How to put your money to work while you vacay

Just because you’re on vacation doesn’t mean your money should be. With a little prior planning and a lot of automation, here’s how you can make your money work hard for you while you’re hardly workin’.

On PTO? Make sure your money still hits your savings account. Rather than have your full paycheck hit your checking account and then manually moving some to savings, set up your direct deposit to split it automatically if your employer offers the option to split your paycheck.

All you have to do is provide the organization paying your salary, or pension with your Ally Bank Online Savings account number and our routing number.  Or you can fill out this form and give it to whomever is issuing the funds.

By directly depositing a portion of your paycheck into your savings account, you don’t have to remember to make transfers, and you could start earning interest on your deposits even faster.

If you want to send money to your savings on a different schedule than payday, recurring transfers are a great option. Just log in to your Ally Bank account and choose Transfers. Then decide how much you want to deposit to your account, pick the account you want to withdraw from (which can be another Ally Bank account or one from another financial institution) and decide how often you want the transfer to occur.

Recurring transfers are a super easy way to keep money regularly flowing into your Online Savings Account without having to lift a finger. And to keep your savings growing, consider keeping your recurring transfers going even after returning from vacay.

Whether it’s rent, utilities or cable, monthly bills never take a break. Save yourself the stress of making your payments on time by setting up automatic bill pay. That way, whether you’re relaxing on a tropical beach, hiking a mountain or riding a roller coaster, you won’t get caught wondering if you actually made your car payment that was due yesterday.

Tons of subscription services can help you save money or enhance your life — but they’re only valuable when you use them. If you are headed out for an extended vacation (or even a week-long getaway), suspending a subscription (or two … or five) can help you hold on to some extra cash.

For example, you definitely don’t want your weekly meal kit showing up on your doorstep if you’re not there. Make sure to put it on hold and you’ll likely save at least $50 or more. Or, if you have several different streaming subscriptions, consider pausing all but one if you know you won’t be watching much TV or won’t have great access to WiFi while you’re gone.

The money you save can be a great way to pad your vacation wallet. You could also set up a transfer and direct the cash straight to your savings account!

In the office or taking PTO, one of the best ways to maximize your time is by working smart, not hard. You can adopt that mantra in many aspects of your life, including your finances. And with smart savings tools from Ally Bank, you can rack up the savings while you focus on enjoying whatever you’re doing.

With our Surprise Savings booster, we help you find money you didn’t even know you could save. All you need to do is link your checking account to an Online Savings Account and activate the booster. Then, we’ll analyze your checking account to identify safe-to-save funds and automatically transfer them to your savings. It’s secure, and our smart tech works hard to keep you from overdrafting your checking account.

An overdraft fee for going overboard in the hotel giftshop will put a damper on a vacation quicker than a painful sunburn. Fortunately, when you bank with us at Ally Bank, you’ll never have to worry about overdraft fees  on your Ally account again. We’ve eliminated them for all accounts, so you can spend with the peace of mind that you’re protected from fees should you accidently overdraw. Keep in mind, if a check or ACH transaction is returned to a merchant or to your account at another financial institution, they may chare you a few for the returned transaction.

Saving money shouldn’t be a stressor or a hassle — especially when you are trying to live it up on a well-deserved vacation. By automating aspects of your money management, you can stop worrying about due dates, transfers and manually moving your money around. Whether you go all-in with Surprise Savings or start off strong by setting up a split direct deposit, your savings balance can continue to go up, even after you log off.