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Fast on the draw, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance published their “2008 Best List” earlier this month. While this is a quick and easy read in magazine form, the Kiplinger web site makes it almost impossible to peruse on the web. I’ve mucked through the lousy popup slideshows to find direct links to the individual parts of this report:
- Best financial services. I was surprised to see the Kiplinger’s pick for “best online savings account”. Though FNBO Direct advertises heavily at Get Rich Slowly, I don’t know much about their account. Maybe I should check it out. The “best checking account” is from Charles Schwab.
- Best retirement tools. The magazine named the Roth IRA as the “best all-around retirement account”. It picked TD Ameritrade’s WealthRuler the “best new retirement tool”. I’ve never seen the WealthRuler before, but you can bet I’ve bookmarked it for future review at GRS!
- Best stocks and funds. The magazine chose Fidelity as the best online broker. (I recently chose Fidelity for my own brokerage accounts.) They also list some funds and stocks, but you know how I feel about magazines making picks like this — they’re no wiser than you are.
- Best credit card offers. Kiplinger’s recommends four cards for different situations. Their “best card for cash rebates” is the American Express Blue Cash, which I mentioned in my guide on how to choose a credit card.
- Best tech gadgets. Kiplinger’s likes the iPod Touch mp3 player and the Casio Exilim EX-Z150 digital camera. (This is personal finance?)
- The best in travel, cards, home and fun. Best airline: Southwest. Best low-cost vacation destination: Panama. Best low-cost prescription drugs: Wal-Mart. Best mail-order barbecue sauce (!?!): Maurice’s Gourmet BBQ.
Kiplinger’s also compiled a list of the best web sites for shopping, services, and cheap travel. Some of their picks include:
- Investing in Bonds, for learning about the bond market.
- AnnualCreditReport.com, the only official site for requesting your free annual credit report.
- myFico.com, for checking your credit score
- The gethuman database, a gargantuan list of numbers for finding live humans in corporate bureaucracies
- Energy Star, for energy-saving tips from the U.S. government
- RetailMeNot, for online coupon codes
- Kayak, for cheap travel deals
There’s a lot more to these lists than I’ve shared. For more top picks, and for the reasoning behind them, check out the links to each topic. (I’d link to a central “Best of 2008″ page at the Kiplinger site, but there isn’t one. I’m constantly amazed at how user-unfriendly that place is — and so little content per page!)
This article is about Administration, Gurus, News, Odds and Ends Tuesday, 25th November 2008 (by J.D. Roth)
November 25th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
I really like the best websites list. I have never heard of some of these sites but I will definitely check them out.
November 25th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Wow, there are some great links there. I’ve put a few of them on my ‘Resources’ list for future reference.
I know some of them are US based but we in the rest of the world can also get some useful information out of them.
November 25th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I enjoyed the magazine article, but was also irritated by the web version. Thanks for doing the legwork to highlight the important spots from the article.
I really enjoy the gethuman database, and shared it with my grandfather, who at 83 is computer literate, but despises telephone voice response units!
November 25th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I have an online savings account with FNBO Direct. So far my experience has been positive. They offer all of the services they claim to with no hassle or bait and switch. Their bill pay, statement options, and CD rates are also flexible, convenient, and competitive. The web interface isn’t quite as pretty as some other banks, or as feature rich as say, ING Direct, but it gets the job done. Their customer service is good, although their application approval process can be slightly slow. Although FNBO Direct provides an ATM card option, it is only usable on a limited network of ATM’s.
November 25th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
LOVE TD Ameritrade wealthbuilder. You can pretty much input your life (kids? private college or public, etc.) and it’ll tell you if you’re on track to retire in decent shape.
November 25th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Sweet. This makes me feel a lot more comfortable with my decision to get an iPod touch. In fact, I have found many great uses for the iPod touch and have even used it to make me more productive at work. Though I wonder if this is offset by the other parts of it that make me less productive at work. Anyways, it’s cool to see this.
Regarding the rest, I really haven’t used any of the other tools and services except Fidelity so it’s good to see some possibilities for the future.
November 25th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Thanks for digging up all this info!
I’ve got Charles Schwab checking, a Roth, Fidelity for my 401(k), the AmEx costco card (switched from Blue for more cash), and an OLD casio exilim. They do a pretty good job for me! Will have to check out the rest of the picks.
