Stop Milking Me! - Cow’s Journey To Financial Freedom

After being on the road and worked crazy hours for a few years, I finally had a break to chill out at my home office. So I dug out my insurance card and visited a dentist for the very first time in the past 2 years.

Turned out, my gums are all infected and I have lost some bone structures too. Too kill the infection quickly, I have to go through a couple of procedures to get treated with injected antibiotics. Since the insurance doesn’t cover very much for this kind of treatment, I am looking at &750 out of pocket payment. OUCH! Talking about another unexpected expense.

Well, it is actually part of my fault. According to this article and of course, my dentist, this disease can be prevented by just regularly flossing. Although I did a good job not having any cavity lately by brushing my teeth regularly and using mouthwash daily, I am a floss lazy ass. So here I am, a $750 bill + funny looking mouth for many days as the penalty for not flossing regularly.

So do yourself a favor - hit nearby Wal-Mart and get a few flosses. That could save you a lot of money and headache. As a bonus, you will have a full mouth of healthy teeth!

In my attempt to take advantage of HSBCDirect’s 4.8% interest rate, I hurried up and put my application in. After going through a length application form (although you do get to do it online), I set up a savings account with them and thought it was all good to go. Not until I was ready to wire in some more money that I found out HSBCDirect doesn’t really naturally link to other checking account. You need a separate pin number in addition to your online password and account number. Not to mention both of these numbers will only arrive via mail. The worst part is that you will have to deal with their banking branch to set up your second pin. And who knows what process I have to deal with after getting a gazillions different pins and ids. I start to scratch my head… Where is this “Direct” part of the “online” banking? I know I am done with HSBC. It’s way too complicated for my little cow brain to handle.

ING Direct, on the other hand, is designed to deal with online transactions without local branches. I am really a big fan of ING. By the way, they just raised the rate to 4%, although it does mean that all of the loan rates are rising too.

I came across an article on USA Today about the rising high yield saving account rates. It looks like my beloved ING Direct isn’t paying the highest interest at all.

While ING Direct pays a handsome 3.8% with no fees, these banks pay far more in interests:
1. HSBC (Savings) : 4.8% www.hsbcdirect.com
2. GMAC Bank (Money Market) : 4.65% www.gmacbank.com
3. UmbrellaBank.com (Money Market) 4.61% www.umbrellabank.com
4. Virtual Bank (Money Market) 4.6% www.virtualbank.com
5. Heritage Bank (Money Market) 4.49% www.heritagebankna.com
6. EmigrantDirect (Savings) 4.25% www.emigrantdirect.com

But be careful of the promotional season. I just checked HSBC and it’s 4.8% only lasts until April 30. If you have some cash right now, it is a great time to lock in the great rates.

Fed is going to raise rates again later this month. It seems that the savings rates and CD rates will keep going up, so will the home equity line or any other loan rates. It’s really a great time to start saving and cut down on the usage of equity line. A lot of us (including my close friends) think that home equity line is a great source for crisis money. When it was 4% not long ago, it wasn’t a bad debt, however, as the rates are shooting through 8%, it gets quite expensive in case you need to borrow.

So, time to take a look at the budget pie and figure out how to save a few valuable dollars for the future.