"Let me tell you about the very rich," F. Scott
Fitzgerald once said. "They are very different from
you and me."
Ernest Hemingway famously replied, "Yes, they
have more money."
1
It's one thing to risk it all in the stock market. But
it's quite another to allow our savings to languish
unproductively when we could be putting them to
work generating much higher, yet completely safe,
returns. Are you one of those people who has a
sizable checking or savings bank account, money
just sitting there, returning next to nothing?
Yes, I love my local credit union, but as a storage
place for cash, it is woefully inadequate. Interest
rates on its savings accounts are a pitiful 0.25%, and
its money market accounts pay just 0.50%.
You and I can do better,much better. Online
banks are now offering interest rates as high as
3.25% on the once-humble savings account, and
balances up to $100,000 are FDIC insured. There are
no fees and no minimum balance requirements.
Check out ING Direct (www.ingdirect.com), which
pays 2.8% on savings accounts, or Emigrant Savings
Bank (www.emigrantdirect.com), which pays 3.25%.
With a little luck, the additional interest might boost
our savings just enough to help us imagine that we
are among 'the very rich.'
1 Apparently this legendary conversation never took place.
Instead, the authors wrote these words several years apart.
"Let me tell you about the very rich," F. Scott
Fitzgerald once said. "They are very different from
you and me."
