optimizing financials
the boy says i should be a banker or financial advisor. and perhaps he’s right, but going back to school or learning a new trade of that magnitude isn’t in the cards right now. nor is my motivation despite a slight obsession on my part to perform routine inspections of all my funds. even my sorry little IRA that is suffering market woes gets a quick glance every other day—a practice that my own advisor frowns upon.
my financial goal someday is to live off the interest. honestly, i have no idea how much money one has to accumulate in order to do this, but i recognize the sum is far larger than i currently have. but in the back of my mind, i truly think this can be achieved. and because of this, i’m continually shopping around for new banking specials. and now that i have no debt, i can concentrate on the saving aspect.
i’m content with my current institution for the everyday stuff, but supplemental accounts are a norm for me. it’s not unusual for me to check out bankrate to see which banks yield the highest interest. and then it got me thinking, why isn’t my institution doing this for me?
i think i already know the answer to this based on that whole the-rich-getting-richer phenomenon. i mean, why should these financial giants help out the little guy? sure, they’re quick to email and snail mail specials on new lines of credit and credit cards. y’know, the tools they use to make more money. but where are the direct mail and promotional pieces boasting savings accounts and certificates of deposit with the highest rates in the industry? (i can only think of one institution that did this, but they’re no longer at the top of the list, so i haven’t seen the hype anymore.)
perhaps my remedial thinking has me believing that if they did advertise more of these types of services, they would also be lining their pockets with the funds of new clientele. oh yeah, i forgot, i’m not a banker, so this may not be the case.
(i actually left one institution when their savings interest rates suspiciously went down nearly 4% upon the announcement of their totally free checking account. i mean, they had to pay for all those free services somehow, right?)
admittedly, i’m getting in over my head about the assumptions involved with banking practices. i truly don’t know why interest rates fluctuate beyond simple reaction to the markets. and my understanding of the market is reduced to the – and + signs. – sign bad, + sign good. red is bad, green/black is good.
so back to what i’d love for my bank to do for me…
i went online to see what my current interest rate was for one of my electronic savings accounts. after doing so, i went to bankrate to see what else was out there. when i did that, i hit a link that actually sent me back to my own bank’s information page on their savings accounts. they had 4 traditional savings accounts plus 2 MMAs. and for the life of me, after comparing the terms between my account and one other account, the only difference i could discern was the interest rate. my rate was a full percentage point less than the other account they offered. it wasn’t restricted to new customers, i could meet the minimums, i had online banking and a connected checking account. so why didn’t i know about it beyond my own research? and now, i need to take an extra step of contacting the institution and either opening yet another account or converting my existing account (if that’s even an option).
if a bank can blast you with promotions based on your spending habits, why can’t they do so based on your savings habits? and that’s really all i want. or maybe other banks do this and i’m just not aware. maybe my current institution isn’t up to snuff in that regard because god knows they could use an overhaul on their online presence anyway.
and then of course having worked in advertising, i know the flip side of this coin. i should be careful of what i wish for. because do i really want banks inundating me with marketing materials?
i’m such a difficult customer.