H&R Block At Home (formerly TaxCut)

Last week, I received a copy of H&R Block At Home (that is the new name for TaxCut) tax preparation software in the mail. I have noticed that if you register your copy of either TaxCut or TurboTax with the manufacturer, they will automatically send you a CD-ROM with their software for the following year. H&R Block did this again. If you get one of these package in the mail, don't be fooled into thinking that you are getting something for nothing. Usually, you aren't aware of the cost of the software until you insert the CD-ROM into your computer and read through the fine print. This time, H&R Block was a little more transparent about the pricing. It printed "Only $34.95" on the front of the DVD case that it came in. But, for most people the $34.95 version of the software will not be adequate for their needs. Expect to spend at least $45 if you plan on filing a state tax return.

The H&R Block At Home (formerly TaxCut) CD-ROM that I received in the mail did have a $10 rebate coupon for purchases from certain stores (specifically Amazon.com, Best Buy, Target, Office Depot, Microcenter, Staples, and Fry's Electronics). So, it usually ends up being cheaper for me to buy this tax software through a retail store rather than installing the version I received in the mail. In the past, I've noticed that some retailers offer a free movie DVD with purchase of Taxcut, so I will usually hold out until I see a similar deal.

As a side note, H&R Block used to offer a rebate for certain financial software (e.g., Microsoft Money) with the purchase of TaxCut. But, MS Money has been discontinued by Microsoft. The 2008 version (Microsoft Money Plus) was the last planned version of this financial software. (I might consider converting everything over to Intuit's Quicken in the future.)

As far as tax software is concerned, I have always used the Premium "desktop" version of the tax software, which includes the state version of the tax preparation software. This year it looks like H&R Block At Home has adopted the TurboTax naming calling their product "Deluxe" rather than Premium. An online version is available for both TurboTax and TaxCut, which I have not used. I also haven't tried using e-file yet, but I might consider it this year.

One last thing that I wanted to bring up is that TurboTax is offering to answer tax questions for free. Here is a link to the Intuit offer from TurboTax. My main criticism that I have about this offer is that it is only good until the end of January 2010. I would guess that the average person doesn't even get started with their taxes until February or March. By that time, they will be too late to take advantage of this free advice.

So, what tax software do you use?

Note to Commenters: If you represent a company such as Intuit, H&R Block, Microsoft, etc., please leave your contact information or send me an Email (my Email address is listed in the sidebar) to let me know that you left a comment. If I cannot determine that your comment is authentic, it will be deleted.

DC

Tax Questions Answered

It is that time of year again when you should start thinking about your 2009 taxes. I have been using computer tax software to prepare my taxes since 1996, and I plan to do so again this year. Once again, the two main contenders are TurboTax and H&R Block At Home (formerly known as TaxCut). I have not yet decided which of these software products I will use, although I have been using the H&R Block product for the last several years.

Anyway, the point of this post is to mention that TurboTax is once again offering to answer personal tax questions for free. They have IRS-Enrolled Agents and tax preparers available to help you with your tax question. To get started, you need to submit your question through their website: www.freetaxquestion.com. A tax advisor will research your question and give you a phone call to discuss your tax issue. Questions about this offer should be directed to TurboTax; contact Alexandra Cuccias (Alexandra@outcastpr.com) with any questions.

There are a couple of catches to the offer. First, it appears you that can only submit a question between the hours of 8am and 5pm PST, Monday to Friday. Second, this free offer is only valid through January 31, 2010. So, you need to be organized enough to know what tax question you want to ask before then. My criticism here is that the average person doesn't even get started with their taxes until February or March. By that time, it will be too late to take advantage of this free service. After January 31, TurboTax will charge $23.95 for this advice. In the past, H&R Block had a similar free offer, but I have not heard if they will be offering that service again this tax year

Getting back to tax preparation software, I have usually chosen TaxCut because it is generally cheaper than TurboTax. Also, I have usually been able to get a free copy of Microsoft Money Deluxe with the purchase of TaxCut. However, MS Money has been discontinued by Microsoft, and H&R Block is no longer offering any free financial software with the purchase of their tax software. Some retailers are offering a free copy of Quicken Starter Edition 2010 with the purchase of TurboTax, but that version of Quicken would be too underpowered for my circumstances.

