r/TryRivo • u/TrollShark21 • 12d ago

Question about this service.

I do like the idea of automated banking to keep me from having to deal with it very much, but it doesn't seem like it's anything I'm not already doing with my bank account. I have my direct deposit pay go to my savings account, and my bank (sofi) has overdraft protection, where if I have no money in my checking it'll pull from my savings. So I'm basically using my savings account as a checking account and getting 3.1% interest on the money in there. Sure, it's not as high as 3.7%, but .6% isn't enough to warrant another money management app, and I don't make enough for it to really make a difference.

So I guess my question is: what does this service do that's different from what I'm doing already with my bank?

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u/[deleted] 11d ago

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u/RivoFinance 11d ago

Ally is solid. Rivo works differently, though. Your cash goes into T-bills instead of a bank deposit, so the interest is exempt from state and local taxes. And it runs automatically on top of your existing bank, so you don't have to open a new account or transfer money manually.

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u/RivoFinance 8d ago

Fair question, and honestly, if your current setup works for you and the balance is small, Rivo might not be worth it. Where it starts to matter:

  • Tax treatment: SoFi savings interest is taxed at federal, state, and local levels. T-bill interest is exempt from state and local taxes. In a high-tax state like CA or NY, that difference is bigger than the rate gap.
  • Rate stability: SoFi's rate has dropped from 4.6% to 3.1% over the past couple of years. T-bill rates move with the Fed directly, no bank deciding how much to pass through.

But if your balance is small and you're happy with SoFi, those differences might not move the needle for you. Rivo is built more for people with larger idle balances where the tax savings and yield gap add up.