RETIREMENT
RUNNER-UP: Ally
Bank’s The Clutch
Guide to Investing
For helping 18-to-30-year-olds
dip their toes into investing
After an Ally survey found
that nearly 66 percent of mil-
lennials think investing can
be downright scary, the bank
launched an interactive guide
earlier this year that makes
building a $1 million nest egg
seem slightly less intimidating.RUNNER-UP:
Fidelity’s Health
Savings Accounts
For stashing away pretax money
for health care expenses
HSAs are a three-layer cake
of tax advantages: Contribu-
tions are pretax (through an
employer) or tax-deductible
(if made by an individual); any
spending on qualified medical
expenses isn’t subject to fed-
eral taxes; and any investment
gains are also federal-tax-free
(when used for qualifying
medical expenses). Yet while
HSAs have surged in popu-
larity by about 400 percent
over the past decade, not all
employers offer them. Fidelity
now fills that gap, with a retail
HSA available to anyone with
a qualifying health plan.WINNER: Personal
Capital’s Smart
Withdrawal
For retirees who want
to know which funds to
withdraw from when
WHAT IT IS: People have long
flocked to Personal Capital’s
free financial dashboards for
an overview of their banking,
investing, savings, and spend-
ing. Last year, the financial-
services firm introduced
Smart Withdrawal to its
wealth-management clients.
The tool uses tax forecasting
to predict the best order in
which to pull money from
various retirement accounts.
WHY WE LOVE IT: Should you
drain your taxable investment
account before touching your
IRA? What year is optimal
for withdrawing from a Roth?
If you’re flummoxed, you’re
hardly alone. “For years,
financial-services providers
have focused on accumulate,
accumulate, accumulate.
Now they’re realizing the
withdrawal side of the equa-
tion is equally—if not more—
complicated,” says Chatzky.
“I haven’t seen any other
tool like this.”
WINNER: Chime
For dialing back overdraft
fees and penalties
WHAT IT IS: Chime is a fully
digital bank that’s fee-free: no
account fees, no minimums,
no ATM fees, and for those with
direct deposit, no overdraft fees
even if the account balance
dips negative. The SpotMe fea-
ture, which debuted in July, lets
you overdraw your account by
up to $200 without penalty.WHY WE LOVE IT: Banks rake
in about $11 billion each year
in overdraft fees—one of the
priciest fees that can hit your
account. Chime isn’t trying to
make its money from overdraft
fees (it gets paid by Visa when
members use Visa debit cards
to make purchases), so it can
spot members a few bucks
if they hit a negative balance
before payday. Klontz says,
“If a bank could give you a
hug, Chime would do it.”BANKING
RUNNER-UP:
Capital One Café
For making a trip to the
bank more welcoming
Could a latte, a comfy couch,
and free Wi-Fi make going
to the bank feel less like an
errand? Capital One seems
to hope so. In the last year,
the company has expanded
its hybrid coffee-shop banks
to several new cities, like
Fort Lauderdale, Florida; San
Diego; Washington, D.C.; and
Portland, Oregon. Pull out a
laptop and work or approach
a representative for a digital-
banking demonstration.