After looking into this a little deeper, I also noticed that their commisions on options is great since they don’t charge you per contract. Most brokerages charge you a trade commission as well as a per contract fee. If you are a big options trader this could add up to huge cost savings.

OptionsHouse Brokerage does not charge any monthly maintenance fees or has any minimum balance to worry about. They even will reimburse you up to $100 on transfer fees when you transfer your account from another brokerage to OptionsHouse.

OptionsHouse is a member of SIPC, which will cover customers of its members up to $500,000 of which $100,000 can be cash. Also they maintain SIPC Insurance over all customer accounts, so you can be sure your money is safe with them.

I don’t not have an account with these guys, but will be openeing one shortly. I will post about the process once I have a chance to sign up. If you are a beginning trader and don’t have a lot of money to invest, OptionsHouse brokerage may be  a good fit, with no fees and lower commissions it will allow you to invest more money with a lower overall cost.

Check out OptionsHouse’s Web Site for more details.

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TDAmeritrade is having a promo where you can get a $100 bonus and 500 free trades in the first 30 days when opening a new account.

You must open a new account by September 30th, 2009 and fund it with at least $25,000 within the first 30 days of opening the account.

The $500 in free trades need to be executed within the first 30 days of account opening. How this works is that any trades that you make during that time will be free as a credit to your account.

You must keep this account open for 9 months if you receive the $100 bonus or the credit for the free trades.

There are no details on when the $100 bonus will be deposited, however TDAmeritrade bonuses are usually paid out pretty quickly.

Check out the Offer Page for more information.

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This card is good for long term use if you buy a lot of Sony items. If you don’t, you may just consider signing up for the $150 bonus and keep the card for emergencies. For a long term rewards card, check out my Chase Freedom Rewards Visa post

Here is the earnings breakdown:

• Earn 5 points per dolar at Sony Style Stores, SonyStyle.com and ImageStation.com
• Earn 3 points per dollar spent on Sony Products at authorized Sony retailers
• Earn 1 point per dollar everywhere else

What you need to do: Sign up for the Sony Visa Card
Obligation: None
Initial Reward (if any): $150 after first purchase made at SonyStyle.com
Money to get started: $299
Things to Note: There will be hard credit inquiry applied to your credit report when applying for the card

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For many years, the limit was $100,000 per account, until the emergency limit raising to $250,000 until the end of this year was done to help the bank crisis situation. Well it looks like they have decided to keep it at that level until the end of 2013.

Per the FDIC Fact Sheet it says “On January 1, 2014, the standard insurance amount will return to $100,000 per depositor for all account categories except IRAs and other certain retirement accounts, which will remain at $250,000 per depositor.” My thoughts on this is that it will be very hard for them in 2013 to lower it since everyone will be acustomed to it that have that kind of money. Now as for all of those that don’t have anywhere near that amount in the bank, me included, you probably don’t really care about this. The only nice thing about it is that this will allow rich people to keep their money in the bank, which should hopefully solve this bank failure issue.

If you have even more than $250,000 and you don’t want to give me any, there are ways to be insured on more than $250,000 in the same account depending on how you set it up. You can always open an account at another bank which would also allow you to insure up to another $250,000.

Here’s to having that kind of money some day!

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Ally Bank’s High Yield Savings currently offers 2.00% APY for any balance in the account. There is no minimum balance or any fees associated with this account. Ally Bank has a very fast ACH transfer system which allows you to link your checking account to your Ally savings account to move money in and out quickly and easily. You can link multiple accounts. I am not sure if there is a max, but I have 5 different bank accounts linked at the moment. The transfer feature also allows you to set up automated withdrawals to your account which makes saving over time easy. You can also open multiple savings account so that you can keep your savings separate. I currently have 3 open. One holds my savings, one holds the savings for my property taxes and the third holds my vacation fund. I have all three accounts automatically deduct money from my checking account each month.

One thing to note that since the High Yield Savings is a savings account, you are limited to 6 withdrawls per month which is based on a federal law governing savings accounts. Deposits are unlimited.

You can compare Ally bank to the likes of ING Direct. It has all the same features but compared to the 1.5% rate they ING is offering, Ally Bank is definitely the clear winner. Ally Bank deposits are FDIC insured up to $250,000 per account, so you can feel safe in the fact that your money is protected.

Ally Bank also has other high yield products. They have a money market product which allows check writing and has a debit card with ATM rebates. The current rate on this account is 1.85% APY. This account is great if you want access to your savings via writing a check or going to an ATM. The money market account has no fees as well, you just need to make sure you stay under the 6 withdrawals per month.

They also offer an extremely high one year CD Rate of 2.30%. Again, no fees and no cost to open.

So you can see with banks dropping interest rates everyday, Ally Bank has an impressive suite of products that can help your savings grow. Definitely take a look if you are earning a mediocre rate at your current bank!

