Banking

Where should you open an online bank acount? I have been with them for years and have loved them (apparently many CPF readers use them as their online bank too)…

Recently an interesting thread popped up in the forums about joint and separate accounts. For Linda and I, we discovered that even though we had joint accounts, we still needed to have some amount of cash that was separate. Since money issues are the number one reason for divorce in the U.S. I thought this would be a topic worth discussing.

How to find a free ATM for ING Direct customers… As much as I love ING Direct, I have always been frustrated that every time I go to an ATM I have to pay a fee. I remembered reading that they had 25,000 ATMs across the nation, but I still seemed to be paying a fee every time. Turns out I have 5 ING ATMs less than 5 miles from my house. And another 78 within 20 miles. Oops.

Who would have thought that a bank would offer a $150 gift card for opening a checking account? Well National City Bank is doing just that. Here is how you get the $150 gift card…

Where is the best place to open a savings account? I often get asked where the best place to save money is. I think it depends a little bit on your goals, but for now the simple answer is ING Direct. If you are stocking away a quarter million dollars in your savings account, I wouldn’t recommend them since they do not have the highest interest rates.

Thinking about opening a Virtual Bank account? I decided to open one. They gave me $20 for opening it, so I figured I don’t have much to lose. I have always been an ING Direct customer, but I am trying to keep an eye out for other up and coming great online banks, so I decided to check out Virtual Bank.

Should you pull your money out your bank? Well, this is my opinion on the whole financial crisis in the U.S. and how it will affect our money.

What does the Bible say about bankruptcy? Here is the tough truth about what the Bible says about bankruptcy.

Being impacted by my uncle’s premature death and wanting to do everything I can do to help my wife, I decided to create a system for keeping things organized. It has been a work in progress over the last few years, but has evolved into a very helpful tool. Simply put, it is a single file or location for all your financial account details. I call it a FLOP (Financial Life on One Page). FLOP sounds a little cooler than FLOOP, but not much

I signed up with ING about 4 years ago and have had a great experience with them. They have been a model business that has worked very hard to satisfy and meet the changing needs of their customers. These are just a few of the ways they have helped me.

It doesn’t happen too often to me, but since I use my ING sub-accounts for budgeting I occasionally make more than six withdrawals per month. When this happens they send me a kind, but firm email informing me that if I make that mistake again they may be forced to close my account. So here is how I get around it…

Cash sitting in our wallets, under the mattress and even in many savings accounts is becoming less valuable because of inflation. At 3% inflation (which I think has been the average over the last decade in the U.S.) we are essentially losing money when our cash is not earning at least that amount in interest. So, if you have a savings account that pays 1.5% interest and inflation is at 3%, you are losing spending power.

SmartyPig is basically an online savings account that allows your friends and family to contribute to your savings goals. They also provide you with additional incentive boosts from top retailers who sell the items you are saving for. And surprisingly, they are currently boasting a 4.30% (APY) - which is a heck of a lot more than ING Direct is paying or most other online banks.

Banking with ING seems to be the way to go. They are the least prone to identity theft of any of the big banks. It is no surprise to me that ING Direct has the lowest incidences of identity theft on the list. If you bank with ING, you will know that they have so many security measures that it can ALMOST be annoying.

This is my comparison of Virtual Bank and ING Direct… I decided to open a Virtual Bank savings account. They gave me $20 for opening it, so I figured I don’t have much to lose. To me ING Direct has clearly been the best online savings account in terms of features, interface, and overall user experience, but I am trying to keep an eye out for other up and coming great online banks, so I decided to check out Virtual Bank.

Is Primerica a legit company? Here are the pros and cons of Primerica from my perspective… I have been to quite a few multi-level marketing recruiting meetings over the years and I don’t mind meeting with the recruiters and really learning what the company is all about.

Kiplinger’s just came out with their best list of 2007. In it they cover a wide range of services and products they have ranked. Here are a few that stood out to me…

Do you need an emergency fund? Well, I used to think of an emergency fund as robbing myself. Thankfully, I learned how beneficial an emergency fund is to my long-term financial well being.

This article explains how I organize my bank accounts…If there is one thing that I have learned about personal finances, it is that nothing is one-size-fits-all. There are different tools, methods, products, and investments that work for different people at different phases of their lives. My system that I am currently using to manage my accounts and cashflow, did not work for me 5 years ago, but…

Want to know how to budget? Well, ING Direct is my favorite budget tool. Here are the steps how I budget with ING Direct. You could probably use this same technique at other banks, but I will show you why it is more beneficial at ING Direct.