Earlier this month, I noticed an advertisement on my local bank’s website. The advertisement said something like “FREE HIGH YIELD CHECKING – 2.01% APR!” Like most folks, I really don’t pay much attention to these advertisements on the interwebs because, you know, who has the time to worry about those things? So I paid no attention to the advertisement the first time I saw it or the second, third, or fourth times I saw it. In fact, I really didn’t pay the advertisement any mind until about a week and a half ago when I was sitting around thinking about the different financial institutions where I keep my various accounts and investments. Since this advertisement was telling me that I could get a high yield (i.e. earn a better-than-average interest rate) on money sitting in my checking account, I thought I should probably investigate what they were offering. After a few clicks on the Kearny Federal Savings website (I bank with Central Jersey Bank, which is now a division of Kearny Federal Savings) and I was reading information on the free high yield checking account option. According to what I read on the web, it appeared that my usage patterns in my checking account qualified me to get one of these high yield accounts and I could earn myself a cool 2.01% APR.
Here is the ad that was on my bank's site. Notice the rate has fallen to 1.76% from 2.01%.
Like most people, I don’t like to mess with my day-to-day banking or investment accounts so I took some time to mull over whether I should bother with the high yield account or just leave well enough alone. Though it took me a few days, I finally decided to go over to my local branch of Central Jersey Bank and talk to them about the high yield checking account option.
There’s no great “POW!” moment to end this portion of the entry, so be forewarned. I went over to the branch and the woman who assisted me was excellent and showed me how my usage qualified for the high yield checking account. We talked about the different checking account options and I opted to go with this account. So now my checking account is earning 1.76% (the rate went down a few days ago and will probably continue to go down each month – hey, I know it’s a promotion, but it’s a good one).
While I was talking to the woman at the bank, I thought I might open up a savings account, too. I haven’t had a savings account at a brick-and-mortar bank in a long time – probably dating back to when I was in my first or second year of college (which, terrifyingly enough, was over a decade ago). For a long time now I’ve had a savings account at ING Direct and I’ve been very happy with its performance. Of course, the initial interest rate that I was receiving over at ING Direct was something like 4.50% and that’s dropped down to 0.90%, but I understand that the drop was more a function of a poor financial market than factors inside ING Direct (or any other bank for that matter). Anyway, I wanted to open up a savings account and two issues stopped me dead in my tracks.
I wound up staying with ING Direct
First, the interest rate that was being offered was 0.30%. Look, I understand that banks can’t pay even the 0.90% that ING Direct can pay because they need to invest and lend the money in savings and checking accounts and earn a nice spread to pay for their buildings and people, but 0.30% isn’t even competitive. Yet, I was still going to open up the account until the woman I was speaking with told me about the minimum balance requirement. I can’t remember what the minimum balance requirement was exactly, but it seems to me that it was a $1,000 balance at the end of each month or a $3 fee would be assessed.
A $3 fee for not keeping at least $1,000 in a 0.30% savings account? Yeah right! Give me a break.
Instead of dealing with that hot mess, I decided to just stick with my ING Direct account as my only savings account. I would liked to diversify and have a second savings account, but silly restrictions like the one noted above are not something that I have the time or the inclination to worry about. With respect to savings accounts, though, I’m thinking about looking into Ally Bank since they’re offering a similar rate to ING Direct (0.85%).
This process did get me thinking, though. In particular, I started thinking more about the checking account that I use for Usable Web Solutions, LLC. I keep most of the funds for my small website business in Sovereign Bank, but I really haven’t been thrilled with their service since they were acquired by Santander a few years ago. Certain things have become a hassle that shouldn’t be a hassle. For example, they rebranded and changed their debit cards and so they sent me a new one to use. Like any new debit card, I had to activate it over the phone. The problem was that the phone activation system forced me (automatically for some reason) to an operator for final activation. Then this woman on the activation line may have asked me 50 questions to get this stupid card (which I didn’t want, request, or need) activated.
