Your Money Matters

Times have changed. There was a time that a CD (certificate of deposit) was one of the best and safest ways to save money. It was easy to do, just go to your local bank and deposit money into a CD. I believe in the mid 80's the interest rate was up to 12-16%! Nowadays that level of interest rate on a CD is just a memory. CDs are still available at most banks but they are not the best way to store your money. Although you receive a better interest rate than a simple personal bank savings account, CDs lock up your money for a period of time where you don't have access to it and are penalized for early withdrawal. If you are reading this article you have an Internet connection, so why not store your money with a bank on the Internet? There's major banks on line that you should be aware of and take advantage of their offerings. If you are uneasy transferring money on line, rest easy, the encryption codes used today are impossible to crack into. I've been using the Internet to store my money and earning interest with it for years with no problems at all. Advantages to an Internet bank are:

• Easy transfer of your money

• Greater or equal interest rate of a CD, instant access to your money (usually within 3 days)

• Listings of all your account activities on line

• FDIC insured

• Email notices of transactions

• Convenience of using the Internet for banking from the comfort of your home

Here are the major players in the Internet banking community with their current savings interest (as of this writing):

www.etrade.com

Current interest rate: 5.05%

www.emigrantdirect.com

Current interest rate: 5.05%

www.us.hsbc.com

Current interest rate: 5.05%

www.ingdirect.com

Current interest rate: 4.50%

Think about your money... you could have money in your personal checking account earning .3% at best or in a personal savings account at your local bank earning 1.2% or just keeping your money in your pocket at 0%. I urge you to look into Internet banking, I know you will be presently surprised to what it has to offer.