Money Blue Book

As a work from home attorney and self driven small business entrepreneur, I like to keep tabs on the pulse of the business markets and track the breaking of current economic news at all times. Whenever I’m working from home, I always have CNBC or the Fox Business News channel playing on the TV. However, because of this constant monitoring of the markets and relentless digestion of every piece of bad economic news that comes through the news wire, I’ve steadily become an extremely bearish investor of late. With little credible positive news to speak off for the foreseeable economic future, I’ve become ever more protective of my existing financial assets, making a mad dash for safety like I’ve never done before.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett (who despite all of his historical wealth building wisdom, seems to be suffering a bit of a credibility and legacy problem recently with the plunge of his Berkshire Hathaway investments) used to preach that the world of money and finances revolves around the inextricable interplay between two core human emotions – fear and greed. These two primal capitalist emotions dictate our personal financial paths at any given moment and determine how we each respond to potential monetary opportunities as they present themselves. The age old Warren Buffett truism is that we ought to be greedy when others are fearful, since valuations and expectations are lowest, and opportunities and potential upside are highest at the peak of overwhelming market fear – but unfortunately, I think I have succumbed to this crippling fear of the unknown. Disillusioned by the never ending false verbal diarrhea spewed out by so-called financial experts and relentless bull market fanatics in the media, I am now starting to favor the viewpoints and sentiments of bearish prognosticators like infamous NYU economics professor Nouriel Roubini, nicknamed “Dr. Doom” for his pessimistic yet accurate economic forecasts in recent years.

As a self proclaimed perma-bear now, I currently remain hiding in my proverbial financial cave, hibernating and holding onto my stash of winter cash reserves in preparation for more difficult times ahead. I remain extremely cautious and stubbornly skeptical of the self interested optimistic pundits out there, who although have been proven wrong time and time again with their never ending predictions of the bottom, continue to cheer lead the market into plunging headfirst into reckless and financially suicidal decisions. “Extreme bearishness” is probably the phrase to best describe my overall investment sentiment for this month, and possibly for the entire first half of 2009. While the cash flow income generated from my active trading hours for dollars part time small law practice and entrepreneurial pursuits (one of which includes this personal finance blog) remain very healthy, I have completely halted my passive investment pursuits in the stock market, at least for now. Despite my earlier plans to purchase a single family home sometime this year, it is very possible that I may well put off the purchase until 2010 or later – at least until housing prices stabilize. I have the cash and down payment money necessary for a new first time home purchase right  now (with or without a sizable home mortgage loan), however, I want to see more visibility assurances in home prices before I invest. At least for the foreseeable future, my net worth growth and my marathon journey to become a millionaire will have to depend solely on the continuous cash flow increases provided by my regular day jobs, rather than from any improvements in passive income appreciation (via stocks, dividends, or housing).

My Current Net Worth and Financial Status Update Compared To Last Month

During Turbulent Times, It’s Best To Keep Your Money Safe and Secure In FDIC Insured High Interest Bank Accounts and High Yield CDs

In my opinion, you must be certified crazy or an extreme thrill seeking risk taker to even consider adding aggressive new investment positions into your stock market portfolio at this moment in time. At a moment’s notice, any one of the many market sectors could easily plunge 5-20% and destroy your life savings, as evidenced by the extremely volatile swings we’ve been experiencing lately. No matter the fact the market has already plummeted more than 50-75% since its peak in 2007 – the market has the potential to purge even more as current grim economic conditions have not slowed down its deterioration. This is truly not the time to get greedy and lose your money in one fell swoop. I fully understand the need to seek out long term opportunities and come out on top 5-10 years from now, but such immediate uncertainty and irrational volatility in the stock and real estate markets require a more asset protectionist mindset for the time being. I don’t anticipate the economy to experience much of a noticeable recovery until at least mid 2010. Perhaps sometime during the mid summer months of 2009 will be a more suitable time to start considering more long term objectives. But for now, I recommend greater caution and taking things a bit more short term, with a healthy dose of more fearful wisdom than exuberant greed.

During such scary times, I prefer to keep the vast bulk of my liquid cash savings stored in FDIC insured bank accounts, preferably invested into a mixture of high yield savings accounts and high interest certificate of deposits (CDs). I use laddered CDs with the best CD rates to maximize interest rate yields, but use multiple maxed out high interest savings accounts to keep money readily available for emergency fund purposes. As the cash savings generated by my day jobs and entrepreneurial pursuits have flourished, I have had to open multiple high interest online bank accounts to keep my aggregate savings fully protected under the current FDIC insurance coverage limit of $250,000.

Despite the current grim landscape of failed banks and struggling financial institutions, banks that offer full FDIC insurance coverage still afford consumers the best protection for their money that the market has to offer. FDIC insured deposit accounts at the nation’s best savings banks are fully backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government, and thus enjoy near iron-clad protection against bank failure or catastrophic financial loss. Unless the federal government of the world’s most powerful nation deteriorates and collapses into complete disarray, so much so that it can no longer honor its financial obligations to creditors, your money is otherwise 100% safe. Despite my extreme bearish sentiment, I have no real fear that the United States government won’t be able to survive the current credit crisis or economic recession. Times are certainly extremely gloomy, but the federal government and the U.S. economy will ultimately prevail – although it may take many years for recovery to happen.

