Personal Finance Blog By MoneyRates - May 2008

The US consumer has been hit in the pocketbook by sharp increases in food and energy prices causing concern over inflation in the economy. But, despite the continued run-up in commodity prices in oil, natural gas, corn, rice, and wheat, the general level of inflation in the US economy as reported has been moderate - percolating just above the Fed's target range for inflation (believed to be 1.5% to 2%). Economists are split in their forecast for the US economy with many forecasting an environment of inflation exceeding 4% as food and energy costs are absorbed, while others believe other factors will mitigate the inflationary effects of higher energy and food prices and keep inflation in the target range. Individual investors who are paying higher monthly bills for household costs and are worried about inflation spiking have available to them mutual funds which target meeting or exceeding the rate of inflation. These funds have garnered more attention from the financial media in the recent months and appear to be growing in assets based on the most recent reports from mutual fund companies. Two of the funds rated high by Morningstar are the Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securities Fund and the Harbor Real Return Fund. Details on the two funds are listed below:

Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securities Fund

Year-to-date Return: 3.61%
52-week Return: 11.54%
SEC Yield: 0.94%
Expense Ratio: 0.20%
Assets: $15 billion +
Average Duration of Portfolio Holdings: 7.7 years
Minimum Investment: $3,000
Minimum IRA Investment: $1,000
Information: Vanguard.com

Harbor Real Return Fund

Year-to-date Return: 3.93%
52-week Return: 12.54%
SEC Yield: 3.93%
Expense Ratio: 0.56%
Assets: $82 million+
Minimum Investment: $1,000
Minimum IRA Investment: $1,000
Information: Harborfund.com

Consumers wishing to hedge their portfolios against inflation have many more options than the two funds listed above, but the Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securities Fund and the Harbor Real Return have very low minimum investments making them more widely accessible than other inflation-linked investments.

ING Direct is laying the claim to "America's first paperless checking account". The Electric Orange Checking account is environment-friendly by eliminating all checks and account statements but has also been widely acclaimed for their online banking platform and the exceptional rates paid on deposits. The tiered rates have been as high as 5.30% on checking accounts earlier in 2007 and have consistently placed in the top twenty highest checking account rates posted on Money-Rates.com.

ING Direct Electric Orange Account Features:

* free ATM access at 32,000 locations

* electric checks - With the Electric Orange checking account, you can send money to an individuals’ bank account with Electric Checks for free. Simply enter the person's information, the details of the payment, and an email will be sent to the recipient. The person can click on the link within the email to go to a secure page to enter their account information and the money is transferred!

* no fee overdraft protection

* mastercard debit card convenience

* download account information into Quicken or Microsoft Money

the Electric Orange checking account pays interest at the following rates:

$0 - $49,999 1.75% APY
$50,000 - $99,999 3.20% APY
$100,000 or more 3.40% APY

Watch the latest (quite funny) ING Direct commercial below:

Contact ING Direct for more information on the Electric Orange checking account.

On May 9, 2008, ANB Financial, NA, Bentonville, Arkansas was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named Receiver. All insured deposit accounts have been transferred to Pulaski Bank and Trust Company, Little Rock, Arkansas and will be available immediately. In nearly every bank failure there are uninsured depositors who have to wait for the FDIC to sell off the assets of the failed bank before collecting back a percentage of their uninsured deposit. The FDIC has made available to consumers an interactive calculator which will clear up issues regarding business accounts, payable-on-death accounts, living trust accounts, and IRA accounts. The FDIC calculator can be found here.