On 10/13/2021 03:16 AM, Chris wrote:
> The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On 10/12/2021 01:04 PM, Ken Blake wrote:
>>> On 10/12/2021 12:16 PM, The Real Bev wrote:
>>>> On 10/12/2021 05:32 AM, Wolffan wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I find Chase to be
>>>>> less obnoxious than Butthole of America or, God help us, Hell’s Cargo.)
>>>>
>>>> The best bank is the closest full-service one.
>>>
>>> True for some things, but not all. The closest bank to me is a BofA
>>> branch, and it's the main bank I use, mostly for my checking account.
>>
>> Just checking and SS direct deposit. Other cash is in the brokerage
>> sweep account.
>>
>>> However the percentage they pay for savings accounts is .01%.
>>
>> LOOOOOXURY! Actually it's crap, but who's counting? I wish we'd put
>> more money in index funds :-( More than that, I wish we'd bought Xerox
>> when I realized how big an improvement it was over wet-process copying.
>>
>>> So for a
>>> savings account, I use an Internet bank instead, where I get a .5% rate,
>>> which make it a *much* better bank for that purpose.
>>
>> Still minimal. "One's chance of winning the lottery is not appreciably
>> improved by actually buying a ticket." Same sort of thing.
>
> Yup. Savings rates aren't anywhere near beating inflation at the moment.
> Basically savings are losing money.

Especially since interest is taxable.

Hrm. By the definition below, every single Kalifornia government, as
well as the federal government, is stupid.

--
Cheers, Bev
"A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person
or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even
possibly incurring losses." -- C.M.Cipolla

On 10/13/2021 09:31 AM, Ken Blake wrote:
> On 10/13/2021 3:16 AM, Chris wrote:
>> The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Still minimal. "One's chance of winning the lottery is not appreciably
>>> improved by actually buying a ticket." Same sort of thing.
>>
>> Yup. Savings rates aren't anywhere near beating inflation at the moment.
>
> True, but it's far from the same thing as buying a lottery ticket.
>
> If you want to have *some* money in a savings account (many people,
> including me, want to), it's best to get the highest rate you can, even
> if it's not a great rate and it doesn't beat inflation.
>
>> Basically savings are losing money.
>
> OK, then go ahead and spend all the money you have.

It doesn't work that way. Savers save their money even if they KNOW
it's stupid.

--
Cheers, Bev
Too many freaks, not enough circuses.

On 10/13/2021 11:30 AM, Ken Blake wrote:
> On 10/13/2021 11:12 AM, sms wrote:
>>
>> A lot of credit unions offer high-rate checking accounts with a limit on
>> the balance that qualifies for the high interest. It's a lot of effort
>> because you'd have to open accounts at a lot of different credit unions
>> and then comply with the requirements to get the high interest, which
>> includes making a certain number of debit card transactions per month.
>>
>> See
>> <https://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/earning-interest/best-high-yield-checking-accounts376922578/#GenisysCreditUnionGeniusChecking>
>> for a list of some of them, i.e.:
>>
>> "You can earn 4.07% APY on balances up to $7,500 if you enroll in
>> eStatements and use your debit card at least 10 times per month for
>> purchases of at least $5 each."
>>
>> "To receive the top-line APY, you must post 15 or more non-ATM debit
>> transactions per month or have an average daily balance of at least
>> $1,000. Balances up to $3,000 receive 4.25% APY; balances over $3,000 to
>> $10,000 receive 2.00% APY; balances over $10,000 receive 0.10% APY."
>
> Thanks, but it seems like a lot of trouble, so I'll probably pass.

Lots of CC companies offer things like a $200 rebate if you spend $1K on
the card in the next 3 months. Also a nuisance.

Worse: dealing with the goddam $250 in debit cards that AT&T geve us
when we signed up for gigabit service. I've still got $12 on one and
$92 on the other but I'm giving up my 2% Citi rebate by using them. If
I transfer them to my Amazon account I lose the 5% that I get with the
Amazon card :-(

Yeah, I pick up pennies too. Bite me!

--
Cheers, Bev
Too many freaks, not enough circuses.

sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
> On 10/13/2021 3:16 AM, Chris wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>> Yup. Savings rates aren't anywhere near beating inflation at the moment.
>> Basically savings are losing money.
>
> If you put a lot of effort into it you can get 4% or so interest, at
> least up to $50,000 or so.

Not here. You either have to lock your savings away for a couple of years
or it's limited to only the first £1500 or so to get anywhere near 2%.