Making Sure I Use My Reward Credit Cards To Keep The Accounts Active, and Keeping Tabs On My Credit Score

The current news on the street is that due to troubled credit markets, major credit card issuers are canceling and closing out inactive and unused consumer credit card accounts. For many struggling with credit card usage temptation or are currently mired in credit card debt, this may come as a forced financial blessing. However, it’s important to note that when a credit card issuers closes out one of your unused credit card accounts, this seemingly simple act may have the unintended consequence of hurting your FICO credit score. The FICO credit score is comprised of a multitude of credit and debt payment factors, but a very large component is the proportional usage of your utilized credit in relation to the total aggregate amount of credit that is available to you. Thus, by closing out unused but available credit lines, this decreases your credit utilization ratio – thereby causing the FICO credit score algorithm to churn out a lower credit rating in your name. This is also the same reason why unused credit card accounts with reward or 0% APR balance transfer terms that are no longer desirable should never be canceled, but rather should be stored in a safe place and kept open. Thus for example, if you’ve tapped out your Citi Platinum balance transfer offer, instead of closing out the card immediately, it benefits your ultimate FICO credit score more to keep the card open and use it at least a few times a year on small purchases.

As a heavy credit card user who has a large portfolio of reward and balance transfer credit cards, I have been making a concerned effort to make sure I use each of my credit cards at least once every few months to keep them active in the eyes of the issuing credit card companies. In particular, I pay special attention to keeping active those lesser used cards opened many years ago as the FICO scoring algorithm heavily favors older credit accounts over newer, recently opened accounts. Yes, the whole process of  juggling cards and ensuring continued usage of each individual credit card at least a few times a year is somewhat of a hassle. However, my extra steps have kept my FICO score nice and high at 802, in anticipation of my future plans to apply for a home mortgage loan when this whole economic recession finally blows over.

Charting Out My Financial Plan and Tracking Expenditures With Quicken 2009 Software and Free Quicken Online

While I’ve always had a history of using Intuit and Quicken related products like the paid desktop software versions of Quicken Premier and Quicken Deluxe, it was not until the recent emergence of free Quicken Online, that I’ve begun to consider the online version to be a real viable way of tracking my expenditures and financial account balances. As a long time user of Intuit’s popular online tax preparation program Turbo Tax, I eager anticipate the day that TurboTax is fully integrated into the free Quicken Online program for a more complete online budgeting platform with tax planning analysis. Tax planning is a critical component of any family’s or small business’ financial management so it stands to reason that full integration will arrive sometime in the future as web technology finally catches up to the demands of financial consumers such as myself.

In the meantime, I recommend getting into the habit of using account aggregation programs like Yodlee, Mint, or Quicken Online to help you calculate your networth and better budget your expenditures. I know it sounds like a sales pitch, but I recommend Quicken Online primarily because it’s a completely free service and a popular choice for many people. With future potential integration with programs like TurboTax from the same software maker, Quicken Online has pretty good future upside for those that prefer sticking with a single company for their financial planning needs.

If I had to place a bet, I’d wager that chances are, you probably have never heard of WT Direct savings bank before. Compared to more popular online banks like ING Direct or HSBC, WT Direct is a relative unknown in the world of high yield savings accounts. However, its comparative obscurity shouldn’t necessarily prevent the bank from becoming the perfect fit for those looking for the best online savings account available. Oftentimes, it’s the smaller financial institutions without the gigantic advertising budgets or over-hyped marketing departments that truly offer consumers the best savings account profiles and highest interest rates for their money. While I’m not exactly raising WT Direct up to the status of the absolute best online bank, the company’s flagship banking product certainly deserves a bona-fide chance at a fair evaluation. For those holding onto a savings stash that is less than minimal, the WT Direct high yield savings account offers a pretty competitive banking package.

While WT Direct Bank  and the WT Direct high yield savings account are relatively new creations, they are both the online product extensions of Wilmington Trust FSB, a major financial services corporation publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, with more than a century worth of banking experience under its belt. Though the Wilmington Trust parent company is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware with numerous brick and mortar offices and domestic branches spread throughout major cities in the United States, its new online division of WT Direct is actually based in Baltimore, Maryland. While the actual physical business location of such cyberbanks as WT Direct should be of little concern to most online bank account holders, the fact WT Direct actually has an accessible one and the fact the online company has divisional ties to an established and relatively stable parent bank in Wilmington Trust FSB should offer prospective online customers a more reassuring sense of confidence in this new Internet startup. But of course, before plunking your hard earned money into any deposit institution, it’s important to thoroughly dissect the bank’s features and verify that the company is solidly legitimate.

WT Direct Offers A Competitively High Interest Rate For Higher Deposit Balances

Glancing at WT Direct and the individual features of its high yield savings account offer, it’s clear the bank account caters to account holders looking for a banking option that provides above average customer service attention with the flexibility to manage larger deposits. While the bank has all the traits of your typical online-only Direct bank with its high interest yields, no fees, no minimum balance requirements, and the ability to link up an unlimited number of multiple bank accounts for quick balance transfers, it also provides a complete array of customer service options via e-mail, postal service, fax, and 7 days a week telephone customer support. But as a trade off for the higher level of customer support and online banking attention, the WT Direct high yield savings account calls for a higher deposit balance (compared to other top online banks) to garner the highest interest rate payout.

