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WaMu Drops Online Savings Account to 3.00% APY
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Washington Mutual has dropped the interest rate on its online savings account to 3.00% APY (via Bank Deals).
WaMu had upped their OSA all the way to 4.00% APY in the past few months, so this is a pretty big drop.
It's not a huge surprise, especially with the recent news of their acquisition by JP Morgan Chase.
The drop takes them pretty far out of contention for the highest online savings accounts currently available.
If you're looking for a good place to stash your money, consider an online savings account from DollarSavingsDirect (3.75% APY), FNBO Direct (3.50% APY), WT Direct (3.26% APY) or HSBC Direct (3.25% APY).
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Keep the Change, Way2Save Not Worth It, Says Consumer Reports
Didn't believe me that Bank of America's Keep the Change program isn't worth it? I'm not the only one saying it.
Consumer Reports, probably the best consumer-advocate publication available today, agrees. In their upcoming November issue, they basically make the same argument I made in late August.
In its latest report, the Consumer Reports Money Lab took a look at three of the more well-known spend and save programs: Bank of America's Keep the Change, Wachovia's Way2Save and American Express One. CR found all three were limited and perhaps more rewarding options exist.
"Saving money can be tough. These programs offer the hope that something good can come from spending more, but when we crunched the numbers, we found the overall savings to be limited," said Noreen Perrotta, Consumer Reports money editor.
According to Consumer Reports's number crunching, it would take 1,728 transactions (averaging $.50 each) to get the $250 total Keep the Change match the first year. In the second year, it will take 10,000.
Wachovia's Way2Save isn't much better. The program, which moves $1 from your checking to savings account with every transaction, limits additional deposits to $100/month. And while it offers a 5 percent interest rate the first year, it drops to 2 percent for the second.
If you're looking for a good place to stash your money, consider an online savings account from DollarSavingsDirect (3.75% APY), FNBO Direct (3.50% APY), WT Direct (3.26% APY) or HSBC Direct (3.25% APY).
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3 Reasons the Economy Isn't Worrying Me
Every time you turn on the news, you hear it:
CRISIS! RECESSION! DEPRESSION!
You can't seem to go anywhere without someone talking about the flailing economy, high gas prices, and their retirement savings causing them worry.
It's the reality of the situation today — but it doesn't need to be.
While Wall Street's problems have turned into Main Street's (who do you think is funding that $700 billion bailout?), the current economy doesn't need to worry you. It isn't worrying me.
Here are three reasons the economy isn't worrying me.
I'm Investing For the Long Run
My retirement accounts have dropped significantly over the past year, especially from their recent highs. But I'm not worried. That money isn't going to be touched for another 40 years or so.
But what if you're nearing retirement? You don't have as much time for the market to rebound — that's for sure. But if you're close to cashing out, you should have a very conservative asset allocation. If you're 58 and you're 100% in stocks, you're in trouble.
Make it a priority to evaluate and adjust your asset allocation once a year. Don't try and time the market — pick a day (April 15 is an easy one to remember) and do it no matter what's happening.
I Have Money Saved Up
One of the most important things to have in an unsteady economy is a strong cash position. No, that doesn't mean you should sell your stock and buy gold (in fact, don't do that). It means you need to have the leverage to avoid depending on financial institutions and credit cards when everyone is tightening their belts.
Look at a guy like Warren Buffet — when everyone is panicking, he goes and invests $5 billion into Goldman Sachs. Having the cash when no one else does gets you the best deals.
If you've got cash, you don't have to worry about everyone else's financials.
I've Got a Few Income Streams
In a market where the unemployment rate is at 6.1%, it's more important than ever to have a few different sources of income.
While an emergency fund prepares you for the uncertainties of the future, having more than one way to make money softens any potential job hazards. In addition to my day job, I do some consulting work and own a number of Web sites.
You don't put all of your eggs into one basket when you're investing in the stock market, right? It makes as much sense to only depend on one source of income.
(For the entrepreneurial types, this is the perfect time to start a business. You're required to depend on what you have — no small business loans, etc — and are forced to focus on the fundamentals.)
Why isn't the economy worrying you? Let us know in a comment below.
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Bank of America Giving Away Hybrid for Paperless Banking
Bank of America, which has promoted green banking, is giving away a Saturn Hybrid car and 5 $10,000 prizes for using its paperless banking.
According to the Sweepstakes page, you can enter up to 16 times by:
- enrolling in online banking
- pay up to 5 bills using bill pay
- receive e-bills on up to 5 accounts
- stop receiving paper statement by mail on up to 5 accounts
The grand prize winner receives either a Saturn AURA hybrid or a Saturn VUE hybrid.
After that, there are 5 first prizes of $10,000 in cash.
While Bank of America's Keep the Change program isn't worth it, they've always been on the ball about promoting green and online banking.
