I found this book at the library and of course, the title caught my attention. What was even more hilarious is that it was published in 1980. I have since learned that Andrew Tobias wrote a couple of very interesting books, including “The Only Investment Guide You Will ever Need” and “The Best Little Boy in the World, Grows Up.” While I have yet to read those, “Getting by…” is quite entertaining. It may be that many people know this already since the book is older than I am but it nonetheless illustrates the very important concept of the marginal propensity to consume. Give me $100 to spend a month and I’ll nickle and dime it; give me $1,000 and I’ll seem to spend it without ever knowing where it all went, or how I used to live on $100, or how once forced to live on $100 again I could have ever spent $1,000! The complete title is “Getting By on $100,000 a Year, and Other Sad Tales.” It may be bizarre since the book centers around a era before the internet, but while the stocks may be out of date, the general lessons are the same; and seem to have to be taught over and over. Good read.
With the fallout of subprime and the subsequent interest rate drops, in both the EU and USA, the online savings rates as expected fell as well. Which makes me wonder when will other banks follow suit and bring their products to the online community? In the US the rates for ING Direct fell from 4.5 apy to 4.3 and HSBC direct fell from 5.05 apy to 4.5. ING is admittedly the only way to go for Europe since HSBC is only available in limited areas worldwide; regardless of the possible inconveniences and lower interest rate due to dealing with the stronger Euro. Direct savings/checking have many benefits that their traditional counterparts do not, it’ll be interesting to see where they go from here and what it will mean to the human interaction of the banking industry overall.
For more information on current rates www.bankrate.com is a great source.
I realize this is the cookie cutter wordpress blog and that the spelling is wrong for squared in Spanish, but if you happened on the site by chance stick with me because I got the name I wanted so all that is left is to create the site…right? Thanks;)
K2
