate how soon you can pay off a credit card.

4. Save for different goals

Once you have established an emergency fund, separate your next priorities into three savings buckets, which include short-, medium- and long-term goals.

These three different types of goals will each require a somewhat different approach. Consider using a savings goal calculator to help track your progress for each.

Save for short-term goals

While there’s no strict definition of what a short-term goal is, these goals generally are those you aim to achieve within a couple of years or less. They tend to be specific and have more clear deadlines.

Some examples of short-term goals include:

—Car down payment

—Vacation

—Apartment rental deposit

—Home improvements

Savings for short-term goals should be fairly easily accessible. High-yield savings accounts, money market accounts and shorter-term certificates of deposit (CDs) make for the best places to store short-term savings funds. CDs come with some extra considerations, though, as these will require that you keep the money locked up until maturity. Look ahead on the calendar to know exactly when you will need the money to make sure you avoid paying any early withdrawal penalties to access the funds.

Save for medium-range goals

If your dream is to save for a down payment on a home, your child’s college education or your child’s wedding, you’ll need to go beyond belt-tightening and set up midterm savings buckets.

Midterm savings goals tend to take a few years to achieve, though usually not more than about five years. They may be more expensive than short-term goals.

Examples of medium-range goals include:

—Weddings

—Down payment for a house

—Pursuing higher education

—A child’s college fund

—Starting a business

—Paying off a debt

For these goals, you’ll want an account with some liquidity, though the money doesn’t need to be as immediately accessible as with short-term goals. You may also want to take different strategies with the account, such as setting up savings buckets within a single account or laddering CDs.

Save for long-term goals

Long-term goals typically aren’t achieved for at least five years. Retirement is usually the biggest long-term goal for savers. Retirement is perhaps the one savings goal where the time horizon is long enough that you can usually ride out market volatility that’s common when investing in stocks and bonds.

Another long-term savings goal might be paying off a large debt, such as a mortgage. These debts require consistent financial planning over time, and their longer time horizon also means that the way you save for them may change over time as you go through personal life changes. For example, if you get a higher-paying job, you can contribute more to paying off a debt.

Saving for the longer-term often requires looking beyond standard banking products, such as savings deposit accounts and CDs, to earn higher rates of return on your savings.

5. Use multiple savings accounts

Having more than one savings account is another way to earmark your money for different financial goals. Having multiple savings accounts can help ensure that money meant for one savings goal isn’t being used for another.

If all of your savings are in one account, for example, money meant for your emergency fund might accidentally be used for a vacation.

Having multiple savings accounts also gives you a clearer picture of how you’re progressing toward your different savings goals. If you have $20,000 saved, and it’s all in one account, it may be harder to track that you have $5,000 saved for an emergency fund and $15,000 for a home purchase.

And because many banks offer savings accounts that feature the same interest rate, no matter how low your balance, you don’t need to put all your savings in the same account to get the highest yield.

Additional ways to save money

Cut back on your expenses

The thought of spending less can seem impossible in today’s high-priced environment, but it’s crucial to put your entire budget under a microscope to look for opportunities to trim. Examine your recent spending patterns to see if there are obvious ways to shrink your monthly bills.

Don’t forget to think about your recurring charges for items like car insurance and homeowners insurance, too. If you’ve been with the same provider for years, you’ve likely been seeing regular increases to your premiums. Compare some other quotes to see if there are better deals available.

Use your mobile banking app

Mobile banking apps have made it easier than ever to manage your finances on the go and keep track of your savings. Many of these apps offer automated savings features, virtual savings envelopes and unique budgeting tools to help you stay on top of your spending. Plus, since they’re part of your bank offering, they don’t have any additional charge. If you’re looking for a more sophisticated tool that does a bit more, you can explore the best budgeting apps – although some of those will come with a monthly or annual fee.

Try a savings challenge

Saving doesn’t always feel like the most fun assignment; after all, it likely means taking your lunch to work and skipping that evening happy hour with your friends. However, you can make saving money more enjoyable by turning it into a game or challenge. For example, the 52-week savings challenge is a popular savings strategy that encourages consumers to save a small amount of money each week for a year, increasing the amount you save gradually over the year. By making saving into a fun challenge, you can stay motivated about making progress toward your financial goals. There are other ways to create a fun game for yourself, too, such as a challenge to spend nothing at all for a weekend or a full week other than your regular bills that you need to pay to maintain a good credit score.

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(Visit Bankrate online at bankrate.com.)

©2024 Bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Today is Saturday, Aug. 24, the 237th day of 2024. There are 129 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On August 24, 1932, Amelia Earhart embarked on a 19-hour flight from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, making her the first woman to fly solo, non-stop, from coast to coast.

