Money Matters » Saving http://www.dontbebroke.org Thoughts on Economic Freedom Thu, 01 Jul 2010 22:19:22 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc Paying attention pays off http://www.dontbebroke.org/2008/11/02/paying-attention-pays-off/ http://www.dontbebroke.org/2008/11/02/paying-attention-pays-off/#comments Mon, 03 Nov 2008 06:40:07 +0000 debtfree http://www.dontbebroke.org/?p=38 Last month, I made 3 simple changes to our checking account:

  1. Exchanged our ATM card for a Visa debit card
  2. Signed up for E-Statements
  3. Used the debit card for 12 transactions that we normally would have used cash for

I’m not really a big fan of using debit cards for purchases, because like credit cards, they make it kind of easy to spend more money than maybe you intended. However, our credit union has a program in which, by meeting the above 3 requirements (you also need direct deposit, which we already had) , they pay 5% APR on checking account balances up to $50,000. I’d noticed this before, but it never occured to me how much difference this could make.

We just got our first E-Statement with the new interest rate, and we made a little over $11.00 in interest for October. Woo-hoo!!! This is compared to less than 60 cents per month that we used to get. It also happens to be a higher rate than we get on our Fidelity Money Market account, in fact it’s higher than most CD’s that are currently on the market. Plus, it’s completely liquid – no 4 year lock-in. The only down side is that the rate could drop, but we’ll take it while we can. Wish I had done this earlier. Oh well, live and learn. I’ll pay better attention next time.

Cheers,

Ken

]]> http://www.dontbebroke.org/2008/11/02/paying-attention-pays-off/feed/ 0 Better than a CD and still FDIC Insured http://www.dontbebroke.org/2008/09/24/better-than-a-cd-and-still-fdic-insured/ http://www.dontbebroke.org/2008/09/24/better-than-a-cd-and-still-fdic-insured/#comments Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:38:59 +0000 debtfree http://dontbebroke.org/?p=31 After reading a really good article on using CD’s to ladder an emergency fund on Blueprint for Financial Prosperity, I decided to check out CD rates. When checking my Credit Union’s web site, I found a deal even better than a CD – they are offering 5.0% APY on checking account balances up to $50,000. That is even better than a 5 year CD from ING Direct. There are only a few conditions:

  • Make 12 debit card transactions per month
  • Have one direct deposit or ACH auto debit transaction per month
  • Enroll and receive your monthly statement electronically

I already have direct deposit and electronic statements, so the only thing I need to do is start using my debit card for purchases I would normally use my credit card for. There doesn’t seem to be any catches. In fact, besides the 5.0% APY, they also refund any ATM fees at the end of each month. Like using a credit card, this will require paying attention though. If I don’t meet the terms (i.e. 12 purchases on the debit card) APY for the month drops to 0.10% and ATM fees aren’t refunded. Definitely worth a look though.

Cheers,

Ken

]]> http://www.dontbebroke.org/2008/09/24/better-than-a-cd-and-still-fdic-insured/feed/ 0 The key to saving money… http://www.dontbebroke.org/2008/08/06/the-key-to-saving-money/ http://www.dontbebroke.org/2008/08/06/the-key-to-saving-money/#comments Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:28:17 +0000 debtfree http://dontbebroke.org/?p=15 Just don’t spend it. A USA Today journalist has done just that – not bought anything for a year. Read the story for details, then ask yourself – could you actually do that? Not buy even one unnecessary thing for yourself? How would you resist the temptation? I don’t think I could do it.

Cheers,
Ken

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