Note to Commenters: If you represent a company such as Intuit, H&R Block, Microsoft, etc., please leave your contact information or send me an Email (my Email address is listed in the sidebar) to let me know that you left a comment. If I cannot determine that your comment is authentic, it will be deleted.

DC

Money Market Rates 12/09

Here are the latest money market interest rates of the banks that I've been tracking on my blog. Note that these rates are sorted by APY, and represent institutions that I have accounts at, or have otherwise mentioned in my blog:

1.95% Shorebank Direct Online Savings
1.59% Ally Bank Online Savings
1.35% HSBCDirect Online Savings
1.30% ING Direct Orange Savings
1.15% Citibank Ultimate Money
1.15% Citibank Ultimate Savings
1.10% Umbrellabank Pot O' Gold Money Market
0.55% Western FCU Money Market
0.53% Chase Online Savings
0.50% E*TRADE Complete Savings
0.06% PayPal Money Market*

NOTES: *The PayPal Money Market fund is NOT FDIC insured.
Rates are believed to be accurate as of 12/3/09. I did not include banks that had special, or introductory rates in the list because they are not ongoing interest rates. I am also not including non-liquid accounts such as CD's in the list.

So, there is the latest list. Please let me know if you know of any higher interest rates.

DC

Trade Triangle: Merck (MRK)

A couple months ago, I wrote about making money by using a stock analysis service called MarketClub. This is part of a website called INO.com (pronounced "I know") where I can research stocks, futures, or forex products. I recently used their Trade Triangle analysis to help me decide on buying Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK).

Over the past several months, I have been looking for individual stocks that I can get back into. I used MarketClub to get an instant analysis of Merck, and the results are shown below.

This analysis shows that Merck is now in a strong uptrend, and that this is an ideal time to buy the stock. MarketClub's Smart Scan analysis calls this situation a "Trade Triangle" with a +100 being the highest possible score. This kind of technical analysis is great for trend traders who like the "red-light, green-light" simplicity of investing. So, I bought some shares of MRK based on this information.

With a very strong gain yesterday, I have already made more money on Merck than what a MarketClub subscription costs for one year. Note that Trade Triangles are strictly a technical analysis tool. I don't use the MarketClub analysis to tell me what to buy. I rely more on fundamental characteristics like Earnings Per Share (EPS) and PE ratios to decide on which stock to buy. But, I use MarketClub to tell me when to buy. I now have a stop order in place to help protect my gains.

Another comment that I have is that MarketClub does not require you to download and install any software. This is good because you can access your subscription from pretty much any computer. The downside is that your access speed will be limited by your Internet connection. In other words, MarketClub is not the fastest analysis tool that I've ever seen. But, it is pretty good considering that the software runs on their servers and not your computer.

You can subscribe to MarketClub for $150 per quarter or $449 for a year. You will have complete access to many of the investment tools available on INO.com. There is a 30-day risk-free trial period in which you can try them out. They will ask for a credit card when you sign up, but you have the right to cancel within the first 30 days and get all of your money back. So, what do you have to lose?



Another free tool that I utilize to help me keep on top of my portfolio is called Trend Analysis. Trend Analysis is a daily email analysis tool that gives me insight into exactly what my portfolio is doing. For investors who are following many stock symbols, MarketClub sends a daily Email for every symbol in your portfolio.

The links above takes you to a screen where you can get your first stock (future or option) symbol analyzed at no cost to you. After you sign up, you can easily add more symbols to get a daily update, which I find very helpful.

DC

Disclaimer: This material is for general information only. It is not intended as an offer to sell or buy, or as an endorsement, recommendation or sponsorship of any security or fund.

Countrywide SavingsLink Revisited

I first wrote about the Countrywide Bank SavingsLink account in 2007. This account offered interest rates as high as 5.5% at one point. It featured free online transfers between linked external bank accounts. Countrywide was acquired by Bank of America early last year, but the final merging of accounts was not completed until September 2009.

The SavingsLink account is no longer offered by Bank of America, and has been replaced by the "Growth Money Market Savings SL" account. According to my last statement, I am getting an APY of 1.23% in my account, but I think that the rate varies based on account balance. I was not able to find a rate sheet for this particular account on Bank of America's website.