Also on this date:

In 1814, during the War of 1812, British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting fire to the still-under-construction Capitol and the White House, as well as other public buildings.

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In 1912, Congress passed a measure creating the Alaska Territory.

In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty came into force.

In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Communist Control Act, outlawing the Communist Party in the United States.

In 1981, Mark David Chapman was sentenced in New York to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon.

In 1989, Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti (juh-MAH’-tee) banned Pete Rose from the game for betting on his own team, the Cincinnati Reds.

In 1991, in response to a coup attempt by hardline Communist leaders attempting to reassert control over the Soviet Union, Ukrainian parliamentarians voted to approve a Declaration of Independence for the state of Ukraine.

In 1992, Hurricane Andrew smashed into Florida; the storm resulted in 65 deaths and caused more than $26 billion in damage across Florida, Louisiana and the Bahamas.

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union declared that Pluto was no longer a full-fledged planet, demoting it to the status of a “dwarf planet.”

In 2012, a Norwegian court found Anders Behring Breivik guilty of terrorism and premeditated murder for twin attacks on July 22, 2011 that killed 77 people; he received a 21-year prison sentence that can be extended as long as he is considered dangerous to society.

In 2018, the family of Arizona Sen. John McCain announced that he had discontinued medical treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer; McCain died the following day.

In 2019, police in Aurora, Colorado, responding to a report of a suspicious person, used a chokehold to subdue Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man; he suffered cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital and was later declared brain dead and taken off life support.

In 2020, Republicans formally nominated President Donald Trump for a second term on the opening day of a scaled-down convention; during a visit to the convention city of Charlotte, North Carolina, Trump told delegates that “ the only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election. ”

Today’s Birthdays:

Composer-musician Mason Williams is 86.
R&B singer Marshall Thompson (The Chi-Lites) is 82.
WWE co-founder Vince McMahon is 79.
Author Paulo Coelho is 77.
Actor Anne Archer is 77.
Author Alexander McCall Smith is 76.
Composer Jean-Michel Jarre is 76.
Author Orson Scott Card is 73.
Poet Linton Kwesi Johnson is 72.
Actor Kevin Dunn is 69.
Former Arkansas governor and political commentator Mike Huckabee is 69.
Actor-writer Stephen Fry is 67.
Actor Steve Guttenberg is 66.
Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. is 64.
Actor Jared Harris is 63.
Talk show host Craig Kilborn is 62.
Actor Marlee Matlin is 59.
Basketball Hall of Famer Reggie Miller is 59.
Film director Ava DuVernay is 52.
Actor-comedian Dave Chappelle is 51.
Actor James D’Arcy is 50.
Actor Carmine Giovinazzo (jee-oh-vihn-AH’-zoh) is 51.
Actor Alex O’Loughlin is 48.
Author John Green is 47.
Actor Chad Michael Murray is 43.
Actor Rupert Grint is 36.
Basketball player Kelsey Plum is 30.

Napheesa Collier had an historic night, and the Lynx continue to roll.

Collier finished with 27 points and a career-high 18 rebounds, including a first-half double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, and the Lynx beat the Aces 87-74 at Target Center.

It is the first time in league history a player has had at least 25 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in a game while shooting at least 70% from the field. Collier was 11 of 15 shooting and had five assists.

Her 18 rebounds was one more than Las Vegas had as a team.

“We played gritty team defense at some points. We looked at things at halftime, and the level of focus I thought we came back with was really fun. When we’re moving like that it’s the most fun basketball. It’s been amazing to be part of. I feel like we’re getting our peak at the right time,” Collier said.

Minnesota (21-8) has won five straight, including all four after the Olympic break.

Alanna Smith finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. Courtney Williams added 13 points and seven assists before falling hard with 4:40 to play. Tended to by trainers, she walked off under her own power but did not return. Coach Cheryl Reeve did not have an update after the game.

Kayla McBride and Natisha Heideman each had a dozen points as Minnesota had five players score in double figures for the second straight game.

But this was all about Collier. And not just about offense, because she also led the defensive attempts to slow down A’ja Wilson, the league’s top scorer.

“It’s not just me, it’s team defense,” Collier said. “A’ja is an amazing player, and she is not going to be contained by one person. To play the team defense like we did is really what I think got us both those games.”

Still, Reeve acknowledges it all starts with Collier at both ends of the floor. “To be a highly successful team, your best player has to be the one you can count on.”

Minnesota defeated the two-time defending WNBA champion Aces in three of four meetings this season. The Lynx won 98-87 in Nevada on Wednesday, a game that saw the Lynx use an 8-0 run in the middle of the fourth quarter for final separation.

“More than anything, we want to make sure we had the appropriate level of compete, knowing how the Aces would feel going in after winning on their floor and the level of compete they would bring,” Reeve said.

