https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/OBTRK3148925589.mp3

Today’s episode is so valuable, we decided to run it back. It's all about unlocking what I truly believe is the easiest money you will ever make — and yes, it’s as simple and lazy-girl-friendly as it sounds. I’m breaking down the one passive income strategy that requires zero extra hours, zero new skills, and absolutely zero stress: a high-yield savings account. If you’ve ever wished you could make money while taking a nap, running errands, or sipping a drink on the beach, this episode shows you exactly how to make your existing money work harder for you, without sacrificing your already-packed schedule.

Looking for a HYSA? We've done the research for you. See our partner recommendation (terms apply): https://herfirst100k.com/ffpod

00:00 Intro 

01:14 The Problem with Checking Accounts

02:44 Why High-Yield Savings Accounts Matter

04:21 How to Set Up and Use a HYSA

08:44 The Power of Earning Interest

09:23 Using HYSA for Emergency Funds & Goals

10:22 Overcoming Myths & Fears

12:24 Making Money Passively

14:03 Is My Money Safe?

15:10 Final Thoughts & How to Get Started

Visit ⁠⁠https://herfirst100k.com/ffpod⁠⁠ to stay up to date and find any resources mentioned on our show!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Financial Feminist

## Overview of *305. Lazy Girl Guide to Building Wealth*

In this episode of *Financial Feminist*, Tori introduces a simple “lazy girl” wealth-building strategy: moving money from a low-interest checking account into a high-yield savings account (HISA) so your cash earns more with almost no extra effort. The core message is that passive income doesn’t have to mean side hustles or investing in the stock market — it can start with an easy banking switch that helps your existing money work harder for you.

## Main Takeaways

- **Checking accounts are for transactions, not growth.**
  - They’re meant for money coming in and out for bills, payroll, and everyday spending.
  - Keeping extra cash there typically earns almost nothing in interest.

- **High-yield savings accounts are an easy, low-risk upgrade.**
  - A HISA is still a savings account, not an investment account.
  - It’s FDIC insured up to **$250,000** and generally pays much more interest than a checking account.

- **This is one of the simplest forms of passive income.**
  - Once set up, the account earns interest automatically.
  - Tori frames this as the easiest way to make money without extra labor, risk, or skills.

- **The psychological win matters too.**
  - Seeing interest hit your account monthly can create momentum and motivation.
  - That “small win” can help you feel progress toward bigger goals like saving, debt payoff, or homeownership.

## How to Use a High-Yield Savings Account

### Keep these in a HISA
- **Emergency fund**
- **Short-term savings**
  - Vacation
  - Wedding
  - Car
  - Moving costs
  - Down payment goals

### Keep these out of a HISA
- **Monthly spending money**
  - Rent
  - Groceries
  - Regular bills
- **Retirement savings**
  - Those should go into investment accounts like a **401(k)** or **Roth IRA**

## Simple Setup Plan

Tori recommends a straightforward three-step approach:

1. **Open a reputable high-yield savings account**
   - Should take less than 10 minutes.

2. **Link your checking account**
   - Use the account where your paycheck already lands.

3. **Automate transfers**
   - Set an automatic transfer from checking to savings.
   - Even **$10 per transfer** is a good starting point.
   - The goal is consistency and automation, not perfection.

## Myths and Concerns Addressed

- **“Will this hurt my credit?”**
  - No — opening a HISA does not affect your credit score.

- **“Is my money safe?”**
  - Yes — it’s FDIC insured like a normal bank account.

- **“What if interest rates drop?”**
  - Rates are variable, but a HISA still typically earns far more than a checking account.

- **“Do I need to switch banks?”**
  - No — you can keep your checking account where it is and open a separate HISA.

## Final Message

The episode’s central point is that wealth building doesn’t have to be complicated. A high-yield savings account is presented as a practical, accessible first step for anyone who wants their money to grow with minimal effort. The best move is to start now, automate it, and let the system do the work for you.

