a portfolio for managing your financial life online
Today’s post is from financial expert and Credit Karma CEO Ken Lin. Prior to Credit Karma, Ken built predictive targeting models based on credit data and profitability metrics for Partners First. At the time, Partners First was a top 25 Credit Issuer.
5 favorites – A Web portfolio for managing your financial life online
There are 5 financial pillars that consumers should manage – here’s a quick look at a portfolio of 5 Websites that are up to the task and should be bookmarked as Favorites now. In general, these sites are focused on free tools that allow for anyone to actively manage their financial lives online.
1- Manage your money at www.mint.com – After just a few minutes of set-up, you can access all of your accounts in one place through a single sign-on, track expenses and project your budgeting needs out into the future. Another good option is www.wasabi.com.
2- Manage your credit score at www.creditkarma.com – Credit Karma offers free, unlimited access to your credit score, and useful tools to manage it. Credit is a hugely important component in our lives, whether you’re a student or a homebuyer, your current credit can have effects for 2-7 years into the future. For a full, free credit report, visit annualcreditreport.com.
3- Manage your investments at www.finance.yahoo.com – Yahoo! Finance offers a free resource for managing all of your investments in a single place online. There are other brokerage-specific Websites where you can manage a portfolio of investments, such as www.fidelity.com.
4- Manage your taxes at www.turbotax.com – TurboTax allows users to manage their taxes year-round. It’s amazing what a benefit it can be to have a single place to capture and manage tax information, such as business expenses, IRA contributions and charitable donations, among many other events. Another good option is www.hrblock.com.
5- Manage your insurance at www.insurance.com – Car, health, home, and life insurance options can be vast and complex, so it’s one of the things that many of us put on the backburner. But we shouldn’t, as it’s one of the simplest things we as consumers can do to ensure our financial futures. An insurance company that will actually offer better quotes from its competitors: www.progressive.com.
If you treat each of these 5 pillars of your financial life as equally important, and find sites like those recommended above that allow you to actively manage them, you’ll begin to see improvements that are only achievable with a well-balanced approach. And your financial well-being will become more than just a sum of its 5 parts.
are ‘high yield’ savings accounts worth it?
Jim at Bargaineering had an insightful piece a few days ago: Your Best High Yield Savings Account? in which he pointed out that there’s not much difference between 1.5% and 2.05% when you think about it. We’ve had an account with HSBC for years (three, actually) and now that it’s fallen to a rate of 1.65% the incentive to invest more money in it has become much less. You could also argue – and I would – that 1.65% far exceeds the rate of return on our 0.00% checking account, so there’s no need to sneer at the rate of return, which is very competitive with the market.
It is ironic that at this moment, when all news stories seem to be indicating that Americans are returning to a culture of frugality and saving, that we have so few options for safe, healthy returns on our investments. I am sure if HSBC offered 7% returns many people – like me – would be pulling all of our money out of our brokerage accounts and stashing them there. They can’t offer rates like that, of course, but the truth is that people are anxious to save and someone will make the case to be safe enough and offer high enough returns to pull in those savers eventually.
Earn 1.65% APY* at www.hsbcdirect.com
photo credit: Unhindered by Talent
Do You Live in a Tax Procrastinating City?
TurboTax has tallied last-minute online tax filings to find out which cities across the country are the biggest tax procrastinators. Here is the list, as determined by the number of tax returns electronically filed online via the TurboTax Online service from April 13-April 17, 2008 (previous year ranking in parenthesis):
TOP 5 TAX PROCRASTINATING CITIES IN AMERICA
- San Francisco, Calif. – (#5) – The Golden Gate City takes the gold this year when it comes to tax procrastinators, moving up from number 5.
- Houston, Texas – (#3) – After being booted from the number 1 spot last year, which they have claimed more than any other city (three times), Houston barely misses out this year coming in at number 2.
- New York, N.Y. – (#2) – The “City that Never Sleeps” has made a habit of snoozing through tax season. Although it has dropped one spot to number 3, New York has made it onto the top 10 list the last eight years.
- Chicago, Ill. – (#1) – After taking the crown last year, the ìWindy Cityî drops to number 4 on the list.
- San Diego, Calif. – (#6) – The sun and sand are good distractions for San Diegans. Despite being home to TurboTax, San Diego manages to move up to number 5 this year.
Here are some last-minute tax tips for procrastinators:
- Even procrastinators have things they can do to save money on their taxes. Taxpayers have up until the April 15 deadline to contribute to an IRA.
- Don’t forget charitable contributions made in 2008. Even mileage to and from volunteering is deductible.
- Go online. Taxpayers can go online to prepare and e-file taxes up to the 11th hour at www.TurboTax.com– it’s fast, easy and convenient.
- E-file. Taxpayers can avoid the long lines at the post office and can get their refund back in as little as 8 days with direct deposit.
- Not going to make the April 15 deadline? File for an extension. Taxpayers will get an extra 6 months to file (to Oct. 15 2009). But remember…an extension to file is NOT an extension to pay taxes. If a taxpayer owes money, they will need to pay their tax bill by April 15, or face penalties. Taxpayers can file an extension for free at www.turbotax.com.
We’re in the midst of finishing ours, despite a couple of missing 1099s – but don’t put it off until April 14th to get started, whatever you do!
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