While it is true that WT Direct does indeed offer a fairly impressively high interest rate yield on its savings account deposits, its interest rate is based on a tiered system. Here is how WT Direct’s interest rate offer works. For the first 2 months (60 days) that a new WT Direct savings account is opened, the account holder will automatically earn the top interest rate on his or her deposits regardless of the balance. While there are absolutely no hidden account fees or minimum balance maintenance penalties to worry about, after the 2 month initial activation period, the interest rate is adjusted according to your account balance. After 60 days, the savings account balance must be above $10,000 in order for the entire balance to continue receiving the top interest rate, otherwise, the rate will drop to .50% APY until the account balance is increased past $10,000. It’s all or nothing after the 60 day trial period – either the entire balance exceeds $10,000 and the entire balance earns the highest interest rate, or it’s below $10,000 and the entire balance earns the lower rate. While this lower interest rate is much lower than WT Direct’s top rate, it probably is still better than that offered by most traditional brick and mortar retail savings accounts at places like Citibank, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo.

Why Open A WTDirect Savings Account?

Perhaps the WT Direct savings account’s greatest feature is its tandem of great bank rates and commendable customer service support. While national interest rates have ebbed and flowed with great fluctuations due to the economy, WT Direct’s top interest rate has historically and consistently ranked in the top 5% of all banks in the U.S., and the hassle free experience and fairly extensive customer support have been well touted by editorial commentators. While the tiered interest rate system of the WT Direct savings account after the initial 2 month trial period may appear as a downside to many smaller deposit holders, the bank account offers numerous benefits, features, and promotional bonus perks that still merit serious consideration.

In my opinion, WT Direct’s 60 day trial period is actually a pretty appropriate way for new account holders to get introduced to the WT Direct high yield savings account and decide for themselves whether they want to remain a customer for the long term. The 2 month trial period affords ample opportunity to slowly fund your way to the $10,000 level to continue enjoying the highest rate after the introductory period. Unlike some other premium savings accounts that require large initial upfront deposits, WTDirect gives you at least 60 days to reach the magical balance of $10,000 or more. Even if you don’t reach that amount for some time, you will still earn interest income until you do, albeit at a lower rate. You can easily add to your account balance online at any time, and in the interim still enjoy all of WT Direct’s other banking perks.

1) No Minimum Balance Requirements, and No Service Or Maintenance Fees

Along with the usual FDIC insurance protection for all bank deposit accounts, WT Direct offers its customers a genuine hassle free banking experience free of hidden fees, extraneous charges, or annoying account minimum penalties. WT Direct Bank also does not require savings account holders to open a new checking account as some other banks do or demand that customers fund their new accounts with a minimum deposit. However, do keep in mind that while there is no minimum balance required to earn the basic interest rate at all times (.50% APY), to get the highest tiered interest rate yield after the expiration of the initial 2 month trial period requires a steady balance in excess of $10,000.

2) Great Customer Support Online and 7 Days A Week Assistance Via Telephone

When I opened my new WT Direct savings account, I immediately received an automatic telephone call from a live WT Direct customer support representative who wished to verify my identity for fraud protection purposes. She was also able to answer a few questions I had about WT Direct such as the type of credit inquiry the company made for new accounts.

A quick browse through WT Direct’s online website reveals a fairly extensive customer and technical support system in place to help and guide new and existing customers through the world of online banking. While savvy banking consumers such as myself will probably be content with just using WT Direct’s secure online customer support messaging system, WT Direct also offers a 7 days a week toll free customer service phone number for those who prefer talking to a live bank employee. While I don’t anticipate utilizing the phone support line too often, I can see how this feature can prove to be an invaluable and extremely convenient feature during a hypothetical banking emergency, particularly in a scenario where the account customer finds him or herself without a working Internet connection.

3) Unlimited External Accounts and Efficient Electronic Fund Transfers

As is the case with opening any new high yield savings account online, there is no need to switch banks completely to take advantage of the high interest rates of WT Direct. By setting and linking up external bank accounts to WT Direct, you can keep accounts at other financial institutions and transfer money between those accounts and WTDirect as needed. By electronically linking bank accounts with your WT Direct account and establishing an electronic funds transfer connection, the link enables transfers between accounts within 3-5 business days. While all high interest savings account fund transfers seem to take a few days to execute (with WT Direct being no exception), WT Direct sets itself apart by offering a nice bonus feature – the ability to continue earning interest income on the transfer amount until and including the day the funds leave the bank. Unlike many other banks that stop paying interest as soon as your transfer request is made, WT Direct continues to pay interest on your transfer amount for as long as possible.

In terms of the maximum number of external accounts you may set up, the nice aspect about WT Direct is that you may link up as many as you like. WT Direct does not limit the number of checking or savings accounts you can link to your WT Direct account, unlike some other financial institutions that may permit only 2 or 3 external accounts such as ING Direct, Emigrant Direct, FNBO Direct, and E-Loan Bank.

