Disclaimer

This blog contains some simple tips and advice from two regular guys. We're not accountants, financial advisors, or brokers, so follow, ignore, or discuss our ideas as you see fit.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Emergency fund....I'm open to suggestions

Posted by Matt

Didn't I JUST get one of these rate drop notices from HSBC? Sheesh, they're at it again.
Dear MATTHEW, We are writing to inform you that based on the recent drop by the Federal Reserve, HSBC Direct has adjusted your Online Savings Account rate to 3.80% APY*. At 8x the national savings average**, you are still earning one of America’s highest savings rates.
And there's likely to be ANOTHER Fed rate drop soon (today!), so I'm going to start shopping around for new places to put my emergency savings account. I want it somewhere where I can get relatively quick and easy access to it (Paul recommended safety and liquidity in one of his previous posts about savings), but it would be nice to get at least a little bit of return (i.e., I'd like to outpace inflation).

I'm meeting with a financial advisor this afternoon, so I'll let you know what he recommends. If any of you have any good ideas, let me know!

3 comments:

Kacie said...

I think if you're happy with HSBC, you should stay put. Rates are going to drop across the board.

And, they'll go back up eventually.

It would be a huge hassle if, while you were transferring your money to another account to earn an extra .2 percent, you needed the money and couldn't get it for a few days.

Matt said...

I'm not necessarily going to be shopping for another savings account. It would be great to put the money somewhere that had a steady rate of return, though I guess the trade off is that most fixed-return investments are low-return investments.

Leah in Oregon said...

I still think you should look into putting your savings into you local credit union. They offer a higher rate than HSBC, and they have local storefronts, which is always a plus in my book.