Archive for March, 2009
“Spending Time”: Visualize Your Finances
It’s easy to avoid thinking of our finances, and I think most of us do that because it’s simply a pain. Not only does a budget seem like a limit most of the time (‘I can only spend THIS much this week!’), but budgeting is often a too-abstract numbers game. Numbers are just symbols, and [...]
Fee Watch!: Be Wary of the BOGUS Bonus
Standard Account Options on Golden Pedestals
Many banks today advertise ‘bonus options’ for their accounts that are already industry standard. If you’ve been the customer of only one bank for sometime, you may not know that other banks already offer account features that advertise as ‘new and free!’ or ‘coming soon!’ Here’s a list of features [...]
FYI: Who Regulates Banks and Credit Unions?
Nowadays, consumers need to know a lot more about how banks and credit unions work in order to feel confident about the security of their savings. The most important thing is to make sure your deposits are federally insured by either the FDIC or the NCUA. So even if your bank fails, your money is [...]
Fee Watch!: Dodge the Cost of Money Management Software Imports
Online money management tools are gaining credibility as safe and free options with enough power to keep track of your finances. Still, many of us are familiar with Quicken or MSMoney–tools that have helped us keep our budget together for some time, tools that we’re more than familiar with. If the benefit of this familiarity [...]
FABB Snapshot: No Surprise — Lowest Daily Balances On The Decline
This is the third installment of our look at how the economy has affected peoples’ use of their checking account. In the first post, we reviewed how people are more likely to overdraw their checking account now than a year ago. Last week, we showed how people have begun using ATM card more frequently. This [...]