People rarely plan their savings for short-term goals such as overseas vacation or purchasing a high-end electronic gadget a year from now. Recurring deposits (RD) can be used to fund such goals. They are offered by banks, non-banking finance companies and India Post to attract monthly savings. A few lets you invest online. You can choose the tenure ranging from 12 months to 120 months, and upon maturity get an accumulated corpus at rate contracted at the time of opening the RD. As the interest rates are expected to rise, stick to short term ones. Also do not chase high yields as it connotes high credit risk.