Many people are discovering certificates of deposit. These accounts lock up your money for a set period of time (a few months to a few years) in return for higher rates of return.
At Get Rich Slowly, I recently published a list of current CD (certificate of deposit) rates. In general, CD rates are higher than savings account rates (though this isn’t always true).
But big banks aren’t always the best source for CDs. Right now, my local credit union offers the best CD rates I could find: right around four percent! I plan to move a portion of my savings over to them next week.
]]>But with the recent move by the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates as low as possible, even high-yield savings accounts are seeing their rates dip to 3%. Or 2%. Or even lower.
How can you be sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck? Get Rich Slowly offers a regularly-updated list answering the question which online high-yield savings account is best? This list is divided into two groups of banks: reader favorites and other good choices. Best of all, there are nearly 1200 comments on this article in which readers offer their feedback on the various choices.
So, if your money is parked someplace where you’re only earning pennies, take the time to explore the value of a high-interest savings account!
]]>I’m still not perfect at this, but I’m learning. IKEA once charged my wife not for one yard of fabric, but ten. That was a $53.91 difference. I phoned the store to ask for a credit, but nobody answered. Instead, I had to drive 40 minutes back across town, wait in line for half an hour, and then drive 40 minutes home.
Most mistakes aren’t this big, but you’d be surprised at how common smaller mistakes occur. And it takes very little time to scan a receipt to be sure things are right.
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After evaluating the per-hour cost of my hobbies, I discovered that television viewing was the most expensive and reading was the least expensive, so I turned off the television and opened a book. What happened?
We trimmed our cable bill to just the basic channels (a savings of about $15 a month), cut down our electricity usage (television and surround sound were off for two hours when they used to be on) which saved about $0.50 a month, and rediscovered a hobby that makes me consider the world instead of sitting there absorbing whatever the television feeds me. We’re even thinking about eliminating the cable entirely, since the few shows we now watch are almost all on network television.
See also: Cheap alternatives to cable television. Photo by Aaronyx.
]]>This is a great book. It’s short and filled with practical tips. Even if you don’t buy into the idea of simplicity completely, there’s a lot you can learn from the methods December describes.
]]>Get a return on investment from that movie. If you rent movies (from Blockbuster or Netflix or any other source), pay yourself $2 for every movie you watch. Also: “When you return a movie (hopefully on time) to the rental store, pay yourself the late fee.”
[This information via The Wisdom Journal, and used with permission.]
]]>According to a New York Times article about how extra weight leads to higher costs:
A baby boomer whose [Body Mass Index (B.M.I.)] drops from 27.5, the middle of the overweight category, to 21.7, the middle of the normal category, sees an increase in wealth of $4,085.
Read more about the high cost of being fat.
]]>Try one new thing each week. Exercise mindfulness. When fear creeps into your head, name it for what it is, and let it pass by. Ask yourself, “What is the worst thing that could happen?” Then ask yourself, “What is the best thing that could happen?”
Recognize that failures and mistakes are not the end. Often they’re the beginning. We all have dreams, but most of us make excuses for not pursuing them. Often these excuses aren’t overt. It’s more a matter of inertia, of just ignoring the dreams, of maintaining the comfortable status quo. But you can break out of your comfort zone to get more out of life through the simple power of yes.
Read more about the power of yes, a simple way to get more out of life.
]]>- Food: Groceries
- Food: Junk
- Periodicals: Newsstand
- Sin: Alcohol
- Household: Supplies
I still break my receipt into these categories when I have time. But often I simply lump the entire trip as groceries — that’s what 95% of it is, anyhow. Worrying about niggly little things can be counter-productive to good personal finance. Often it’s more to make the right general choice, and to worry about optimizing things later.
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GreenDimes reduces credit offers, insurance offers, sweepstakes offers, coupon mailers, charitable solicitations and retail catalogs that your household receives. We can’t reduce mailings you receive as a result of a relationship you have with a company or organization. These include magazine subscriptions, bank statements, brokerage statements and school alumni mailings. Please contact those organizations directly to manage your mail with them.
Sounds good to me!
Read more about how to stop junk mail in its tracks.
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There’s never a bad time to give your resume a bit of a touch up. Make sure that it has plenty of action words, and that it documents specific results that you’ve produced. In fact, your personal work documentation is a great way to look for ideas to spiff up your resume.
[This information via The Simple Dollar.]
]]>- How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
- My Antonia by Willa Cather
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Each of these features an adult narrator looking back with fondness on a childhood of poverty. None of these books sugar-coats the situation, but offers a complex picture of what it’s like to be poor. Maybe it’s because my background is similar (though certainly not nearly as extreme), but I take comfort in these stories, as the protagonists learn about money and meaning.
]]>Do you shop at a store that requires you to join their “savings” club? Deposit that saved amount (usually at the bottom of your receipt) into your savings account when you get home.
[This information via The Wisdom Journal, and used with permission.]
]]>I encourage you to value community and experiences over Stuff. You are not what you own; you are what you do. It took me a long time (nearly forty years) to realize this. I still haven’t fully wrapped my mind around it. But I’m coming to understand that it is relationships and experiences that give life meaning.
Money is good — it opens doors and provides options — but meaningful relationships are more important.
]]>I watched my father struggle during the late 1970s and early 1980s because his money situation was a mess. Runaway inflation and high unemployment made things worse. He had saved little, and the money he did have was devalued. Plus he found it difficult to get a job.
I try not to let news of financial doom and gloom bother me. I have to trust that if I’m doing what I believe is best, things will work out in the end. It comforts me to know that I’ve made some preparations in case there is trouble: I have no consumer debt, I have ample emergency savings, and I continue to practice frugality in my daily life.
But I worry for others, for those people who are just beginning to pull themselves out of debt.
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Here’s a little app that’s sweeping the internet: Price Protectr is designed to save consumers money after they’ve purchased big-ticket items.
Ever buy stuff from stores that offer a 30 day price protection guarantee? If they lower their price within 30 days of when you purchased it, they’ll refund you the difference. Sounds great… except how often do you remember to the check price again? Now you don’t have to. Let Price Protectr do it for you! It’s free. It’s easy. It’s free and easy money. How often do you get that offer?
Here’s how it works:
- Buy something from one of fifteen supported merchants, including Amazon, Costco, and Sears.
- Find the item you bought online. Copy-and-paste the URL to Price Protectr.
- Enter your e-mail address. (Price Protectr promises not to spam you.)
- Sit back and relax. If Price Protectr notices the price drop at any time during the protection period, you’ll receive an e-mail.
Sounds great. I can’t wait to try it.
]]>Put the excess in storage and continue to refill smaller containers out of the bulk containers as you need them. Even if you save only $5 per year on each item, if you buy ten items in bulk, you’ve saved $50. If your grocery list has such continuous-use items on it, pick up the bulk version instead.
[This information via The Simple Dollar.]
]]>Wachovia Bank, N.A. recently announced that it was withdrawing the collaboration of MBNA from the Wachovia credit cards and now the credit cards would be issued by Wachovia itself. So here I am in the process of destroying the credit card by MBNA.
Really, there’s nothing earth-shattering or “how-to” about this. It just looks pretty:
