- The Finance Gourmet

Marcus High Interest Savings Account Review

October 11, 2024 by Finance Gourmet

Update: As of January 2024, the current interest rate Marcus accounts is 4.50% Update: As of July 2024, the interest rate on the Marcus High-Yield Savings Account is 4.40%. Update: As of 10/11/24, the interest rate on Goldman Sach’s Marcus High-Yield online savings account is now 4.10% after recent rate cuts by the Fed. High Yield Savings Worth It Again After a few years decades of the Fed running along with near zero interest rates yielding high-yield savings account earning only a few cents more, online high yield savings accounts are back. With interest rates up over 3% for the first time in a long while, watching that monthly interest payment hit is a whole lot more fun now. As someone a little older and with more finance experience the return to 6% mortgages and savings accounts paying at least a few percentage points feels like normal. However, it’s been over 20 years since the Fed Funds rate was this high, so this might all be new to you if you are in your 30s, or younger. While the cost of your borrowing has gone up, whether it’s mortgages, credit cards, auto loans, or personal loans, taking out a loan …

CIT Bank High Yield Savings

June 4, 2023 by Finance Gourmet

Getting high interest rates from CIT Bank is not that hard, but as always, you want to be sure it is the right choice for your finances. High Interest Rates Online Savings As with most things these days, there is a way to get a better financial deal on your money if you find an online bank without the overhead of a local bank. We’ve talked before about Marcus high-yield savings, Goldman Sach’s, entry in the high online interest account world. Like Marcus, CIT Bank is an online brand of a bigger bank. In this case, CIT Bank is a division of First Citizens Bank, a publicly traded financial institution with $100+ billion in assets. Is CIT Bank a Scam? As always, we start from the beginning. Is CIT Bank a scam or is CIT Bank legit for higher interest rates? It doesn’t take much digging to see that CIT Bank is not a scam. As mentioned above, it is part of a large U.S. Bank that is FDIC insured, the gold standard for banks in America. Just because CIT Bank is not a scam as a fly by night company doesn’t necessarily mean that CIT Bank offerings are not …

Wealthfront Review: Safe, Scam, or Legit?

February 9, 2021January 11, 2021 by Finance Gourmet

I keep getting questions about the pros and cons of Wealthfront, probably because they are advertising pretty heavily on Facebook and other platforms. So, it’s time for a Wealthfront review. The most important thing is to make sure Wealthfront is legit. It is SIPC insured (that’s like FDIC insurance for brokerages) so it at least has to be a real financial organization. Of course, that doesn’t mean that Wealthfront has good investment advice or good service advice, but it does mean that if they go under all of the sudden, then Wealthfront is safe insofar as your money is insured. Wealthfront reviews agree that Wealthfront is not a scam. Wealthfront Fees Wealthfront’s trademark is “Self-Driving Money.” It’s value proposition is that it will take care of your money, and manage it for you. Wealthfront is a robo-advisor, and one of the mini-investor platforms. Wealthfront fees are low. The main Wealthfront fee is the advisory fee of 0.25% on the amount deposited with Wealthfront. Of course, like any other wealth app, or brokerage, the investments Wealthfront uses have their own expenses. According to the company, the funds Wealthfront uses charge between 0.06% and 0.13%, which are very low fees for mutual …

Best Online Bank Rates

January 21, 2021December 11, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

OK, I get asked all the time about where to get the best rates for a savings account. First off, check your current bank’s offerings for a money market account, which often pays higher interest than a savings account. Money market accounts pay better rates in exchange for restrictions that should be very easy for you to meet. (You can check here for information about kids savings accounts.) With the low interest rates out there today, getting a high interest rate isn’t easy. Even the best high interest account won’t pay more than 1%, unless they limit how much money earns the higher rate. Remember, a higher interest rate won’t mean much for a small amount of savings. The difference in actual dollars between 1% and 1.5% on something like $500 is just $5 per year. That isn’t worth it if it means you end up with even one overdraft charge. Keep a cushion of savings in your local account so you instantly transfer money to your checking account if you need it. The Online Banks Next, if you are purely interested in rates, then online banks are the way to go. There is a catch, but it isn’t what …