Tacky

This may seem tacky. But since none of you will feel obligated or pressured (I HOPE), I thought I'd pass on this info. I've recently got some questions from friends about budgeting, saving and investing. By NO means am I an expert. And I am very conservative and not risky at all with finances, but I want to feel like I'm doing something rather than nothing. My main goal is to continually keep an emergency fund and savings account without spending it all. :) So years ago, I set up a savings account with ING Direct. (Brandon would say I have a small obsession with them and I should probably work for them.) And many of you probably already have an account with them - it's not anything new. It's an external savings account that is linked to your personal bank account that allows transfers between the two. It has a higher interest rate than other banks because they do not have branches, but do the majority of their business online so it avoids all those costs. Anyway, it is FDIC insured (safe) and it takes two business days to transfer between the accounts, so it is pretty liquid in case an emergency comes up. There aren't any minimum requirements, they just ask that you have an monthly, automatic transfer to the ING account (can be very small). They also have CD's and a free checking account and stuff like that. The reason I wanted to spread the word is that I feel like it has helped me save money (maybe because it's 2 business days away and 'out of sight, out of mind') and it makes me feel like I'm doing something - although it's small.

If you want a referral, then I can send you a link and you'd get $25. Here's the TACKY part in *full disclosure* that I would also get something ($20 thru the end of March and $10 after that). Search it out for yourself and if it's something that would sounds good to you, then sign up, with or without the referral reward - whatever you feel comfortable with. This is where I really hope you would NOT feel obligated or pressured. You don't even need to leave a comment, just send me an email if you think you'd be interested or have any questions.

p.s. For budgeting, I'm using "pear budget" which is a free excel spreadsheet I googled online, but you need to find one that works for your family. And I think I'm almost to the point where I'm going to buy Quicken - it's a fantastic program, I've just been too cheap to buy it myself.

p.s. I promise no more sales-pitchy-like posts for a long time! And I still have to make up for that lame watch giveaway (Ashley, hope you received it!?). I will make up for it really soon with a real giveaway, I promise!