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ONE from American Express – Promises Savings For The Hardworking American

The year 2005 was a witness to the introduction of ONE from American Express. This was a card equipped with a Savings Accelerator Plan, depositing 1% of the eligible purchases into your high yielding FDIC insured savings account.

Advantages of ONE from American Express

If you are a compulsive shopper, but love to save, then the American Express ONE Card will help you to save for your future. When making a purchase with this card, you can avail of the Savings Accelerator Plan, which will automatically openassign a FDIC-insured High-Yielding Savings Account in your name and remit 1% cash back of the eligible purchases in the account.

The One card offers a special feature known as the Interest Protection, which does not require you to pay interest on the new purchases, irrespective of whether you make full payment of your bill at a time or make payments overtime.

There is no set expenditure limit, and thus you can spend a bit more if you wish. This leaves you free for carrying a balance for the last months vacation. The purchases are approved depending on the cardholders credit rating. A Spend Tracking Alert will notify you when you have reached the monthly spending amount.

If you are an impulsive buyer, then the ONE from American Express is the right choice for you. The savings accelerator of the card deposits 1% of each buy into your savings account and on the other hand gains an annual percentage yield of 4.25% (the rate is variable). Furthermore, the account has no maintenance fees, no penalties for withdrawals and no minimum balance. The money is all yours and you may save it or use it.

Other Benefits

The cardholders of ONE from American Express are facilitated by its purchase protection program, buyer protection program, travel bonuses, global assist hotline, car rental insurance, emergency card replacement and return protection program.

The card does not have any introductory period, but the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) of the card is quite reasonable. It is a great option for you, if you do not much bother about frequent flyer miles and discounts available at the hotels.

The other features include a cash back offer 50 after your first purchase. The first year fee-free option lets you have a 35 savings. The cash back rebate program is the best feature of the One card. You will definitely benefit from Card One from American Express, if you want to use this card at participation merchants and retailers and if you are making full payments at the end of a month. The bonus advantage is that all the new card members will receive a 25 bonus added to their savings account, on their first purchase.

As a parent, the big financial concern with a newborn is how to set aside enough money to assist for a college education. Universities and state governments have developed many different financial savings plans to encourage parents to save money for college. Some of the plans include 529 accounts, Coverdell accounts, Roth IRAs and prepaidguaranteed tuition costs. Unfortunately, few of the programs offer every benefit such as tax deductions, tax deferred savings, unlimited investment options, self directed investments and no penalties.

Selecting a university is a critical and expensive decision, and in my view it is foolhardy to make before the last couple years of high school. A drawback of the university-based or state-based plans (such as a 529 account) is that they impose penalties if a child doesnt attend a specific university or in a specific state. Who knows what aptitudes, skills or interests your child may develop that necessitate a specific school that is out of your home state. University and state-based plans also impose penalties if the money isnt ultimately used for qualified college expenses; another example where an event that is out of your control and may cause an unneeded expense. But the biggest problem with university and state programs are the financial rule changes they make after you start the plan.

To me, the university and state-based programs are a loselose savings plan for parents. If the cost of tuition rises faster than forecasted, in spite their guarantees, they raise the price and leave you under-funded. Conversely, if tuition rises less than forecasted, then you end up overpaying for tuition. And the same applies to the stock market some plans force you to invest in; when the market fell in 2000 and 2001, many plans broke their promise to guarantee full tuition funding in spite of promises to the contrary.

Another drawback of state-based plans is that your investment options are severely limited to a few mutual funds run by the brokerage firm operating the account. I have evaluated several: and they have high fees and poor returns, and Im wary of the lack of competition for many of these accounts. The brokerage firms blame economics for the lack of investment choices, saying that most of the accounts are small and not very profitable for them, so they want as little trading and customer interaction as possible.

The federal college savings plans are better because they allow the widest selection of investments (such as an educational Roth IRA or other education savings accounts), and can be applied to most any accredited university. These accounts offer tax-free growth and withdrawal is also exempt from federal taxes and some states taxes. Realistically, your situation may call for multiple accounts. Rules prohibit you from using these if your income passes certain thresholds.

In my opinion, the best place to start saving college is with U.S. government ibonds from TreasuryDirect.gov. These bonds offer the most flexibility and control, and require none of the paperwork and rules of other savings plans. They accrue a decent rate of interest every month, the principal is adjusted for inflation each quarter, the income tax is deferred, and you dont have any brokerage fees. And when the money is withdrawn for a university on their approved list, the money can be redeemed tax-free. (As for limiting rules: you cannot withdraw the money in the first year, and if you withdraw it within five years, there is a three month interest penalty so ibonds are not the best savings plan after a child reaches about age twelve). Since ibonds are simply savings not an educational account, the money can be spent for any type of expense that may arise.

The government and brokerage firms keep updating these accounts, so my complaints will hopefully become moot in the near future. But the criteria that you need to watch for are: many investment options, few penalties, no taxes and total control. These will maximize the money youre setting aside for that expensive degree.

Having agreed on a monthly payment schedule with your mortgage lender doesn’t necessarily set that amount in stone – that’s just the minimum you can pay! By playing with a mortgage calculator, particularly a pre-payment loan calculator, you can see where extra payments can make long-term savings on your mortgage.

