High Yield Alternatives To Savings Accounts and the Best CD Rates

By MoneyBlueBook

If you have a high yield savings account or have funds invested in a certificate of deposit, no doubt you will have noticed that interest rates on formerly high yielding bank deposits have been dropping for months now. Thanks to this ongoing economic recession, interest rates have been steadily declining, much to the frustration and chagrin of aggressive savers like myself. While certain faithful online banks such as Ally Bank (formerly GMAC Bank) and Everbank continue to offer competitive rates that are as high as the market place will permit, the vast majority of bank rates have plummeted across the board. With many so-called "high yield savings rates" now only offering rates in the 1-2% APY range, it's getting more and more difficult for any serious cash investor or fixed interest rate chaser to make money on existing balances while remaining in these types of declining accounts.

While high yield savings accounts and CD deposits (with their formidable FDIC insurance guarantees of up to $250,000 and steady rates of return) will continue to serve important and irreplaceable roles as reliable short term cash savings options for consumers, those seeking a higher rate of return may want to start looking elsewhere. Despite this type of depressed market, a variety of rather compelling CD alternatives have emerged as serious high interest contenders, all worth a review.

High Yield CD Rate Alternatives May Not Be Fully FDIC Insured, But Many Still Offer Safety, Security, Liquidity, and Low Risk Opportunities

Before you decide to move away from traditional

By MoneyBlueBook

Special Promo Offer: 10 Free Stock Trades Every Month With Zecco.com

I decided to open a Zecco.com free trading account a few years ago back - at a time when the deep discount brokerage was still offering free online trades with no catches and no account minimums. Since then, the company has undergone numerous changes and developments of its free trading policy, not to mention weathered quite a bit of critical commentary and press regarding its underlying free trade business model. I think it's time I conducted a Zecco broker review and evaluated my Zecco trading experience as it currently stands. While I still use Zecco Trading and recommend it as a top online broker for individual stocks and exchange traded funds (ETF) to this day, due to some notable drawbacks, I have not yet made it my primary all in one broker account. But due to the attention that Zecco continues to receive among personal finance blog readers and new entrants to stock market investing, the low cost brokerage provider is worth a close review.

In case you were wondering, Zecco.com's rather unusual name is actually derived from the phrase - "Zero Commission Cost". The company is a low cost online brokerage that burst onto the discount broker scene several years ago vowing to change the brokerage landscape forever, while touting its unique offer of free monthly stock trades with no hidden catches or gimmicks. To this day, the Zecco Trading firm still does indeed offer zero-cost and commission free

By MoneyBlueBook

Updated List Of FICO Discounts and Free FICO Score Offers Below!

Welcome to my FICO coupon deals, promotional discounts, and exclusive myFICO.com web bargains page. Here you will find a regularly updated list of myFICO coupons and promo codes to help you save money on genuine FICO score products. To ensure that you get credit for the myFICO promotion offer that you seek, make sure to visit the desired link below and follow the appropriate coupon redemption instructions. Also, it would be of great help to myself and fellow readers if you'd post a comment below about any new myFICO.com coupon codes or special discount offers not already listed, as well as bring to our attention any myFICO promo codes mentioned below that may have already expired.

As we all know, credit scores are numerical representations of credit worthiness, and are one of the most determinative factors that mortgage lenders and major banks base their approval decisions on. While there are several credit score variations out there, the most popular and widely used is the FICO. As American consumers, we each have a total of 3 FICO credit scores - one from each of the three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion). While the three FICO scores are derived from the same proprietary formula, differences in credit reporting data often cause the individual scores to differ somewhat from each other. Routinely checking one's credit score (whether via a credit monitoring program or via manual credit score pulls) is a recommended activity in this modern

By MoneyBlueBook

Bonus Promotion Code: $150 Offer For New TradeKing Account Transfers

The first thing you'll notice right away with online discount broker TradeKing is that the company has received quite a number of accolades and praises over the recent years for various high performing aspects of their popular investment brokerage business. In fact, when it comes to acknowledging the awards, the company is definitely not bashful about flaunting the coveted certificate of merits, and proudly name drops them whenever they can.

A quick visit of their website reveals numerous mentions and displays of graphical award banners from popular sources of financial critique and reviews. The Wall Street Journal's SmartMoney Magazine voted TradeKing the #1 Discount Broker in 2006 and 2007, and the #1 Customer Service broker with 5 stars in 2008. Kiplinger's Finance voted TradeKing as having the best Top-Rated Customer Service in 2008. Even Barron's, in its annual surveys of the Best Web Browser-Based Online Brokers awarded TradeKing 4 stars for its outstanding investment tools, customer service, social media offerings, usability, and cost factors in 2007 and 2008 - and further tabbed it as the Best For Options Traders in 2008 and 2009.

I suppose when you've developed a quality product that's getting attention and praise from the critics and product reviewers, there's no sense being overly modest about a good thing. After having used online brokerage TradeKing for more than a year now as one of my major discount brokerages for cheap stock trading, I personally have to agree with the

By MoneyBlueBook

Review Of Free Online Programs To Help You Budget And Track Spending

Unless you are a billionaire like Warren Buffett with an endless supply of cash to draw upon, chances are you're operating under a monthly budget like the rest of us are. In most cases, the best way to keep your finances in order and save money for the long haul is to devise a sensible budget, track your monthly spending habits, and stick to your laid out plans without frequent deviations. The problem with offering suggestions about setting personal spending budgets is that there usually isn't one way that works best for everyone. It's a highly personal and customized affair due to the great differences in how we all each handle tasks and micro manage events in our lives.

I personally use a variety of online based financial tools to help me chart out my monthly net worth reports and personal balance sheets. They help to encourage me to make better financial decisions for myself and to continuously plan for the future. As a strong advocate of using streamlined software based tools that automate and aggregate one's finances, I particularly recommend using programs like Quicken Online and Yodlee. Both budgeting programs are free and offer great convenience - automatically pulling income and expense data from your bank and credit card accounts into a single viewable source without requiring you to manually compile the data by hand.

But at the same time, I understand that there are lots of people out there who prefer

By MoneyBlueBook

Updated Review Of High Yield Reward Checking Account Deals Below

Remarkably, despite a struggling economy and lower interest rates across the board, high yield reward checking accounts are still touting bank rates as high as 5.50% APY in certain locales. At their peak, the best reward checking account offers were topping off at an astounding 6.00-6.50% APY. Definitely nothing to sneeze at. However, before I get started on my usual long winded blog post about the financial possibilities and benefits of high yield reward checking accounts, let me say a few things up front. No, you're not going to be able to roll your interest rate earnings into a mint or become a millionaire overnight. But if used properly in tandem with other interest chasing pursuits, high interest checking accounts have the potential to really give your otherwise idle savings a big boost. The associated interest rates with these special bank reward checking accounts are often higher than the top savings account rates, the best money market rates, and even the highest bank CD rates.

Demand A Higher Interest Rate For Your Checking Account Cash

Personally, I don't usually keep a ton of money in my checking account to begin with, preferring to stash them in hassle free high interest producing assets like savings accounts and certificate of deposits. However, because check writing and convenient ATM access are still daily necessities in quite a few situations (example: not all apartment landlords allow tenants to pay their rent via credit card), most of us are