Save your Money with ING Direct
You need money.
I know you’re not going to argue with me on this one. We all need money, whether to survive from day to day or to buy the extra things we really want. Whether it’s merely a desire or a true need, we still need to pay for it.
How do you get money?
This shouldn’t be too difficult to answer. You get a job, you start a business, or you ask someone if you can have some of their money. These are easy to come up with, but they come with a cost. Each of these ideas requires effort, some more than others. Sure, asking your friends for money might not be a lot of effort, but more than likely, you’ll need to pay it back which will require getting a job, or starting a business.
How do you make money without any effort?
The easiest way to make money without any effort is to save your money in a high interest savings account. You simply take the money you already have, put it aside, and let it earn you money.
That’s it.
Really? Yes, you take the extra money you don’t need at the moment, set it aside in a high interest savings account and let it earn interest. Interest earned is free money for you. You didn’t work for it, you didn’t have to start a business to earn it, and you didn’t borrow it from a friend.
What banks have high interest savings accounts?
Online savings banks will earn you the most interest. Your local savings bank down the street has a savings account available to you, but they will only offer as little as a .5% interest rate on your money. This means that if you leave $1,000 in your account for an entire year, you will only earn $5. That hardly seems worth it.
Now let’s say you put that same amount of money into an ING Direct Savings Account. Currently, ING Direct offers an interest rate of 3%. If you put $1,000 in your ING Direct Savings Account for 1 year, you will get $30. How does that sound?
Okay, that’s still not that much, but it’s six times what you’d make in your regular savings account and 30 times what you’d make if it was sitting in a can on your desk. Also, that’s only with $1,000. If you had $2,000, you would double that or if you had $5,000, you would have $150. That is an effortless $150.
No effort at all?
Well, I have to be honest, there is a little effort. You have to put in the effort to save the money. If you sign up for an ING Direct Savings Account and put $5 into an ING Direct Savings Account you will not make money, only about 15 cents per year.
It is important to save money. If you have an emergency where you need money quickly or lose your job and you have no savings, what do you do? One of the best things you can do for yourself is to set up an emergency fund. Set aside a little bit of money every day to put towards an emergency fund until you’ve saved approximately 3 to 6 months worth of living expenses.
Of course this doesn’t mean you should stop once you’ve saved this money. Continue Saving and Investing Money. While your at it, you should teach your kids about money, too.
Why should I use the ING Direct Savings Account?
ING Direct always boasts one of the highest interest rates around. They are completely online so you don’t have to drive to the bank just for an easy transfer. All you have to do is sign up and connect your checking account to your online savings account. You can even have money automatically transferred from your checking account on a regular basis so that you don’t forget to save. It’s like treating it as another bill, but instead you are keeping your money and making more.
One of the best aspects of ING Direct is that it is completely free to use. You don’t have to pay any fees whatsoever. You just deposit and withdrawal your money as necessary. It usually takes 2 to 3 days to transfer, and then you have your money. You can even set up multiple accounts all together. This means, you can have an emergency fund account, a Christmas gift account, vacation account, etc.
ING Direct is FDIC insured for up to $100,000. This means if the bank disappears for some reason and you had $100,000 or less in your account, they have to give that back. ING Direct has been around for a while, so I don’t see this as being an issue, but you can feel safe that your money is insured by the government.
How can they have such high interest rates?
ING Direct is an online bank which adds to your convenience. You can easily transfer money from your checking account to your savings account right at your computer. Because you aren’t going into a physical bank and dealing with a teller, ING saves money. They save a lot of money that other traditional banks have to spend by having few costs including buildings, tellers, etc.
The money they save they pass on to you through a higher interest rate. A bank works by lending the money you give them to others for loans. Those that are loaned the money pay interest to the bank and the bank pays a small percentage to you. ING Direct has very few costs, so they are able to give you a much higher interest rate.
What do you have to lose?
Absolutely nothing! Unless, of course, you decide not to sign up and lose out on a high interest rate and the opportunity to have your money make you money!
Sign up Today!
Open a savings account in under five minutes with no fees, no minimums and FDIC insurance
Want to earn high interest on your checking account, too? Check out ING Direct’s Orange Electric Checking Account.
ING Direct has many more products to offer in addition to their high interest savings account. Learn more about their CDs, mutual funds, and more.