As many of you know, I am a big fan of online savings accounts. They’re FDIC-insured (basically as safe as traditional banks) and offer significantly higher interest rates than traditional banks.
I recently came across an online savings account that has a very interesting concept.
This online savings account is called Yotta Savings. Like his name yes pronounced.
Yotta Savings plays on the psychological enjoyment and rush that lure so many Americans to spend on the lottery and applies that “theme” to its savings account platform by holding weekly drawings for its depositors to have a chance to win up to $10,000,000 each week. The goal is to make saving more fun by providing rewards for saving, while also offering better economic value than many other savings accounts.
Now before you get too excited, I have already checked the fine print, and the actual grand-prize jackpot is equal to the present value of $10,000,000 that would be paid over 40 years. What this means is: the actual jackpot will only be a meager one-time, lump sum payment of $5,800,000.
SO HOW DOES IT WORK?
It’s actually quite easy to use the Yotta Saving app:
1. Make a deposit
Select a bank account to make a deposit from
Every $25 you deposit gets you 1 recurring ticket for each weekly number draws. This means if you deposit $50, you will get 2 tickets each week for as long as you keep that $50 in your account. Even if you don’t add any more money.
2. Pick your numbers
Every Monday, pick 7 numbers for each of your tickets (six regular numbers and one Yotta Ball)
If you forget or don’t make your picks, your tickets will be auto-picked randomly so you won’t miss out on any of the weekly draws
3. Weekly Draws
Contests are weekly, with one number drawn every night at 9pm ET
On Sunday, the 7th and final number is drawn, and winnings for the week are determined
4. WIN UP TO $10,000,000
The more numbers you match, the more money you win. Match all 7 numbers, and you win the $10 million jackpot.
You can even pool your tickets together with friends to increase your chances of winning (this is just hilarious to me because it reminds me of the days when all the analysts and associates in our bullpen would pool money together in hopes of winning the Mega Millions)
CAN YOU LOSE?
As spudtacular as it would be to win the jackpot, what if you aren’t lucky enough to win the $10,000,000? 😔
Well, what’s great about Yotta Savings is that your savings will still grow at a rate of 0.20% (this is the Yotta Savings rate as of the writing of this post in September 2020) even if you don’t win any prizes. Before you throw up at this interest rate, this is still more than double of what you will get from a traditional bank, and this doesn’t include the prizes you can win, which could quickly increase that rate. The current phase of the platform estimates depositors will net about 2%+ APY returns when you account for both prize value and the 0.20%.
WHAT'S THE CATCH?... AND IS YOTTA SAVINGS SAFE?
I have a savings account on Yotta Savings and have connected my bank to the app.
There are no catches. It’s free. No fees, no minimum balance.
Your Yotta Savings funds are FDIC-insured are held at Evolve Bank & Trust, a bank that has been in business for over 90 years!
FDIC-insured means it is fully backed by the U.S government, up to $250,000
This means that no matter what happens, the cash in your account (up to $250,000) is guaranteed safe
Just keep in mind of the rules regarding withdrawing your money. You can only withdraw from your savings account 6 times a month (this is standard across all banks, not just Yotta). As for Yotta withdrawal limits, you are limited to $10,000 daily and $40,000 each month.
HOW DO THE LOTTERY PRIZES WORK
Your prizes will be deposited into your Yotta Savings account. You can always withdraw your winnings any time back to your linked bank account. HOWEVER, if you leave that money in your account, both your winnings and savings bonuses earn you more tickets and savings bonuses for future weeks. Remember, the power of compounding interest.
Below are the prizes and the odds of winning the prizes:
* If the prize does not say “per ticket” then the prize listed will be split equally amongst all individuals at that level. For example, if there are 3 people with the same number of numbers (including the Yotta Ball) the prize will be equally split amongst those three individuals.
** The grand prize will be paid as a one-time, lump sum payment of $5,800,000. This is the current present cash value of a $10,000,000, 40 year annuity.
*** You have the option of choosing the Tesla or $37,990 in cash. If there are multiple winners, the winners will split $37,990.
MY THOUGHTS
While I’m used to more straight-lined online savings accounts (specifically Marcus by Goldman Sachs and Ally Bank), I think that Yotta Savings offers such a fun and dynamic way to encourage saving money. It’s a “healthy” way to get that gambling fix, I guess.
The app reviews are all very positive, and from the looks of it, this platform is still relatively new compared to more established online savings accounts. This means they’re incentivized to give higher returns right now to bring in more people to their platform. As mentioned above, the current phase of the platform estimates depositors will net about 2%+ APY returns when you account for both prize value and the 0.20%. This is tremendously higher than most other banks right now.
I’ve signed up for recurring monthly deposits (gives you even more tickets), and am excited for what’s to come of this platform.
If you decide to sign up, good luck to you as well!