Comments on: Five Frequently Asked Questions – Answered!

By: Lauren

Lauren — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 15:27:24 +0000

People who have questions and wish to speak to a financial advisor can take advantage of this Friday’s (January 25) FREE FINANCIAL ADIVICE. Anyone can call 888-919-2345 from 9-6 EST and speak to a normally fee-only financial planner for FREE! Sponsored by NAPFA (National Assoc of Personal Finacial Advisors.)

By: Personal Loan Portfolio

Personal Loan Portfolio — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 04:39:04 +0000

Trent, I emailed you several weeks ago and have not heard back yet. I have this unique, challenging problem that I need your advice on. I received a lump sum of money and do not know whether to deposit it in an ING account or invest it in advertisements to improve my blog readership…. ;)

Put a link to this post at the top of your contact page and in old letters ask people to read before they write. You might even mention specifically the five questions answered here. It might save you 50 emails per day.

By: David Agyeman-Budu

David Agyeman-Budu — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 03:07:31 +0000

Hi Trent,
I am an avid reader but 1st time posting on the blog … (bad habit I know, please forgive me). Well I do side with you 100% on the rate chasers and ING . Their customer service is off the hook. I have been an ING saver since 2004 and comparing them to wellsfargo, any time I call I get person who answers the phone DIRECTLY. Wellsfargo puts you through this long automated prompts after along wait only to be asked the same questions when the rep picks up and to add salt to injury they charge you for talking to a rep.(That was 2004-ish)
Last December I wrote a check from my electric orange account and for some reason it got delayed (my guess, heavy holiday mail). I panicked and canceled it but realized that the cancellation fee was $30 after I had clicked to authorize it. The check was for $15.40 and I realized my foolishness. A day later an ING rep emails me that since it costs more to cancel they would remove the cancellation request and assured me that the money would be put back into my account. Man, I was so happy that I emailed them back “Thanks, You guys rock!!” And guess what? I got a response acknowledging the praise. I thought it would probably bounce back with some automated response, but no, that was a real person. That guy blew me away.

By: Also Dave

Also Dave — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 01:57:43 +0000

Louise, it’s one second. Maybe less.

By: Louise

Louise — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:53:23 +0000

@RV
I was impressed by the rate too, but I wasn’t interested in opening two accounts with Schwab. I only wanted an interest-checking account, which they don’t offer by itself (or maybe they do but the interest is pennies, I forgot).

A question for Electric Orange people: how fast is the transfer from ING savings to EO checking?

By: Dee

Dee — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:11:21 +0000

Thanks for taking the time to make this post Trent :)

By: Lorraine

Lorraine — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:27:45 +0000

Hi Trent

I am a newly avid reader and soak up every post – even though an Australian and some of your content is obviously not pertinent, overall your ideas and thoughts are always food for thought.

Along the lines of the ‘ideas’ you give those who seek advice, I wonder if you could offer some ideas for those of us who are ‘obliged’ to look after aging parents? It is hard to save for retirement, to plan for the expenses our children will incur and at the same time need to put money away to support aged parents. And I am not necessarily talking about those who are frail etc – in our case we are supporting a parent who relies on us for subsidised housing and occassional inputs of cash. We are literally ’stuck’ in this manner with no other siblings to share the load and the person in question is reluctant to do anything to remedy their situation by better spending/planning ahead etc. Perhaps I should have emailed this instead but just thought it provident to mention given your post material today.

Would love some ideas! And yes, I personally believe we have a duty to care for our loved ones – but hard to do when they don’t care for themselves and expect us to pick up the pieces.

Regards

Lorraine

By: Diana

Diana — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:30:36 +0000

Why do you recommend Wordpress for hosting your blog? I signed up on Wordpress and found the overall layout to be confusing, but then switched to Blogger and was pleased with the ease of use. I was just wondering what makes Wordpress better and if I should give it another shot?

By: Diana

Diana — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:27:48 +0000

Why do you recommend Wordpress for hosting your blog? I signed up on Wordpress and was very confused with how it worked and the overall layout – then I tried Blogger and was pleased with the overall usability. I was just wondering what makes Wordpress so much better?