Bank of America's Money Market Savings SL account does not have the same transfer features that the SavingsLink account did. The accounts that I had previously linked to my SavingsLink account were no longer available. When I try to transfer funds to or from Bank of America, it asks me to sign up for SafePass which applies an extra level of security (and complexity) to online transfers. SafePass requires a cell phone, and it will send a 6-digit, one-time passcode as a text message (regular text message fees will apply) to your mobile phone. If you don't have a cell phone, they can set you up with a standalone SafePass card for a one time fee of $19.99.

According to their service agreement, BofA charges a fee of $3 for each outbound transfer. There is no charge for inbound transfers. But there are transfer limits of $3,000 per day or $6,000 per month. I remember transferring as much as $25,000 at one time into my SavingsLink account.  I called Bank of America to ask a customer service representative about the reason for these limits, but I only got a vague explanation to the effect that certain customers may have higher limits depending depending on their relationship with the bank.

One other major change is that unlike Countrywide Bank, Bank of America has branches everywhere. Whereas physical deposits to Countrywide Bank had to be mailed to processing facility in Texas, you can make deposit to Bank of America at nearly any branch. At this point, I figure that if I need to transfer money in or out, it might be easier to just go to the branch.

I am no longer tracking the SavingsLink account in my regular money market rates posts because it is no longer available to new depositors.

DC

Annoying Phone Calls

I didn't sleep well last night. We received a couple of annoying phone calls that woke me up at around 3:30 am, and again at 5:30 am. My caller ID tells me that the caller's phone number is 408-651-8179, and it is identified as either "TOWER SOFT", "OUT OF AREA" OR "UNAVAILABLE". Searching the web, it seems like I am not the only person whose sleep was disturbed last night. See Caller Complaints, 800 Notes, and Who Calls Me? I found dozens of complaints from last night alone on these websites.

Like me, many of the recipients of these phone calls are on the Do-Not-Call Registry. In most cases the phone rings two or three times, but there is nobody on the other end when they answer. A phone call like that would be frustrating during the daytime, but it is highly abusive when they call and wake you up. What can you do about these types of annoying phone calls?

DC

Can An Established CD Interest Rate Be Reduced?

Can a bank reduce the interest rate of an established certificate of deposit (CD) account? I learned the hard way that the answer is YES. Let me be clear that I am not talking about a bank changing the interest rate at the CD maturity date, but actually lowering the rate during the original term of the CD. This happened to me, and it turns out to be all perfectly legal and approved by the FDIC.

Readers of my blog may remember that I wrote about receiving a free HDTV for opening a CD account at Irwin Union Bank. I deposited $20,000 into an 11-month CD with an interest rate of 1.96% in July. Then on September 18th, Irwin Union Bank was closed by the FDIC with its accounts and assets transferred to First Financial Bank. Subsequent to the Irwin Union Bank closing, the acquiring bank (First Financial) sent me a letter saying that my interest rate had been reduced to 1.5% for the remainder of my CD's term.

Does that seem right to you? On the FDIC webpage about the failed bank (Irwin Union Bank), there is a long-winded document called a Purchase and Assumption Agreement. Reading through the FDIC gobbledygook, I came upon this paragraph explaining how the assuming bank (First Financial) may change the interest rate on its CD acquired from Irwin Union Bank:

2.2 Interest on Deposit Liabilities. The Assuming Bank agrees that, from and after Bank Closing, it will accrue and pay interest on Deposit liabilities assumed pursuant to Section 2.1 at a rate(s) it shall determine; provided, that for non-transaction Deposit liabilities such rate(s) shall not be less than the lowest rate offered by the Assuming Bank to its depositors for non-transaction deposit accounts. The Assuming Bank shall permit each depositor to withdraw, without penalty for early withdrawal, all or any portion of such depositor's Deposit, whether or not the Assuming Bank elects to pay interest in accordance with any deposit agreement formerly existing between the Failed Bank and such depositor; and further provided, that if such Deposit has been pledged to secure an obligation of the depositor or other party, any withdrawal thereof shall be subject to the terms of the agreement governing such pledge. The Assuming Bank shall give notice to such depositors as provided in Section 5.3 of the rate(s) of interest which it has determined to pay and of such withdrawal rights.

