Is the Paypal Money Market Fund Safe?

The PayPal Money Market Fund (the “Fund”) is designed primarily as an automatic sweep investment for uninvested cash balances in PayPal customer accounts. PayPal customers may choose to have their free cash balances sweptinto the Fund in order to earn income until the cash is used. Shares of the Fund will be automatically redeemed to [...]

Banks with 90-day CD yields of 5.25% or greater

Investors looking for a parking place for cash will be interested by the annual percentage yields (APY) currently available on 90-day bank CDs. The 90-day term is strategic as CD rates flatten out between 90-days and 10 years offering little incentive to lock-in longer term rates and almost all banks offer this term as opposed [...]

Will the Fed Lower the Federal Funds Rate?

Fed watchers have been buried with conflicting economic data as GDP, employment, consumer confidence, and even CPI (consumer price inflation) show an economy under control, while energy and food prices have increased significantly pressuring American consumers. Recent comments by the Fed indicate that the priority of keeping inflation in a narrow range of 1% to [...]

Comparing Year-to-Date Returns on Investment Portfolios

Investors who have held safer investments this year have matched or nearly matched the returns seen on riskier investments when factoring in YTD returns (including income generated).
YTD Index Returns (January 1st, 2007 - July 26, 2007)
StocksS&P 500 Index: 2.87%NASDAQ Composite Index: 6.80%Dow Jones Industrial Average: 6.44%Russell 2000 Index: -1.25%Dow Jones 3000 Wilshire Index: 3.18%
BondsJP Morgan [...]

Mutual Fund Money Market accounts

Purchasing mutual fund money market accounts is rarely discussed by brokers as an investment option for clients, despite providing returns to rival other fixed-income securities with a 40-year history of safety. Mutual fund companies in the United States reported holding $2.584 trillion in money markets assets as of July 25, 2007 according to the Investment [...]

Online Bank Deals - rates, rewards, and bonuses

Online Bank Deals (updated 7/30/07):
Wachovia Bank is offering a $50 bonus to new customer who open a checking account (minimum $100) and establish direct deposit within 90 days (minimum $100). Citibank credit card holders qualify for a $200 bonus by opening a Citibank checking account by 8/31/2007 and meeting certain direct deposit and online bill [...]

The Market Bloodbath and Bank Stocks

Market Update for week of July 23 - July 27:
Dow Jones Industrial Average -4.2%NASDAQ -4.6%S&P 500 -5.0%
Bank Stock Watch:
The bloodbath in the markets last week left our group of favorite dividend-paying group of bank stocks to watch (which includes the 5 largest banks in the country) with a higher yields for those who purchase the [...]

Patriot Bank Dow Jones Industrial Average CD

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 300 points on Thursday sending investors scrambling for shelter. One possible shelter could be an investment that affords an investor the luxury of realizing 100% of the gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), while having their principal protected from losses and FDIC-insured up to $100,000 per [...]

Another chance at a fixed-rate mortgage?

Weekly average of 30-year fixed rate mortgages over the last 3 years (source: www.hsh.com).

Today’s sell-off in blue chips and the extended rally in Treasuries has potentially created another opportunity for variable-rate mortgage holders to convert to the fixed-rate variety. As can be seen by the graph above, mortgages rates below 6.00% are well in the [...]

Transportation Alliance Bank’s deposit rates

Transportation Alliance Bank (FDIC# 34781) headquartered out of Ogden, Utah has been quietly offering some of the best deposit rates in tehe country over the past year. The bank is a subsidairy of Flying J, Inc,the nation’s leading provider of diesel fuel, and has a stable deposit base of 347 million. Online investors can open [...]

Banks paying 6.00% and higher on checking accounts

Checking account with annual percentage yields (APYs) of 6.00% or higher are very rare, but a few exist. Special terms or restrictions can apply for a rate this high so read the terms and restrictions closely before investing. All banks listed are FDIC-insured.
(1) Salem Five Bank (FDIC# 23296) located in Salem, Massachusetts is offering a [...]

Buying Corporate Bonds Online

Corporate bond buyers began buying corporate bonds online in the late 1990s with online brokerage firms who offered up a grocery superstore of offerings with low commissions. Instead of relying on a broker or brokerage firm touting specific bonds and issues that their firm held in-house, individual investors had the option to use their online [...]

Treasury Yield Curve Flattening Again

A rally in mid-term and longer-term U.S. Treasuries in July has dropped yields between 10 and 20 basis points on maturities from 2 years to 30 years.
Current US Treasury Yields vs Yields from last month:
3 Month 4.85% vs 4.63% 6 Month 4.84% vs 4.77% 2 Year 4.73% vs 4.87% 3 Year 4.72% vs 4.91% 5 [...]

How to invest $2.6 million at a 5.25% APY

26 banks are reporting money market accounts (MMA) with an APY (annual percentage yield) of 5.25% or higher available to online investors through each bank’s website. Investing in each bank individually at the FDIC-insurance limit of $100,000 per acount could theoretically allow an individual investor to earn 5.25% on $2.6 million dollars while keeping their [...]

Credit Card Specials by Category

Updated credit card specials by category:
(1) Frequent Flyer Cards
Capital One Bank’s No Hassle Premium Rewards Card allows cardholders to earn 1.25 airline frequent flyer miles for every dollar spent on purchases. Unlike other mileage cards, this card does not limit which airline’s frequent flyer program the miles can be credited towards. The APR on this [...]

The 40-year and 50-year Mortgage Ripoff

The increase in mortgage rates over the last couple of years has led to a new level of desperation in mortgage lenders in placing homeowners into mortgages they may or may not be able to afford. One of the hybrid mortgages created in the last couple of years is the advent of the 40-year and [...]

Global Interest Rates Increasing

Central banks across the world have reacted this July by increasing their benchmark lending rates in an effort to control domestic inflation. Included in the list of central banks to recently intervene with rate increases were (1) The Bank of Canada who increased their overnight lending rate to 4.25% and (2) The People’s Bank of [...]

5.75% Money Market rate from Evergreen Private Bank

Evergreen Private Bank (FDIC# 35230) based out of Oak Brook, Illinois is promoting their new Cornerstone Deposit program with the following benefits and features for checking, money market, and CD accounts:
* A free ipod Nano or a $200 credit to your account for new customers who open a new checking account with direct deposit, offer [...]

iGObanking.com’s Online Rate Specials

iGObanking.com is the online division of Flushing Savings Bank FSB (FDIC# 16049) located out of New York City, New York. Flushing Savings Bank has over 1.6 billion in deposits and a 80-year banking history in New York.
iGObanking.com is offering a 5.30% APY (annual percentage yield) savings account with no fees and no minimums in addition [...]

Money Funds to the Rescue

Money funds are mutual funds which invest in short-term debt instruments. So short that the average maturity of the holdings in the average money fund is 90 days or less. The short average weighted maturity of the funds has allowed them to historically maintain a net asset value of $1.00 and the distinction of being [...]