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savings
savings
(birdarts)
Punish And Reward Your Own Behavior To Save Money
By Phil Villarreal on January 4, 2012 10:15 AM
14 Comments
If you want to start saving but know you lack the discipline to stash money away, you'll need to come up with ways to trick yourself into getting into the mood. An ongoing game of mental solitaire could end up being quite profitable. More »
Stuff You Can Do To Save Money Today
By Phil Villarreal on October 17, 2011 11:15 AM
86 Comments
If you find yourself in tight financial times, your instinct will probably be to hunt around for ways to cut spending. While it's tough to make sweeping changes that will result in major savings, you can feel better about yourself by culling together little ways to save here and there. More »
Banks Marketing 1% APR Bank Accounts As "High-Yield"
By Ben Popken on October 4, 2011 11:00 AM
48 Comments
Considering how "high-yield" savings accounts used to give returns of 4-5%, reader Phil thinks it's a bit disingenuous for banks to continue marketing them as such when the rates are only 1%. He sent in a picture of a recent piece of junk mail he got from American Express to illustrate. More »
Wouldn't It Be Nice To Find Out Your Checking Fees With A One-Pager Like This?
By Ben Popken on August 11, 2011 2:00 PM
27 Comments
Wouldn't it be really cool if your checking account disclosure form looked like this nice one-pager the Pew Research Group mocked up? Naw, just kidding. We know you love reading paragraphs of tiny text that have the important clauses buried in the middle of longer sentences. Playing a scavenger hunt to find out what fees you have to pay is part of the fun of having a checking account! More »
64% Of Americans Can't Pay For $1,000 Emergency
By Chris Morran on August 10, 2011 2:30 PM
204 Comments
If you had to fork over $1,000 right now, would you be able to do so without borrowing money or using your credit card? If so, then a new survey from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling says you're in the minority. More »
High-Yield Checking Isn't Dead, You Just Have To Look Harder
By Ben Popken on June 23, 2011 12:00 PM
38 Comments
You would almost think that high-yield checking was dead from the massive pullback over the past few years from previous leaders like HSBC, ING Direct and Smartypig, but it's possible to find banks offering checking accounts still offering rates as high as 4% and even 6%, as long as you follow the new, stricter, rules. More »
Best Student Checking Accounts
By Ben Popken on June 8, 2011 11:00 AM
19 Comments
New freshman entering college this Fall should take the time right now to get their banking account set up if they don't have one already. Consumerist Commentary rounds up the best student checking accounts and compares their benefits and fees. The good news is that the best of the crop have no fees, or fees waived if you can meet some pretty easy requirements. More »
(cpeck485)
Trick Yourself Into Socking Money Away
By Phil Villarreal on May 22, 2011 12:30 PM
55 Comments
It's one thing to realize you should be saving money in order to strive for a particular financial goal or solidify your long-term future, but it's another to generate the discipline to actually leave yourself with enough funds left over to put away. More »
Bill Aims To Stop People From Using 401(K) As A Piggy Bank
By Chris Morran on May 19, 2011 4:30 PM
134 Comments
A recent study found that a record number of people (around 28%) with 401(k) retirement funds had loans (averaging $7,860) outstanding on them in 2010, meaning that these same folks will not have as much money set aside when it does come time to retire. That's why a pair of Senators have introduced legislation that would make it more difficult for people to tap their 401(k)s. More »
US Bank Replaces "Free Checking" With "Easy" Checking (Hint: It's Not Free)
By Ben Popken on May 4, 2011 10:00 AM
68 Comments
US Bank was one of the last large banks to keep offering free checking but that will be no more after May 15. All customers will migrated over from "Free Checking" to "Easy Checking." While it's not certain how it might be any easier, like a US Bank truck drives to your house and picks up your deposits and gives you a free lollipop, it is certain that the checking accounts will have monthly maintenance fees. But you can avoid those fees if you sign up for the right level package and abide by certain behaviors. More »
Why You Need A Reserve Fund
By Phil Villarreal on April 29, 2011 3:00 PM
68 Comments
Every nagging, Jiminy Cricket-like personal finance voice harps on you about how you need to build up a reserve fund or else the world will end in 2012 and the Cubs will never win the World Series. But the advise hardly stands on it's own, because it's boring just to sit on a large sum of money without investing or spending it. More »
(u2acro)
Kroger To Stop Doubling, Tripling Coupons In Houston
By Phil Villarreal on April 6, 2011 10:30 AM
54 Comments
Houston coupon clippers have only a week to bask in double and triple coupon glory at Kroger, which announced it's doing away with the discount multipliers April 13. More »
Frugal 91-Year-Old Woman Was A Secret Millionaire
By Phil Villarreal on February 11, 2011 12:15 PM
154 Comments
A 91-year-old woman who passed away in Washington state shocked her community by leaving behind millions. She was known for wearing tattered clothing and hanging onto broken furniture, but was sitting on $3 million. More »
BofA Tests New Checking Accounts With New Fees
By Ben Popken on January 6, 2011 5:00 PM
105 Comments
Bank of America is trying out a new system of checking accounts with new rules—and new fees for breaking them. More »
(Yo Spiff)
SmartyPig Cuts Rate From 1.75% To 1.35% APY
By Ben Popken on January 6, 2011 11:00 AM
17 Comments
In an email to customers, savings site SmartyPig announced it had cut its rate from 1.75% to 1.35% APY. Now it's no longer the top rate for a nationally available online savings account. Sad day. More »
More New Debit Card Fees Loom
By Ben Popken on January 5, 2011 12:00 PM
149 Comments
Banks are making less money when you swipe your credit and debit cards because of new caps on interchange rates, the fee that they charge to process each of these transactions, that go into effect on July 1st. They have to make the money up somehow! We've seen new fee-incurring tripwires on checking accounts, and now they're dreaming up even more fees for debit cards. Here's what's on their wishlist: More »
Chase Kills "Free Checking" For Ex-WaMu Customers
By Ben Popken on December 6, 2010 1:00 PM
137 Comments
Starting Feb. 8 2011, former WaMu account holders gobbled up by Chase will become the latest batch of customers to lose their free checking privileges. They will still get "free checks for life", but their "free" checking is about to become "fee" checking. More »
How To Build A Reserve Fund
By Phil Villarreal on October 31, 2010 3:30 PM
72 Comments
Money mavens always harp on you to stash some money away to stave off disasters such as layoffs or having to blow $1,000 on a pair of tickets to see the Giants play in the World Series for the first time in forever. More »
ING Won't Give Me My Dead Husband's Money (Updated)
By Phil Villarreal on September 27, 2010 11:15 AM
67 Comments
Cathy's husband died about a year ago, and she recently discovered he had a secret CD account with ING that he was using to save up for a surprise vacation. For no apparent reason, the bank is freezing her out of the $2,000 in the account. She says it will cost much of than that in lawyer's fees to try to get the money, but she's fighting anyway. More »
(voobie)
Being Frugal Makes You More Appealing
By Chris Walters on August 23, 2010 12:30 PM
43 Comments
According to a new ING Direct study, the word that most comes to mind when a hypothetical blind date partner is described as frugal is "smart." Sadly, "sexy" only came to mind about 3.7% of the time, but at least you'll have more chances: an eHarmony review commissioned by Ron Lieber at the New York Times "found that both men and women were 25 percent more likely to have a potential mate reach out to them if they identified themselves as a saver rather than a spender." More »
