Recently, I’ve heard from a few readers asking some very general questions about consolidating their student loans. Their questions mostly boil down to the fact that they’ve heard that it’s a good idea, but they don’t really understand why. What’s the benefit of student loan consolidation – or consolidating any loans for that matter? This is a great “personal finance 101” question, the type of question I already answer sometimes for my children and I expect to answer more and more as they migrate into adulthood. Almost always, the reason you should consolidate is so that the sum total of everything you owe over the lifetime of your loan (or loans) is as low as it can possibly be, and consolidation … [Read More...]
Chase Sapphire Banking: $1,000 Bonus For New/Existing Customers ($75,000 Assets)
New bonus. Chase has a new $1,000 cash bonus offer if you upgrade to or open a new Sapphire Banking account. To qualify, you must transfer a total of $75,000 or more in new money or securities into eligible Chase checking, savings and/or investment accounts. You must open by 11/19/2019, complete the $75k transfer within 45 days of opening, and maintain that balance for at least 90 days from the date of funding. Chase will deposit the bonus into your new account within 10 business days after meeting the requirements. Banks are trying to develop relationships with the “might be rich in the future” crowd instead of only courting the “really rich”. Okay, the official term is “mass affluent”. Sapphire Banking is a new brand extension … [Read More...]
Savings I Bonds November 2019: 2.02% Inflation Rate Prediction
Savings I Bonds are a unique, low-risk investment backed by the US Treasury that pay out a variable interest rate linked to inflation. You could own them as an alternative to bank certificates of deposit (they are liquid after 12 months) or bonds in your portfolio. New inflation numbers were just announced at BLS.gov, which allows us to make an early prediction of the November 2019 savings bond rates a couple of weeks before the official announcement on the 1st. This also allows the opportunity to predict what an October 2019 savings bond purchase will yield over the next 12 months, instead of just 6 months. New inflation rate prediction. March 2019 CPI-U was 254.202. September 2019 CPI-U was 256.759, for a semi-annual increase of 1.01%. Using the official formula, the… [Read More...]
London Stock Exchange-Backed Nivaura Hires Senior HSBC Banker
LSE-backed Nivaura hired a senior HSBC banker to boost adoption of the London-based fintech’s blockchain process for capital markets legal documents. [Read More...]
Simple Bank Bonus: $500 Bonus + 2.15% APY for $20,000 New Deposit
Bonus updated. Simple is one of many fintech startups adding fancy tech and smartphone app sprinkles to your vanilla checking account. They were acquired by the big European-based bank BBVA in 2014. It looks like they are trying the direct route of customer acquisition (and my favorite of course) – paying you a cash bonus! Simple has updated $250 and $500 bonuses for new accounts. They had a similar bonus in July, but it is now structured in a more straightforward manner. $250 Bonus Details ($10,000+) Open a new Simple Account by 10/31/2019 4:59 PM PT. Deposit(s) totaling $10,000 or more must post to the new Account by 11/15/2019 4:59 PM PT. Maintain a balance of at least $10,000 through 1/31/2020 4:59 PM PT. The combined balance between your Simple Account and … [Read More...]
Reminder: Nobody Can Predict Future Interest Rates (Especially the Experts)
The financial prediction industry is simply mind-boggling to me. There is zero long-term memory or accountability. You can make all the predictions you want about the stock market, gold prices, and interest rates, and nobody remembers your bad calls. You get a contrarian call right, and all of a sudden you’re on all the TV interviews and news articles. Allow me to remind you of what the Wall Street Journal’s panel of economists predicted in January 2019 as to what interest rates would look like the rest of the year (WSJ source). I have updated the chart with the current rates (click to enlarge). This was less than 10 months ago! Apologies for the sloppy graphics, but you can see that 10-year rates dropped down … [Read More...]
[Guest Post] The True Use Cases for Bitcoin and Its Role in Banking the Unbanked
by Ray Youssef, Co-Founder & CEO of Paxful Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as we know it was born from Satoshi Nakamoto’s dream of creating a peer-to-peer electronic cash system. The white paper proposed a system that would replace the need for central authorities like banks and financial institution… The post [Guest Post] The True Use Cases for Bitcoin and Its Role in Banking the Unbanked appeared first on CoinReport. [Read More...]
Best Interest Rates on Cash – October 2019
Here’s my monthly roundup of the best interest rates on cash for October 2019, roughly sorted from shortest to longest maturities. Rates are lower across the board due to the recent Fed rate cut. I track these rates because I keep a full 12 months of expenses as a cash cushion and also invest in longer-term CDs (often at lesser-known credit unions) when they yield more than bonds. Check out my Ultimate Rate-Chaser Calculator to get an idea of how much extra interest you’d earn if you are moving money between accounts. Rates listed are available to everyone nationwide. Rates checked as of 10/2/19. High-yield savings accounts While the huge megabanks like to get away with 0.01% APY, it’s easy to open a… [Read More...]