I was following along up until the phrase "and further provided"... In any case, the net result of all this is that although I have not lost any principal or interest accrued before the failure of Irwin Union, the future interest rate has been reduced. The FDIC has also provided that a depositor could withdraw their funds without a penalty for early withdrawal. From my previous post, I mentioned that for the free TV offer, "The penalty for early withdrawal is substantial -- $500 plus 91 days of interest. That works out to about $600 if you need get your money out early."

I called my new bank, First Financial, to quiz them on this issue. They confirmed that my CD interest rate has been reduced, and that there would be no further reduction of the interest rate for the remainder of the term. And, I could withdraw my money anytime before maturity with no penalty. When I asked about the HDTV set, they said that there would be no penalty to keep that either.

So, what should I do? I could withdraw my money and keep the HDTV without penalty. That would work out to a pretty good equivalent interest rate. Or, I could keep my money in the CD account since 1.5% is still better than most money market or rates for a similar term CD nowadays.

What would you do in this situation?

DC

Money Market Rates 10/09

Here are the latest money market interest rates of the banks that I've been tracking on my blog. Note that these rates are sorted by APY, and represent institutions that I have accounts at, or have otherwise mentioned in my blog:

2.15% Shorebank Direct Online High-Yield Savings
1.75% Ally Bank Online Savings
1.35% HSBCDirect Online Savings
1.35% Umbrellabank Pot O' Gold Money Market
1.30% ING Direct Orange Savings
1.25% Citibank Ultimate Money
1.25% Citibank Ultimate Savings
0.75% Chase (formerly WaMu) Online Savings
0.65% Western FCU Money Market
0.60% E*TRADE Complete Savings
0.05% PayPal Money Market*

NOTES: *The PayPal Money Market fund is NOT FDIC insured.
Rates are believed to be accurate as of 9/30/09. I did not include banks that had special, or introductory rates in the list because they are not ongoing interest rates. I am also not including non-liquid accounts such as CD's in the list.

The SavingsLink account is no longer offered by Bank of America, and has been replaced by the Growth Money Market Saving account. Guaranty Bank has been closed by the FDIC, and was taken over by BBVA Compass. I will no longer be tracking these accounts here.

In my last update, I mentioned Irwin Union Bank which was offering a free 22" HD LCD TV or a Flip MinoHD Mini Camcorder to open a new bank account. Unfortunately, Irwin Union Bank has also been closed, and taken over by First Financial Bank.

So, there is the latest list. I intend to write a couple of follow up posts about the recent bank closing, and how changes may affect your accounts.

DC

Sponsored Post: CashNetUSA

While some consumers believe that payday lenders are evil, they fill an important niche that is not served by traditional banks. In an ideal society, everybody would be on top of their finances, and there wouldn't be a need for payday lenders. But reality is not consistent with this utopia, as the majority of us have gotten a little bit behind on bills at some point.

CashNetUSA offers cash advance loans that basically use your next paycheck as collateral. A payday loan is an option to consider if you find yourself in a short-term bind and in need of money. If, for example, your car breaks down or you encounter an unexpected expense, a payday loan could definitely assist you. Obtaining a payday loan is relatively easy. The online application takes only a few minutes to complete. According to CashNetUSA, most loans are generally approved within one day.

CashNetUSA's FAQ does a lot to explain the process of applying for a loan. A checking account and a steady job are the main prerequisites to apply. One must also be a US citizen or permanent resident that is at least 18 years old. To explain how the loan works, suppose you were to borrow $250 from the payday lender. The lender then transfers this money to your checking account, and expects to be repaid this amount plus a loan fee ($44.13 on a $250 loan) when you receive your next paycheck.

I would advise borrowers to read all of the disclosures on CashNetUSA's website before applying for a loan. Understand that, in some cases, the effective annual percentage rate (APR) on the loan can be the equivalent of several hundred percent. Payday loans are designed to help you through a short-term credit need and are not meant for long-term borrowing. If used correctly a payday loan can help tide you over to the next payday.

Celebrate Arts Month and Win Prizes

My readers know that my blog originates from Silicon Valley, California. However, I have not focused on posting about local events. Nevertheless, one of my local readers has asked me to mention an event celebrating the arts that will take place in Mountain View, California during the month of October that encourages people to participate in the arts. More information about this event is available at: Mountain View Celebrates the Arts in October.

