Click here to sign up
for a daily financial tip designed especially for the ladies from Daily
Worth and sent to your email. What's the Daily Worth, you ask?
From the Daily Worth website:
Daily Worth is a free daily personal finance email for women. We
deliver practical tips, empowering ideas and the occasional kick in the
pants.
Check out the Daily Worth here!Their tips really are super practical and well written (i.e. not dry and boring!) and written from a female's perspective!
Click here to sign up for a daily financial tip designed especially for the ladies from Daily Worth and sent to your email. What's the Daily Worth, you ask?
From the Daily Worth website:
Daily Worth is a free daily personal finance email for women. We deliver practical tips, empowering ideas and the occasional kick in the pants.
Check out the Daily Worth here!Their tips really are super practical and well written (i.e. not dry and boring!) and written from a female's perspective!
I posted a while back about using small banks for your everyday banking, as they are aces in customer service. I do admit, however, to breaking my own rule when it comes to saving for a cause.
For us, that cause is buying a home. We are looking to save enough money to have 20% for a down payment on our first house. The faster we get there, the sooner we can start looking, so we knew interest was going to be key. We have a savings account at our credit union which we actively use, but the interest is painfully low. They do offer a decent return in a 30-month CD, but we were (and remain) extremely hesitant to tie that much cash up for two and a half years... just in case. We decided to shop around a couple years ago for a higher interest rate for a savings account we could have access to at any given time, should we need it.
Enter ING Direct. We actually got a mailer from them offering a $25 bonus which was the impetus behind us looking into the details of the ING Orange Savings account. Here is what we found:
The Orange Savings Account
High Interest - best rate we found at the time.
No Fees, No Minimums - this was imperative to us -- we weren't going to pay to keep our money somewhere. And we didn't start with much, so we needed a no-minimum account.
No Changing Banks - we just added this account to our existing accounts. We transfer money from our credit union checking account to our ING account.
FDIC Insured - deposits are FDIC insured up to $250,000, just like any bank.
With that, we opened our account and got started. After a couple of years of being ING customers, we feel we can safely give you a list of pros and cons:
PROS:
The interest is significantly higher than our bank's savings account.
No minimum balance is required.
There are no fees.
We have access to our money, so if we needed to make a withdrawal for some reason, we have the peace of mind to know that we can, unlike a CD.
Online transfers are quick and simple.
You can link up to your checking account online, so you never have to physically go to the bank.
You can set up direct deposit if you'd like.
You can also set up regular deposits from your checking account, or you can do them manually one by one (which is what we do).
You can view and download tax forms and transaction history online, 24/7.
New accounts get a $25 bonus. **see below**
CONS
Transfers from checking accounts are not immediate. It takes about 2 business days for your deposits to go through, and five days total to be able to have access to them. (Direct deposits are accessible immediately.)
The interest rate continues to drop. We started out at 3.65% APY 26 months ago and we are currently at 1.10% APY. This is reflective of the lousy market in general, our credit union's savings account interest rate has plummeted too. I did check and there are banks that offer savings/money market accounts at over 2% right now, but most of them have specific rules, such as regional limitations, minimums to reach that APY (some as high as $100,000!), crazy restrictions on transactions, etc. For my money (literally) I am sticking with ING.
So overall, I definitely recommend ING Direct. I do hope that the APY will change direction and go back up, but I still have been happy with our return, especially when compared with our credit union's savings account.
**One thing though -- the $25 bonus seems to be gone for new customers unless you are referred by an existing customer. I looked everywhere on their site and can't find the $25 offer for non-referrals. However, you can get the $25 startup bonus by getting a referral email from ING (they get your email address from their existing customer).
If anyone wants to be referred to get their $25 bonus, let me know and I will refer you (I get a smaller bonus as well). If you want me to refer you, either leave your email in the comments
here giving me permission to pass it on to ING, or if you prefer, you
can email it to me here. You will then get an email from ING. If you open an account by using the link provided in the email, you will get the $25 bonus. You have to use the link provided in the ING email though! You can only open your account once, so make sure you use the email link because if you open it any other way, you don't get the bonus. You can also email me with any questions as well!
Either way, saving your money in a shoebox just isn't cutting it anymore! Why not earn money as you deposit it! High yield savings accounts are a great assistant for saving with a goal in mind and ING Direct is a trusted, proven provider of a high-yield savings account with its Orange Savings Program.
Saving money is awesome. Sorry, but no matter how wealthy I become I will never enjoy the feeling of spending money as much as I do saving it. Some people would say this makes me cheap. I think this makes me smart. If I say so myself.
The thing is, if you are randomly saving with no goal in mind, the saving/spending line becomes kind of blurry. You may think, "oh, I have money in savings, I can spend on this <insert frivolous item here>." Or you may think, "I have X amount in savings, I can take out $1000 and get a new <insert frivolous item here>." You might even lose motivation to save altogether, because your savings account just sits there doing nothing. Your checking account? Now that's exciting. That gets you stuff. That account sees some action.
I've been there, and my savings have suffered for it. When I moved here to Boston five years ago, I had over $5000 in savings and no job. I had nothing but time on my hands and cash in that savings account. And wouldn't you know it, that savings account was all but gone in a matter of a few short months, and I really had essentially nothing to show for it, except a supreme feeling of guilt and shame. In that time I could potentially have doubled that $5000; instead, I squandered it.
It wasn't until I set a savings goal for myself -- to save enough cash to put 20% down on my first home to avoid private mortgage insurance -- that I saw the savings begin to stack up. My husband also came on board. A former non-saver, this savings goal helped clarify for him why he was saving, giving him more motivation and momentum. Every time I check our savings balance and give him the update, I can see in his eyes his excitement and pride at how we are managing to go from being over $15,000 in debt to being at 54% of our savings goal... especially considering we did it in 2.5 years and despite my job loss and having our first child, things that can drastically reduce your income.
