Thing #44 -- The Economy

My father was in the military and as a result I use a bank serving military members and their families exclusively. Because it's account holders are all over the globe, and often changing locations, the bank has been on the cutting edge of providing service online, and I have increased my online banking and money management accordingly. I use it to view my accounts, transfer money and pay my bills. I prefer this to using the individual online bill paying services provided by the utility and credit card companies for a couple reasons. First, it's convenient having all my bills in one place. Second, while I'm normally cautious regarding online security, I trust the mechanisms my bank has in place. I feel it's less risky for them to have my utility account information than for each utility company to have access to my checking account number.

One particularly innovative service they added last year was the ability to deposit checks electronically. My paychecks use direct deposit, but for other checks I received I previously needed to mail them to the bank (in postage paid envelopes). Now I just scan the front and back of the check, upload the files, enter the check amount, and it's deposited, credited to my account that day.

At my library we create resource guides based on current events or issues of interest. Last year when the Fed began cutting interest rates and the first signs were arriving that the economy was headed down we created a couple about the Federal Reserve, monetary policy, and the economy. These guides are still available on our website. Both MyMoney.gov and the Help for Consumers part of the National Endowment for Financial Education make me think we should add a financial literacy section to one of the guides and include these resources.

I don't currently have a cell phone, but now that Apple is offering their iPhone 3G and Palm has released their Pre I've been wondering about getting one. So I tried out MyRatePlan.com and BillShrink to compare plans. MyRatePlan.com offers a lot of options, but the screens are very cluttered and a bit overwhelming. BillShrink seemed easier to use, but the site kept freezing on me--I never did see which plan was best for me. BillShrink also requires creating an account to receive any recommendations, but it uses your email address to update you if plans meeting your criteria change.

As an avid gardener (see Thing #37 and Thing #39) I'm familiar with both the U of M Extension Service's Gardening Information and GardenWeb, including their Minnesota Gardening forum. I've used both when searching for information on new plants or researching problems.