What caught my eye is that there will be a free drawing for prizes with a total value of over $800, which will be awarded in November. In order to enter the contest, you need to fill out an "Arts Challenge" entry form (which will be available for download at the website), and return it by November 1. Mail-in entries are accepted.

Most of the prizes are provided by local, Silicon Valley organizations. The prizes that will be given away include:

• Three $75 gift certificates for classes or camps at the Community School of Music and Arts in the spring, summer or fall 2010
• Four vouchers for performances at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts (value of up to $50 each)
• Two tickets to QUADRE's Horns for the Holidays concert on Dec. 8, 2009 (value of $18 each)
• Four tickets to Talk Cinema in Palo Alto (value of $20 each)
• One voucher for a birthday party at Art-n-Fun in Los Altos (value of $156); will expire on December 15, 2010
• Five vouchers for an introductory clay/art class at Art-n-Fun in Los Altos (value of $26 each); will expire on December 15, 2010
• Tickets to a performance at Pear Avenue Theatre (value of up to $30 each)

In addition, the reader also mentioned that they may also be giving away free gift cards from Starbucks, which should be usable anywhere. In any case, it is worth downloading the entry form and entering for the price of a stamp. If you would like to publicize a local, Silicon Valley event or know of other special deals that readers might be interested in, please send me an Email message (my Email is in the sidebar) with the details.

DC

MarketClub Pays for Itself

A couple months ago, I mentioned that I signed up for a stock analysis service called MarketClub. This is part of a website called INO.com (pronounced "I know") where I can research stocks, futures, or forex products. I recently used their Trade Triangle analysis to help me decide on buying a stock.

The stock that I was interested in buying was Bare Escentuals (Nasdaq: BARE). Readers of this blog may remember that I first purchased shares of this stock during the Bare Escentuals IPO. I sold that stock a while ago. But with the stock market recovering, I have been looking for individual stocks that I can get back into. I used MarketClub to get an instant analysis, and the results are shown below.


This analysis shows that Bare Escentuals is now in a strong uptrend, and that this is an ideal time to buy the stock. This type of analysis is great for trend traders who like the "red-light, green-light" simplicity of investing. So, I bought some shares of BARE at $9.25 per share at the beginning of August. It recently closed above $11 a share.

Based on the number of shares that I purchased, I have already made more money that what the MarketClub subscription costs for one year. Note that Trade Triangles are strictly a technical analysis tool. I don't use the MarketClub analysis to tell me what to buy. I rely more on fundamental characteristics like Earnings Per Share (EPS) and PE ratios to decide on which stock to buy. But, I use MarketClub to tell me when to buy. I now have a stop order in place to help protect my gains.

Another comment that I have is that MarketClub does not require you to download and install any software. This is good because you can access your subscription from pretty much any computer. The downside is that your access speed will be limited by your Internet connection. In other words, MarketClub is not the fastest analysis tool that I've ever seen. But, it is pretty good considering that the software runs on their servers and not your computer.

You can subscribe to MarketClub for $150 per quarter or $449 for a year. You will have complete access to many of the investment tools available on INO.com. There is a 30-day risk-free trial period in which you can try them out. They will ask for a credit card when you sign up, but you have the right to cancel within the first 30 days and get all of your money back. So, what do you have to lose?



Another free tool that I utilize to help me keep on top of my portfolio is called Trend Analysis. Trend Analysis is a daily email analysis tool that gives me insight into exactly what my portfolio is doing. For investors who are following many stock symbols, MarketClub sends a daily Email for every symbol in your portfolio.

The links above takes you to a screen where you can get your first stock (future or option) symbol analyzed at no cost to you. After you sign up, you can easily add more symbols to get a daily update, which I find very helpful.

PF Stock

Disclaimer: This material is for general information only. It is not intended as an offer to sell or buy, or as an endorsement, recommendation or sponsorship of any security or fund.

Whoops!

That is a word that you never want to hear your doctor say... Well, I had a "whoops" moment last month when I accidentally overpaid my telephone bill -- to the tune of nearly $700. I pay most of my bills through my checking account online, and I must have somehow confused a credit card bill with the phone bill. It was a few days after the payment went through to the phone company that I realized my error.

This turned into a panic when I also realized that my credit card payment hadn't been made, and it was too late schedule another bill payment since the due date had passed. After a frantic call to the credit card company, I explained the situation to them. They agreed that I wouldn't be charged any late fee if I could make an over-the-phone payment that same day, which I did.

