Where to put your money

Washington Mutual is now a part of JP Morgan Chase.

Wachovia is now Citibank.

These past few days have seen a big shakeup at the banks. I have a personal account at Chase and a joint account at WAMU. Now I guess they're all going to be the same. I suppose that it's a good thing that I don't have to worry too much about being over the $100,000 FDIC insurance limit!

So where do you put your money? You want it to be safe but you also want to make more interest than stuffing it in your mattress.

A couple of years ago, I found ING DIRECT. It's an online bank and its interest rates were attractive. I was skeptical at first, it being online and all, but then I realized that I don't really go to the bank that often anyway. What's the difference really between an online account and using the ATM all the time?

There are some drawbacks, of course, there almost always are. Deposits are on hold for a short time (5 days I believe) and you have to have a checking account at a brick & mortar bank to link to in order to transfer in and out of an Orange Savings Account. The transfers can take up to 3 days but in my Chase linked account, I almost never not see it in my account the next business day.

I admit it, I bought into initially because they were offering a $50 bonus for depositing $250. But I've come to love this bank for many reasons.

1) No fees, minimums, liquidity of cash, etc.

2) Interest rate is pretty decent for a savings account, 3% APY as of this writing.

3) Access is limited, albeit not much.

#3 is important to me because I use the account as my rainy day, emergency fund and you never want too much access to that. The cash is totally liquid so I don't have to worry about breaking a CD and paying penalties. And the interest rate is comparable to most CDs these days.

ING DIRECT offers more than just a savings account. They offer CDs, an electronic checking account (Electric Orange) and a variety of other products you'd find at a bank. It's fully FDIC insured so your money is as safe there as it is anywhere. 

Check it out. Email me if you want a referral to get a bonus (get a $25 bonus when you make an initial deposit of $250) or you can open an account with as little as you want.

So go ahead, get that emergency account started.