Banking in 2026: Best Banks to Consider and How to Avoid the Worst Fees
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How are savings rates and banking conditions changing in 2026?
Elizabeth, how's your high yield savings account doing?
Now that I've switched it over to a provider with a higher APY, it's doing lovely.
Well, I'm happy for you, but I'm getting pretty unhappy with mine because the APY keeps going down. So we might have to tackle that soon.
I agree. Looks like you got to shop around, Sean.
Absolutely. And we will talk this episode about how to do that. Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast, where you send us your money questions and we answer them with the help of our genius nerds. I'm Sean Piles.
And I'm Elizabeth Ayola. This episode, we continue our series about your money in 2026. Still sounds weird saying that. But this time around, we're covering everything about banking, and that includes how to find the best high-yield savings account, as many banks continue, as you said, Sean, to lower the yield on their accounts.
But first, we're kicking things off with some hot takes. We're not even three weeks into 2026, but I've already got some stuff that's making me mad about the state of money in the world today, Elizabeth.
Do we have a venting session loading, Sean? That's what it sounds like.
Right now. Get ready for it.
All right. Well, if this is your first rodeo, here's how it works. Sean and I each have 100 seconds to go off on whatever we want in the world of money. And these opinions, I just want to say, do not reflect the opinions of NerdWallet Inc. They are just our personal opinions. All right, so Sean, you seem extra feisty today. I'm getting some attitude from that end. I know it's not towards me, but I'm going to let you get off some steam and go first. Hold on, let me get my timer ready. All right, on your mark, get set, take off.
Okay, so my hot take is that we should all be a lot more actively pissed off about the ruling class of billionaires and the eroding quality of life that most folks in this country have to suffer through. And most importantly, we need to reimagine other ways that our society could be structured. And I feel like at this point, griping about billionaires is almost a cliche. In this country, you know, we have these tech bros and this oligarchy that are controlling vast amounts of wealth in this country. Meanwhile, many people can't even put food on their table. but i think we need a reminder about how none of this is inevitable okay lay it out for us okay thank you i'm about to do it so here are some numbers that just really tell the story in 2025 alone billionaires added over two trillion dollars to their net worth a quarter of that was earned by just eight people including bros like jeff bezos and elon musk meanwhile in recent years the effective tax rate for billionaires has been lower than the tax rate that folks like us are paying elizabeth which is ridiculous it is
We also know that income inequality is massive in this country, and I don't think we should take that as a given or something that's acceptable. I saw a recent report by Oxfam that found that between 1989 and 2022, the top 1% of households gained $8.35 million in wealth. Do you want to guess how much the bottom 20% gained in that same period, Elizabeth?
$5,000.
Not even that far off, $8,500. So again, top 1% got $8.35 million, and the bottom 20 got less than $8,500, which is ridiculous.
10 seconds.
OK, oh my gosh, I have so much more to say. Meanwhile, as of this recording, our government still hasn't passed a bill renewing health care subsidies, which expired at the end of last year. The CFPB, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, remains gutted, which means that we're all at greater risk of being ripped off by shady companies. And our government seems more focused on violent colonial expansion than, say, shoring up social security.
Say it again.
What big-picture money and power issues do the hosts’ hot takes highlight?
Yes, I'm sure that I'm over my time limit. But there's just so much to say on this topic. And I really think that we can't just accept it as something that we're going to be living through day after day. Because what would this mean long term? If we're going down this path in 20 years from now, what does our world look like?
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