I'm not sold on Santander's customer service
It was like they missed the bigger picture of customer satisfaction and convenience. But convenience is something that Sovereign Bank has never really understood because they’re usually closed whenever I’m out of work and near a branch to make a deposit. This is an area where the old Commerce Bank really rewrote the rulebook in my opinion. By being open for longer hours each day, into the night, and on the weekends Commerce Bank provided the type of customer service that the New Jersey banking market really hadn’t seen before. And it was great!
And then TD Bank came in and crapped all over Commerce Bank’s customer-friendly reputation, but that’s another story.
In any event, this entire process has me thinking about some of my other banking and investment accounts. I’ve scheduled a meeting with my company’s 401k agent to talk to her about my asset allocation in my 401k account. For some reason, I’ve got a gut feeling that now is the time to invest heavily in aggressive, struggling funds. Yeah, they’re probably going to go down again, but I think they’re going to come roaring back in the next 2 – 3 years. I guess we’ll see, but I want to meet with the agent to be sure that my feeling is reflected adequately in my asset allocation.
Ahhh... the good old days!
Further, I’ve been thinking about my credit card. For the last four or five years I’ve used a Worldpoints MasterCard that is branded with my fraternity. For the longest time I thought that each time I made a purchase, my fraternity received a small kickback. Last year I found out that my perception of this program was incorrect and the fraternity simply received an annual fee from the credit card company for the co-branding arrangement. So the affinity that I had towards this credit card is gone even though I’ve used the Worldpoints option to receive a few checks (each for a few hundred bucks) because I frequently use my credit card (and pay it off immediately – I haven’t paid one penny of interest in years on the card).
Since the only thing keeping me hanging on to this credit card is the Worldpoints feature, I’ve been researching other “cash back” credit cards and all of the reviews point me towards the Freedom Chase card. Sure, the interest rate is a bit high and variable (both unacceptable for someone who isn’t a credit risk at all), but I don’t carry a balance anyway so I wouldn’t be paying the interest. Plus, there are a variety of ways to double, triple, quadruple, and quintuple (that’s “multiply times five,” folks) the amount of points that you get for certain purchases with the Freedom Chase card.
So I’ve been thinking about possibly getting that card. And I’ve also been looking into the Barnes & Noble MasterCard because, you know, I’m a Barnes & Noble fan. They’re big draw is that for everyone 2,500 points you earn (i.e. every $2,500 you spend on the credit card), you get a free $25 Barnes & Noble gift card sent to you. You also get 5% off everything at their store. There are some months where I spend more than $2,500 on my credit card, so getting that monthly gift card would be nice. But then again, it would also be nice to build a whole bunch of points with Freedom Chase and get cash back instead of a gift card.
Nothing wrong with one of these big, massive banks sending me a check every once in a while, you know?
Anyway, what about the rest of you? Is anyone else out there reassessing where they put their money and which financial products they use during this cloudy economic climate?
The article below was provided to JerseySmarts.com by one of our readers. It details how you might be able to access some capital if you have a small business that is looking for a loan. So, if you’re a small business owner please read through this information and be sure to check out the links throughout the article. Back to your regularly scheduled JerseySmarts.com programming later today. Enjoy!
Applying for a business loan can be a stressful process for some. Today, banks are being much tighter with their money, and are not taking as many risks, especially with small businesses. Being a small business is not an easy thing these days, so many taxes to pay, and if you are a restaurant, you have to deal the rising cost of food and gas. Business loans can be really helpful when you’re feeling the crunch, but the banks are just not as tolerant as they once were. If you have any dependencies on your credit report or a lower FICO score you may not have the opportunity to take out a loan from a traditional institution. If you are having problem finding funding there are other options out there to consider, and we are going to take a glimpse into them now.