4) Easy Online Savings Account Set Up With WT Direct

Like most well run online-only high yield savings accounts, the WT Direct new account opening process is relatively speedy, efficient, and quick. The WT Direct online application form took me less than 10-15 minutes to fill out and submit for approval. Another positive aspect to note is that WT Direct does not perform hard credit checks for new accounts that can potentially hurt your FICO credit score, but rather initiates a simple benign soft credit check – and only for personal identity verification purposes.

Signing up for WT Direct involves the usual online application steps – you will need to provide personal information such as your name, address, phone number, and social security number. You will also need to verify your identity and select a funding source for your new account. The minimum deposit required to open a new WT Direct savings account is just $1.00. Customers can always start with that amount and slowly transfer in additional funds as needed once they get comfortable with using WT Direct.

Those who select an existing checking account as their funding source will need to complete the additional step of verifying ownership of the checking account via a series of automated test deposits to properly link it to the new WTDirect savings account. A few days after you’ve filled out the online application and selected a funding source, two small bank deposits (less than $1.00 each) will be automatically made to the external bank account that you designated to help WT Direct confirm ownership of the account. Once you’ve receive the two small deposits, simply return to WTDirect.com and click on the “Verify Trial Deposits” button, and submit the two amounts for final online account activation and setup. During that period, you will also likely receive an automatic courtesy phone call from a live WT Direct agent to make sure your new account opening experience went smoothly. I did, and it was much appreciated as they answered several pressing questions about WT Direct that I had and alleviated any identity theft or fraud protection concerns I may have had. However, the vast majority of questions can easily be answered by reading WT Direct’s exceptionally thorough online help pages and list of frequently asked questions and responsive answers.

Is Your Savings Account Money Safe and Secure With WT Direct Bank?

Because of WT Direct’s less well known brand name recognition in the marketplace and its less aggressive online marketing approach (compared to popular online banks like ING Direct) and less extensive television advertising presence (compared to bigger names like HSBC Direct and E-Trade), there persists latent concerns about the safety and security of WT Direct online accounts. However, after examining the worrisome rhetoric and comparing them to WT Direct’s actual financial specifics and available rating reviews, I must conclude that WT Direct bank passes the stability test and its financial condition appears otherwise free of the problematic credit loans and worrisome subprime mortgage assets that have doomed other major banks such as Washington Mutual.

As many online readers seem to place much authority into  Bankrate’s proprietary Safe and Sound rating system that assesses the financial strength and stability of various financial institutions in terms of capitalization, asset quality, profitability, and liquidity, it’s worth mentioning that Bankrate has issued a fairly respectable assessment and Safe and Sound review of Wilmington Trust. Currently, Bankrate rates Wilmington Trust as exhibiting a generally satisfactory condition with good asset quality free of toxic assets with strong capitalization and seemingly ample liquidity. As it appears Wilmington Trust Bank and WT Direct did not participate in the whole subprime mortgage lending debacle that has hammered many of the other big name banks in the marketplace, both seem positioned to weather the worldwide economic recession and credit crisis with less hidden risk to account holders.

Full FDIC Insurance Protection Up To $250,000 For All WT Direct Deposit Accounts

In this day and age, FDIC insurance is an absolutely vital and and important must-have when evaluating any high yield savings account option. Backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government, very few other financial guarantees in life are as rock solid. You should never sign up for a new bank account that isn’t fully FDIC insured up to the maximum coverage limit.

Fortunately, WT Direct is fully FDIC insured and a quick browse through the FDIC website reveals that WT Direct is insured and operates under the same FDIC insurance certificate that protects its parent company Wilmington Trust FSB. WT Direct customers who place their deposit savings with WT Direct can rest easy. With some exceptions for different account categories, so long as the deposit holder’s entire combined account balance (checking, savings, and CD accounts) remain below the current FDIC limit of $250,000, the entire aggregate balance is fully protected from any type of catastrophic bank loss or failure.

Extra Information and Resource:

• WT Direct ABA/Routing Number for direct deposits and ACH transfers: 052173464

Back in the pre-Internet caveman days, the very concept of a high interest savings account consisted of a bank deposit at your local neighborhood banking branch that offered an underwhelming .50% interest rate on deposits (merely half of a single percentage point). For most aggressive savers at the time, the only practical way of achieving a high annual percentage yield (APY) on bank deposits was to seek out the best CD rates by setting up a certificate of deposit account. However, given the less liquid nature of CDs compared to savings accounts, and the greater complexity with CD management and rollovers upon expiration, most bank consumers ended up accepting the low APY rates of the day. But with the emergence of the Internet and the World Wide Web came a new innovation with the force to change the financial landscape forever – online banking. With the rapid ascension and development of online banking came the emergence of online-only savings and money market accounts. With the ability to tap into substantially lower overhead costs, and the ability to eliminate the need to operate expensive bank branches or pay live tellers to manage them, online banks quickly surpassed traditional retail banks in what they could offer consumers in the way of improved 24/7 on-demand services and higher rate offers for bank deposits.

