by Silicon Valley Blogger on March 9, 2010
| 1 comment
We’ve covered some of the best high interest savings accounts in the past, and I’d like to add a few more savings products to the list. While I associate American Express with top of the line credit cards, they actually also have a banking arm through which they’ve been offering a couple of high yield savings account options.
So if you’re looking for a place to stash your cash, and would like to work with a familiar name in the financial space, then I’d like to point out the following Savings Accounts from American Express Bank, FSB.
Personal Savings From American Express
American Express Bank has two types of accounts for your savings. Here are some details:
#1 Online Savings Account
The High Yield Savings Account from American Express is an online savings account that currently yields a 1.30% APY, with interest compounded daily. This account does not require a minimum balance and does not incur any fees. You’ll also get 24/7 access to your account via phone or the web. And of course, your accounts are fully FDIC insured. You’ll be able to access your money through the standard methods of electronic transfer and check writing.
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by Silicon Valley Blogger on March 8, 2010
| 3 comments
Some more retirement investing advice.
So how long do you think you will live? I am thinking I will make it to age 81. Well, if I’m lucky. My grandmothers lived to be 88 and 93 so that’s pretty good. The men in my family have all passed in their 60s or 70s. Uplifting thoughts, huh? Morbidity aside it really is important to think about your life expectancy and whether you are really ready to live for a century.
So, what do you think your chances of living to a hundred are? Of course, the fairer sex always wins this particular “race”, if you see it as such. Here’s how it generally breaks down:
Life Expectancy Rates
Current Age
|
Target Age
|
Male %
|
Female %
|
| 40 |
85 |
48% |
62% |
| 40 |
90 |
30% |
42% |
| 40 |
95 |
15% |
22% |
| 40 |
100 |
5% |
8% |
|
This table shows the chances that an American man or woman will reach the target age specified, given that they’re currently middle-aged (in this case, that age is 40). If you’re looking for something more accurate, you can do a search for a mortality or longevity calculator. These statistics are for the “average” man or woman and do not really account for things like genetics, lifestyle, etc.
Following is a Wikimedia map to see what life expectancies are like around the world. If you can’t make out the label and details, just click the graphic and it will expand to a larger image. Basically, this is what the colors break down to: Dark Red = life expectancy of under 50 years; Red = life expectancy of 50 to 60 years; Orange = life expectancy of 60 to 70 years; Yellow = life expectancy of 70 to 75 years; Light Green = life expectancy of 75 to 80 years and Dark Green = you’re expected to reach 80 or older. Well isn’t that interesting! People in Australia and Canada on average, live the longest?
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by Silicon Valley Blogger on March 7, 2010
| 9 comments
Would you know how to remove spyware, malware or any computer virus off your machines? Revanche of A Gai Shan Life shares her stories and questions on the matter of keeping one’s computer clean! For more of her delightful anecdotes on life and finances, you can subscribe to her RSS feed.
The pop-ups and virus alerts were off the charts for me yesterday.
When Avast and Microsoft Defender both failed to trace which nervy little bugger was causing Internet Explorer, the bane of my browsing existence, to pop up with nonsense and Failed 404 error pages, I did what any savvy netizen would do: I emailed my young cousin, the family tech geek.
It was a much easier diagnosis than usual. He promptly (for a footloose and fancy free college student) emailed back with his suggestion. The free anti-malware du jour, he said, is found at Malwarebytes, a program that his private college uses in their tech department. I had some trouble initially downloading and running the purportedly free program, but I eventually worked it out and was presented with a list of infections discovered in my computer (most of which I recognized from the invasive IE pop-ups) along with a Paywall to fix them.
Verdammt!
Intrepid cousin did a few more evaluations. I then ran the nearly hour-long scan for a thorough check. This time, the program came through with flying colors, finding and repairing all points of infections. We’ve been running a clean ship ever since. I highly recommend the Malware program as an adjunct to your primary virus protections.
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by Silicon Valley Blogger on March 5, 2010
| 4 comments
Can this interesting stock trading strategy help you beat the market? Let’s see what Stephen Jeske, an independent option trader, has to say. He’s come up with themeatballeffect, a complete swing trading option strategy. If you’ve gotten your diversified, core investments off the ground, have picked up some free investing tips and ideas from brokers like TradeKing and Scottrade, but would like to be a bit more adventurous, then you may be interested in learning how to manage trades for maximum profit potential.
Disclaimer: the following information is not for the weak-hearted. What’s ahead is a description of some pure stock market plays (and trades) that I’d consider only relevant to those who are highly interested in active investing and trading (e.g. this may not be for the average long term equity investor).
Think of your favorite stock. Surely, there must be a price at which you would be willing to buy more. Conversely, there must be a price at which you would gladly sell your existing shares. Today, we’ll show you how to buy that stock at a discount and sell it at a premium each and every month. The goal is to do this consistently enough so that you increase your portfolio returns while reducing its volatility. This technique can also be a wonderful complement to a mutual fund investment portfolio or a basic stock portfolio.