305. Lazy Girl Guide to Building Wealth

If you've ever dreamt about making money while taking a nap, amazing. You're about to unlock the laziest form of passive income. Hi, I'm Tori. I am a multimillionaire. I'm a money expert. I've helped over 5 million women be better with money. And on today's episode of Financial Feminist, we are diving in to maybe a brand new series, if this is something that you like, called The Lazy Girl's Guide to Building Wealth. Today, we are talking about the easiest thing you can do to start earning passive income and make real money without any additional skills, without taking on any more hours, and without any stress. And if you're already like this team's too good to be true, I'm going to debunk that as well. But first, a word from our sponsors. This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. When I first started Her First 100K way back in 2016, Squarespace was the very first thing I invested in. Truly the very first thing. When you've heard me talk about me starting a multi million dollar business with just $40, that was my Squarespace domain and my Squarespace website. and part of running a business means using things that you can rely on. So yeah, you can buy domains on Squarespace. You can upload videos. You can also do donations directly through Squarespace. They have cutting edge design tools at Squarespace with drag and drop. They also have SEO tools so you can get discovered quickly. They make it really incredibly easy to use. Head on over to squarespace.com for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use offer code FFpod to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. One of my priorities as CEO and leader of a company is making sure that our team has all of the skills and tools that they need to be most successful. And one of the things we do at HFK is lunch and learns. We do developmental sessions for our team and we've incorporated Masterclass into those lunch and learn sessions. Because Masterclass helps you learn from the world's best instructors, unlike other learning platforms, Masterclass is putting you in the room with the people who defined their field. There's over 200 classes across 13 different categories. So yeah, we got business and writing, but we also have cooking and creativity and wellness. And three and four members feel inspired every time they watch. 83% have applied something they've learned to their real lives. Masterclass keeps adding new classes. So there's never been a better time to get in right now. As a listener of this show, you get at least 15% off any annual membership at masterclass.com slash FF pod. That's 15% So we all busy We are all overwhelmed We all want our money to work as hard as we do But the reality is that most ways of making money are labor, going out and taking on more hours, getting a new job, finding that side hustle. But today's episode is not about doing more. it's actually about doing less. We're talking today about making your existing money work harder for you. So let's talk about the problem that no one else is discussing, which is that your checking account is quietly killing you. For those of you who don't know, your checking account is probably where you get your payments from work, where your payroll gets processed, right? Where you get your money, and then maybe where your bills are getting taken out The thing about checking accounts is they're meant to be an account with a lot of transactions, okay? The money's coming in, the money's going out, right? Maybe you're getting paid twice a month or you're adding your tips there and then you have your credit card statement getting taken out of there and maybe your healthcare or maybe your rent or your mortgage payment, right? There is many transactions happening in a month, sometimes maybe even like a dozen or more transactions. So the idea with the checking account is it's just supposed to be there to move money in or out. So therefore your checking account makes you almost nothing in interest. Interest is what banks are paying for you to keep your money there. That is their way of doing business, of getting customers, of making sure that they're acquiring people to be part of that bank, right? But the thing with checking accounts is that because it is this transactional in and out kind of account, you are making very, very little money, almost zero when you keep your money there. Let me give you a concrete example. If you have $5,000 in a checking account, on average, you are making one to $2 a year. I'm going to say that again. $5,000 in a checking account is going to make you maybe $1 to $2 a year in interest. That is so little money. It's basically not worth doing, right? It's like, it is not meant for savings. It is not meant for building wealth. It is, again, just there to be about transactions However in what called a high yield savings account could earn hundreds depending on rates Maybe even if you have more money in there thousands of dollars a year So let's talk about what high yield savings accounts are. If you have been following me for a while on another platform, you know that at this point I have Heisa tattooed on my forehead. So a high yield savings account, a Heisa, is just like an everyday savings account. So it is just like that savings account that you went in with your dad and opened when you were 17. It's just like your savings account at your bank down the street, except it's earning you way more interest. And it is a savings account. It's not a checking account. A high yield savings account is not an investment account. It is not in the stock market. It is not something where you can lose your money. It is not invested in stocks. It is not risky because, again, you are not subjecting yourself to the whims of the stock market. And it is also FDIC insured up to $250,000. So if you have $249,999, your money is safe, guaranteed. This is not a risky way to earn money. This is the easiest thing you can do to immediately make more money that involves no additional work, no additional risk for the money that you're already putting in a savings account. And high yield savings account is also not a place though for your daily spending. Okay. That is your checking account. Your checking account serves that purpose. And the money that's in your checking account should just be your monthly expenses. So it should be one month of expenses and no more money. Okay. I