Starting to Save

[David Garrison]

Hello BP!

I've been doing a ton of reading and started forming a business plan. After working through the first few steps of my business plan, I started to realize that I'm at stage 1. I NEED TO SAVE! I stopped the business plan and will come back to it later but right now my focus is getting the cash needed for an FHA loan. My plan is to put as little down as possible on a quadplex while also getting the allowance for remodeling efforts. I'm hoping some smart remodeling will allow me to rent for a higher figure and increase my cash flow. I will be house hacking, then refi-ing asap to purchase the next place. So there's my plan... Here's my situation:

I've been on a journey to make myself debt free and I'm a paycheck away from doing so. I probably should have been putting away money while paying down my debt but I've been ultra focused on simply paying off anything with an interest rate.

With my debt handled, now I'm going to start saving money. I have my personal emergency fund squared away so I'm good there. The only problem is that I'm essentially starting from zero. I'm changing companies to one that will be paying me more with a higher commission/incentive potential. Overall this change will almost double the amount I can save. I also won't be driving as far for work so I'll have lower expenses and more time to read, research and study real estate. I'm using Mint to set budgets and monitor all my spending. My raise and any commissions will all be going into whatever savings vehicle I choose. My question is... With interest rates incredibly low (I think the best online savings I've seen is about 1.25%), what opportunities may I be missing?

If a 1.25% savings account is what I have to work with then so be it but I'd kick myself if I learned of something better later on.

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: My ideal timetable is 1 - 2 years. Saving approximately $1700/month. @ 1.25% would $22 @1 year 43k @2 years.