Review Of E*Trade Bank High Interest Savings and Checking Accounts

By MoneyBlueBook

When most people think of ETrade, the popular online discount brokerage firm with the cutesy talking baby commercials probably comes to mind. Since 2000, E-Trade has been well known for its slew of strange, but memorably funny TV commercials, starting with its series of odd-ball Superbowl monkey commercials in 1999 and 2000. Who can forget the grand daddy of them all - the one with a monkey dancing a jig on an upside down bucket for a quarter of a minute with two old fellas on rocking chairs clapping away to some goofy Latin beat - followed by the message "Well we just wasted 2 million bucks. What are you doing with your money?" While the message might have been a bit lost in the commercial's zaniness, it certainly was good for future brand name recognition.

Since its days as a leader in the do-it-yourself stock investing movement, E-Trade has grown and developed itself into a full service financial holding company with a wide array of banking and trading related services. Eager to shed and change its old image as merely a low cost discount broker, the company has���� jumped into the online banking business. Hoping to change the public's perception, E-Trade has heavily promoted its rapidly growing online savings and checking products in an attempt to leverage its established reputation as one of the best brokers into a similar position in the online banking market. Despite the presence of formidable competing online banks like ING Direct, HSBC Direct, and FNBO Direct, E-Trade

By MoneyBlueBook

Recently, I made the decision to start tracking my personal net worth and financial status in a very public and revealing way - by posting my financial numbers online for all to see. The point of doing this was not to boast, demonstrate some fanciful financial bravado, or unnecessarily parade my personal finance publicly to satisfy the whims of voyeuristic readers. In actuality, the objective was to have a way to show people the importance of proper statistical tracking when it comes to smart financial planning. The purpose of calculating and tracking your personal financial net worth on a regular basis is not just so you can match yourself against others to see how you're doing in comparison, but it's also to help you evaluate the current health of your finances. Like using a gauge to take your blood pressure reading or running blood tests to get a nutritional analysis, the point of net worth tracking is to use snapshots of your financial condition to help you make better decisions in furtherance of your personal financial goals.

I don't think it's an over-emphasis to stress that proper money management is a very critical component of responsible living. Other than how you handle your family, friends, personal relationships, or perhaps religious views, how you manage your money probably has the greatest effect on the quality of your daily life. The abundance or the lack thereof of money can determine whether you live an existence of paycheck to paycheck living or determine whether you are able to

By MoneyBlueBook

After two decades at the same coverage limit, the U.S. government has finally stopped dragging its knuckles and raised the FDIC insured limit for bank deposits from the previous FDIC limit of $100,000 - up���� to the new limit of $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank. For your average bank customer, this means that he or she will now receive full FDIC insurance coverage up to $250,000 for the total sum of their single accounts (checking, savings, and CD deposits) at each banking institution. Other account category types like joint accounts and trust accounts will also each enjoy separate increased $250,000 limits at each bank. However, retirement accounts held by banks as FDIC insured deposits will remain at the previous $250,000 limit.

For those who don't know, the FDIC stands for the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a federally run government organization that protects bank customers from the loss of their deposits in the event of a catastrophic FDIC-insured bank failure. The protection afforded by FDIC insurance is near iron-clad as it is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. There is no need for bank depositors to apply for FDIC insurance or even to request it as coverage is automatic. Below are the new and current FDIC insurance coverage limits for deposits at FDIC insured member banks. The new FDIC limits are effective starting October 3, 2008 and tentatively scheduled to expire on December 31, 2009. While the FDIC does not directly cover deposits held in credit union institutions,

By MoneyBlueBook

So you want to be a millionaire? Well you know what? Me too - and I'm determined to get there in the near future. At this very moment, despite the current state of the economy and the deteriorated condition of the credit markets, instead of just sitting on my hands and wishing upon a star, I'm taking active steps right now to make it all possible someday. While having a financial net worth of a million dollars isn't what it used to be because of the negative effects of inflation, it's still the measuring stick we use today to delineate the dreamers from the ones who have financially made it.

I know it's not an unfathomable dream to have because I've seen the system work firsthand. The possibility is not just reserved for celebrities or the elite, but is very real and plausible for ordinary people as well. One of my close childhood friends is a multi-millionaire. And he's only 30 years old. He's not a self made millionaire as he inherited the vast bulk of his fortune from his parents, but it was his parents who put forth the gears of financial practice many years ago that brought their finances to what it is today. From the time my friend's parents married, they lived a very frugal life. While they were by no means cheap, they avoided the peer pressures and temptations of living lavishly, opting instead for a humble home they could afford and limiting pricey expenditures like dining out to only rare occasions.

By MoneyBlueBook

Whether we want to acknowledge the grim reality or not, the vast majority of the American public is undergoing a mental crisis at the moment during this difficult period of economic recession and housing depression. Indeed, this economic slowdown is causing many Americans to struggle financially, and the series of collapses of major commercial banks and investment brokers have led to a domino effect of pink slip closures and layoffs. With the bailout of major global insurance conglomerate AIG and the takeover of mortgage loan giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the spend-happy federal government using taxpayer money, significant numbers of shareholders and stakeholders have been financially wiped out in the process. Collapsing under the weight of bad mortgage debts and the loss of value in their subprime mortgage loans, major mortgage lenders like Countrywide and investment brokerage banks like Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers have had to engage in significant write offs and ultimately put themselves up for sale at bargain basement discounts.

With the FDIC shutdown of major thrifts and banks like IndyMac and Washington Mutual, as well as the shakeup at Wachovia, even historically secure commercial banks are starting to feel the credit crunch squeeze. With the recent bank safety scares hitting Wall Street and now Main Street, bank deposit customers have been sent reeling and scrambling to check FDIC insurance coverage limits - calling their banks to arrange their affairs for sufficient coverage. When FDIC insured bank consumers are feeling uncertain and fearful, you know the confidence of the American people

By MoneyBlueBook

Updated With The New and Current FDIC Insurance Limits For Bank Deposits! (New Law Went Into Effect October 3, 2008)

As the American and world economies endure a period of economic recession, the once stable and thriving marketplace can seem like a distant memory. Not only does it seem like unemployment warning flags and disappointing corporate earning reports lurk around every corner, it's all too easy to succumb to the financial despair. When you combine the mortgage market meltdown with increasing housing foreclosures, and you mix that with high gas prices, fears of another major Islamic terrorist attack, and snowballed consumer pessimism, you have a spicy cocktail for widespread financial depression. While I'm not a financial fortune teller, nor am I a guru who can predict when the recession or lingering credit crisis will pass, all I can do is reassure you of areas in your life where you ought not to be overly distraught or paranoid about.

One segment in the economy that has spawned a huge surge of concern and irrational panic is the area of bank failures and bank bankruptcies. Because of the excessive subprime lending to consumers totally unqualified to receive home mortgages made by irresponsible mortgage lenders in the past few years, the economy is now reaping the terrible financial whirlwind result of defaulting loans and home foreclosures. This calamity is currently happening on a massive scale as huge banking giants like Citibank and Bank of America, as well as major thrift saving institutions like Washington Mutual are getting