To make a long story short, the issue with the credit card was resolved without any problem. However, I still have over $600 in credit on my phone bill. I guess that I could request that they send a refund check for the overpaid amount, but I haven't decided what to do yet.

I guess that old age is catching up with me. Has anything like this ever happened to you?

DC

Update On My Free HDTV

Last month, I wrote a post about a bank offering a free HDTV or a mini Camcorder for opening a new CD account. Specifically, the offer was made by Irwin Union Bank to customers who open an 11-month CD with a minimum deposit of $20,000. After funding their account, a depositor would receive a Sharp or LG 22 inch HD LCD TV or a Flip MinoHD Mini Camcorder within 30 days. I took Irwin Union Bank up on their offer, and opened a new CD account. It has been about a month since I opened my account, and I just received my HDTV.

About a week ago, the bank sent me an Email that saying that the manufacturer had run out of 22" TV sets, and that I would receive a Toshiba model 22AV600U instead. The TV itself is the first HDTV that I've owned, and the picture is quite sharp compared to our old tube TVs. The new TV includes a built-in NTSC/ATSC/clear QAM tuner that can tune into both broadcast TV and cable. (It is an unadvertised fact that cable subscribers who have a clear QAM tuner can often receive unencrypted HD cable TV, without adding "digital" cable to their service.)

A new 22 inch TV set retails for about $250-300, so it is a generous gift considering how stingy banks are with interest rates these days. This offer was scheduled to end on August 31, but it seems that Irwin decided to end the promotion early, as I can no longer find the offer on their website. Readers who are still interested in the TV or Flip Mino might try calling the bank directly. It can't hurt to ask.

The bank informed me that they will report the value of the free gift ($280) to the IRS (on a 1099 form), so the "free" TV will probably end up costing around $100 in taxes. I thought that the days of banks offering a TV set to new customers was a thing of the past. Has anybody else taken Irwin Union Bank up on this offer? If so, could you share your experiences here?

DC

Net Worth Update

Readers keep coming back to PFStock to read my Net Worth Comparison post. Curiosity definitely gets the best of people -- wanting to assess how one is doing compared to others. Basically, people want answers to the question of "How am I doing versus other people my age with a similar income?"

In March 2008, PFStock asked the question: Are You Wealthy? This post examines a formula from the book The Millionaire Next Door. For your reference, the formula is repeated here:

Multiply your age times your realized pretax annual household income from all sources except inheritances. Divide by ten. This, less any inherited wealth, is what your net worth should be.

In addition to the Millionaire formula, I mentioned a couple of websites for readers to look at. CNN Money has a Net Worth Comparison Tool that asks you to enter your age and annual income. These numbers have changed since my original post. Since people are most interested in the "numbers", I've decided to reproduce the results here (with appropriate credit given to the information source: Nielsen Claritas).

Net Worth by Age (from CNN Money)

Age	Median Net Worth
younger than 25	$1,475
25-34	$8,525
35-44	$51,575
45-54	$98,350
55-64	$180,125
65 and older	$232,000

Net Worth by Income (from CNN Money)

Annual Income	Median Net Worth
less than $25k	$1,250
$25k-$49k	$34,375
$50k-$74k	$168,500
$75k-$124k	$301,475
$125k-$149k	$644,100
$150k and higher	$1,122,900

From these statistics, you can compare net worth for an average 30 year old, 40 year old, 50 year old, or whatever your age. The income ranges are fairly broad, but should also give you an idea of where you stand.

Note: Please also participate in the annual income poll in the sidebar of my blog. Your votes are kept anonymous. Comments to this post are welcome.

The other website that I mention as a data source is NetworthIQ. This site has compiled a set of Net Worth Statistics based on what its members have reported. This data was current as of 4/22/2009. In addition to age and yearly income, Networth IQ lets you compare net worth based on education, occupation, and state of residence. The age groups and income ranges are broken out in finer increments than the CNN Money data.

