Do Credit Cards and Stocks Make Up Your Emergency Fund Savings?

By MoneyBlueBook

Life is unpredictable. As much as we may try to project what is to come in the future, our feeble attempts at fortune telling and soothsaying inevitably fall short of reality. That's life and that's just the way of the world. We may try to walk the steady and safe path paved with good intentions, but sometimes life just insists on chucking a banana peel to trip you up when you least expect it. It's not always fair and it's not always just. Bad things happen to good people and sometimes unfortunate circumstances befall even the best of us. But the unforeseen and the unexpected don't have to ruin our lives and cause everything that's going for us to fall apart at the seams. We can plan for such an occurrence and protect ourselves the best we can by creating a back up financial contingency plan. Having a "Plan B" savings account and readily accessible emergency fund set aside will give you piece of mind in knowing that you will be taken care of should the worst case scenario occur.

I've personally had many unforeseen and unexpected situations spring forth in the last couple of years, and have learned that life comes at you fast. In the last few months, I've had to deal with a family health emergency due to the sudden passing of my grandfather which required me to go on emergency leave to fly overseas to be with him. I've also had to deal with a significant tax liability bill recently that

By MoneyBlueBook

Editors note: These offers are no longer available

Periodically throughout the year, Citibank cancels out old expired promotional offers and issues new ones to entice first time customers to open new Citibank checking and savings accounts. While I'm already a long time Citibank customer and won't be able to qualify for the latest Citibank promo deals, I still like to keep tabs and updates on all free money offers out there (whether banking or credit card related).

I've edited and updated my compiled list of Citibank promotion codes with the latest active bonus offers for new Citi banking customers:

• Currently, Citibank is providing a new $200 bonus deposit offer with the opening of a new Citi checking account (Promo offer code: CEMX). This offer expires on June 30, 2008.

• Citibank is also offering a new bonus offer for 16,000 Citi Thank You Network reward points with the opening of a brand new qualifying Citi checking account (Promo offer code: CSVL). The promotional Thank You points are instantly redeemable for the equivalent of a free $150 gift card. The new Citi account holder will also get to earn triple Thank You Network points for 1 year. This offer expires on July 31, 2008.

Citibank Is A Decent Banking Option For New Checking Account Customers - Not So Much For Savings Accounts However

For those of you out there who have yet to settle on or select a primary bank to handle your banking funds and transactions, you may want to take a look at what Citibank has to offer. While they offer pretty unimpressive interest

By MoneyBlueBook

Updated and Verified List Of ING Direct Referral Links To Get Your Free $25

Some of the best high interest online banks are well known for offering generous free money promotions when it comes to new account sign ups. ING Direct online bank has always been one of the best when it comes to that. ING Direct referral links are frequently sought after by those who want to grab one of the free $25 bonuses for new ING Direct savings and Orange checking accounts. If you are looking for a referral link to earn some bonus sign up money, you've come to the right place. On this page you will find continuously updated and fresh ING referral codes.

ING Direct Customers Can Offer Their Friends $25 ING Direct Bonuses For New Account Sign Ups

For those of you who want to know how personal finance bloggers are always coming up with a seemingly endless supply of ING Direct referral links for sign-up bonuses, we get them online from our ING Direct bank accounts. Once you are a member and account holder, ING offers you the ability to create referral links that you can hand out to friends and family. You are supposed to email the referral links directly to someone you know, but what many bloggers do is email a whole bunch of them to themselves and manually extract the referral link codes off of each individual referral e-mail and post them together in one self service location. So that's what I've done for you

By MoneyBlueBook

I have two small piggy banks that sit atop my office desk at home. One is a coin bank in the shape of a dog, and the other is shaped like a light blue colored pig that I received as a free giveaway when I opened a new Citibank business checking account not too long ago. These two little guys are the gatekeepers to the spare change that I occasionally bring back in my pockets. Everytime I come home with loose coins, I usually drop them into my piggy banks. Since I use reward credit cards for the vast majority of my purchases, I don't usually bring home too many bits of spare change. However, over a period of months and a year, even the occasional chipping in can turn a small stash into a tidy sum.

How To Handle Quarters, Dimes, Nickels, and Pennies

Before Coinstar came along with their green coin sorting kiosk machines, I had no convenient way of getting rid of my spare change, especially the nickels, dimes, and pennies. Quarters I could always keep around to use for coin operated laundry washers and dryers, snack vending machines, and leave a few in my car for parking meters and toll booths. But nickels and pennies are pretty much useless since their small denominational value require many more of them to be carried around to be worth anything. Initially I tried hauling my jar of pennies, nickels, and dimes to my local bank branch to have them exchanged for paper bills. However, the

By MoneyBlueBook

Promo Code Links Are Added and Updated Regularly!

Bank of America is the second largest bank in the United States in terms of total account value so needless to say, they must be doing something right. Like other major banks such as Citibank and Wachovia, Bank of America often releases new promotions to attract new deposit customers. The bank is obviously willing to spend money to get their hands on yours, in a good way of course.

As with most bank promotional offers, there are certain basic and fairly benign rules attached. To qualify for most of Bank of America's free money offers for new accounts, you will usually have to open a new checking or savings account with a certain minimum deposit. Afterwards, you are usually required to make a few electronic transactions such as setting up direct deposit or executing a few online bill pays. Obviously, the bank is hoping that by requiring you to make a few transactions that you will grow comfortable with their banking services and ultimately choose to remain on as a long term customer. The promotions are usually limited to only those new to Bank of America - thus, former or current account holders are ineligible to apply or take part. Holders of Bank of America credit cards are okay and are not excluded.

If you one of the select people out there who has never been a Bank of America customer and you are interested in one of the offers listed below, you may want to give them a try.

By MoneyBlueBook

Editors note: These offers are no longer available. Citibank is the biggest banking institution in the United States and has branches and ATM's everywhere. Since they signed a deal with 7-11, their ATM banking reach has soared nationally and worldwide. As one of the most popular banks, Citibank is well known for promoting a variety of free cash and free Citi Thank You reward offers for new deposit account customers. That's actually how I became a Citi banking customer years ago in the first place - by taking advantage of one of their promotional reward offers. The bank promotions are only available to first time Citibank checking and savings account holders. Persons who currently have or at any time have had a deposit account at Citibank are generally not eligible. Owners of Citi credit cards on the other hand are not disqualified.

As with all free promotions, there are several generally applicable rules to follow. Most of the deals are structured and laid out similarly - starting with a minimum funding requirement and followed by several reward tiers dependent on the completion of a certain number of banking transactions. Usually the offers require the new account customer to complete a certain number of direct deposits and online bill pay transactions. Both direct deposit and bill payment are free so customers need not worry about incurring any extra finance or transaction charges. Other than needing to fund the new accounts with a minimum balance and complete a few banking actions, there are no risks to opening a new checking or savings account. Citibank