<p>So, I'm going to be a freshman in august so i need to figure out where to put my money. As of now my life savings is close to 5k: $2.2k in a checking account with BOA earning .4% APY, $1.9k in a CD earning 1.4% APY, and $700 under my mattress collecting dust. I'll be earning about $1.5k a year too. </p>
<p>I figure ill have a little over $10k to live off of for 4 years (im talking books, food, entertaiment...all that stuff) which should be more than enough since im really not a big spender. </p>
<p>So anyway, i thinking about putting my money into an ing account, but im not quite sure how it works. What are the pros (other than high interest) and cons of ing direct? How do i get money out/put money in? How do i split between the savings and the "electric orange" checking account? What if i need to write a check to pay for books or is there another way i can pay a large sum without cash? Is there anything else I should know?</p>
<p>As an incentive, if someone has an ing direct account, ill let them refer me and get the $10 bucks or whatever it is.</p>
<p>Money Markets earn around 5% right now and are highly liquid-why the hell do you keep 5k in accounts that earn nothing? Had you planned earlier, you'd have over 10k, especially had you bought an index fund considering the bull market of the last 3 years.</p>
<p>BTW, w/a money market, you can electronically transfer funds to and from your checking account instantly</p>
<p>BTW, 10k isn't much for 4 years. Try to flip that money...post up on the block</p>
<p>Lol, im pretty sure, ill manage w/ that much money, and i haven't had the money saved for a while, i recently earned it from working, so i'd doubt i'd have 10k.</p>
<p>O, and another question, do i have to keep another checking account in order for can i just have the ing one? </p>
<p>if you get an HSBC online acct they give you an ATM card you can use to access funds free of charge (from them anyway), ing's orange might have something similar but I'm not sure</p>
<p>also my student acct does have a small number of free wire transfers (PNC Bank) which could also be used to transfer money</p>
<p>you might also consider starting an IRA (for retirement) of some sort for money that you don't need to access (the benefit being that interest earned is not taxed by the man...of course you can't really touch it before you are ~60yrs old or you get hit with a penalty iirc)</p>
<p>don't let money collect dust though, at the very least you should have it in a savings acct/CD/something if you don't need it</p>
<p>it's good to see more people looking at money as a tool for making more money, not something that is just for getting food/books/etc :)</p>
<p>I have an ING savings account, and I really like it.</p>
<p>I have it linked to my brick-and-mortar bank checking account, so I just transfer money in and out via the website, then write checks or use my debit card on the money in my checking account.</p>
<p>ING Direct is nice because it has 4% checking. The 4.5% savings is pretty normal. PM if you want a referral ($25 for you and $10 for me). I'll need your first name, last name, and email address.</p>
<p>I have Bank of America, which sucks, but I need a bank that is very accessible both in my college town and in my home town, so it was really the only way to go. But I am interested in starting a savings account with ING. Can I transfer money to and from my BoA checking account as much as I want? BoA has a six transfers a month limit.</p>
<p>ing lets you link checking accounts to their on-line accounts so it is easy to transfer money back and forth. (i think you can have up to 3 linked accounts) it can take a few days though for the transfer to register, i have found.</p>
<p>electric orange isn't a traditional checking account -- you get no paper checks to fill in. you can do on-line electronic transfers, or request them to mail a paper check by filling in the info on-line. i have not actually used either of these features yet to attest to how well they work.</p>
<p>you transfer money on line from your existing checking account - here's their faq about depositing money</p>
<p>
[quote]
How do I make deposits into my Electric Orange?
You can make deposits by setting up a Direct Deposit into your Electric Orange. You can also transfer money from another ING DIRECT account or a linked checking account into Electric Orange. This is done by clicking on the Transfer Money tab while you’re logged into ingdirect.com or by calling the Interactive Phone Service (1-888-ING-7868). Or, you can mail in checks to us at ING DIRECT, P.O. Box 60, St. Cloud, MN 56302-0060. If you choose to mail us a check, remember to write your Customer Number and account number on the front of the check.
<p>Yea, that's what I thought...but i don't see the point of using their checking account, when you still have to have another checking account. You might as well just use the checking account you already have to pay bills, and keep most of your money in their savings account.</p>
<p>the quick answer -- their checking account pays a lot more interest than the one you already have probably does. depends on how much you keep sitting around in checking to have readily available. remember, transferring from their savings to your checking can take a few days to clear (in my experience at least) so depending on how much you run thru your checking account and how long you keep it sitting there, the interest rate on the electric orange may or may not be worth it -- only you can determine that.</p>