savings account question

Look at your statement for the APR. Right now it is probably 1% which isn't much - that is 1% divided by 12....

 

Yeah, it depends on the kind of account it is and how much money you have in it. Right now, none of them have very high rates though.

 

Yeah, you'l have to check with your own bank. You can probably find it online for your bank. Just go to the site and look up checking/savings accounts and you should find the interest rates on there somewhere.

One of my accounts is with BECU, a credit union, and I'm getting 7.5% APR on my first 500 in savings and 500 in checkings, with 1.5% on savings and .5% on checking for balances over 500. Howver, I must use direct deposit and online bill pay to get that deal. In comparison, I want to say I am getting .25% on savings and 0.0% on checking from WAMU aka Chase. So it does help to shop around if you are looking to get a savings account. Interest rates are so low that I'm cycling funds though 6 month CD's at 3.1% APR just to get that little bit of interest, when just last year I had accounts a 5.5+ APR.

 

I am biased (my whole family has worked in credit unions at some point), but I think Credit Unions are almost always better than banks. Credit Unions do not take a profit (if they find themselves with a profit at the end of the year, all their members get a cut of it), so you are more likely to find decent rates since they aren't interested in gouging you for every last cent.

 

Quote:Exceptionally good point.....Credit Unions are better than banks!

 

You won't get enough interest to cover the cost of inflation. And you will have to pay taxes on what little interest they pay you.

Don't save; invest. There are a lot of bargains now days. Buy real estate or good stocks. Avoid anything dollar denominated.

The free market system isn't working. You can barely get any interest on savings, but the interest rates on charge cards never seem to go down.

Something is wrong with the economy, and it is the Federal Banking system. They keep pumping money into the system, not realizing that Keynsian economics do not work in a world ecomomy. They keep fiddling with the interest rates and the money supply.

Money flows like water from the US to countries that pay higher interest rates and have less onerous tax laws. Watch the next stimulus money flow from the US directly to China.

Be prepared for high inflation and high unemployment in the future. Remember the Carter years.

If the Federal Government bails out the auto companies, it will be a just a matter of time until they are back on the brink of bankruptcy again. Management and the UAW will have wasted it all.

And the big buyer at the bankruptcy sale will be China. GM and Chrysler have the equipment and patents that China needs. When the plants are moved to China, they will suddenly become very profitable.

The 1940 Buick is a perfectly acceptable car to most of the world. The rest of the world is not encumbered with mileage requirements and saftey and emission standards like the US is.

And GM and Chrysler have the dies, plans and equipment to produce hundreds of models of cars. No research and development required.

In China, they are still making coal fueled US designed locomotives that have not been seen on our railroads since the 1950's. They don't mind a little smoke.

Rufus

 

Finally a subject Iʻm an expert at! The best deal going today is a Capital One money market account. No minimum balance, no fees. It pays 3% the last time I checked and you get a checkbook for up to three withdrawals per month. If you link it to a Capital One credit card, there are even more perks and transfers fro the M/M to the credit card (or withdrawals by ATM card) arenʻt subject to the three transaction limit.

Just google Capital One Bank and you can review all the terms & conditions.

 

Quote:I don't disagree with all that you say, but China's pollution problem is SO bad their citizens wear masks! When my student from China arrived last spring she videotaped the SKY for 15 minutes to send home because she could not get over how blue our skies are! Their pollution is SO bad you can see the smog from space. Check google earth - you can see the brown clouds.