Personal finance

Got Our Economic Stimulus Payment, but

Posted by Sun on June 16, 2008 (2) Comment

There are apparently some discrepancies among what we think we should get, what we were told we will get, and what we actually got!
Last Friday, when I checked our checking account balance, I noticed a payment of $201.10 from the Treasury Department as tax refund. This can’t be the regular tax refund because we actually [...]

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Categories : Personal finance Tags: ,

Economic Stimulus Payment Directly Deposited into IRA Accounts?

Posted by Sun on June 12, 2008 (4) Comment

Then, are you going to use it?
I didn’t know until yesterday after reading an article on MarketWatch that IRS can actually deposit the economic stimulus payment directly into tax-sheltered accounts such as IRA and Roth IRA (well, we are still waiting for the check to come, which is supposed to be later this month). The [...]

Popularity: 10% [?]

Categories : Personal finance, Retirement Tags: , , ,

IRA Guide: You Don’t Have to Know Everything to Have an IRA Account

Posted by Sun on June 10, 2008 (1) Comment

My answer is: No, nobody needs to be an expert in order to open and invest in an IRA account.
The biggest obstacle from I can see is not whether you know investing or not, but whether you are determined to save for your own retirement. If you make tons of money, you probably don’t need [...]

Popularity: 12% [?]

Categories : Personal finance, Retirement Tags: , , , ,

FNBO Direct Followed Suit, Up Interest Rate

Posted by Sun on June 9, 2008 (0) Comment

After having been cut rates continuously since last September when the Federal Reserve began the current rate reduction campaign, some banks seem to start to reverse course in order to compete for our money even when the Fed is idle.
Since April, E-Trade Financial and HSBC Direct each bumped up the interest rate of their savings [...]

Popularity: 9% [?]

Categories : Banking, Personal finance Tags: , , ,

HSBC Direct Bumps Up Rate, Temporarily

Posted by Sun on June 4, 2008 (1) Comment

I almost forgot I still have a HSBC Direct account until I received an email notice this Monday from HSBC regarding the change of their HSBC Direct Online Savings Account rate. The new rate, effective June 2, is 3.50% APY with no minimum balance requirement (well, technically you do have to have at least $1 [...]

Popularity: 11% [?]

Categories : Banking, Personal finance Tags: , ,