A merchant cash advance is one way that you can avoid the complications of getting a loan from a bank. Getting a merchant cash advance is much less arduous than bank loan, but still has the sophistication and quality of service that you are looking for as a business owner. It’s understandable that to some business owners, independent institutions other than a bank might evoke some doubts, but there are actually many reputable companies out there looking to help you. But yes, they are looking for money, too! Taking your time to do some research will help, as with everything, knowledge is key to making the right decision. It would be wise to shop around and see what kind of loans are out there, and what kind of repayment plans are available, as every business will have different needs. Most merchant cash advances can go all the way up to $250,000 and maybe some up to $500,000.
Receiving a business cash advance can be as easy as filling out an online form and waiting to receive a call from a customer service representative. Many loans can be processed as quickly as 5 to 7 days from the day you first applied, receiving the money directly into your business or personal account. If you have problems with your credit, you have a great chance of getting a merchant cash advance, because although they may technically take a look at your credit history, their decision is usually mainly based on the sales of your store.
So if you’re having problems receiving a traditional loan for your business, start looking up some different options. Sometimes you would be quite surprised with the level of quality service you can get from thinking outside of the box. Start by doing some research and see if this could be a possible option to help you out, whether you are having financial problems you need to take care of, need to make improvements to your already open business, or need funds to help with advertising this loan will help you accomplish any of those things.
Sometimes I watch a commercial and go, “What the hell was that?” Recently, there are two commercials that just aggravate the hell out of me. The first is the Weight Watchers for Men commercial featuring the guys talking about how they lost weight and how they interact with their friends. That commercial bothers the hell out of me because at the end, they’re all going, “AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” after one guy says that he told someone else, “I look a lot better than you right now.”
That’s not funny. That’s not a joke. There’s nothing humorous about that statement. Ugh! Horrible marketing.
Anyway, the other commercial that has me at my wits end is the one from Mass Mutual where these business people are in a Chinese restaurant and their waitress doesn’t speak any English. So one of the women at the table speaks Chinese and asks her colleagues if they like dumplings.
Well! The guy sitting next to her has a look on his face that is an interesting mixture of constipation, aggravation, astonishment, disgust, and whatever emotion represents the thought, “What the hell are you, you worthless disaster?” Take a look at a freeze frame of this guy’s face:
Why so angry? Good grief! You're getting dumplings for goodness sake. Cheer up!
I mean what gives?! This guy is going to get some dumplings and yet he has a look on his face like he wants to choke this woman. What’s his problem? He’s about to get dumplings for goodness sake! Cheer up, you dummy! Free dumplings! Gah! Here is a video of the whole commercial so you can see just how creepy and awkward this guy really is in the grand scheme of things.
So remember – the next time you’re in a Chinese restaurant and one of your business colleagues manages to get you dumplings… look appreciative!
Continuing this week’s focus on book reviews, today I’ll be looking at The Effective Executive by Peter F. Drucker. Any business student can tell you that Drucker is the father of research in business management and reading this book absolutely reinforces that fact. By the way, here’s a quick fun fact for you – The Effective Executive was first published in 1967. You can tell when you’re reading a good business book when you’re reading information which was published over four decades ago and yet is still extremely relevant to the business world!
This is a fun book to read if you’re the type of person who is constantly observing and making mental notes about the environment in which you work. Drucker provides ample opportunities throughout The Effective Executive to give examples of effectiveness and ineffectiveness in the workplace. And for a guy like me who is sometimes excited to be going to the office and sometimes just fulfilling “the grind” to get the paycheck, I was both enlightened and entertained by the effective/ineffective examples.
For example, Drucker talks about the President of a bank and how he scheduled his time throughout the week. The President of the bank was sure to leave a few mornings open each week just in case something “popped up.” Since I work for a financial intermediary, this story – in particular – made me think about the folks over at my office. Frankly, many of us could use some flexible time during the week for all of those crazy things that pop up out of nowhere. During the same conversation in the book, Drucker writes about how another method used by effective executives to spend time on their work is to schedule a period of time where they’ll work from home each morning.
