Walk With Money » Savings Accounts

Happy Holidays and a Personal Finance Roundup

Robert Wilkinson — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 22:20:02 +0000

We would like to wish everyone great health, happiness and prosperity — Pleased Holidays to all the readers and fellow personal finance bloggers! As is custom, it is time to spread love and joy and highlight articles from other bloggers about the internet. If you have some time to spare over the next few days, right here are some personal finance articles to check out.

10 Tax Deductions You Don’t Want to Overlook from Blip Blap — As 2010 draws to a close, it’s time to begin thinking about taxes – right here are some deductions you don’t want to forget about.
Checklist Of Issues You will Need At Tax Time In 2011 For Doing Your 2010 Taxes from Bible Money Matters.
Ought to I Use a Debit Card or Credit Card? from Frugal Dad — This article examines the pros and cons of each credit score cards and debit cards.
Ought to I Diversify Among Brokerage Firms? from Oblivious Investor.
On-line Financial savings Accounts Rates Suck– What Can I Do? from Studenomics.
Foreign exchange Buying and selling 101: Major Forex Pairs, Most Traded Currencies, & Much more from Christian PF.
Best Jobs for Stay at Home Moms (and Dads!) from ...

How To Benefit from the Right Savings Accounts

Robert Wilkinson — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 13:20:03 +0000

As banking fees rise and people are finding it harder to stretch a paycheck, saving is a simple goal people are resetting for themselves. But finding a savings account these days is not as easy as just stopping by your community bank. There are online resources often offering higher interest rates than traditional banks so it pays to really look around and compare your options. A savings account also comes in different forms. If you are not utilizing the right type of savings account for your financial goals, you might be missing the boat.

Photo by Alan Cleaver via Flickr

What Types of Accounts Exist for Savings?

There are three typical types of savings account vehicles you can use for your financial goals. Depending on your needs, one or more of the accounts may be an ideal way for you to invest in the future whether you have specific financial goals or just want to build a suitable stash of cash should an emergency strike.

Here are the descriptions of three types of savings resources:

Basic Saving Accounts

Most consumers with a saving account utilize this kind of account for saving money. It is the simplest of the savings tools and can be opened with a low amount of money. Savings accounts can be opened through a brick and mortar bank or through an online account. Generally, most basic savings accounts do not have limitations on how much you can deposit or a minimum on how much money you must keep in the account but many will limit how many withdrawals you can make fee-free during a month. Most savings accounts offer low interest earnings compared with other savings vehicles but there is growing competition between banks and online banks to offer the most competitive interest rates.

Certificate of Deposit

A certificate of deposit, more commonly known as a CD, is a type of savings account that has more rules than a traditional savings account. You deposit your money into a CD and are required to leave it untouched for a specified amount of time before you have access to the funds, a time period known as its maturity date. If funds are withdrawn before the maturity date, a penalty will be incurred. CDs ...

Deflation? Hyperinflation? What Do I Do?

Robert Wilkinson — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 01:20:25 +0000

I completely adore tuning into talk radio stations. It’s hucksterism at its most entertaining – the promoting of fear is palpable and the line in between content and commerical is so blurry I can’t tell if the host is on an economic rant or attempting to sell me on a gold broker.

Regardless of whether you think this kind of talk display hosts are the scourge of the earth or a vital supply of talking reality to energy (I’m not in both camp, really), there is one reality that you can get away from all of it: no one knows for sure what’s heading to occur subsequent in terms of the economic system.

One can make a reasoned, rational situation that we’re on the verge of a golden age because of emerging technological advances and the opening of new markets. One can make a reasoned, rational situation that we’re on the verge of economic collapse that will arrive in the type of a deflationary spiral (decrease prices lead to decrease production which leads to fewer jobs which leads to decrease prices…). One can make a reasoned, rational situation that we’re on the verge of economic collapse that will arrive in the type of hyperinflation (prices escalating, the dollar dropping compared to other world currencies, etc.).

We just don’t know.

If you think a boom time is coming, it probably makes sense to invest in stocks, particularly in technology and in emerging markets. Invest in issues that will grow like crazy when issues start to get off.

If you think deflation is coming, it probably makes sense to start hoarding money, because every dollar will improve in value. Purchase CDs and maintain your cash in the highest-yield savings accounts you can find.

If you think hyperinflation ...

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ETrade Bank Savings Accounts now by Discover Bank?

