mynxcat's finances are ashambles

Nov 17 20:33 UTC 2003

I've finally got interested enough to want to learn more about making 
my money work for me. At present I have a premier checking account, 
which gives me free online banking and bill pay, and some amount of 
interest (I'm not sure exactly how much), as long as I have a minimum 
balance, and a premier checking account that gives me a princely 
interest of 1.0% for the amount I have.

I've been looking at getting a better interest rate on my money. I've 
seen some banks offering "money-market accounts" with a 2.1% rate of 
interest. And CDs will give me a higher rate of interest the longer my 
period in fixed deposit is.

But I have questions.

a) How is a money market different from a Savings account. I've got 
answers like - Money Market accounts give you a higher rate of 
interest than a savings, and I can issue x number of checks with a MM 
account and I can't with a Savings. Yeah, I know that. But what is it 
that allows a MM account to have a higher rate of interest? Are they 
putting my money in stocks and funds, that will affect my principle? 
("Oops we invested your money, and now it's not worth the money it's 
printed on") How do the banks compute the interest rate on the MM? I 
remember my bank telling me that the interest rate fluctuated with the 
maret, while the savings interest rates didn't. Huh?

b) Coming to CDs, what happens if I have to break a CD before 
maturation date? Am I even allowed to do so?

response 2 of 34:

Nov 18 01:04 UTC 2003

Real Estate at this point is out of teh question. How do bonds work?

response 4 of 34:

Nov 18 05:33 UTC 2003

first thing to recognize is that   rule of 72   thnigie.
  
you can do the arithmetic by hand to prove it (choose a large interest
rate so there isn;t too myuch to do).
  
   72   divided by  interst rate   == number of years to DOUBLE teh 
original amount, IFF you *compound* (reinvest the dividends).
  
    12 %    72/12= 6 years   for 5000 ==> 10,000   or, $25 ==> $50
 
     4 %    72/4=  18 years for  5000 ==> 10,000   or  $150 ==> $300
  

real estate, per se, may be out of reach but a stock called
a    real estate investment trust (reit) pays upwards of 6%->11%
rigth now.   tehre are a bunch out there.
 
get a scottrade or etrade account and stuff some bucks in there.
  
  
          LET TEH MONEY RIDE!
  
use the     'drip'  mechanism (D ivident  R e I nvestment P ractice)
  
to add to the account.  look at your symbols (positions)  on
finance.yahoo.com   every couple of weeks .. ro every day if you
are really tweakie about it.
  
here is one of my winners:
  
  finance.yahoo.com/q/ta?s=CLI&t=5y&l=on&z=m&q=l&p=m20,e50,m100,e200&a=&c=

with the 4 analysis curves i watch, red, green black gold.
  
this one is a tad tweakie byut for  6.4 %  div idon't have to grit
my teeth too much.
  
one of my losers is:
 
  finance.yahoo.com/q/ta?s=PPS&t=5y&l=on&z=m&q=l&p=m20,e50,m100,e200&a=&c=


<<note: both of these are 5-year curves .... select  teh 3 mos or 6 mos
'range' for a better vision of the curves.>>


i got ouot of pps about even (down a couple hundred) after recognizing
teh dividends profit.
  
or yuo can stay in a cd (cant take it out withought *horrid* penalty)
at     2%    72/2=  36 years for $125 ==> $250 ... teh year 2039!
  
if 'pure' stocks are un-interesting, locate a 'preferred issue' which
has better security at a slightly lower return.
  
btw, my implementatino of 'drip' si to take the cash dividends and 
find another company ....  spread teh risk  (buzz phrase = asset allocation).
  
if nothing else ever penetrated my thick skull as a kid, the following
finally did ... 'your money works harder fro yo than you can
possibly work for yoruself.'
  
stay teh course ... and remember teh daytraders motto: 'if ya wanna
make a million dollars in 6 months ... start with 2 million.'
  
good luck - you are young, you can take some chances. you *have* to stay
ahead of the inflation curve! (inflation is the cruelest tax ever conceived)
  


oh, why do i like reits? well, they are *required to distribute* ~90% of
their income to stock holders. what is bad about that? well, teh dividends
are not protected by the bush tax cuts.   oh, well.
  
unles you are in the 30+% bracket ... SO WHAT!

response 14 of 34:

Nov 18 19:29 UTC 2003

Don't you use National City's Online Banking? I support that 
application. 

response 18 of 34:

Nov 18 23:19 UTC 2003

16: It's nice if you don't have to support it. However since we upgraded teh
messaging infrastructure in September, it's been much smoother sailing.

In terms of functionality, National City seems to be a little behind the
times. We just implemented Check Imaging a couple of weeks ago, a feature
Huntington's had for over a year now. (I bank with Huntington, I know,
blasphemous!). The Self Select Id, where you can chose your own login id
instead of using your SSN goes in January. Huntington's had that since early
2001. 

17. I'll suggest making cashier's checks available online ;)

response 22 of 34:

Nov 19 15:21 UTC 2003

A winky smiley no less. Means I'm joking. But Jamie knew that, right?

What about Metlife vs a Credit Union. Is that a good move?

response 24 of 34:

Nov 20 18:07 UTC 2003

Well, that is a word picture I didnt need.