Comments on: Four Piles of Money

By: Christy Z.

Christy Z. — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:04:08 +0000

@Wendy: Totally agree! We’ve been with PC Financial for 6 years and I love it. CIBC lets you use their bank machines for free and I pay all of my bills online, so I LOVE getting rid of the banker in the middle. Plus the Savings Plus account (with a balance of 1000.01+) has an interest rate of 2.55%. I don’t understand why ING accounts gets all the attention.

Great post, Gail!

By: click4credit

click4credit — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 13:43:55 +0000

this is a good post. Kinda puts the envelope budgetting into a new perspective

By: Christy

Christy — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:53:02 +0000

Welcome to Brighton Gail! I have lived here nearly 4 years (after 5 years in Campbellford) and I love it. That is saying a lot for someone who grew up in Toronto

By: admin

admin — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:10:21 +0000

Mary and Lisa, thank you so much for asking. I’ve exchanged Sleep for Doing. But I’m almost completely packed and we move at the beginning of December. Both the kids are looking forward to the move because we are moving to Brighton where they both currently go to school, and this will put them in the middle of the mix. There are some very strong emotional upheavals taking place, but they too will pass. I expect that by the time I’m moved and finished shooting (just before Christmas) I’ll be due for a total collapse. I guess I should get a flu shot! I will do some more posting on divorce in general once I’ve got this one behind me. Right now, it’s too raw. I send you all a hug and say a big thank you for keeping me in your thoughts. I think I’m running on all YOUR energy right now. cheers, g

By: Erin

Erin — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:25:50 +0000

My husband is always talking about a cottage and I would like Hardwood floors. They both just seem so far off and unattainable. So today I finally changed the nicknames on my ing accounts that were not being used, set the goal getter tool and set up the ASP. We have our emergency fund, our daughters gymnastic fee, and my vacation (self employed and need at least 3 weeks off a year) in ING. I love that bank, it takes just enough time to come out that I won’t make any rash decisions.

By: Lisa M

Lisa M — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:14:42 +0000

I echo Mary’s thoughts Gail and would very much like to have an update on how you and the kids are doing personally. Not to pry but just to know if you’re doing okay. You have so many people that care about you and you’re always there for us. I hope November is your happy month. Big hugs!

By: Mary

Mary — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:03:13 +0000

Gail, from today’s post (Nov.12), we learn that you’ve bought a house and are saving for a new roof. We’re assuming your new life path is being paved one way or another. We’d love to hear how you, your spouse and your children are dealing with this new phase of your lives, how the transition is going. What kind of tips can you share with families who will be living apart, etc. Will you still be living in Northumberland county, close to the bush if not actually in it? How have your children dealt with what is happening? What can you recommend we speak to our children about, and how do we go about it? New town, new school, new friends, as well as all the old since children will be sharing time and place between both parents.

You have become such an important and integral member of your viewers’ families that we cannot help but be concerned and connected in some way. I hope you do not mind my questions, and please do not take offence or consider it an intrusion in any way. I am glad November is a good month for you – for us as well. God bless and everyone keep up your spirits – there is definitely a light at the end of absolutely every tunnel!

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:21:46 +0000

@Geoff – thanks – that’s true about the double interest!!
ok – feeling a little better

I still think ING is one of the best savings tool… and now that the interest gained is tax free up to 5k per year it’s even better… easy to use to.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:54:33 +0000

@ Erran – an ING savings account is a government backed (CDIC in Canada) savings account which means accounts up to $100,000 are guaranteed. A money market account is not principal protected, nor are returns guarnateed whatsoever.

In general, interest rates reflect the spread between the % at which banks can loan money out and the % at which banks pay people to leave their money with them. If mortgages etc rates fall, then banks lower the rates at which they pay interest. If mortgage rates are up, then interest paid goes up since they (a) need money and (b) want money. I was a kid in the 80s and once got a GIC with an interest rate of 12% — but my parents had a mortgage of 18%. There’s lots of other factors invovled but thats a quick summary.