Robert Wilkinson — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:20:06 +0000

Just got this e-mail from regarding my ETrade Bank online savings account:

We are writing to let you know that your E*TRADE Bank account referenced above will soon be transferred to Discover Bank, and become a Discover Online Savings Account. This follows our plan to focus more exclusively on providing optimal investing solutions to our customers. We expect the transfer to occur on or about March 7, 2010.

Discover Bank sounds okay from what I’ve read, and the APY on my whopping 3 cent balance will go up from 0.50% to 1.35% APY, but the only reason I kept the E*Trade account around was for its speedy funds transfers. I don’t use any ETrade brokerage services since they are too expensive and the phone hold times are too long. (I do enjoy the commercials, though.) Time to close the account?

Savings Accounts vs. CDs: Where to Keep Your Money in 2010?

Robert Wilkinson — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:20:07 +0000

If you’re a savvy investor, you most certainly have a fair bit of cash tucked away for general spending and emergencies. The stock market is a long term investment and if 2009 taught us anything, it was to not have money you need to spend in the stock market. So where do you put the money you don’t want in the stock market?

There’s 3 main options to place your cash and get it FDIC insured for up to $250,000.

You can put your money in a checking account where you have fast and easy access to funds.

You can put your money in a savings account where you can take money out and put money in while still earning interest on your funds, or

You can put your money in a certificate of deposit, which typically has higher yields than savings but your money is locked into the account for the agreed upon term.

So where should you put your money? Well all 3 of course.

For money that you plan on spending you should keep in a checking account. It’s the easiest account to get money into and out of so it makes sense to keep spending money in it. You shouldn’t keep more than you need to however because you don’t get a return on your investment in a checking account.

This is where savings accounts and certificates of deposit jump into the picture. Your strategy becomes more complicated now because of the fact that you must lock in a rate when opening a CD.

So what is the best cash strategy for 2010?

If you pay attention to CD rates you know that they’re at the lowest levels since the 80s right now. So it doesn’t make much sense to lock in to a long term CD right now because they’re bound to increase when the unemployment rate drops and the Fed decides to raise interest rates. So there’s 2 main strategies you should consider. The first is to convert any maturing CDs you have into savings accounts.

The yields on savings accounts are not that much lower than what banks are offering on CDs so there isn’t that much incentive to lock in your money. You could keep your extra cash in savings accounts which will leave you ready to jump on a CD when rates start climbing back up. Just make sure you stay under the ...

Bank Accounts: When More is More

Robert Wilkinson — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:20:06 +0000

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Photo: Daniel Y. Go

Everyone knows by now that long-term retirement planning is important, right? And you probably have some sort of budget or other system for planning daily, weekly, and monthly expenses.

Great. Glad to hear it. But what about those medium-term, medium-size expenses like vacation, car repair, furniture, and holiday spending? You know, the expenses that always seem to bite you in the ass?
Here’s my strategy: every time I get bitten, I open a new savings or checking account to collect money for a particular type of budget-busting expense. I’m now up to sixteen of them.

That’s just checking and savings accounts—it doesn’t include CDs or brokerage accounts. But bear with me, because I’m not insane: I really do have that many bank accounts, and it actually does make my life simpler.

In order to explain why I have so many accounts and why I think you should also have a bunch, let’s look into the past. (Cue dissolve and piano glissandos.)

The bad old days

I’m old enough, barely, to remember a time when most people had only two cash accounts: a checking account and a savings account. They were basically the same, except that the checking account let you transfer money to another person by writing on a little rectangular sheet of paper. This was so long ago that I can’t even remember what they called those things.

Schmecks, was it?
Back then, if you wanted to open a new account, you had to walk into the branch and sit down at a desk. If you wanted to set up an automatic monthly transfer between accounts—if your bank even offered such a service—you had to fill out paperwork. If you wanted to transfer money between accounts at different banks, you had to write yourself a schmeck or pay a wire fee. And if you had accounts at different banks and wanted to see them all at once in a single interface? Here, pal, take your free thermos and get out of my bank.

Yes, the good old days really sucked. Luckily, we don’t live there anymore, and we shouldn’t bank as if we do.

I have an emergency fund. A vacation account. A medical account. ...

Personal Finance 101: What Does FDIC Insurance Really Mean?

Robert Wilkinson — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:20:21 +0000

One of the biggest things I inspire people to look for when they open a financial institution account is that the financial institution is FDIC insured. Most banks working in the United States offer this insurance. In an era where people are much more than a small worried about financial institution failures and the like, FDIC insurance is vital.