November 25th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Maurice’s Gourmet BBQ is based where I live in the Midlands of South Carolina. It’s worth a try if you like Q. It is a mustard based sauce that is not widely known outside of this area. I’d only use it on pork BBQ.
November 25th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Two thumbs up for FNBO Direct, except for the aforementioned slightly slow application process — you have to apply to have additional savings accounts added, which is inferior to ING’s easy and quick additional accounts.
I do like the ATM card function, especially because this is where I usually keep my emergency fund, so being able to get cash is critical.
They also send out frugality newsletters and are currently running a promotional contest called the Pay Yourself First Challenge: http://www.pyfchallenge.com/
Lastly, they’re in Omaha, which is where I am. Feels good to support a hometown business.
November 25th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Good list of best websites for shopping etc. These could definately come in handy one day.
November 25th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Love RetailMeNot. I used BugMeNot for a long time so the interface was really familiar to me.
November 25th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
I would like to mention that Kiplinger’s best may not be best for you. Everyone is unique and always do your own research before jumping into anything.
Cheers,
A Dawn Journal
http://www.adawnjournal.com
November 25th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
long time TD customer, wealthruler is good, but be wary of any brokerage sponsored tool, given 2 choices they generally will rec’d what is good for them . Often won’t state things that they don’t offer.
November 25th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Kiplinger site is definitely tough to navigate, but if you can get past that it’s got some great content. Wonder what it would take to make them change it.
-Nate
November 25th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
I am a huge advocate for the Roth IRA and love my Blue Cash Am Exp. Thank you for highlighting this article so well. This is easier to read.
November 25th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Wanted to mention that Kiplinger’s recommends American Express Blue Cash, which is a different card than American Express Blue. You can hold both or either.
November 25th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
I love the magazine and have been meaning to check their site but after your post, maybe I’ll do it next time. Thanks for putting their “Best List” together in an easier format.
November 25th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Consumer Reports stated in the June ‘08 issue that Costco is the low cost leader in prescriptions, when comparing 5 real life/commonly prescribed meds for a person.
Since Wal-Mart has to overcharge on the 6,000 other drugs that aren’t on their $4 list, when a person gets a mixture of some brand only rx’s and generic, the total is less at Costco.
Heck, even multiple generics are cheaper since they are not all on the “list”.
November 26th, 2008 at 3:43 am
JD,
Thanks for going to all the trouble to get the links for us! I wonder if they keep the website difficult to use on purpose in order to keep their magazine subscriptions up!
I was surprised to see that ING Direct did not rise to the top. I’ve been using it for a while now and am a huge fan.
I’m also very skeptical of magazine “best of” lists. I’ve worked with advertising for some time and happen to know that their editorial departments are often influenced by who is spending the most money on ads!
Great links - thanks, Jorge!
November 26th, 2008 at 8:00 am
I still love ING not only for it’s ease of use and feature-rich interface, but also for its integration with Sharebuilder which I use for stock investing. (I realize individual stock investing is not for all).
We also use the Costco AmExp Card. I love getting that rebate each year. It’s usually enough to pay for one of our monthly trips to the warehouse. We have a majority of our bills set to be auto-paid by the card so we are reaping a kickback on bills that we would regularly pay anyway.
November 28th, 2008 at 7:57 am
any picks for personal finance software?
November 29th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
I don’t know about that WealthRuler - it was actually pretty depressing. I crunched our numbers with it; we’re in our mid-20s and putting 10% (not counting a match of 3-5%) into 401k accounts as well as maxing Roth IRAs. Our asset allocation is roughly 90% stock in the retirement plans, and we put money into a savings account every month as well. But the WealthRuler told us that even if we went to 15% on the 401k plans, we’d *still* need to save nearly an extra $2000 a month on top of all of that in order to be “on track” if the market “performs poorly.” That’s nearly half of our pre-tax income! Does that seem reasonable to you?
December 1st, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Hi, I’m new media director for Kiplinger.com. Glad everyone likes our annual Best of list. Please know your concerns about the Web presentation being user-unfriendly has us very concerned, too. FYI: There IS a “Best of 2008″ center page. You can find it under the “Best Lists” tab at the far-right top of the home page. Or use this url: http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/2008/12/2008-best-list.html
As for the slide shows being difficult to navigate, the exact content from the magazine is laid out by subject, and at the end of each slideshow, you can leap to any category you wish to view with a click. Your feedback and suggestions for improvement are most welcome anytime. Thanks.