On 2021-10-12 08:32, Wolffan wrote:

> I’d use Paypal or Zell. Both free; Paypal requires that you have a PP
> account, linked, as noted above. Zell requires that you know the bank and a
> email address associated with a particular account.
>
> I use different accounts for Zell and Paypal, based on email addresses never
> revealed on usenet and not used for email except to the bank, and in the case
> of the Paypal account, to Paypal. If there’s a security problem I know
> exactly who to talk to. Besides, I typically don’t leave much in the
> accounts attached to Zell or Paypal, usually under $50, as it’s trivial to
> transfer in funds if needed, and this way even if someone does do something
> naughty, the most they can usually get is $50. And if it’s the bank’s
> fault, and it will be, I’ll get the money back, though it might take a
> while. In pre-Zell days someone once got into multiple people’s accounts at
> one bank I use; my account got a fake deposit of $500, followed by a
> withdrawal of $1000 and another of $750, sending that account into overdraft.
> It took three weeks, but I got a new account, all my money back, and all fees
> rescinded. The Feds got a new boy in the gray-bar hotel. In the meantime I
> was able to drive on, using accounts which were not affected. Including
> accounts at that bank. (Chase, for those who must know. I find Chase to be
> less obnoxious than Butthole of America or, God help us, Hell’s Cargo.)
>

In Canada Interac is free for private use and quick.

Best method:
At your bank you associate your e-mail address to your account. The
bank sends that to Interac. If anyone "interac's" you money it is
automatically deposited. No fees for either party. It is near instant
most of the time. I have two different e-mail address associated.

(Businesses pay fees after n many transfers per month).

You can also "blind" interac to someone's e-mail. If they are not
registered, then interac sends the receiving e-mail address a link.
From the link you select your bank. Interac logs you into you bank
account via a special interface. You also need a shared secret between
sender and receiver for this to work.

--
"...there are many humorous things in this world; among them the white
man's notion that he is less savage than the other savages."
-Samuel Clemens

The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com> wrote
> On 10/13/2021 03:16 AM, Chris wrote:
>> The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On 10/12/2021 01:04 PM, Ken Blake wrote:
>>>> On 10/12/2021 12:16 PM, The Real Bev wrote:
>>>>> On 10/12/2021 05:32 AM, Wolffan wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I find Chase to be
>>>>>> less obnoxious than Butthole of America or, God help us, Hell’s
>>>>>> Cargo.)
>>>>>
>>>>> The best bank is the closest full-service one.
>>>>
>>>> True for some things, but not all. The closest bank to me is a BofA
>>>> branch, and it's the main bank I use, mostly for my checking account.
>>>
>>> Just checking and SS direct deposit. Other cash is in the brokerage
>>> sweep account.
>>>
>>>> However the percentage they pay for savings accounts is .01%.
>>>
>>> LOOOOOXURY! Actually it's crap, but who's counting? I wish we'd put
>>> more money in index funds :-( More than that, I wish we'd bought Xerox
>>> when I realized how big an improvement it was over wet-process copying.
>>>
>>>> So for a
>>>> savings account, I use an Internet bank instead, where I get a .5%
>>>> rate,
>>>> which make it a *much* better bank for that purpose.
>>>
>>> Still minimal. "One's chance of winning the lottery is not appreciably
>>> improved by actually buying a ticket." Same sort of thing.
>>
>> Yup. Savings rates aren't anywhere near beating inflation at the moment.
>> Basically savings are losing money.

> Especially since interest is taxable.

In theory. In reality HALF the US pays no net federal income tax.

And then there is the tax free threshold in other jurisdictions.

Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote
> sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>> On 10/13/2021 3:16 AM, Chris wrote:
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>>> Yup. Savings rates aren't anywhere near beating inflation at the moment.
>>> Basically savings are losing money.
>>
>> If you put a lot of effort into it you can get 4% or so interest, at
>> least up to $50,000 or so.
>
> Not here. You either have to lock your savings away for a couple of years
> or it's limited to only the first £1500 or so to get anywhere near 2%.

That's also due to the stupid US system of immense merchant fees
on credit cards which means that some credit unions encourage
people to do lots of card transactions so they get those fees,
by paying them high interest rates on their deposits.

