Thanks for the tips, Teppy! (ETA I do need this kind of advice! I've been broke so long it's a whole new mentality to think of actually saving money over and above bills toward a medium-term goal instead of putting every extra $ I can find toward the credit card debt.)

I think I might do the dream itinerary thing, just so when I meet with the financial planner/banker, I can say, "This is what it would cost to do this today. I want to do it in 7 years."

Susan, what Steph said. If you have a little more appetite for risk, I've done well over the years in a short-term corporate bond mutual fund. I'd say there are too many variables to set a hard and fast budget amount now.

Other ideas to toss out -- you might want to look at travel-based rewards programs, if you aren't a member of any already. In seven years, you should be able to amass quite a few benefits.

And let us know when you start looking at specifics. I for one would be more than happy to toss out ideas on wheres to go, whats to do, hints to save $.

I have my emergency fund in HSBC Direct, which, when I opened it last year, had an APY of 5%. I think that, given the Fed's recent rate cut, now it's down to 3%. t edit Okay, 3.05%, which is a full 2% drop in only 1 year. Jesus. Which sucks, but it's still better than the crap rate my local bank offers for savings accounts.

I don't agree with everything that Dave Ramsey (financial guru, apparently) says, but I am following his emergency fund advice, which is: if you have debt (other than a mortgage), then put $1,000 in an emergency fund for car troubles/root canal/etc., and then pay down your debt as fast as you can. (That's why mortgage doesn't count -- it's sort of hard to pay down a 30-yr quickly).

For people who don't have debt, I think the standard emergency fund advice is 3-6 months of living expenses (not necessarily 3-6 months of your current salary).

The good thing about the online savings accounts (in addition to the higher interest rates) is that most don't require a minimum balance in order to earn that rate.

As of right now, HSBC is 3.05%, ING is 3%, and Emigrant Direct is 2.75%. I know that there are others out there that are just as good (and also FDIC-insured, etc.), but those are the first 3 that came to mind.

WaMu has some good free options as well. One that I have that might work for Susan is called Savings for Success - you do automatic deposits for a year at a set rate and it pays 6%. They limit the amount you can put in the account - opening balance from $1 to $500 and monthly additions $1 to $500. So, it's not where your retirement goes, but it could help you put away up to $6,000 a year at a higher than usual rate.

I haven't had access to my online banking, and so haven't been able to transfer money which has my savings account doing really well.

That's a plus for my ING account. If I want the money, it takes 3-4 days to get to me. That's a deterrent for spending it on random shit.

automatic deposits for a year at a set rate and it pays 6%.

Wow. I need to look into that when I start saving for my next car.

That's a plus for my ING account. If I want the money, it takes 3-4 days to get to me. That's a deterrent for spending it on random shit.

Totally. I try to pretend my HSBC account isn't even there.

I was reading at some financial blog (I can't remember where, otherwise I'd link to it) recently that you should always double-check all of your bank accounts to be sure that they're insured by FDIC. Some accounts are not, and that info is buried in the small print. With the conditions of banks and Wall Street right now, it's not a bad thing to look into.

My PayPal account has gone down from 4-something to 2.75%, which sucks until I look at our actual brick-and-mortar bank, which has a fixed interest rate of something like 0.5%.

That is AWESOME news of awesomeness, MM.

Gack. Hec just had an interview for a long-term temp job this morning; it should be done by now. I need to check in with him.