By: Rob Madrid

Rob Madrid — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:16:55 +0000

My advice to anyone in dire strights is to go to Trents first post and start reading. By the time you get to this post you’ll have a really good idea of what to do. That’s what I did and the turn around has been amazing. Last month for the first time ever we ran out of month before we ran out of money!!

We also paid off a loan today! I’m counting the days till our payments go to savings and not to debt payment

By: Michiko

Michiko — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 19:57:48 +0000

Continue to do the great work you do Trent. I read this website daily and hopefully I’ll actually start applying what I read!

By: Lurker Carl

Lurker Carl — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 19:44:07 +0000

ING Direct is the gold standard for on-line banks. But you don’t have to store all your eggs in the same basket, open an account with a bank offering a higher interest rate and move the bulk of your savings. At 4% versus 5% interest, it’s significant whether you are earning it or paying it. Keep using the Electric Orange account for your regular banking.

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 19:14:41 +0000

I’ve found ING quite easy to use as well and with stellar customer service. Plus the stress of rate chasing and changing all my linked accounts, direct deposit, and the like just isn’t worth it. I compare it to the rate I was getting at 0.20% and see it as way better than that.

By: Best Advice on Debt

Best Advice on Debt — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:36:12 +0000

As far as blogging and how to be a success at it…

Content is king. If you write good, compelling content, people will read it. To do that, Trent’s right – you have to have a passion about your topic.

Good advice.

By: Gary

Gary — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:11:10 +0000

My personality dictates to me that I must get advice from others in order to assure myself that my own decisions are valid and good decisions to make.

I enjoyed this post, because it helped me to feel okay about my decision to have started an ING Direct account a few months back and not worry so much about the aforementioned “rate wars.”

Anyway, first time poster, short time reader. I enjoy your blog. I found myself in a lot of debt (I’m 24 years old) and scrambled around online for help a few months back. You were the first personal finance blog I found and I visit at least twice per week to catch up.

Good luck with your passion!

Gary

By: Frugal Dad

Frugal Dad — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:09:34 +0000

I’ve been with HSBC for a while now and just haven’t had the motivation to move to ING, although I do find their relatively new Electric Orange account concept intriguing. Thanks for putting this together. I’ve been reading your blog a while now, but I think newcomers will find this advice extrement helpful.

By: Todd

Todd — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:44:42 +0000

I was just reflecting on the Hollywood writers’ strike this morning, and thinking about how poorly almost all writers are paid in this country. When I read your blog posting I thought, “Trent has thousands of readers every day and has helped many of us save a lot of money. He should at least be able to make a modest living from writing just The Simple Dollar alone.” Three hundred e-mails a day! People in my office complain that they have to sort through 50 e-mails a day, and they also spend hours a day surfing the web or forwarding ridiculous “feel good” mass e-mails–AND they get paid a decent salary for their time. Meanwhile, you consistently produce some of the best writing of any blog I’ve seen and yet can’t even afford to do it full time? Sorry for the rant. What a bizarre workplace world we live in.

By: RV

RV — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:03:21 +0000

Hi, I’m a new reader and would like to thank you for the great post. Funny thing is, I opened my ING Direct savings account literally 7 hours before you posted this! Even though I did see some higher rates elsewhere, you’ve convinced me I did the right thing.

I’m also thinking about opening a Schwab High Yield Checking account to get some interest on the money that’s won’t be in the new ING account. Have you heard anything about them? Any thoughts?

Cheers!

By: rstlne

rstlne — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:52:13 +0000

The reason I switched out of ING Direct is after a long period of observation over many interest rate changes, I noticed that there was another online savings account that consistently offered a higher interest rate than ING Direct. Then last Spring, they had a special offer than sealed the deal for me. That said, it’s just a place to stash cash for about 2.5 years of expenses to serve as an emergency fund. There are better places to invest money that I don’t need immediate access to.

By: Jen-Picture of Wealth

Jen-Picture of Wealth — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:20:34 +0000

I think you have solved 95% of your email problems right here. You can probably just send a link to this post in a generic email that says… “Maybe this will help..” Oh, and you have answered my questions before and I did really appreciate it. I had no idea you go so much email!!!