Ken Blake <ken@invalidemail.com> wrote:
> On 10/13/2021 3:16 AM, Chris wrote:
>> The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On 10/12/2021 01:04 PM, Ken Blake wrote:
>>>> On 10/12/2021 12:16 PM, The Real Bev wrote:
>>>>> On 10/12/2021 05:32 AM, Wolffan wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I find Chase to be
>>>>>> less obnoxious than Butthole of America or, God help us, Hell’s Cargo.)
>>>>>
>>>>> The best bank is the closest full-service one.
>>>>
>>>> True for some things, but not all. The closest bank to me is a BofA
>>>> branch, and it's the main bank I use, mostly for my checking account.
>>>
>>> Just checking and SS direct deposit. Other cash is in the brokerage
>>> sweep account.
>>>
>>>> However the percentage they pay for savings accounts is .01%.
>>>
>>> LOOOOOXURY! Actually it's crap, but who's counting? I wish we'd put
>>> more money in index funds :-( More than that, I wish we'd bought Xerox
>>> when I realized how big an improvement it was over wet-process copying.
>>>
>>>> So for a
>>>> savings account, I use an Internet bank instead, where I get a .5% rate,
>>>> which make it a *much* better bank for that purpose.
>>>
>>> Still minimal. "One's chance of winning the lottery is not appreciably
>>> improved by actually buying a ticket." Same sort of thing.
>>
>> Yup. Savings rates aren't anywhere near beating inflation at the moment.
>
>
> True, but it's far from the same thing as buying a lottery ticket.
>
> If you want to have *some* money in a savings account (many people,
> including me, want to), it's best to get the highest rate you can, even
> if it's not a great rate and it doesn't beat inflation.

The difference between the best rate and an average rate isn't worth the
effort. Unless you've got 6-figure sums.

>
>> Basically savings are losing money.
>
>
> OK, then go ahead and spend all the money you have.

That's not the logical conclusion.

The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 10/13/2021 03:16 AM, Chris wrote:
>> The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On 10/12/2021 01:04 PM, Ken Blake wrote:
>>>> On 10/12/2021 12:16 PM, The Real Bev wrote:
>>>>> On 10/12/2021 05:32 AM, Wolffan wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I find Chase to be
>>>>>> less obnoxious than Butthole of America or, God help us, Hell’s Cargo.)
>>>>>
>>>>> The best bank is the closest full-service one.
>>>>
>>>> True for some things, but not all. The closest bank to me is a BofA
>>>> branch, and it's the main bank I use, mostly for my checking account.
>>>
>>> Just checking and SS direct deposit. Other cash is in the brokerage
>>> sweep account.
>>>
>>>> However the percentage they pay for savings accounts is .01%.
>>>
>>> LOOOOOXURY! Actually it's crap, but who's counting? I wish we'd put
>>> more money in index funds :-( More than that, I wish we'd bought Xerox
>>> when I realized how big an improvement it was over wet-process copying.
>>>
>>>> So for a
>>>> savings account, I use an Internet bank instead, where I get a .5% rate,
>>>> which make it a *much* better bank for that purpose.
>>>
>>> Still minimal. "One's chance of winning the lottery is not appreciably
>>> improved by actually buying a ticket." Same sort of thing.
>>
>> Yup. Savings rates aren't anywhere near beating inflation at the moment.
>> Basically savings are losing money.
>
> Especially since interest is taxable.

We have a tax free allowance where interest isn't taxed. The first £1000 of
interest earned is not taxed. For the vast majority that means savings
interest is tax free.

On 10/13/2021 11:30 AM, Ken Blake wrote:
> On 10/13/2021 11:12 AM, sms wrote:
>> On 10/13/2021 10:31 AM, Ken Blake wrote:
>>> On 10/13/2021 10:03 AM, sms wrote:
>>>> On 10/13/2021 3:16 AM, Chris wrote:
>>>>
>>>> <snip>
>>>>
>>>>> Yup. Savings rates aren't anywhere near beating inflation at the
>>>>> moment.
>>>>> Basically savings are losing money.
>>>>
>>>> If you put a lot of effort into it you can get 4% or so interest, at
>>>> least up to $50,000 or so.
>>>
>>>
>>> Please be explicit. Where? How?
>>
>> A lot of credit unions offer high-rate checking accounts with a limit on
>> the balance that qualifies for the high interest. It's a lot of effort
>> because you'd have to open accounts at a lot of different credit unions
>> and then comply with the requirements to get the high interest, which
>> includes making a certain number of debit card transactions per month.
>>
>> See
>> <https://www.magnifymoney.com/blog/earning-interest/best-high-yield-checking-accounts376922578/#GenisysCreditUnionGeniusChecking>
>>
>> for a list of some of them, i.e.:
>>
>> "You can earn 4.07% APY on balances up to $7,500 if you enroll in
>> eStatements and use your debit card at least 10 times per month for
>> purchases of at least $5 each."
>>
>> "To receive the top-line APY, you must post 15 or more non-ATM debit
>> transactions per month or have an average daily balance of at least
>> $1,000. Balances up to $3,000 receive 4.25% APY; balances over $3,000 to
>> $10,000 receive 2.00% APY; balances over $10,000 receive 0.10% APY."
>
>
>
> Thanks, but it seems like a lot of trouble, so I'll probably pass.

Yes, I agree. It's a lot of trouble in order to an extra $1000 or so a
year in interest.