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Citibank has a new card out called the Citi Forward Card. They are advertising this card as the “get rewarded for good credit credit card”. When you make a purchase, stay under your credit limit, and pay on time for three consecutive billing cycles, they reduce your APR. The small print reads that you can get this reduction 8 times or a max of up to a 2% reduction in your APR throughout the time your account is open with them. If you tend to carry a balance, this may be attractive to you.

For the rest of us, what is attractive, is that they are giving 11,000 Citi Thank You points when you apply for the card and sign up for paperless statements within 3 months of openening the account. These points can be redeemed for a $100 gift card for various retailers in the Citi Thank You Network.

You also receive 5 reward points for every $1 you spend on books, movies, music and at restaurants. 1 reward point for every $1 you spend on other purchases. So what is great about this card is that you are now getting 5% back from Amazon.com since they are labeled as a “book store”. In addition you earn 100 points each billing period when you pay on time and stay under your credit line.

There is no annual fee for this card and they are offering a 0% APR for 6 months on purchases and balance transfers. Keep in mind that Citibank charges fees for balance transfers, so the 0% on purchases is a better deal here.

The Citi Forward Card seems like a decent reward card especially if you pay your bills on time. It is definetly worth a look if you are wanting a new credit card. See more details here.

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First things first, don’t cash it out. Many people think “well it’s only a small amount, that money isn’t going to do wonders for me in retirement.” Well you are wrong that balance invested in the long term will grow more than you can imagine. Plus with the tax penalties you are hit with when you withdrawl that money makes cashing out of your 401k not a smart idea.

You have a few options, you can either leave the 401k intact with the company you are leaving and let them manage it still, or you can performa 401k rollover to an IRA.

I prefer the 401k rollover since leaving the 401k in your old company could be problematic if that company ever faces financial issues. If they ever had to declare bankrupcy, your 401k could be tied up for months and even years while the bankrupcy completes. Sometimes you even lose access to manage it, so if you were invested in risky stocks and then the market starts to crash, you could be in trouble if bankrupcy has frozen your account.

Rolling over your 401k to an IRA will allow you to have full control of your money and allows you to have it all in once place, rather than having to manage old 401ks at other companies. Most large brokerages now offer fee free IRA’s that you can sign up for.

Ultimately the choice is up to you, but I’ve had a 401k tied up in a company bankrupcy and I have made the decision that evertime I move to a different job, the first thing I do is to get that 401k rolled into an IRA!

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Another way to get some fast cash is to use a credit card. Many credit cards give you 0% on purchases for 12 months, so that will get you a quick 0% loan for a year. That can definetly help out if money is tight. Here is a great site that has some top credit card offers.

As more and more employers continue to lay off people those people will spend less causing other companies to make less money which in turn causes more layoffs. It is a vicious circle that doesn’t stop until those same companies began profitable and can start expanding again. This is just the way the economy works, either it goes up or goes down, but rarely stays stagnant.

My advice to all is that if you have extra money save it. Try to avoid the urge to spend it. Even though the government has a responsibility to make people feel secure, no one truly knows what things will look like in the next few months and having some extra cash on hand be it from a loan or credit card can truly help you be prepared.

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If the gift card is a Visa, Mastercard, Discover or American Express card then this makes things easy. If you have a cell phone or other utility bill just pay your bill online with the total amount on the card. Most utility providers allow you to have a credit balance, so overpaying your bill shouldn’t be an issue.

If the gift card is from a certain store than this can make things a bit tougher. You can try to sell the gift card online via eBay however you most likely you will sell it for less that what it is worth. I usually use eBay as a last resort. I will usually try to sell it to a friend or family member for face value. Another thing I will try is to go to the store and try to sell it to someone in the checkout line. Since they are going to pay for their items anyway many people will just give you cash for the card. This is a bit tougher though since many might think you are trying to scam them.

I have always treated gift cards like cash. I mean lets be honest, the real reason companies offer gift cards in the first place is that they know a certain percentage of then never get redeemed. So it is free money to them. When you receive a gift card do what you can to get that balance to zero right away to avoid losing its value!

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PNC, who recently acquired National City, is having a promo where you can get $75 when opening a new checking account. You must open a new checking account by May 9th, 2009, which can be opened online. Their free checking accounts qualify for this promotion, but be sure to establish direct deposit to be eligible for the $75 bonus,

Their site defines a “direct deposit” as a direct deposit of a paycheck, pension, Social Security or other regular monthly income electronically deposited into checking account. Minimum amount of any single Direct Deposit must be at least $500. The Direct Deposits must be made by an employer or an outside agency.

The direct deposit must be at least $500. The payout of $75 will be credited to the eligible account within 7 days of the first Direct Deposit, which must occur before 6/30/2009

PNC Checking Account Features:

• Free transactions at any PNC Bank ATM.
• Non-PNC ATM fees reimbursed with a $2,000 average monthly balance²
• No minimum balance requirement and no monthly service charge
• Earn rewards with your enrolled PNC Bank Visa Check Card when you make a qualifying purchase
• Free Online Banking and Bill Pay

Check out the promo page for more details.

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