know so many women out there are 5 million women. So many of them come to me and they're like, but I get nervous about money. And so I have six months of my living expenses and a checking account. No, it needs to be in a high yield savings account because it needs to earn more money. And the only difference between a checking account and a high yield savings account, there's no difference in security. There's no difference in the risk. The only difference is that you're earning shit in your checking account. You could be earning so much more money in a HISA. Okay, if I've already convinced you that a high yield savings account is great, you don't need more information. Cool. We have done all the research for you. We have our partner recommendation at herfirst100k.com slash FFpod. Again, that's at herfirst100k.com slash FFpod. So we were talking about lazy girl wealth okay The great thing about a HISA is that once you set it up it just runs itself So my favorite hack to get the most out of a high yield savings account is to set up an automatic transfer from your checking account to your savings account. So maybe it's every time you get paid. You get paid twice a month. Every time you get paid, you're gonna say, okay, I want $100 or $200 or whatever that amount of money is. It can just be $20 right now. I'm going to set up that automatic transfer to happen that goes from my checking account to my savings account. I want to reinforce that this actually works. Okay. We have so many people who have written into me, who have DM'd us, who have emailed us absolutely shocked that they earned $20 a month or $50 a month or something other than $1 to $2 a year for literally doing nothing. And I know what you're thinking. Okay. $20 a month doesn't sound like much. If you found a $20 bill on the ground every single month, would you be excited about that? You'd have $120 extra for doing nothing, for literally doing nothing. There's no labor, there's no side hustle, there's no nothing here. You're just switching bank accounts. That's it. When you're running a small business, you're not just doing the job. You're also the hiring manager and the payroll department and the benefits team, usually all before you just eat lunch. but Gusto takes some of those off your plate quickly and seamlessly. We have been using Gusto for well, five years, six years, really since we started hiring people at HFK. And I would be talking about them regardless of whether they were sponsoring the show or not, because they are so, so easy to use. Gusto is online payroll and benefit software built for small businesses. It's all in one remote friendly and incredibly easy to use. So you can pay higher onboard and support your team from anywhere. You can do automatic payroll tax filing, simple direct deposits, health benefits, computer benefits, workers comp, 401k, all of the non-sexy stuff that your business needs. Gusto makes it easy. Try Gusto today at gusto.com slash FF pod and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash FF pod. One more time, gusto.com slash FF pod. LinkedIn is great at connecting you with the world's largest professional network. But it can't connect you with motivation on a Monday morning. LinkedIn can help you get insights from your professional community. But it can't give you any insight into why Dave's still talking on mute. And while it can't stop your boss from bringing tuna for lunch, LinkedIn can help bring your career to the next level. LinkedIn is the network that works for you. Visit LinkedIn.com to learn more. This episode is brought to you by Tic Tac. Lace up and get your game on because the Tic Tac lineup just got a new teammate. Dr. Pepper Tic Tac. This new double threat puts two of your favorite flavors into one box of mints. And when two iconic flavors come together, the result can only be iconic. Score big. Try Dr. Pepper Tic Tac today. Once you can see that interest hit, your brain also changes. This is not just about the money. It's not just about making more an interest. It's about the idea that I have a financial win under my belt now. Like I am making progress. I am doing something that concretely betters my money that I can see because the interest hits every month. Fun fact. It's not a yearly thing. You get free money every single month that you have contributed to that high yield savings account. So you start thinking, oh, I can do this. I can progress in my debt payoff goals. I can progress in saving more money. It is that quick hit of dopamine that your brain needs to get your brain on board for your financial goals, right? It is starting to rewire and get that immediate quick win so that you can keep progressing towards those bigger financial goals. All right. How do we use a high-send everyday life? Here's what to keep in your high-yield savings account. An emergency fund. That is where your emergency fund should live. No exceptions. We all need an emergency fund. Every single person listening to this episode, you need a high yield savings account because you need an emergency fund. So your emergency fund lives in a HISA and any short term savings. Okay. So maybe you're saving for a vacation next year. Maybe you're getting married. Maybe you're trying to buy a new car. Maybe you're moving. Maybe you're even trying to buy a house in a few years. Your money should go in a HISA Here what to not keep in a HISA Your rent money Absolutely not Your money for your groceries next week Like anything that is a monthly expense needs to keep living in that checking account Because again, it's a transaction. This money's coming in, this money's coming out. Your retirement account savings should also not be in a high yield savings account. That needs to be in an investment account. That needs to be in something like a 401k or a Roth IRA. Another common myth I here is that people are so nervous to set up a high yield savings account because they get it in their head that this is complicated. Okay, it is not complicated at all. So the first thing is to pick a reputable high yield savings account, as opposed to spending two hours of your precious time researching when you could be watching Timothy Chalamet YouTube compilations. That's what I'm doing with my free time. You can just sign up for the one we recommend. You can go to herfirst100k.com slash FFpod. And we have the one we recommend linked there. Again, herfirst100k.com slash FF pod. This actual like