We use BofA as our primary checking account, though mostly our money just goes in and out of the account.
But we've been paperless with them for a while now — and it's worth it. They used to send the thickest (and most useless) account statements every month.
I've said before that my primary motivation for going paperless is convenience, but it's nice to know I'm doing something good for the environment at the same time.
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Money Saving Links: 10/3/08
I can't believe it's already October — it's tough to believe that 2009 is only around the corner.
For the first links of October, we participated in the 172nd Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted at DebtKid.
The Carnival — called the "Meltdown Edition" — included our own Inside the Root Cause of the Flailing Economy.
Here are a couple of highlights from the carnival.
20 Ways to Increase Your Net Worth - Orange Dealing with Money
Regardless of if your net worth is a positive or a negative number, every effort to increase it counts. Here are the several ways to increase your net worth.
Where Do We Go From Here? How About Back To The Basics - The Wisdom Journal
Our “leaders” won’t listen to reason, so what are the financial basics WE need to focus on to insure that we, as individuals, have a secure financial future and that we don’t have to be bailed out (a personal bail out is called bankruptcy)?
Influence Others to Save Is An Effective Frugal Tip - Money Ning
Instead, make it a point to influence someone you know to start a frugal activity. It doesn’t matter if it’s getting them to cook at home more often, getting them to understand the power of clipping coupons or even showing them how great walking can be. Influence everyone to become frugal, and they will in turn help you save more.
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Money Saving Links: 9/26/08
This week, we participated in the Carnival of Personal Finance hosted by Sound Money Matters.
While there weren't too many stories directly related to online banking and using the Internet to save you money, there were a lot of great tips. Here are a couple of the highlights:
The 60 Percent Solution and Mint.com - Cash on the Barrelhead
Super, super cool, because everything goes into pie charts, which is the only way that money (or math of any kind, really) makes sense to my brain. Just click, and you can see one month of where your money is. Or three months, etc. Click on any pie slice for the gory details of what your money is doing. After we’ve got enough data in it, we’ll be able to see (in bar graph–I like those, too) how our spending stacks up against other people.
29 Steps I Took to Leave the Workforce at Age 29 - My Dollar Plan
At age 29 I left the corporate world behind and I’m embarking on a new chapter in my life: spending more time with my kids (ages 1 and 2), following my passion (teaching others about personal finance), and an overall life of freedom not tied to a JOB! Here’s how I did it (and how you can too!)
Are You a Millionaire in the Making? - The Dough Roller
Becoming a millionaire is about the simple, daily choices we all make. So with that, let’s see whether you are a millionaire in the making.
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Washington Mutual Ups Online Savings Account to 4.00% APY
Washington Mutual has just upped the APY on its online savings account to 4.00% APY, putting it right at the top of currently available options (via Five Cent Nickel).
While WaMu is currently having some problems — at least five companies are reportedly considering purchasing the bank — but since it is FDIC insured, you shouldn't worry about putting money into it.
APYs have been going up and down for the past few months with no obvious trend — just like the stock market.
DollarSavingsDirect (3.75% APY), FNBO Direct (3.50% APY), WT Direct (3.26% APY), and HSBC Direct (3.25% APY) are some of the top offerings.
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Suze Orman Q&A: Your Financial Questions Answered
Suze Orman, author of Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny and a number of other books, sits down with the Freakonomics blog to answer a number of reader-submitted financial questions.
There are a ton — literally, a ton — of questions about dealing with lots of student debt. Perhaps the Freakonomics readers are mostly academic, graduate-school types.
This one is my favorite question:
Q: In 25 words or less, what’s the best financial advice either 1) you have received or 2) you give out now to others? Bonus points if you answer in haiku format.
A:
Can you afford it?
Unpaid credit card balance?
One word, friend: denied!
Suze Orman Answers Your Money Questions - Freakonomics
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latest posts
- WaMu Drops Online Savings Account to 3.00% APY
- Keep the Change, Way2Save Not Worth It, Says Consumer Reports
- 3 Reasons the Economy Isn't Worrying Me
- Bank of America Giving Away Hybrid for Paperless Banking
- Money Saving Links: 10/3/08
- Why Taxes Force Public Assets Into Private Hands
- Money Saving Links: 9/26/08
latest comments
- WiseMoneyMatters: I agree. I've been using Save The Change for a little while now. The problem is that I also have ...
- Jaime: DollarSavingsDirect. They withhold interest on account if zero balance at end of the month! I had an external link account ...
- Raul: BofA keep the change is a fraud for those with a saving account less than $300.00! They tell people ...
- Bank CD Rates: Or Gov't policies put pressure on institutions to make sub-prime loans to help bring up the homeownership stats instead of ...
- My Dollar Plan: Thanks for the mention! ...
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