Regular readers of The Digerati Life may already have read about using options to buy stocks at the prices you want. But it’s the combination of both techniques, buying at a discount and selling at a premium, that really makes the difference.
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by Silicon Valley Blogger on March 4, 2010
| 4 comments
Have you ever felt scammed or ripped off? There were a couple of times in my life when I’ve realized that somebody had indeed gotten the better of me and my money. The unfortunate thing is that many scams are conducted by nameless, faceless individuals who are hard to pin down. But the good news is that you don’t have to take this sitting down, because the FTC offers you some recourse (and course of action). For instance, if you have enough information to identify someone or something that you’ve got an issue with, you may be able to bring this up to the Federal Trade Commission (or FTC). So if you feel that someone has scammed you or ripped you off, then here’s how to file a consumer complaint. The FTC put together the following public service announcement video to get you going:
How To File A Consumer Complaint With The Federal Trade Commission
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by Silicon Valley Blogger on March 3, 2010
| 4 comments
Last week, I held a giveaway for those who were interested in trying out a new debt management program online. This service is called DebtGoal, which looked to me like a cousin (or variant) of the more popular money management software tools that are available online, which help you manage your budget. After all, if we have online programs like Mint.com that can help us control our budget, then why not use sites like DebtGoal.com to help us control our debt? The difference though, is that DebtGoal charges a monthly subscription fee for the use of their service.
But our giveaway last week would have remedied this matter for 5 people, since we were offering free subscriptions (with no expiration date) for the use of this tool. Although I would have liked to see more people join the giveaway, we still snared enough entries to be able to give away all 5 free subs. Here’s the winners’ list: Kimberley, Anthony, Libby of As You Wish, Ann and last but not least, Ken of Money Making Sense. Congratulations to all!
In other news, I’m hoping to meet up with a few personal finance bloggers this weekend. We have a “guest of honor” who’s visiting the SF Bay Area — none other than J Money of Budgets Are Sexy. Here’s looking forward to meeting the man behind one of the most fun and quirky personal finance blogs around!
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by Silicon Valley Blogger on March 3, 2010
| 3 comments
Another high yield savings account and a suite of certificates of deposit to consider for your stash of cash.
Guess who just launched a couple of online savings products with competitive rates, along with the strong endorsement to try out Upromise? The largest private originator and service agent for federally guaranteed student loans, that’s who! That would be Sallie Mae, otherwise known as SLM Corporation. While this outfit is best known for granting and managing more than $180 billion in debt, they’ve branched into the savings (and even credit business), having purchased Upromise.com in 2006 and now, by elbowing their way into the savings realm.
Well, that’s great! We certainly need more options here when it comes to our short term savings. Recently, I’ve seen some interesting products such as the PerkStreet Financial Checking Account, which offers rewards or perks instead of a yield (see our review of PerkStreet Financial), as well as SmartyPig, which is a savings account that allows you, along with other people, to make savings contributions to the same account. It’s an account that allows you to collaborate with others to fund a savings goal. I actually consider the Sallie Mae (SLM) offerings just as interesting. So let’s take a look at some details on the SLM savings products.
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by Silicon Valley Blogger on March 1, 2010
| 8 comments
Get a fast cash loan and pay through your nose!
There are many of you that can’t wait to file your taxes each year because you are expecting a decent refund. Unfortunately, it’s only too often that families in need of some fast cash will not think through the consequences of getting a refund anticipation loan. And it is precisely that lack of patience which ends up costing people a lot of cash at a time they can’t really afford to waste any money.
Have you heard of a refund anticipation loan? Many people haven’t — and that’s a good thing. In this case, ignorance would be bliss! Here’s a quick definition: refund anticipation loans (or RALs) are short-term loans that tax payers can take against their refund amount. Taxpayers often request this option if they want access to their expected refund amount as quickly as possible, as soon as they’ve filed their returns. They want the money quickly since most regular tax refunds take 6 to 8 weeks to be accessible.
A Waste of Good Money?
In the past, RALs may have made a bit more sense than they do now; these days, we have technology and electronic direct deposits that have made it much easier to receive our refunds promptly and which have taken the place of paper checks in the mail. However, people in need often don’t think past the fact that they need cash right now. They neglect to consider the true cost of what taking such a loan involves. Some lenders will charge anywhere from 30% to 200% in interest. Highway robbery! Taxpayers end up losing a big chunk of their money just to get cash a week or two faster than they would with direct deposit. I really doubt that people would fall for such loans if they truly understood what they are signing up for with RALs. Failing to read the entire contract of the loan is what leads to the costly loss of cash, and the reality only hits when the refund comes back smaller than anticipated.
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