Tax Preparation Software: Compare the Best Online Tax Preparation

By MoneyBlueBook

Review Of TurboTax and TaxCut Online Tax Preparation Software

According to some news statistics, more than half of all Americans hire a professional tax preparer to file their taxes. In this day and age, those kinds of stats frankly surprise me. I would have thought by now that the vast majority of Americans would have finally embraced the benefits of online tax preparation and the added cost saving advantages of utilizing do-it-yourself tax software products. Chalk it up to the continuous complexity of our marginal tax bracket system with all of its intricate income tax deductions and tax credit varieties or blame it on the tendency of people in general to outsource their financial responsibilities - but many people still stubbornly prefer to depend on professional tax experts to take care of their annual income tax filing obligations instead of doing it themselves.

For many people, filing income taxes is a painful, expensive, and dreaded task - but it really doesn't have to be. While I'm not suggesting the filing of one's income taxes will ever become an enjoyable experience (that will never happen), there are mitigating ways to make the process much more bearable. In the past, when April 15 tax day drew near, the only way to avoid having to flip open the bulky U.S. tax code or pour over the volumes of tax regulations and detailed tax commentaries, was to go out and pay $200-300 for an overpaid accountant or professional tax preparer to fill out the appropriate tax

By MoneyBlueBook

Updated List Of The Best Money Market Savings Account Rates Below

Amidst the current economic recession and ongoing credit crisis, there is an active flight to quality as consumers flee risky and volatile investments in stocks and mutual funds in favor of safer asset choices like high yield savings accounts and certificate of deposits (CDs) with the nation's best banks. But while bank deposit products all enjoy similar safety and security assurances under the auspices of the federal government, they are not all created equal, as certain deposit categories offer higher interest rates than others, while others afford greater comparative flexibility.

In the world of FDIC insured banking products, there is a natural give and take tension between the interest rate of return offered by any banking product and the degree of liquidity or flexibility afforded. The rate of return for any banking product refers to the annual percentage yield (APY) or interest rate offered in exchange for investing your money in a particular banking asset. Liquidity and flexibility of any bank account product refers to how quickly and easily you can tap into your money at will and convert it into immediate spendable currency. The general rule of thumb for bank accounts is that the higher the interest rate of return offered, the less flexible or liquid the account. Likewise, the more flexible and readily accessible the bank account product, the lower the interest rate offered as tradeoff.

When it comes to getting the best interest rate of return, the best CD rates easily

By MoneyBlueBook

If I had to place a bet, I'd wager that chances are, you probably have never heard of WT Direct savings bank before. Compared to more popular online banks like ING Direct or HSBC, WT Direct is a relative unknown in the world of high yield savings accounts. However, its comparative obscurity shouldn't necessarily prevent the bank from becoming the perfect fit for those looking for the best online savings account available. Oftentimes, it's the smaller financial institutions without the gigantic advertising budgets or over-hyped marketing departments that truly offer consumers the best savings account profiles and highest interest rates for their money. While I'm not exactly raising WT Direct up to the status of the absolute best online bank, the company's flagship banking product certainly deserves a bona-fide chance at a fair evaluation. For those holding onto a savings stash that is less than minimal, the WT Direct high yield savings account offers a pretty competitive banking package.

While WT Direct Bank���� and the WT Direct high yield savings account are relatively new creations, they are both the online product extensions of Wilmington Trust FSB, a major financial services corporation publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, with more than a century worth of banking experience under its belt. Though the Wilmington Trust parent company is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware with numerous brick and mortar offices and domestic branches spread throughout major cities in the United States, its new online division of WT Direct is actually based in Baltimore, Maryland.

By MoneyBlueBook

Back in the pre-Internet caveman days, the very concept of a high interest savings account consisted of a bank deposit at your local neighborhood banking branch that offered an underwhelming .50% interest rate on deposits (merely half of a single percentage point). For most aggressive savers at the time, the only practical way of achieving a high annual percentage yield (APY) on bank deposits was to seek out the best CD rates by setting up a certificate of deposit account. However, given the less liquid nature of CDs compared to savings accounts, and the greater complexity with CD management and rollovers upon expiration, most bank consumers ended up accepting the low APY rates of the day. But with the emergence of the Internet and the World Wide Web came a new innovation with the force to change the financial landscape forever - online banking. With the rapid ascension and development of online banking came the emergence of online-only savings and money market accounts. With the ability to tap into substantially lower overhead costs, and the ability to eliminate the need to operate expensive bank branches or pay live tellers to manage them, online banks quickly surpassed traditional retail banks in what they could offer consumers in the way of improved 24/7 on-demand services and higher rate offers for bank deposits.

ING Direct - Leader Of The Early High Yield Savings Account Movement

One of the very first Internet based financial services firm to enter the U.S. virtual banking market was actually a large Dutch

By MoneyBlueBook

Quicken 2009 Discount Coupons and Promo Codes Listed Below

The editors at CNN Money recently examined and reviewed several of the top online personal finance tools - and ultimately decided to award its highest honors to four winners - Mint, Yodlee MoneyCenter, Wesabe, and Quicken Online. In the editorial review, all four personal financial management websites were highly regarded and praised for their innovative money management features that offered Internet consumers an introductory and accessible way to manage their saving, spending, and retirement portfolio online, all for free.

However, of the four highly regarded and mentioned personal finance sites, Quicken Online perhaps has the most impressive historical lineage, having been created and spun off as an online web app by Intuit, the same financial software maker that brought us the popular desktop money management tool Quicken, and ubiquitous tax preparation program Turbo Tax. While Quicken Online has been around for some time, it wasn't until recently that the financial tool was finally available online for free (previously, Quicken Online cost $2.99 per month after the end of the initial free trial period). While Intuit's bread and butter has historically been its comprehensive suite of Quicken desktop programs, it's clear the era of Internet based financial web tools is at hand. With the slow demise of print media as well as the end of newspapers, it seems the former stalwart money management tool has been forced to go online to match the emergence of new free competing tools. With the

By MoneyBlueBook

If you've been in the market for a high interest savings bank and have been searching for the highest interest rate offers, you may have come across an unfamiliar online savings bank called Dollar Savings Direct. It's no wonder few people have heard about Dollar Savings Direct - for many months since its establishment, the online savings bank has been operating under the shadows of its more established and well known divisional cousins - Emigrant Direct and Emigrant Savings Bank.

Until about a year ago, Dollar Savings Direct used to be known as BancoFortuna - Emigrant Savings Bank's attempt at launching a Spanish language bank to deepen its foothold into the Hispanic and Latino online banking market. Promoting its BancoFortuna.com website and touting a very high annual percentage yield (APY) interest rate on new accounts, Banco Fortuna was intended to appeal to U.S. consumers in the Spanish speaking demographic. After many months, it was ultimately evident and clear that the online bank's venture into the U.S. Spanish speaking market wasn't as successful as the bank had planned or hoped. Ultimately, and months into the foray, Emigrant re-branded Banco Fortuna into a new but familiar English based service - establishing a new bank named Dollar Savings Direct. If you visit the old BancoFortuna.com website today, you are automatically redirected to Dollar Savings Direct, confirming the change in marketing approach. While still a relative upstart, Dollar Savings Direct has recently begun to garner some success and much attention with its attractive high interest rate promotions, rates