Net Worth by Age (from NetworthIQ)

Age	Median Net Worth
under 25	$9,660
25-29	$37,229
30-34	$136,629
35-39	$298,500
40-44	$491,100
45-49	$690,090
50-54	$702,552
55-59	$1,123,000
60-64	$507,000
65-69	$2,294,492
70 and over	$2,734,001

Net Worth by Income (from NetworthIQ)

Annual Income	Median Net Worth
$0 - $9,999	$1,830
$10,000 - $19,999	$839
$20,000 - $29,999	$1,808
$30,000 - $39,999	$3,582
$40,000 - $49,999	$22,211
$50,000 - $59,999	$32,461
$60,000 - $69,999	$50,177
$70,000 - $79,999	$96,520
$80,000 - $89,999	$113,100
$90,000 - $99,999	$176,548
$100,000 - $149,999	$267,042
$150,000 - $199,999	$513,000
$200,000 - $249,999	$549,446
$250,000 +	$1,035,000

There are a couple of peculiarities in the NetworthIQ data. Specifically, it appears that net worth goes down in the 60 to 64-year old age group. Also, net worth also seems to drop in the $10,000 to $29,999 income range. This non-monotonicity is probably due to the way that these data are reported.

Some would argue that the NetworthIQ data is not a good representation of the population as a whole. This is because the net worth people report is not audited, and you can see only what people choose to disclose. Arguably, there are those who may have overestimated the value of their home, cars, and personal property in order to inflate their net worth. But taken with a grain of salt, one can still find some usefulness in the numbers.

Even the detailed data from the last two information sources leave some questions in my mind. I have made the assumption that these data are meant to measure the net worth of American citizens. However, NetworthIQ also includes a significant number of profiles for residents of other countries, such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. It is also unclear if the reported networth is based on individual or household net worth? Obviously, per capita net worth would be lower than household net worth. Does anybody want to weigh in on these issues?

So there you have it: three ways that you can compare your net worth to others. So, how do you stand?

DC

Money Markets and a Free HDTV

In last month's update, I mentioned a "new" bank called Ally Bank, which offered the highest money market rate of 2.05% APY. Ally has dropped out of the lead, and now ShoreBank Direct is on top. Like I said, there is no telling how long a particular rate will last. Anyway, it is worthwhile to consider moving your money into banks at the top of the list, especially if you are willing to open a new account.

Without further ado, here are the latest interest rates. Note that the rates are sorted by APY, and represent institutions that I have accounts at, or have otherwise mentioned in my blog:

2.05% Shorebank Direct Online High-Yield Savings
1.85% Ally Bank Online Savings
1.55% HSBCDirect Online Savings
1.40% Bank of America SavingsLink**
1.40% ING Direct Orange Savings
1.35% Umbrellabank Pot O' Gold Money Market
1.30% Citibank Ultimate Money
1.30% Citibank Ultimate Savings
1.00% Guaranty Bank Gold Rewards Money Market
0.95% E*TRADE Complete Savings
0.75% Chase (formerly WaMu) Online Savings
0.65% Western FCU Money Market
0.08% PayPal Money Market*

*Note that the PayPal Money Market fund is NOT FDIC insured.
**SavingsLink account is no longer offered to new customers.
Rates are believed to be accurate as of 7/23/09. I did not include banks that had special, or introductory rates in the list because they are not ongoing interest rates. I am also not including non-liquid accounts such as CD's in the list.

I was surprised to come across a bank offering a free 22" HD LCD TV or a Flip MinoHD Mini Camcorder to open a new bank account. This offer is from Irwin Union Bank to customers who open an 11-month CD with a minimum deposit of $20,000. The offer is also available to depositors who open certain business checking and business money market accounts. For reference, a 22" HDTV retails for about $250-300, and the Flip MinoHD sells for a bit less than that, so it is quite a generous gift considering how stingy banks are with interest rates these days.

The CD rate is dependent on your particular area, but where I am it is a respectable 1.72% (APY) interest. Indeed, that is better than what most banks offer on CD terms of less than one year. There appear to be a couple of downsides to the offer. The penalty for early withdrawal is substantial -- $500 plus 91 days of interest. That works out to about $600 if you need get your money out early. The other negative is that the bank states that it will report the value of the free gift to the IRS (on a 1099 form), so the free TV or camcorder could end up costing around $100 depending on your tax bracket.

I thought that the days banks offering a TV set to new customers was definitely a thing of the past. I don't know much about Irwin Union Bank except that they are FDIC insured, and based in Indiana. If anybody has any dealings with Irwin Bank, could you share your experiences here?

DC