ING Direct – Leader Of The Early High Yield Savings Account Movement

One of the very first Internet based financial services firm to enter the U.S. virtual banking market was actually a large Dutch bank based in Amsterdam, Netherlands called Internationale Nederlanden Groep. Today, most of us know the company simply as ING or ING Direct. Arriving onto the scene in 2000 during a time when Internet banking was still a new and developing concept, the branch-less direct bank ING Direct quickly set the stage as the premier trailblazer in a new line of heavily marketed high yield savings accounts. With its aggressive high interest rate promotions and slick marketing ads that enabled the ING Direct brand to go viral with great appeal to early adopters, the company quickly captured a large piece of the online banking pie with its colorfully named Orange Savings Accounts, and cemented itself as the granddaddy of all online savings accounts. With its slick marketing approach and prominent display of the ING Direct trademark orange ball in its advertising, to this day the company continues to successfully draw in new customers seeking the perfect balance of CD-like high interest yields, with the liquidity benefits of ordinary saving accounts.

In step with its innovative online beginnings and willingness to experiment with better ways of providing banking services, ING Direct has even opened up a few ING Direct Cafe chains in the six major cities of Chicago-Illinois, Philadelphia-PA, Los Angeles-CA, New York City-NY, St. Cloud-Minnesota, and Wilmington-Delaware, each serving a unique menu of coffee drinks. Inside each of these novel ING Direct Cafes are internet computer workstations that allow patrons to enjoy freshly brewed coffee while banking online and surfing the web free of charge. The ING Direct Cafes even occasionally feature live seminars on various financial and investment topics such as retirement portfolio management, credit and debt reduction, and home mortgage loan refinancing. While the company has had its share of ups and downs over the years, including a particularly bumping integration phase involving failed virtual bank NetBank, which ING acquired in 2007, the company has managed to stay on track as an oldie but goodie in the ever advancing world of new and better high yield savings accounts.

Why Choose ING Direct Over Other High Interest Checking Or High Yield Savings Accounts?

I’ve had ING Direct as one of my best online banks for many years now. As an aggressive bank rate chaser and someone who has a fairly substantial amount of cash deposited into safe and secure FDIC insured bank accounts, I utilize a strategic number of top rate bank accounts (ING Direct being one of the more prominent ones) to keep myself well under the FDIC insurance coverage limits while earning a good return. While ING Direct’s interest rates have ebbed and flowed over the years and its current rates may not be the absolute highest available, I still like and appreciate the popular online bank’s historical consistency in terms of simplistic features, ample customer support, and lack of any fees or hidden costs.

1) ING Direct Online Accounts Are Uniquely Easy To Use and Manage

Logging into my ING Direct online account, it’s clear the bank was meant for those consumers who wanted a simple, self run high interest deposit account without the hassles or complexities of full service accounts burgeoning with all sorts of unnecessary bells and whistles. The ING Direct account web interface is extremely bare bones and easy to navigate. Take the ING Direct Orange Savings Account for example – after logging into your secure account, you are immediately plainly presented with all the important bank account information you really need – your precise current annual percentage yield (your interest rate), your transaction history and current balance, and a easy to read ongoing tally of the cumulative interest income you’ve earned this month thus far. Furthermore, all of your balances and transactions can be easily downloaded into free Quicken Online, desktop Quicken, or Microsoft Money to help you better track and manage your cash flow habits. Few other online banks offer such simplistic perfection in terms of account interface for the novice and entry level online banker.

2) Ability To Rename Accounts and Set Up Sub-Accounts For Targeted Savings Goals

ING Direct offers a few unique account perks not found in other online banks – one of them being the ability to readily denote and create custom nicknames for individual accounts. The other unique function is the ability to create sub accounts under your primary ING Direct account.

In my case, having a unique readable name for each ING Direct account helps me identify and chart out savings goals via automatic savings plans. Under my primary Orange Savings account with ING Direct, I can create a sub-account named “Emergency Fund” or perhaps another one tagged with the name “Future Plasma TV”. Certainly having actual names for individual accounts means more to most people than simply “account number: #A1234567″, and encourages active saving and better planning. While the new sub bank accounts that you create are regarded as separate savings accounts along with your primary account, because they are all tied to your single customer ID number, they appear viewable as a list on your primary ING Direct account page. Having your savings accounts broken down into listed chunks with custom tags like “Christmas Shopping”, “New Dining Table”, or “Trip to Paris” can greatly help you achieve your targeted savings goals and better manage your money. Best of all, as you save, your money enjoys the quiet benefit of a reasonably high APY interest rate of return.

3) Setting Up An ING Direct CD Ladder Is Very Easy

When it comes to opening a certificate of deposit and setting up a CD ladder to maximize liquidity and CD interest rate of return, ING Direct really shines in this department as it makes the process effortless and straightforward. Once you have your basic ING Direct savings or checking account set up, with just a few keystrokes online, an ING Direct CD ladder can be created easily by selecting the monetary amounts and time period maturities desired.

4) Absolutely No Fees, Maintenance Charges, Account Minimums, Or Inactivity Charges

One of the best features of ING Direct is the fact that there are absolutely no fees, no minimums, and no hidden charges. With other high interest savings accounts, the same cannot be said as some banks have a knack for imposing a tiered interest rate system – offering a lucrative high rate for those with a significant amount of money deposited into a savings account and a much lower rate for those with smaller, modest amounts. With ING Direct, there are no tiered interest rates as everyone enjoys the same equal rate on all deposits at all levels. As indicated on its website, all account holders earn the same high interest rate regardless of their account balance, and no one pays a fee. Thus, you can open your new ING Direct checking or savings account with as little as a single dollar and still enjoy ING Direct’s highest variable APY interest offer.