My understanding is that ING can offer higher interest rates because their cost of doing business is much lower than traditional banks (no branches to heat, no tellers to pay, etc).

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:41:19 +0000

Great post. My brain only seems to work this way for me-everything needs to be divided into sub-categories and organized as best as possible–especially money.
The concept of saving money and spending only what you make is easy and simple..but that sure changes course when the reality of life can kick in and out. Sometimes we just need a gentle reminder(like Gail’s posts) to stay focused and keep on track and view money from different perspectives as we all live different scenarios. I don’t believe Gail is harping on others or talking-down to anyone on whether the concept of money is simple and for people to just get the concept already and get on with things. If it was really that easy (goal-0-debt–name speaks for itself) then why would we have sought out Gail’s website in the first place?
Smooth sailing today doesn’t always mean life is smooth sailing 5 years from now : ).

By: Melaniesd

Melaniesd — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:13:33 +0000

I also take advantage of ING accounts. Why not? They are free and the website is so user friendly. I simply nickname my accounts for their said purposes and set up an automatic savings plan. It works great for me!
As for the interest rate, it’s not guarunteed. The rate fluctuates with Prime Rate. If you look at the major banks high interest savings, you are still doing much better with ING if your balance is under $5K.

All year I have been saving for house repairs and a future car payment. Starting in January I am considering opening a Christmas account & a gift account. This will allow me to save all year and as birthdays come up, I’ll have funds to draw from rather than out of my day-to-day spending money. I made a list of who I give to and the average amount I spend on them. Then I totalled it up and figured out how much each pay I will need to designate. Hopefully this will work well for me.

By: Erran

Erran — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:43:51 +0000

Karlene and all:
Regarding ING’s (and others) high interest savings account, it would seem, without me digging deeper, they are really just money market mutual funds with the label “high interest savings account”. And if that is the case, then yes, they would fluctuate in rates depending on what general interest rates are.

I believe a money market mutual fund invests in t-bills and other short-term bonds/papers/etc, so likely those savings accounts would be doing the same thing in order get the higher rates than “normal” savings accounts. So, if that is the case, there technically is a chance of receiving a negative (yes, negative!) interest rate: however, realistically and probability-speaking the chance of that actually happening is quite low.

Deceiving, isn’t it?

By: Saver Queen

Saver Queen — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:36:20 +0000

Goal 0 Debt – I see your point about it being simple, in a way, but money is easy to lose track of. It’s hard to know exactly how much you have available to spend unless you organize yourself well to know how much you have and how much is allocated where. I think that’s partly why people get into trouble – they don’t know how much they’ve got! And I think that’s the point of this article.

By: Karlene

Karlene — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:28:09 +0000

I have had the same interest rate problem with ING and their regular savings accounts. I believe when I first opened mine, my interest rate was around 4%, and now it’s down to 2.7%. I contacted them at the first sign of a drop, and they raised a good point. These interest rates aren’t guaranteed, and as far as I know they are more than competitive with other companies. I don’t know a lot about finance, but I think the rates are reflections of current market trends, and if the economy was in a better situation, then the interest rates would show this too.

But for someone just starting out with savings, I think it’s great that I don’t have to carry a minimum balance, and I have never paid a single fee in the two or three years I’ve had these accounts. (GICs, ISAs, and now a TFSA). Even if you have funds “locked in”, if you’re in a crunch you can still redeem them and get a portion of the interest you’ve earned, as opposed to no interest at all, or any other penalties.

By: Tracy J

Tracy J — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:58:41 +0000

YAY GAIL!!! You did it again. You explained it so simply and honestly.
It goes along very well with what you described as the “real” cost of things. (When you think about how much money you make, then remove taxes and deductions, then you have to start dedicating what’s left to the fixed expenses and other commitments and necessities (like food)…. AND all those other things that are long term and short term and just for fun too — do that math and suddenly the great deal on yet another pair of cute shoes seems very very stupid).