EverBank

While the goal is to have your money working for you, you also have to have a chunk of emergency cash in savings. Whatever your strategy, 3 months' salary or 8, you want your money doing what it can. A great way to do that is with a high-yield savings account. 

I would recommend EverBank. It vows to remain in the top 5% of competitive accounts and as an online only bank with lower overhead it can afford to be competitive. Currently, you can open their Yield Pledge Money Market Account with an interest rate of 3.93% for three months and a first-year APY of 3.41%. Some might not like knowing that there's not a branch to go to for customer service but for my purposes, it's not a concern. I rarely visit my primary branch as it is, I handle everything over the phone or through the web - going to a physical location takes time and is inconvenient in today's world.

The bank is solid financially and has recently announced record annual earnings. Forbes has listed it as a five times winner of the "Best of the Web" and Money Magazine has listed it as "Best of the Breed." Very nice to know.

The online application is quick, once you're done you print out a confirmation page, sign it, include your opening deposit, and mail it off. I was surprised to see pre-paid envelopes stuffed with a deposit slip in my welcome packet that came just a few days after opening an account. I guess this is a perk they provide considering if you were able to go to a branch you wouldn't have to spend $0.42 on a stamp to send in your deposit.

I'm currently only using EverBank as a place to house my emergency fund so I only know a little about using it as your primary bank. Since EverBank does not have its own ATM's it does reimburse you up to $6 per month for fees charged by other banks. Pretty sweet. 

Additionally, EverBank's checking account has no monthly service fees, online bill pay, and pays interest! Checking accounts with interest are hard to come by, not to mention EverBank will remain in the top 5% of competitive banks - so you're always getting a top rate.

I chose EverBank after hearing that JPMorgan Chase was buying my WaMu account - I was earning around 3.9% before JPMorgan Chase moved in. The first day JPMorgan Chase took over, I researched what they were offering on savings accounts - it was 0.10%. That's insane. I value myself, my time, and my money more than 0.10%. I knew my WaMu account interest rate was going to eventually sink down to virtually nothing so I went on the search for new high-interest savings account. 

I'm willing to put in the work to make the most I can on otherwise stagnant cash, but I also don't like to be inconvenienced. I was sold once I read that EverBank would always remain competitive - I don't have to shop and move my money around anymore looking for the best deal! Hallelujah!