Personal Finance Advice - Sat Sep 9/06

Fine Tuning Your Ing Direct Online Savings Account
Do you have an ING Direct online savings account? Did you know that you can actually set up "sub-accounts" to organize your money? Consumerism Commentary gives you the lowdown on how to set up ING Direct sub-accounts. These sub-accounts allow you to organize your funds. By the way, here's how to setup an online savings account, in case you don't have one. They're a great way to earn more than a half percent on your savings.

Tracking Your Monthly Expenses
Having trouble figuring out why your expenses are increasing? Doing an itemized monthly breakdown of expenses goes a long way to show you where the extra money is going, especially if you plot a chart for each item, by month. Consumerism Commentary has a couple of screen captures ofa financial balance spreadsheet: simple and complex. Madame X, at My Open Wallet, also talks about using spreadsheet software to track expenses, as well as a couple of accounting methods.

Accumulating (Almost) Free Money
Jonathan at My Money Blog talks about how he scores an extra $1500-300 in a year in sign-up bonuses (banks, credit cards), etc. While you probably can't do this every year, he talks about how, if you managed to find an extra $2000 each year and saved it, what it would add up to over 30 years. There are a few examples on his post as well. And in my experience, it's the person who has developed a frugal mindset who tends to notice these opportunities when they cross your path. People who are not in a savings frame of mind just don't pay attention.

ING Direct's New Secure Login Process

With all the news lately about identity theft, a number of banks have upgraded their online sign-on procedures and registration. For example, ING Direct launched a new login process last week. It uses a method called risk-based authentication and involves a number of new, more secure techniques to verify that someone is who they say the are. [via Payments News]

My own bank is like that. If I log into my bank account from a different computer (IP address, to you techies) than usual, I get asked my security question. Neteller, an online payments processor similar to Paypal, does something similar. In fact, it shut me out when I temporarily had to login using the Internet access on my smart PDA recently. I had to phone Neteller and have them fix things. But I forgot to finish the verification process up to about a week after calling Neteller. So when I tried to login a couple of days ago, they locked my account. It may be inconvenient, but it's good to know that banks and online payments processors are taking these actions. A little bit of inconvenience is worth it to protect my funds.

However, I digress. Ing Direct's new verification process requires you to go through a few extra steps than previously, but it'll help you be sure that you're on a real Ing Direct website. This means phishing attacks via spam email are less likely to be successful. The verification process is not complicated however. Instead of me repeating what the Payments News post already says about the process, I suggest you have a read over there. (I didn't see any details on the Ing Direct home page.) If you're looking to open an online savings account, here are instructions for Ing Direct and Emigrant Direct.

Financial Freedom On $5 A Day?

About a decade ago, when the investing bug first struck me, a nice little book called Financial Freedom On $5 A Day (Chuck Chakrapani, M.Sc., Ph.D., C.I.M., Self-Counsel Press) was fed to  my voracious investment-reading appetite. The book is aimed at "small investors" and shows people how can achieve financial freedom through investing, but can start small by saving just $5 a day. While the book was originally published in 1983, my copy was dated 1996. Still, I think that the wisdom presented therein are still relevant today. In fact, a quick Googling shows that the book seems to have been revised since.

Does Saving Money Require Discipline?

After recently browsing through dozens of personal finance websites and several hundred articles, one conclusion leaped to my mind: most people have a difficult time saving money. They often focus on the feeling that they are chasing their tail, keeping up with the Joneses.

I'd have to agree with this, from both my own experience, as well as that of close friends. On the far end of the spectrum, there are those people that save and save but never give themselves an opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labor, and thus end up becoming miserable. What can be done about this?

What Makes A Good Investment?

The old saying goes that one man's junk is another man's treasure. The same wisdom applies to financial investments. Back in the late 1990s, when I was contemplating writing my stock broker's exam, I learned some suprising statistics about personal savings. To summarize, the fact is, North Americans have a hard time saving money, primarily because they go about it with very little guidance. Every pre-college student should learn more about investment and savings than just the mathematics of calculating the interest on a loan or a savings account. But that is unfortunately not the case, even though the financial health of the nation depends on this knowledge.

ING Direct Orange Savings Review

The ING Direct Orange Savings account is one of the most recognizable names in online savings. ING Direct was one of the first banks to offer a high interest rate on online savings account (most banks offer a measly half a percent or so). This high interest rate coupled with with a good reputation makes ING Direct Orange an attractive option for anyone who needs to stash some money away, earn interest, and stay liquid.