5) Ability To Earn Extra Money and Referral Income By Referring Friends

Unless you own your own website and run an affiliate publisher business, usually there are very few ways for ordinary bank account customers to earn some extra money on the side by referring new customers (other than the occasional free iPod type promotion). However, ING Direct is an exception and actually provides monetary cash incentives to encourage new customer referrals. Under the ING Direct referral bonus payment plan, the bank will pay existing customers $10 for every new Orange Savings account or Electric Orange checking account customer they recruit. As a promotional incentive, it’s also not just the referring account holder that benefits. All newly recruited customers who open a new ING Direct account utilizing the referral link within the email message generated by the referring customer will also earn a nice $25 welcome bonus deposit as well. Currently the maximum ING Direct referral bonus amount you can earn is $500 due to the referral limits of 25 new Orange Savings accounts and 25 Electric Orange Checking accounts, at $10 each.

6) Enjoy A Competitive Interest Rate On ING Direct Electric Orange Checking and Orange Savings Accounts

The crux of ING Direct’s offerings is comprised of its two primary interest bearing bank accounts:

The ING Direct Orange Savings account features no opening requirements, no account fees, no minimums, and the bonus benefit of a competitively high APY interest rate.

The ING Direct Electric Orange Checking account features high interest checking and free bill pay features. With free bill pay, you can send electronic or paper checks to any individual or company as payment for free. I utilize free online bill pay to automatically pay my monthly rent without having to go through the hassle of licking stamps and remembering to send checks out every month. Access to your Electric Orange checking account funds can be made via the web or with your free ING Direct debit card at any checkout register and at any one of the free ATM machines that comprise the ING Direct ATM network.

While currently ING Direct does not offer the absolute highest variable interest rate for its account deposits, it offers an established history of rates that are at least competitive with what’s offered in the market place, frequently and reliably beating out the pitifully low rates offered by major brick and mortar banking giants like Citibank, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo. Particularly when it comes to interest checking accounts, those desiring something better than a negligible rate should look into an Electric Orange Checking account as an option. Not only can you earn a decent interest return on your idle checking balance with ING, you also get to enjoy free checking account benefits such as free bill pay, free electronic checks, and even free paper checks. If you’re paying for those services at your current bank, you may be wasting your money.

7) ING Direct Bank Safety, Reliability, and Security With Full FDIC Insurance Up To $250,000

As with all FDIC member banks, all checking, savings, and CD deposit accounts are fully protected up to the current full FDIC coverage limit of $250,000, backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. This type of iron-clad guarantee essentially renders all FDIC insured accounts immune from bank failure or any type of catastrophic financial loss. While there are ways to maximize the FDIC insurance limits beyond $250,000 with joint accounts, as a general rule of thumb, so long as your total individual deposits at ING Direct remain under that amount, you are fully protected against loss. Rest easy.

8) While Remarkably Simplistic, ING Direct Still Offers A Wealth Of Bank and Brokerage Services

While ING Direct’s bread and butter is the Electric Orange Checking account and the Orange Savings account, ING also offers a reasonable wealth of other full service banking amenities:

• Savings (Orange Savings)
• Checking (Electric Orange)
• Certificates of Deposits (Orange Certificate of Deposit)
• Home Mortgage Loans (ING Direct Orange Mortgage)
• Home Equity Line of Credit (Orange Home Equity)
• Stock and Mutual Fund Investing (ING Direct ShareBuilder – one of the best brokers) – features no account minimums and is currently offering a free $50 bonus on new accounts.
• Business Accounts (Business Savings, Business CDs)

When it comes to ING Direct’s online customer service, while not particularly exemplary, the customer service support has generally been on par with that of other online banks. In my experience, ING Direct agents have always responded fairly timely whenever I had a question or pressing technical issue.

9) Opening A New ING Direct Account Online Is Quick And Automated

Those accustomed to the speed and web-only nature of opening up new online bank accounts will find ING Direct to be no different. As the entire application process is conducted via the ING Direct homepage, there is no cumbersome paper work involved, unless you choose to link your funding checking account with your new ING Direct account using a paper check. Otherwise, the entire online driven application process should literally take less than 10 minutes of your time.

As the instruction states, after providing the customary personal information (name, address, social security number) and agreeing to the standard terms and conditions, you will need to complete the process by making an electronic deposit from your existing checking account. But before your new ING Direct savings or ING Direct checking can be funded and electronically linked up to your existing bank account, you will need to verify ownership through a one time deposit test. After submitting your ING Direct application for approval, the system will automatically request that you verify the amounts of two deposits, each less than $1.00 that ING Direct will temporarily deposit into your funding bank account. The deposit itself usually takes 1-3 days to be made but once that happens, you can complete the link verification and finalize the account setup. While you can choose to fund your new account with a paper check, I highly recommend learning to set up online ACH electronic transfer for quick future bank fund transfers. After all, online banking is all about efficiency, speed, and the quest to do away with paper transactions completely.

