Vestwell is bringing a whole new meaning to rainy day savings.
The digital savings platform recently launched its Weather Boosters feature, designed to help savers automatically contribute to their savings account during inclement weather. When participants voluntarily turn on Weather Boosters through their Vestwell account, a contribution will be added each time weather.gov predicts a higher than 50% chance of precipitation in their location or zip code area.
Eligible savers will be able to contribute anywhere from $1 to $25 each rainy day and can modify their contributions at any point. They can set up the feature by going to their Vestwell dashboard, selecting an account, picking their contribution level, and choosing which location to track, according to Vestwell.
“We’re delighted to bring automatic savings into everyday households,” said Douglas Magnolia, chief customer officer and president of Vestwell State Savings. “Savings Boosters uses everyday events such as checking the weather to encourage the idea of saving for future goals. These events create automatic savings, providing interesting and creative ways to support positive changes in saving and investing behavior. This approach not only demonstrates the potential impact of dollar cost averaging but also enables smaller dollar amounts to ‘boost’ savings for anyone.”
Weather Boosters is available for savers on the Vestwell platform with 529 Education and Achieving A Better Life Experience (ABLE) savings accounts, and is expected to expand to other Vestwell savings accounts.
Magnolia adds that the tool could also help families who want to engage their children about the costs of educational needs.
“Families saving for college through 529 education accounts also have an additional opportunity to engage younger family members in learning about the benefits of developing strong financial habits through early and consistent saving,” he added.
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Amanda Umpierrez is the Managing Editor of 401(k) Specialist magazine. She is a financial services reporter with over six years of experience and a passion for telling stories and reporting news. Amanda received her degree in journalism and government and politics at St. John’s University. She is originally from Queens, New York, but now resides in Denver, Colorado with her partner. In her free time, Amanda enjoys running, cooking, and watching the latest drama show.