But what exactly is it?

Charlie writes in:

What exactly is FDIC insurance? How does it function? [A local financial institution] went under recently and appears to have been bought out by another financial institution and from what I understand the accounts are intact. Is that FDIC insurance at function?

(I edited out the financial institution in Charlie’s query for privacy reasons.)

What Is FDIC Insurance coverage?
FDIC insurance refers to insurance policies created by the Federal Deposit Insurance coverage Corporation, which is an organization wholly run by the government of the United States. The FDIC sells insurance policies to banks which insures the checking and savings accounts at those banks against the failure of those banks. Thus, when you open an account with a financial institution, that financial institution purchases insurance on that account for you from the FDIC.

FDIC insurance covers checking accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposit, cash market accounts, and cashier’s checks. It does not cover stocks, bonds, mutual funds, cash market accounts, US treasuries, safe deposit box contents, or other this kind of objects.

Most banks that operate in the United States buy this insurance. When they do, they’re required to show the FDIC logo on indicators in their business as nicely as on their web sites.

FDIC insurance insures deposits up to ...

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Savings Account Interest Rate Updates

Robert Wilkinson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:20:08 +0000

Still not much action in interest rate land, but here’s another update.

Reward Checking Accounts
These are checking accounts, usually through local credit unions, that pay a very high interest rate if you jump through some hoops each month. However, if you make a mistake you’ll forfeit virtually all your interest for that month, so it can be tricky. But for the very diligent, their rates are still averaging around 3-5% APY usually on balances up to $25,000. A current example is FAB&T Kasasa checking at 3.50% APY on up to $50k, which requires 10 check card purchases each month, a direct deposit/auto-withdrawal, must log into your account once a month, and online statements only.

For more, see my review of rewards checking accounts and also this list of accounts by state. I’d stick with small local credit unions with limited membership eligibility if possible, as the rates tend to be more stable.

Online Savings Accounts Rate Updates

Everbank ...

Best Online Bank For Savings And Checking?

Robert Wilkinson — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 03:20:03 +0000

Which on-line bank is very best? This is not an easy query to solution merely because we all have many standards when it arrives to banking. A great place to begin is how a fantastic deal curiosity the bank is getting to invest you. Nonetheless, there are many a fantastic deal much more components to believe about prior curiosity price.

7 Issues To Believe about Before You Open An On-line Financial institution Account

To make particular you have the very best possible bank for your need, be particular to appear for the subsequent capabilities:

Reduced or No Expenses

There are enough banks out there that you ought to not have to make investments any fee. Before you open an account, request for their fee program. Some of the common costs to appear for consist of: beneath minimal account stability fee, overdraft fee (for checking accounts), ATM fee, inactivity fee, and transfer fee.

Fantastic Internet Interface

On-line banking ought to be quick, easy, and secure. First and foremost, the internet web site ought to be secure with potent validation process and data encryption. Secondly, the internet web site ought to be intuitive and easy to navigate. Also, it ought to provide important capabilities, this type of as photos of your cashed checks, stability transfer gadget, a great set of critiques (this type of as payments, transfers and deposits).

Other great to have capabilities consist of alerts (see beneath), archive of account month-to-month statements, archive of yearly tax statements, and >>>>budgeting<<<< and/or
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Older Americans struggling with debt

Robert Wilkinson — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:20:04 +0000

Much more senior citizens are taking on extreme credit score score ary debt, leaving them monetarily susceptible. Reduced retirement monetary financial savings due to the stock marketplace, increased well being-linked expenditures, and fixed incomes depart many seniors no option but to rely on credit score score urvive. In actuality, a current >>>>study by Demos<<<< discovered that e oself-reportedd ore score card monetary debt amongst decreased- and e-egs customers 65 and older elevated 26% from 2005 to 2008, to $ten,235. Monetary debt for all borrowers sy only eleted 3% all through that time. Regrettably, monetary problems of seniors are so extreme that the >>>>quantity of older Americans submitting for bankruptcy has elevated at alarming rates<<<<, generating them the quickest developing age group in the bankrtcts.

Eveghonetary debt problems plague individuals of all ages, they are especially challenging for senior citizens to deal with. For instance, many older Americans should forgo well being-linked treatment and exhaust monetary financial savings accounts in perform to repay monetary debt. Following are some ideas to think about if you or somebody you know is encountering monetary problems.

Prioritize your debts. Some debts are a lot more important spend promptly than ...