February 2019 Goals Outcome....At Last!

I know it's waaaay late but life and then a vacation got in the way of getting this done. lolz
Here's how I did on the February Goals.......if anyone cares.........

* Pay Bills  DONE  Everything got paid and early or on time.
Go me. 8-)

* Read 1, 2 Books  DONE  I read this book........

"Depression Era Wisdom-Simple Ways to Stretch Your Dollars" by Mary Wynn Ryan

This book was pretty much a waste of my time since most of what's in here I practice or know about already.  It's a good thing it was a thin volume! lolz
Anyway, there are some good tips in here and if someone doesn't already practice frugality or is young this would be worth reading(but I wouldn't buy it, find one in your library).

And this one............

"Race to the Top of the World: Richard Byrd and the First Flight to the North Pole" by Sheldon Bart.

Given that Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd is my cousin(12th cousin 2 x removed to be exact), and that Hubs gifted me this book for Christmas, I needed to read it.
This was a very interesting read, covering only a portion(but a large portion)of Byrd's adventures/explorations.  Luck was truly with him as he avoided some lethal voyages and choices during this exciting time of world exploration.  I had no idea that the 1910's through 1930's was such a hotbed of global adventure and many nations racing around to be the first to get to/claim somewhere or other!
This book only touches  briefly on the whole controversy about who was first and if Byrd and Bennett actually arrived at the true North Pole....that would need another book to expand upon that whole issue. lolz

Richard Byrd led quite the exciting life and in hindsight turned out to be of sterner character than others of his era/ilk(Yeah, I'm looking at you Charles Lindbergh!).
It took this reader a lot of time to slog through this large volume but it was worth my time.
If you enjoy biography, history and Polar exploration, read this one.
Two thumbs up!


* Hold Giveaway  DONE

*  Mail Giveaway  DONE  Mailed and received promptly.

*  Plan Winter Holiday  DONE  Finally got the last of it planned and we are back already. lolz

* Do Taxes and File Them  DONE  Hubs has taken over doing the taxes since retiring.  This year our taxes were not complicated(except for the house sale in LA)so we didn't have to pay for TurboTax or any other software purchase to complete and send them in.  He was able to file electronically for free the federal taxes and we expect a refund.  We had to file state taxes in PA and LA(crooks!)and I had to write two checks to cover what we owe to those states.
I got Hubs the info. I needed to and he sat on it all for what seemed like ages before starting them.  With me, I gather the info and "get 'er done"!  With him, it's a "process" and takes him weeks.  sigh  But it's done now.

*  Pack for Trip  DONE  Packing was tricky in terms of weather and what was forecast so I really over packed so I didn't run out of appropriate clothing or have to do laundry or wash things out in the sink.  I packed up some goodies to take to certain folks early and had that finished well before Feb. was over.

*  Open Ally Account  DONE  I finally got around to opening up an account with Ally Bank.  I moved some cash there and plan to set up a CD in March as they have the highest rates at the current time.

*  Cash in CD  DONE  Our CD at Capital One matured toward the end of February and instead of rolling it over we cashed it out so as to move it to Ally once the cash hit our B&M bank.  I also finally but Hubs on the accounts there.  When they were set up years ago I put them in just my name and man!, was it a big old PITA to get him on those accounts now.  He had to set up a checking/debit account in his name since he didn't have a CapOne account of any kind.  Then it was a couple of phone calls to them to get him put on those accounts. Geesh!

*  Open new CD  FAIL  Didn't happen in February due to the $$ moving into our B&M bank.  The timing didn't work out to get this done before the end of the month but it happened early March.

Not a lot of my list for February but most of it got done.


Sluggy

Oh the Joys of Banking!

Oh Lucky Me!

Hubby & I had a CD that matured on Monday.  So I got to spend this morning doing 'banking stuff'.
First I got to get the NEW RATE we would be earning if we kept our money in that CD and rolled it over.
The new rate?.....is even more of the joke than the rate we had.
The rate WAS 4.07%.
The new rate?....  .55%
Yep...that's actual AND annual yield.

After I finishing rolling on the floor laughing over that one I told the gal, "Thanks but no thanks!" 
We'll be moving the money this week.

Then I got to research current rates of financial products(cds & savings accounts) at other banks.
Before anyone writes about putting my money into riskier products(stocks, mutual funds, etc.)let me state that we do have money in other types of products that have more risk.  This pool of money needs to stay in safer instruments. ;-)

For the most part, I don't feel very comfortable putting this stash of cash into remote(not local)banking institutions.  I had a bad bad experience with this $ before in a WaMu CD. If you live out west, you can easily deal with them locally but we are in PA so not so easy to drop by a local branch.
For some weird reason I could NOT access the account via internet and none of the emails they SAY they sent me concerning the account showed up in my email program.  So anytime I had to conduct business with WaMu I had to call them....which was it's own special form of torture.  The day that CD came due was the same day last year that WaMu went belly up!  Gee, I wonder why they went belly up?lolol
You KNOW I yanked that money out so fast it made MY head spin!

The only online type bank I have had any luck with is ING DIRECT.  I've had some form of financial product or another with them for the last 3 yrs.  I have had NO PROBLEMS with them.
Ever.

So after finding all the local bank CD rates....which were all big JOKES at that....I am going to stash this cash into an ING Direct account.  Heck, if I put it into a regular Savings Account over there it is more than DOUBLED what every local bank here was offering for a CD RATE!
If I don't need the liquidity of a Savings Acct. I can drop it into a CD at ING instead and that would be FOUR TIMES the local Banks' CD Rates!!

I thought last fall's rates were bad.  If those rates were bad, the rates this fall are Abyssmal.   
And the rates may get even worse before they get better.

On the bright side, our small stock portfolio has rebounded some and we are almost back at the level we were at last fall.  We may get to retire yet......in about 30 yrs. or so.lolol

So I'm off to ING DIRECT to set a CD up.

They have a special deal going if you are in the market for a Savings Account or something they call "Electric Orange"...it's like a Checking Account but you need to deposit $50K or more to get a good rate on your money.
Anyway, go open an account there using a Referral Link I can send you and you get a FREE $25 in your account!  Oh, and I get a FREE $10 for referring you. ;-)
The only stipulation besides having to use the link is you have to put a minimum of $250 into the account and you have to be a New ING Customer.
Go check them out...ING DIRECT .

Just send me an email at slugmama@yahoo dotcom if you want a referral.

Free Money?
Yah...I am all over that!

Sluggy