There is no trick to it; we are not special. It's literally just asking yourself things like, "what do I want more? To buy this trinket, or to have a house of my own?" The answer comes easier and easier each time. There are techniques that help, of course... things like menu planning, combining coupons with sales, buying generic, reducing trips to restaurants, etc. But we have definitely found that having a stated savings goal is absolutely fundamental in keeping us focused and motivated.
The goal could be anything! Maybe you want to save for your children's college, or a home improvement, or a sweet vacation. Maybe you want to save cash for a car, or for a new camera, or a day at a spa. Whatever motivates you is what's important, because you will be the one saving!
No doubt you've been hearing all the buzz about the new credit card rules and regulations that are either in effect now or going into effect soon. I know we personally have already received notice about one of my husband's credit cards suddenly having a substantial annual fee after years of being fee-free (we will be canceling that one... it rarely gets used anyway).
We are in the fortunate position of being credit card debt-free, after paying off a significant debt a couple years ago. We do have an American Express that (at this time) has no annual fee -- hope I didn't just jinx myself -- which we use regularly and pay off at the end of the month to receive points towards their rewards program. However, as you just read, the new rules have had an impact on our other accounts, even though we rarely, if ever, use them. This may be the case for you, as well, if you own credit cards but pay cash or pay them off each month.
Now if you are one of the many folks who are carrying a credit card debt right now, you will be more directly impacted by these new rules, but do take comfort in the fact that they work in your favor. For once!
Shannon over at For the Mommas has neatly summarized the new rules and the impact they have on us consumers. It's absolutely worth the read, even if you cut up your cards years ago. As we all know, it is our responsibility to be educated consumers!
Read Shannon's post on credit card rules and regulations here.
Ever since the near failure (and actual failure, in some cases) of Big Banks on Wall Street, I have been increasingly interested -- and worried -- about the state, safety, and security of our financial assets. Not our as in "my family's," but our as in "this country's."
Big Banks -- J.P. Morgan/Chase, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Morgan Stanley being the biggest -- really put the screws to us, and not just if we kept accounts with them. They took Americans' money and made bad investments, developed questionable lending practices, rewarded themselves handsomely, and nearly brought us into another Depression. Now that their bubble has burst, they still are handing out huge bonuses to "performing" employees while bankrupting small businesses and foreclosing on families' homes, not to mention they have tightened their lending purses to the point that it is quite difficult for the average person (with the average credit rating) to get a loan for a home or a small business.
Banks offer a service to you. If your plumber repeatedly took your money and destroyed your pipes, would you keep calling him? If your pediatrician kept misdiagnosing your children, would you stay with her? As a consumer, you have the ultimate say as to which businesses succeed and which fail; you exercise it by either giving them your money, or not. Big Banks have proven that they are not to be trusted with your money, so why are you still giving it to them?
Enter the case for small banks and credit unions. For years people felt that their money was more secure in large banks, but that's just not the case, as we have now clearly seen. In a small bank, your money is FDIC insured (currently up to $250,000; scheduled to return to $100,000 on Jan. 1, 2014) just like in a Big Bank. Small banks generally practice responsible lending, because they know they are personally responsible to you. They know you and you know them. You're not just an account number. Not only that, but small banks tend to invest in their own communities, which is to say, they tend to invest in your community. Their fees tend to be reasonable, their service tends to be good, and if you ever have a financial problem, they listen and help.
If you're not sure what small banks are in your area, visit the Move Your Money project's website. They have a search function where you enter your zip code and they return a list of small banks in your area with a "B" rating or better (credit unions are unfortunately not included in this search). You can also check Bankrate's search function to determine the rating of a particular bank or credit union.
Choosing a small bank over a large one is not a political issue; it is a consumer issue. It isn't a punishment for the large banks; it is piece of mind for account holders. It is also up to you where you keep your money... but it is certainly something to think about. For us, the decision was easy. We use a local credit union, which we are very happy with. We wouldn't give our wallet to a well-dressed-yet-shady seeming person with questionable ethics to hold, so why would we keep our accounts with one of the Big Banks?
Mint.com is a totally free website that allows you to thoroughly manage your budget through a variety of means and methods. Unlike traditional budgeting websites, where you hand enter all transactions each time you visit, Mint.com has you enter your account information one time and itemizes everything for you by pulling data from your accounts and analyzing it so you can not only keep track of what you have earned and spent, but you can see where you spend your money (in the form of pretty graphs and charts), compare your spending against national averages, and keep track of what's left in your account and what expenses you have yet to pay.
Additionally, they assist with saving goals. They help you develop your goals and get them down in print, but they also help with finding savings for you that you may not even know exist. For example, they can find credit cards with smaller fees or interest rates, insurance companies with reduced premiums, or investment opportunities with greater returns than what you are currently seeing. Note: This is how they make their money... by earning commissions from companies based on signups from their recommendations. They do promise, however, to provide you with unbiased information, no matter what.
This website looks great, but I personally have one problem. I am terrified to hand over my checking, savings, credit card, or investment account numbers to anyone I don't know. I really do imagine the website is trustworthy and safe, and I am sure they have all the necessary precautions in place to prevent theft of account information. But thieves are crafty, and hackers are relentless... I would be worried that this would be a GOLDMINE for hackers looking to steal account information for their own devious use.
What do you think? Do the benefits of Mint.com outweigh the potential risks? Would you try Mint.com? Have you?