And it’s this particular item that really sticks in my head after reading this book. For those of you fresh out of college or graduate school and the rest of you that can remember either of these time periods in your life, I think you’ll have to agree that you were most productive as a student during odd times of the day. When I think about how I can be most effective for my clients today, it often skips my mind to think about when I can be most effective. I spent the first 25 years of my life in various schools (and a strong argument can be made that I’m still in some sort of school environment today via the independent study I’m taking at the local college). During that quarter century, I was programmed to complete everything from daily homework to major assignments at odd times of the day – mostly late at night and early in the morning.
Applying Drucker’s research finding that effective executives often spend some time working at their home office in the morning seems like an excellent way to use some of the skills that I’ve inherently created to create a positive impact at my current job. However, as that thought rattled around my head while I was reading this book, I remembered that my office is about an hour from home and that it just wasn’t a feasible option.
And that’s a damn shame for a creative guy like me. Oh well.
The other item from this book that sticks with me is found on the top of page 158 in the version linked above. Here, Drucker writes that the effective executive will not consistently depend on study after study to make a decision. Instead, he will make a decision. Here is the actual text from The Effective Executive:
One thing the effective executive will not do at this point. He will not give in to the cry, “Let’s make another study.” This is the coward’s way – and all the coward achieves is to die a thousand deaths where the brave man dies but one. When confronted with the demand for “another study” the effective executive asks: “Is there any reason to believe that additional study will produce anything new? And is there reason to believe that the new is likely to be relevant?” And if the answer is “no – as it usually is – the effective executive does not permit another study. He does not waste the time of good people to cover up his own indecision.
Those words should be imprinted above the desk of every major decision-maker at every major corporation in the world! I can’t stand when people want to spend additional resources studying something that we already know the answer to; it’s a waste!
The Effective Executive is one of those business books that I’ll definitely be coming back to time and time again. I envision this as a reference book on my bookshelf as it contains the type of information that is timeless for the working professional. If you’re a worker in the business world and you want to better understand the mechanics of the best management practices, then you should pick up a copy of The Effective Executive. The knowledge in this book, if applied and reinforced in your professional life, has the ability to change your status in the business world.
Over the last nearly five years that I’ve owned and operated Usable Web Solutions, LLC, I’ve brought you a bunch of crazy stories from my life as a small business owner and and my interactions with some near-insane clients. And while I don’t plan on going into deep detail about the aggravations of the business in this blog entry at this point in time (check back in January 2011 for a more comprehensive review of my first five years as a small business owner), I thought I’d scrape up a little blog entry talking about some of my deadbeat clients.
Now, I’ve had deadbeat clients in the past that simply went away and stopped paying for their services. What’s worse, I’ve had deadbeat clients who were actually my close friends from college and members of the same fraternity as me – two populations that you’d never expect to be deadbeats. However, over the course of this week I’ve had to deal with two deadbeat clients much more than I could have imagined. And what’s more amazing to me is that my contractual obligations to both of these particular deadbeats expired over the summer and they were alerted (numerous times) that they needed to find a new website provider. Did they get off their asses and take care of the online portion of their businesses?
Of course not!
Actually, let me go into some greater detail on one of these idiots… This client’s contract expired over the summer so I sent a notice that I was not renewing services (bear in mind that I hadn’t been paid for any of my services in over a year anyway – the definition of deadbeat). When the contract expired, I took the website down. About a month goes by and the client comes back and is complaining that the website is down. Okay. I told them that the website could very easily be restored if I received the back payment that I was owed.
And, like any good deadbeat, this idiot paid me 70% of what I was owed and I agreed to put the website back up, but make no changes as she requested. Then the deadbeat said that there were no contracts or extension notices in her file so she weren’t even sure if I was their web provider.
What an idiot.