Extra Information and Resource:

• ING Direct ABA/Routing Number for direct deposits and ACH transfers: 031176110

Quicken 2009 Discount Coupons and Promo Codes Listed Below

The editors at CNN Money recently examined and reviewed several of the top online personal finance tools – and ultimately decided to award its highest honors to four winners – Mint, Yodlee MoneyCenter, Wesabe, and Quicken Online. In the editorial review, all four personal financial management websites were highly regarded and praised for their innovative money management features that offered Internet consumers an introductory and accessible way to manage their saving, spending, and retirement portfolio online, all for free.

However, of the four highly regarded and mentioned personal finance sites, Quicken Online perhaps has the most impressive historical lineage, having been created and spun off as an online web app by Intuit, the same financial software maker that brought us the popular desktop money management tool Quicken, and ubiquitous tax preparation program Turbo Tax. While Quicken Online has been around for some time, it wasn’t until recently that the financial tool was finally available online for free (previously, Quicken Online cost $2.99 per month after the end of the initial free trial period). While Intuit’s bread and butter has historically been its comprehensive suite of Quicken desktop programs, it’s clear the era of Internet based financial web tools is at hand. With the slow demise of print media as well as the end of newspapers, it seems the former stalwart money management tool has been forced to go online to match the emergence of new free competing tools. With the emergence of competing companies offering similar web-based money management tools for free, it’s no wonder Quicken Online appears to be signaling a shift away from the paid desktop software model, and towards an ad-driven or subscription based online service.

Why Use Quicken Online’s Free Service? Simple – Proven Brand Name And Guarantee Of Future Support and Upgrades

Perhaps one of the top reasons to go with Quicken Online for your money management needs is because of the Quicken brand name and the future anticipated cross compatibility with other Quicken products as well as with other Intuit programs like Turbo Tax. While Quicken Online’s current plug and play compatibility with the entire software lineup of Intuit is still rudimentary, it stands to reason that as time goes by, it is a positive feature that will most definitely be offered sometime in the near future.

As interoperability rapidly advances at the speed of the Net, I eagerly anticipate the day I will be able to automatically populate my Intuit Quicken Online account with detailed tax data and deduction information from my Intuit Turbo Tax online account to better assist me with improving my all around financial planning. In fact, while complete cross compatibility among the desktop versions of Quicken and the web based Quicken Online is still being developed, shortcut features are already available for Intuit’s online customers via password interoperability. Currently, if you are a Turbo Tax or any other online Intuit product customer, you can bypass the usual Quicken Online sign up process by logging in with your existing TurboTax ID and password for immediate access. The benefit of using Intuit’s online products is the convenient ability to access all its services with just one account identity. Certainly when it comes to having to create new passwords and login names, the fewer the better.

In the area of troubleshooting and web assistance, Quicken Online’s customer support has received high marks and lofty commendations by online commentators such as CNN Money for providing “solid customer support” to its users. As a proven brand leader in the world of personal financial products, the Quicken brand offers consumers such as myself a proven degree of quality, account security, customer service reliability, and reasonable expectation of continued technical support. These days, many new online upstarts seem to come and go, going bust as quickly as they jumped onto the scene, leaving existing customers hanging with a tool that will no longer enjoy future development support. However, it’s almost a given that established and historically entrenched companies like Quicken are inevitably going to stay around for the long haul, transitioning their existing and established products onto the new medium (the Internet) rather than have to develop a new unproven product from the ground up.

Quicken Online Can Aggregate and Track All Of Your Bank, Credit Card, and Stock Broker Accounts From One Location

Quicken Online’s primary feature is to allow you to track your various online financial accounts without having to manually log into each one to check your balances or transactions. As someone who has probably well over 50 bank checking accounts, high yield savings accounts, credit cards, and multiple online discount brokers, having to go around logging into each account one by one can be quite a nightmarish and arduous task. With a money management and account aggregation tool like Quicken Online, you can track your bank accounts, credit cards, investments, PayPal logins, student loans, and mortgage loans from one place. After inputting all of your various account login and password information into Quicken Online’s secure and 128-bit encrypted system, the website will automatically pull and scrape the desired financial data from all of your accounts into one easy to view webpage for you to analyze with the benefit of fancy charts and graphs for budgeting and planning purposes. The data is refreshed and re-pulled every night, providing Quicken customers a continuously updated way to calculate net worth and track their financial progress.

Track and Chart Your Bank and Credit Card Transactions To Help You Budget

By pulling and consolidating all of your spending data from your bank checking and credit card accounts, Quicken Online can help you chart your ongoing expenditures and assist you in managing your money better. Quicken Online allows you to view your account invoices, transaction details, and account balances from one online source with the functionality to create charts and graphs that quickly analyze your spending and basic investing habits. On its main account page, Quicken Online calculates your cash flow and tracks whether you are living within your means on its aptly named webpage – Am I Living Within My Means? Users can also set monthly target budgets using the My Budget tab for categories they want to track and improve on.

