According to the Blueprint for Stronger Regulatory Structure, fresh from the steaming hot presses of the U.S. Treasury, the era of financial market band-aids is over.
On Monday morning, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson revealed an overarching plan for straightening up mortgage lending, consolidating banking and securities oversight, as well as establishing “optional” federal monitoring of insurance.
SPONSORED POST: Even a Costco dilettante might know that few deals at the warehouse retailer are as rich as the $1.50 Hebrew National dog and soda combo. After all, the company sold over 69 million of them in 2007. But, Costco and LendingTree offer up an even better deal just for being a member.
Costco members who apply for a mortgage, home loan or realtor through LendingTree can earn up to a $300 Costco cash card.
In an old-fashioned run on the bank, depositors would actually run away from the bank. Yet, in this new-fangled world of online savings accounts, bailouts and fast money, depositors have reason to go back.
Despite rate cuts, E-Trade has kept the rate on its Complete Savings Account at 4.10% and is handing out $25 bills. Fresh off a management change and a $2.5 billion private equity investment to stem losses from bad loans, E-Trade needs to drum up some new depositors and fast.
SPONSORED POST: As days of the week go, Tuesday is rather uncelebrated. No football, no movie premieres and definitely no sleeping in. Pretty boring all around.
At ShareBuilder, however, Tuesday is when all the magic happens. That’s when ShareBuilder flips the switch on thousands of automatic trades set by its customers. Through our exclusive offer, FiLife readers get $50 after opening a Sharebuilder account. Goodbye, Boring Tuesday!
SPONSORED POST: “Sometimes I rhyme slow. Sometimes I rhyme quicken.”
We didn’t check if Intuit co-founder Scott Cook is a hip-hop fan, but his company’s accounting software products continue to help everyone groove along.
Quicken provides a Nice & Smooth way to monitor and manage your financial accounts. Tired of hopping around on the web from your bank to your broker to your credit card to your savings account to your 401k to your mortgage to your student loan?
SPONSORED POST: Redeeming credit card airline miles has gotten much tougher. There are fewer seats available and redemption amounts keep rising. On top of that, you actually have to get up and go somewhere.
It’s no wonder, then, that cash back credit cards have become favorites among the rewards junkies. And, according to many experts, the American Express Blue Cash card is among the best.
SPONSORED POST: My beachcombing history is lackluster.
I’ve pocketed a rusted Matchbox VW Bug, a brass Spalding horseshoe, sea glass and some pretty shells. Collectively, these items sit on my mantle more for sentimental reasons than value on eBay.
Treasure hunting online is much more exciting, especially when real money is at stake. For more than 10 years, FastWeb has offered access to thousands of college and advanced degree scholarships.
There goes another rate cut I won’t get for a few months.
Just recently, I learned that Wednesday’s one-quarter percentage point reduction in the Federal Funds Target Rate doesn’t affect the variable interest rate I pay on my private student loan until January. How can that be, given that online savings account rates are sure to fall within days?
It took a while to figure out the answer.
For years, my cash reserves sat in the Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund, a venerable go-to fund, consistently offering top returns with minimal fees. I always thought that nothing could beat it. Then I moved to New York, a high-tax state, and got married. Now, as my wife and I are reevaluating our finances after the birth of our daughter, we realize we can do better. In certain money-market accounts, we actually make more by earning less. How?
If you haven’t been to Las Vegas recently, get there now! Didn’t you hear, they’re handing out money. Grants at the airport. Franklins at the casinos.
Sadly, it’s not true, unless you are a card sharp. But that delusion alone is what motivates my friend Dave and me for jaunts across the country.
Back to the everyday, there is real free money to be had everywhere you look: cash-back credit cards, high-yield money markets, special offers, coupons, rebates and even good, old-fashioned haggling. I’m not looking for handouts; I’m just heeding advice from my mother. Flush with cash from lifeguarding one summer, I was going to lunch at Bernie’s when my mom offered to pay. I kindly rejected. Here she set me straight: “If someone offers you money, no strings attached, you take it.”
I’ve extrapolated that to institutions and daily life. If the bank across the street consistently offers better rates than your bank, cross the street. See a better rate with another credit card? Switch — it only hurts once. Even my wife has become a proselyte. Recently, she was in our local supermarket and saw an unwitting consumer about to dump nearly $50 in coins in the Coinstar machine, which takes 8.9% of every dollar. Across the street, at Commerce Bank, coin counting is free. She basically handed the guy $4.45. Wouldn’t you take it?
(Coinstar is working towards fixing this discrepancy by charging no fee if you’re willing to accept Amazon or iTunes gift cards instead of cash. In truth, they are simply shifting the fee to their partners, who pay for access. Then again, Commerce Bank is eating the cost as well.)
Cashback cards are the darlings of my wallet. Discover offers 5% cash back on certain merchants throughout the year. This month, it’s service stations and hotels. I just have to remind myself every time I fill up to grab the red, white and blue card. For a while, Citibank’s cashback card offered 5% on groceries, drug stores and gas stations until they cut that rate to 2% several months ago. Now the 5% cards are an endangered species – only American Express still offers one widely, and only after you spend $6500. All such lucrative cards come with their own fine print.
As with any transaction involving money and profit-striving institutions, obfuscation abounds. Now, FiLife – myself included – is here to shine a light.
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