opening of the account should take you like less than 10 minutes. You're just going to answer a few questions. You're going to get it open. Everything's going to be good. The second thing you're going to do, and this is really important. You can't just open the account. Open the account doesn't get you anything, right? There's no money in there yet. So number two is you're going to link your checking account. Whatever checking account you're using right now where your paycheck gets deposited, you're going to link that checking account, okay, so that you make sure that you can transfer money into this high yield savings account. That's also probably going to take you three to five minutes. And finally, the third thing you're going to do is you're going to automate transfers. OK, we were talking about automation, the power of being able to just save money on autopilot without you having to think about it. You're going to set up that auto transfer. Maybe that's every time you get paid. Maybe that's once a month. But you're going to set up that auto transfer of a minimum of $10. OK, minimum $10. If you could save more than that, amazing. The reason we're doing that is because one, again, it's happening on autopilot. This is the lazy girl's guide to building wealth. Okay. We're not making this harder than it has to be. This is how we save money is we make it as easy as possible. And the second thing is that you don't actually earn any of the free money unless you transfer money into that account. Okay. And the easiest way to do that is automating. So the lazy girl wealth math let take you through a couple of simple very powerful scenarios Sunday you taking a nap You making money Okay At work you making money at maybe a job you like It might be a job you hate You also making money in your high yield savings account. On vacation, you are sipping a pina colada on the beach. You're making money. You're making money doing nothing, right? You are making money doing nothing because the systems you've put together are building the wealth for you. This is the point we want to get to, right? Where we are not only working hard for our money, but our money is working hard for us. This is the easiest, most accessible form of passive income that most women will ever get. Okay. This is the easiest thing you can do to immediately make more money. I want to go through a couple more fears or myths here. Will this hurt my credit? No, no, they're not going to check your credit, everything's going to be fine. This is just like a normal savings account. Okay. What if rates drop? This is a question we get all the time because rates are variable. They are determined by the Federal Reserve. So rates go up, they go down. This still, even if rates are down, will earn way more than a checking account and still significantly more than an everyday savings account. So even if the rates decrease, a high yield savings account is still more than worth it if your high yield savings account is over a half a percent. And we have no reason to believe that it is going to be anywhere as low as that for a very long time. Like we're talking, again, multiple percentage points in interest. Is my money safe? We talked about this already, but yes, your money in a high yield savings account is insured just like at any other bank up to $250,000. It is FDIC insured. And finally, do I have to switch banks? No, you can keep your checking account wherever you're banking right now, and you're going to set up this separate high yield savings account. The one we recommend is a separate bank account. And that's on purpose, because it's actually going to be less tempting for you to like transfer your money back to your checking account so you can keep spending. We are purposefully adding a little bit of friction so that we can actually start building the wealth that we can actually achieve our goals, rather than just being like oh yeah I really want that thing that maybe I didn actually think through and is kind of mindless fucking spending And I just going to transfer my money back into my checking account This helps prevent that behavior To wrap this all up this is an incredibly powerful wealth building step that anybody watching can do Literally there is no exceptions. Anybody can sign up for a high yield savings account. And it is the easiest thing you can do to make your money work harder for you in 2026. We have seen people afford to go on vacation using their high yield savings account interest. We've seen people pay for Christmas gifts using their high yield savings account interest. We've seen people just be able to accelerate their financial goals to be able to hit that emergency fund goal faster or buy their house faster. And the point isn't perfection here, right? The point is making a choice that supports future you. So you can open up a high yield savings account in less time than it took to watch this episode. Go to herfirst100k.com slash FFpod to get started. And if you're watching or listening on Spotify or YouTube, feel free to drop your questions down below in the comments and we will be happy to answer them. Thank you as always for being here, Financial Feminists. We would appreciate you subscribing. Thank you for supporting feminist-based financial education and media, and we'll talk to you very soon. Thank you for listening to Financial Feminists, produced by Her First 100K. If you love the show and want to keep supporting feminist media, please subscribe or follow us on your preferred podcasting platform or on YouTube. Your support helps us continue to bring this content to you for free. If you're looking for resources, tools, and education, including all of the resources mentioned in this episode, head to herfirst100k.com slash sspod. from bringing tuna for lunch. LinkedIn can help bring your career to the next level. LinkedIn is the network that works for you. Visit linkedin.com to learn more. Hey, Bo's here. On your next track, listen for the decisions. Distortion on the bass. The vocal right up front. Every choice deliberate. With Bo's, you'll hear it all. Your music deserves Bo's.

Summary of 305. Lazy Girl Guide to Building Wealth

Financial Feminist
by Her First $100K

Overview of 305. Lazy Girl Guide to Building Wealth

Main Takeaways

How to Use a High-Yield Savings Account

Keep these in a HISA

Keep these out of a HISA

Simple Setup Plan

Myths and Concerns Addressed

Final Message