While the system takes a little bit of additional manual tweaking to get it perfect, once the Quicken Online system has pulled all relevant financial data from your numerous accounts, it automatically sorts your various expenditures into purchase and expense categories such as groceries, dining, or utilities – complete with computer generated pie charts and graphs for visual inspection and analysis. While the Quicken Online automatic category sorting tool is compatible with over 5,000 financial institutions from banks, brokerages, to credit card issuers, it also offers you the ability to create your own custom tags, and the ability to add or rename your own categories as you see fit. Along with the category customization features, Quicken Online also takes a page from Terminator’s Skynet computer (without the whole evil aspect) as it learns and adapts to the category corrections and edits that you make as well as those made by other fellow online users. The automatic learning system is touted by Quicken Online as one that improves with experience and enhances with use over time.

For the personal finance novice or beginner, the entire concept of account aggregation may seem intimidating, but Quicken Online truly simplifies and automates the process for newbies and experts alike. In fact, Quicken Online was probably designed with personal finance beginners in mind as most of the sophisticated and more complex features found in the desktop software are not available in the free online version. While the desktop versions of Quicken are much more comprehensive and effective as all-in-one inclusive money management and investment programs, Quicken Online’s more of an entry-level account aggregation tool designed to help people manage their basic bills and live within their means via daily account snapshots without having to be too versed in personal finance lingo.

Useful Quicken Online Mobile Features, Bill Reminders, and Payment Alerts

As a one-stop account aggregation tool, Quicken Online also provides its users the ability set up online email reminders and wireless telephone text message alerts for billing due dates and other financial reminders. Those who are always on the go and addicted to the crack berries (Blackberry or hand held personal data phone devices) will greatly benefit from the free Quicken Beam service, which allows users to view their Quicken Online account information on their wireless cellphones, Apple iPhones, or other PDA devices. Simply access your Quicken Online account summary on your smartphone or handheld device by visiting – m.quicken.com or texting BAL to 636363 to instantly view your combined online balances and transactions.

Differences Between Free Quicken Online (Basic) Vs. Paid Desktop Quicken (More Features)

While Quicken Online is a great foray into the online personal money management realm by software maker Intuit, it’s currently lacking most of the more comprehensive accounting, investing, and tax planning tools that the desktop versions of Quicken provide. As it currently stands, free Quicken Online’s more for mainstream run-of-the-mill consumers who want a basic budgeting and account snapshot gadget with little need for more complex financial planning tools. Quicken Online’s best suited for your average paycheck to paycheck consumer who wants to learn how to improve his or her finances without having to dive too deeply into financial geek speak.

Intuit’s lineup of paid Quicken programs for desktop users on the other hand is well suited for those who desire the complex financial tools needed to help budget their expenditures and track their investments with actual tax planning analysis. Those running their own small businesses from home or those wanting to handle more complex accounting tasks like rental property income tracking will definitely find the paid desktop versions of Quicken to be much more substantive and appropriate for their needs than the user friendly but feature-lacking Quicken Online version. As Quicken Online does not support detailed investment tracking nor does it currently export financial data to Quicken desktop versions or integrate with TurboTax, users accustomed to the comprehensiveness of Quicken desktop may find Quicken Online to be somewhat insufficient to meet their growing needs. Of course, as Quicken Online continues to compete with Mint, Wesabe, and Yodlee, and as mainstream customers become more and more comfortable with online banking and used to the idea of sharing confidential financial information over the Internet, it’s inevitable that the premium Quicken features will be added to the online version sometime in the future, perhaps in paid subscription form.

For small business owners and those with a significant number of investments, Quicken Online is not a complete personal finance solution at the present time – at least not yet. Currently it doesn’t offer any sort of substantive investment tracking, and its reporting functions are much more limited and rudimentary than what existing Quicken Deluxe or Quicken Premier users may be accustomed to. While it remains what the future holds for the comprehensive Quicken desktop programs, at the present time the paid desktop Quicken programs currently provide the best fit for consumers desiring the most out of their financial planning tools and the best value for small business owners who want a complete business accounting platform.

Quicken 2009 Desktop Promotional Coupon Codes For $20 Off Savings

While compared to the previous Quicken 2008 version, there are few substantive changes, Quicken 2009 has slightly re-tooled its program navigational features, improved its bill payment reminders, and improved some of its help functions.

As always, the Quicken desktop version comes in different packages with the free Quicken Online version being the most basic and bare bones. The Quicken 2009 Deluxe version provides excellent financial tracking features with goal setting, investment tracking, and Turbo Tax data sharing. The 2009 Quicken Premier version is very popular and provides all of the features of Quicken Deluxe but with many more tools and charting features for analyzing your investments in greater detail. The Quicken Home Business and Quicken Rental Property Manager programs obviously appeal more to those engaged in those types of enterprises.

Those that want to buy or upgrade to Quicken 2009 desktop at the follow promotional rates may wish to consider using the following limited time Quicken coupon codes:

• Quicken Deluxe 2009 ($59.99 $39.99)
• Quicken Premier 2009 ($89.99 $69.99)
• Quicken Home & Business 2009 ($99.99 $79.99)
• Quicken Home and Inventory Manager ($29.99 $23.99)
• Quicken Rental Property Manager ($149.99 $129.99)
• Quicken Mac ($49.99 $33.99)
• Quicken Medical Expense Manager ($69.99 $44.79)
• Quicken Online (FREE)