The mortgage calculator will quickly show that you don’t have to pay large sums of additional cash in order to make a difference. Even regular smaller sums can greatly reduce the length of time you are paying your mortgage. They will even reduce the amount of interest you would be paying. Imagine that the mortgage you thought would be with you until you were 50 can be painlessly paid off by the time you are in your mid 40s! That’s strong motivation to try out the appropriate mortgage calculators to see what kind of financial additional payments you need to make this achievement.

The first thing you need is to use a home budget calculator to check your current financial situation. How much disposable income do you have each month? Where does this go currently? Could you comfortably commit an additional 50 a month, for example, to your mortgage? Put that figure into the mortgage calculator and see what difference it would make to your long-term mortgage picture.

It can get addictive to try and shave off more of your disposable income and put the increased amount into the mortgage calculator, but beware of over-stretching your finances. While it’s exciting to see how much faster you could pay off your mortgage, and so fast to see the results that the pre-payment mortgage calculator gives you, it’s also easy to get carried away and forget that you need to keep finances in hand for other things!

One of the best things you can do is to find a minimum additional monthly payment that you can make without creating too much of a problem – perhaps by canceling subscriptions you don’t use, or by cutting out one trip to a well-known coffeehouse each week. Use the mortgage calculator to work out the difference this makes to your mortgage principal. This is the least impact you will make on your mortgage.

Next try and save an additional sum in a separate banking account and try not to touch this. If you haven’t had any emergencies requiring the money during the year, withdraw it after 12 months and make a single extra additional larger sum payment against the capital (still making that basic monthly payment in the same month!) and then use your mortgage calculator to see how much difference this has made. This way you can keep that money handy and still reduce your mortgage. But it will not reduce your interest as much as paying out monthly. Be sure to check out all these variables on the mortgage calculator.

A mortgage for your home is a long-term commitment, but using a mortgage calculator you can see how it’s possible to reduce the time period with additional small monthly payments. Paying off your mortgage quicker, and paying less interest, without financially hurting yourself – isn’t that worth exploring further?

When choosing a credit card, the interest rate should be the first thing to consider. Low interest rates only mean one thing: more savings! The bigger the balance of the account, the bigger sum of money will be saved. As more money gets saved, more money gets stored and more interests will roll in the bank account.

Other credit cards companies have reasonable interest rates and offers more like giving the percentage of money back. The more money spent on credit, more money will be returned to the cards user. Most credit cards use 5% on special purchases and 1% on regular purchases.

Some banks give Reward Points. These Reward Points accumulate as the credit card is used and it may be exchanged for certain items catalogued by the bank. Points may be exchanged for microwaves, cell phones, televisions and the like. This is yet another great feature to be considered when looking for a card.

A number of major banks offer low interest rates. A few major banks would be: Citibank, American express and JP Morgan Chase. These banks are known to give 0% introductory APR (Annual Percentage Rate) for 12 months. Most of these cards offer no annual rates.

Here are some credit cards with low interest rates:

Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card (Citibank):
-it features 0% APR (Annual Percentage Rate) for 12 months
-it rewards the user. The more this card is used, the bigger the rewards.
-earn 5% return from expenses in supermarkets, drug stores and gas stations.
-earn 1% return from other expenses.

Citi Premier Pass Card (Citibank):
-0% introductory APR.
-get points by flying. Every mile gets you a point.

American Express Blue Card (American Express):
-3.99% fixed interest rate.
-0% introductory APR for 15 months.

Chase Cash Plus Visa (JP Morgan Chase):
-0% interest rate for 12 months.
-has other cash back promos.

Chase Flexible Rewards Platinum Visa Card (JP Morgan Chase):
-0% introductory APR for 12 months.
-a pound spent equals a point.
-no annual fee.

Pulaski Bank Visa Master Card:
-0% on balance transfers for 5 months
-6.99% fixed rate
-35 annual fee

Discover Card:
-0% APR for the first 10 months.
-0 annual fee.
-9.99% fixed interest rate.

These cards have the lowest interest rates in the credit card market today. These cards do not only offer low rates, but they also give certain rewards for the frequent users of the card.

Living On The Edge: Nearly Half Of U.S. Adults Lack Adequate Savings

A penny saved is a penny earned…but according to that adage, many U.S. adults are not earning all that much.

That’s because almost one-half of all U.S. adults (45 percent) say their household does not have enough money in liquid savings to cover at least three months of living expenses. Moreover, nearly one in ten adults (9 percent) say their household currently keeps no liquid savings, defined as any savings readily available as cash and not intended for long-term investment.

Among those earning less than 35,000, the numbers are more striking. Thirty percent of that group maintains no liquid savings. The new survey was conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell’s lawyers.com, the most comprehensive and trustworthy online resource for finding a lawyer.

“Three to six months’ worth of money saved for living expenses is the minimum every household should have, no matter its income,” said Alan Kopit, legal editor of lawyers.com. “Any less can leave people vulnerable to serious financial woes if they hit unexpected difficulties, like a job loss or medical problem.”

The most common reason adults who save say they do so is to have a “rainy day” fund for unexpected emergencies. Seventy-three percent cited that as their motivation.

Nearly one-in-three adults (29 percent) are saving for a vacation, the survey found. And 15 percent are doing so to fund a special event, such as a wedding or birthday party, although that number rises to 25 percent among females aged 18 to 34.

“There’s no wrong reason to save money, but it’s a good idea to think about the basics initially,” said Kopit. “First create a fund to cover living expenses if you’re left without income for period of time. Once you have that established, you can start putting away money with other things in mind, like a vacation or a new car purchase.”