As a South-African living in the USA I have some insight into what the poster was saying.

The South African currency is one of the most volatile, but yet stable currencies. Why do I say that? Well it can lose or gain 10 or 20% within a few days, BUT it moves within a certain range and it bounces in that range.

A few months ago the currency was 6 ZAR to the USD, now it is 8 to the USD. Couple that with the fact that interest rates in the country is 6 to 10 times what it is in the US and you get the scenario where say you invested now at 6% with currency you buy at 8 ZAR to the USD. When it goes back to 6 – 6.50 to the USD, you can make a 25 – 35% currency profit on top of the higher interest rate.

So typical wisdom would be, invest when the dollar is stronger, pay out when the dollar is weaker.

Personally I don’t know why the ZAR always return to strength. After Mandela the country has only been run by greedy criminals and it is getting worse. Maybe it is the amount of money foreign investors push into the country, maybe it is because mineral resources seem to shine when other instruments don’t?

A lot better than HSBC which sends you an email every other week saying they cut their interest rates again and its still the best interest rate of any bank around (they say that in every email when they cut rates!!) I am pretty sure you can set up everything for the account over the phone/mail, as I did so and did not live in Cape at that time.

https://www.woodhuston.com/pers-checking.aspx

is the link for Kasasa Cash accounts

I have a question. For what I understand, Savings accounts in the US yield more interest than the ones available here in México(although i haven’t really researched much yet). I’ve heard about online savings accounts… what’s the difference between them and “offline” ones? Can I apply for one from México? And are there any US banks in méxico that I can go to and create a savings account?

Thank you very much!

I say wait and see, no need to panic now. Right now Incredible Bank has the best online checking/savings account rates I have seen.

Ing is in the process or has been acquired by Capital One and the process should be completed by the end of the year.

Ing’s Electric Orange checking is also nice, the Orange Savings Account currently offers a better rate.

Ing also has Sharebuilder.

Sharebuilder, for new accounts, sometimes has incentives on My Points.

Look for changes as the Capital One acquisition nears completion.

See my post 1719 above. For me, one savings account is money that either I will need short-term (to be transferred to checking to pay bills), while the other is my 6-month emergency fund. In both cases, I need to be able to access this money on a regular basis. Thus the savings account. My long-term savings and retirement accounts are a different story. On these accounts it’s all about maximizing return over the long haul.

Jon

Every day you don’t earn interest on your dollar is opportunity lost.

http://www.depositaccounts.com/blog/2011/06/smartypig-announces-major-rate-cut.html

For now 1.15% is about as good as you’re going to do.

Jon: agreed that the savings is only a part of the equation in terms of building wealth. Agreed also that the best use is ones liquid emergency fund, and thats exactly what I use it for. That said, that single “part of the equation” is _the_ topic of this thread. The overall blog is about building wealth, absolutely agreed, but this single thread is specifically about high (hah! hehe!) interest savings accounts. I suspect the blog owner has other threads about 401k optimization and so forth and so on. But its all good.

I’d add just one thing… I think the “high yield money market & high interest savings account” discussed here is just a part of your overall savings and wealth strategy. For me, this is my 6-month emergency fund and is more about security than wealth-building. I don’t want to take risks with this money – it’s there for me should I need it, should funds be short one month or if some unforeseen disaster hits. Those of you who have such a fund know how good it feels to have it – you always have that to fall back on if needed. No sleepless nights worrying about money. 1% is lame, no question. But this is money I need to be secure, no-risk, and available anytime I need it. In other words, a SAVINGS account.

Now… as far as “building wealth” goes, there is my 401K, which is invested moderately aggressively (roughly 80/20 stocks to bonds) and earned just over 10% last year. I can be more risky with this money since I am over 20 years away from retirement. I also have a college savings account and a secondary savings account with a smaller amount of extra $$$ that I’ve invested somewhat aggressively as well (as I can afford a short-term loss with that money as I don’t foresee needing it in the near future.)

So while I’m always interested in a higher interest rate on this savings account, I’m not willing to trade risk for greater return on this money. So no shady oversees accounts for me.