so far the best step i have taken towards financial fitness is joining mint. great job!

A huge prioroty for anyone just getting their hou$e in order is BUILD YOUR CASH-ON-HAND. Your cash account is like the springs on your car: it keeps you from breaking an axle, and it keeps the rubber on the road.

Have to raid your little brokerage account? Not only have you had to make an untimely sale, but you also blew the fees and commissions out the window. No cash in the kitty? Then how are you going to buy that half-price Camry at the estate sale? That lost opportunity will cost you years to recoup. Money is more than math! Practical concerns can blow away technical gains. (When you are a zillionaire, you’ll have to worry less about this, but remember Warren Buffett keeps huge amounts of cash reserves for these same reasons.)

We are brutal on this point that our clients must have 3 months gross pay on hand before funding brokerage, and 6 months before IRA’s. Do we care that they earn no interest on that money (or that we earn no commissions?) NO!

A car without springs is headed for a breakdown, and a household without cash is in that same peril. I know we feel like we are in a hurry to make gains, but haste just means that more likely than not you’ll find yourself back at the starting line over and over, wondering what went wrong. And the answer is: cash flow!

This is seldom true for people who have consistently contributed to these accounts. In our practice we are continually seeing people who have too much of their assets in qualified accounts. The result: they cannot retire before age 59.5 without paying penalties, and they get murdered by taxes when RMD’s kick in at age 70.5. And our clients are not uber-rich, about half have household incomes of under $100,000 (in current dollars.)

Take the time to seek the advice of a professional who actually understands the rules and math of cash-flow management before you put your money in the penalty-box with an investment advisor, or start dumping 20% or your cash in to qualified accounts!

For example the article states that you can get a E*Trade Max-Rate Checking Account at 2.9% APY, HSBC Online Payment Account at 2.25% APY, and E*Trade Max-Rate Savings at 3.3% APY.

Directly from each of the companies’ websites, the actual APYs are listed as… E*Trade Max-Rate Checking Account at .40% APY, HSBC Online Payment Account at 0.85% APY , and .60% APY for the E*Trade “Complete Savings Account” (I couldn’t find anything called the Max-Rate Savings account on the E*Trade website).

Am I missing something or is the APY information in the article completely incorrect for the items listed above?

Just joined and have to say: really great product all round. Finally a simple but effective way of keeping track of my accounts.

One suggestion that I think would be effective in helping financial noobs like myself get excited about personal financial responsibility: have a more flexible budget setting system. A fun solution would be a daily goal tacker, similar to the monthly goal target-tracker you already provide. Broken down at this level, it would allow one to more clearly visualize and eliminate costly daily habits (buying coffee, etc).

Best wishes!

I’m a member of a credit union based out of Palo Alto called Addison Avenue. It was originally set up for employees of Hewlett-Packard, but I believe is now open to the public even if you don’t have an affiliation (call them to confirm).

Anyway, they have a great account called “Dividends Rewards Checking” that can be used as both a combined checking/savings account. You have to make 12 debit card purchases a month and receive email statement but the interest rate is amazing!! 3.51% APY.

https://addisonavenue.com/checking/