By the way, this is a common tactic of deadbeats and scumbag business people. I know – I used to work for one of the biggest ones in New Jersey. The scumbag business person will act like they are the victim 99 times out of 100 (read on to see how this particular client played the victim this week). Anyway, I went into my files and gave this client copies of the initial contract and the two year extension letter. I also printed another termination letter saying that our agreement was over and ended and that I would be very happy to transfer the entire website off of my servers once I was paid in full. The client responded by contacting me late last week saying to call her when I had a chance. I called her office last Friday and they tell me that she doesn’t work on Fridays. Nice. I e-mailed her that I just left her a message at her office and she said to call her on Tuesday. And, as you might imagine, Tuesday comes around and I called her office at 3pm only to learn that she was already gone for the day. Fine, whatever. I called back on Wednesday morning at 10:30am and guess who’s not in the office yet.
That’s right! You got it! This deadbeat wasn’t even in the office by 10:30am. What type of small business owner isn’t already in motion for a few hours by 10:30am on a Wednesday?!
However, on Wednesday afternoon I receive an e-mail from the deadbeat saying that now it’s Wednesday and I haven’t reached out to her and what’s the problem. Good grief. I sent a pleasant little note back saying that I’ve actually left two messages for her and that I’m waiting for her to respond to either of them. She, of course, did not respond so I gave her a call on Thursday afternoon around 4pm and she was actually in the office.
Now, like I said earlier, deadbeats have to play the role of the victim. When this one got on the phone she said, “Hi.” And I responded with, “Hello! How are you, Deadbeat?” Obviously, I used the deadbeat’s real name. She said, “Fine,” in about as dull and annoyed a voice as you could imagine. And that was the conversation opener. Since I’ve dealt with and worked for scumbags in the past, I knew exactly where this was going and I prepared myself to have some fun. I said, “So I received your message-” and she interrupted me with, “Yeah you claim you’ve been reaching out and you can’t get me. Well, I’m here now.”
Oh, what a pity?! It would appear that this deadbeat is a victim, right? Poor her – sitting there and having to actually do work with one of her contractors! Oh – the horror! It gets better.
So I responded with something like, “Yeah I saw your e-mail. So do you have a new web provider in mind that I can work with to transfer the services?” And she said something like, “Yes. And he’s offering services much cheaper than what we’ve been paying-” so then I cut her off and in my rosiest, happiest voice I said, “Right! So if you could get me his information, I’ll be happy to contact him and work to complete the transfer.”
You see, having worked for a scumbag, I saw that “pity me, I’m a victim” card being played way before this deadbeat began dealing it out – thus why I cut her off when she lied about being offered cheaper services. How do I know that she lied about the cost of the services? Easy! I’m actively engaged in this work and I know what my competitors charge. I typically charge between 25% and 50% of what every single one of my competitors charge (except this one guy who does websites in the area and charges an exorbitant fee – I’m about 10% of his costs).
The conversation pretty much ended after that with the deadbeat saying that she’d e-mail me her new web person’s contact information. I responded with a dreadfully cheery, “Wonderful! Thank you!” Which she followed up with a half-asleep, extremely aggravated, “Bye,” before she hung up. It’s always the same with scumbag business people and deadbeats – they all act the same, they all talk the same, they’re all the victims in situations where they try to screw their contractors. I’ve seen it before, I’ve worked for it before, and I’ve watched it be disassembled before (which is what makes me so good at dealing with these scumbags).
Anyway, I’ll be glad when these deadbeats are out of my portfolio. One of the lessons that I’ve learned thus far in owning a small business is that scam artists and deadbeats will try to take advantage of you all of the time. In my world and with my hectic schedule, I don’t have time for the bullshit so I don’t have time for the deadbeats. Usable Web Solutions, LLC will be a stronger, faster, more profitable company once I get these idiots out of my hair.
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Quote of the Moment:
If you haven’t got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me. — Alice Roosevelt Longworth, 1884-1980
