I just read that Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine has released its 2008 “Best Of” list in regards to financial services. They’ve singled out FNBO Direct as the best high-yield online savings account, though they don’t provide alot of detail to support why. They do mention the lack of maintenance fees, no minimum account balance, and easy linking of up to three other accounts, but interestingly don’t mention the savings yield and how it compares to what you can get elsewhere.

[Read more →]

I’m considering opening up a new brokerage account to try out some options trading and so I’ve been looking around at various choices. If you’re also considering opening a new low-cost brokerage account you should note that TradeKing’s $50 sign-up bonus is set to expire this coming Sunday, November 30th.

[Read more →]

My wife and I have recently made efforts to become better organized around more of our short-term financial goals. While we use Quicken to show us our overall financial picture, it seemed to get pretty complex to keep track of some of these things in there. So we came up with an alternative way to keep ourselves organized and on target.

[Read more →]

As indicated by the title of this blog, its opening post, and hopefully a bunch of other content, my wife and I have established a mid-term financial goal of achieving geographic independence. But we really haven’t created a credible plan to achieve it yet. It’s time to start documenting some of what I’ve been thinking in regards to what that plan is, or ought to be.

[Read more →]

I’ve just opened the second of six CDs in our emergency fund CD ladder. We went with the 6-month 3.00% APY at ING Direct. I’m not sure this is the best deal we could have gotten, but I think sticking to the right date was more important than a few extra basis points of interest. Not to mention the ease of interacting with the ING website and our other accounts there.

[Read more →]