Over about a three-minute span in the third quarter, the Lynx turned a seven-point lead into a 62-45 edge. Collier had five points in the stretch and Hiedeman made a 3-pointer, and most of the 9,124 in attendance were roaring.

But the Aces weren’t done, whittling the Lynx lead to six with 3:16 remaining, McBride drained a 3-pointer and Collier did the same 35 seconds later. A pair of free throws from Wilson got the Aces (17-11) within 10, but Collier fed Smith for a layup, making it 84-72.

“Phee is great every game. It’s fun to be a part of it and witness it,” Smith said.

“For every coach out there, you hope you get one Phee, because that’s the promised land,” Reeve said. “People want to play with her. People want to be a Minnesota Lynx because of Napheesa Collier.”

Minnesota is 13-3 at home, including 8-1 against Western Conference foes.

The Lynx return to Target Center on Saturday night with Caitlin Clark and Indiana in town — along with an expected few thousand University of Iowa fans. Minnesota will retire the No. 23 of Maya Moore Irons after the game.

Each team had offensive spurts in the opening half that resulted in a 40-39 Lynx lead at the break. Neither team led by more than seven.

Down 13-8 midway through the opening quarter, the Lynx scored the next 10 points – seven by Collier – including a fast-break layup after a steal and feed by McBride forcing an Aces timeout.

Las Vegas scored the final five points to make it 18-all after 10 minutes.

A McBride three pushed Minnesota’s lead to 31-24, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Megan Gustafson and Tiffany Hayes, a pair of Wilson free throws and a Kelsey Plum 3-pointer gave the Aces a four-point lead with 3:14 left before halftime.

Collier scored on a layup and short jumper in the half’s final minute.

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When hip-hop albums are put together, they often seem collaborative concoctions that blend multiple visions, each rapper and producer contributing their own verse, riff, sample or groove. So it’s a pleasant surprise when you find a hip-hop artist with their own individualistic style, creating music that seems to come from one person’s mind and heart.

What’s even more rare is finding that that artist’s strong recorded output doesn’t do them justice. That they turn out to be a magnetic and disarmingly genuine live performer who connects with a crowd like only a handful of others in their genre.

Such an artist is Chance the Rapper, who performed a powerful and richly entertaining concert at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand on Friday night. Here’s a performer with a sense of his place in the progression of pop music, tapping into the roots of funk, soul and R&B for his arrangements and then applying eloquent poetry atop it, often in very fast fashion.

Not only that, but Chancelor Bennett from Chicago’s South Side proved a warm and welcoming host for the enthusiastic crowd, some of whom likely traveled for this, one of only three concerts on his schedule this year and the only one outside his hometown. Devoid of the macho posturing that can shape the performances of many a male hip-hopper, Chance the Rapper comes off as unapologetically dorky, bouncing about the stage like a loose-limbed marionette and engaging the audience in call and response passages and full-body arm waves.

Performing with a keyboardist, drummer, trumpeter and three backing singers who provided lush harmonies and sometimes stepped forward for breathtaking solos, Chance showed he knows how to endear himself to a crowd. In fact, he one-upped any performer in the Grandstand’s half-century-plus of history with one particular song.

Explaining that he was told within the last two weeks that his Grandstand show had sold 3,333 seats in a 14,000-seat venue — ironic, as one of his trademarks is wearing a ballcap adorned with the number 3 — he was asked if he wanted to cancel the show. He not only responded with an expletive-accented no, but wrote a song in honor of those ticket buyers called “3,333,” complete with accompanying video and pop-up lyrics that referenced the State Fair and the fact that he used to play shows with as many people onstage as in the audience.

That song launched a string of captivating numbers in which Chance and his ensemble seemed to engage more deeply, both musically and lyrically, with each passing tune. “YAH Know” was a socially conscious rapid-fire rap with a driving beat and the urgent refrain of “You’ll know when we get there.” Even more earnest was “Child of God,” a ballad on which the frontman seemed both exhilarated and transcendent. And “Summer Friends” was a sweet reminiscence with an aching sense of loss around the edges.

Some of the slower songs were downright hypnotic in their gospel-flavored harmonies, such as “Ultralight Beam,” “Ride” and “The Highs and the Lows.” And a closing coupling of “Cocoa Butter Kisses” and “Same Drugs” brought some familiarity to a set that had a fair number of new songs that have yet to appear on record.

While his 75-minute set may have proven too brief for some — especially after a warmup set of the same length from DJ Oreo — it was quite satisfying musically. And the crowd, which came in at a final count of 4,110, seemed to enjoy every one of the 21 songs. And, with a performer this charismatic, how could they resist?

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.

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