The Official 2008 ING Computer Fund Thread

[evident]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Originally posted by: Special K
Saving money is obviously a good thing. I just don't see why this is deserving of it's own thread. It's not a new account paying a higher interest rate, and there's no special deal here. Basically, it's a post stating that if you sock away money in a savings account for a specified period of time, then it's possible to save up enough money to make a large purchase. This has been known for decades.

I just don't see what's so revolutionary about this. It doesn't seem like it deserves a thread.

For laughs, post this thread on Fatwallet Finance and see the reaction 😉

It's not claimed to be the deal of the century, just a common-sense idea that some ATOT readers might not have thought of.

2/3-3/4 of all General Hardware threads are about buying gaming systems so saving up ahead of time for them instead of buying on credit could help at least a few people.

We have threads on what to buy for lunch, why not one on how to make buying your next PC painless?

because everyone here makes $200k+ a year and thinks this type of financial advice is worthless, duh!

 

[fatpat268]

Wow... some of you guys are serious financial snobs.

This thread is simply to promote more people to save money. Most people don't do that, and rather put it on a CC and let interest accumulate. No, this info isn't ground shattering, but to some, it's very informative.

Why is it financially irresponsible to use a savings account to save up for something? That baffles me. If you take out the money before you have the chance to spend it every month, then it's out of mind, out of sight.

I've been using for a few months now, I have two accounts, one is my main savings, and another is pretty much anything I want to blow it on, be it a computer or whatever else. I end up putting in $25 every two weeks.

 

[fatpat268]

Wow... some of you guys are serious financial snobs.

This thread is simply to promote more people to save money. Most people don't do that, and rather put it on a CC and let interest accumulate. No, this info isn't ground shattering, but to some, it's very informative.

Why is it financially irresponsible to use a savings account to save up for something? That baffles me. If you take out the money before you have the chance to spend it every month, then it's out of mind, out of sight.

I've been using for a few months now, I have two accounts, one is my main savings, and another is pretty much anything I want to blow it on, be it a computer or whatever else. I end up putting in $25 every two weeks.

 

[AmpedSilence]

eh, currently I have it auto transfer $1k/month (boo for paying for student loans, else it would be higher!) into ING. i don't think another $80/month is REALLY going to make that much of a difference.

 

[ultimatebob]

It's a good idea... but I already have an ING account that I use for emergency savings. I think that I could probably buy a few computers with it at this point, but I like keeping that around as a safety net just in case I get in a car accident or something.

 

[JDub02]

Currently using the auto-save feature of ING. My $$ is for a house, though. I'd like to have ~$40k for a house down payment in 4 years.

And that's on top of my scheme to rapidly pay down debt. Student loans are currently the big ones. My wife and I are down to about $45k left.

 

[SunnyD]

Funny, $20 a week for two years is actually $2080, so you're losing $80/2 years? 🙂

I think this would be more interesting if it described how to put that money to work by investing and interest income, making MORE than $2000/2 years.

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: fatpat268
Wow... some of you guys are serious financial snobs.

This is atot, where everybody makes 1m+ a year, drives a veyron as their beater, and dates a different VS girl every weekend. Srsly, who needs to save when you can lie on the internets?



As for me, I'm going to try this and see if I can save the money I want for the mods for my truck.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
Why does he talk about the power of compounding interest in the article when it has nothing to do with his scheme?

The point is the idea that savings over time adds up, not necessarily related to earning interest (especially on an amount this small, at least compared to regular investments).

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: evident
from that linked article, wtf does the author expect the gov't to do? its not their fault people don't know how to manage their financial situation

but anyways, good idea OP even though it's pretty obvious. I already do this, not for computer at the end of 2 years but for random big purchases that i splurge on 🙂

Of course it's obvious, that's the whole point 🙂 No one does it though! Everyone knows they should eat healthy and exercise, and yet from what I see McDonalds is populated with overweight, unhealthy people. Everyone knows if you save money, you can use it for something great later - but in 2 years I'm going to have a big pile of cash to blow on a new computer and the rest of you aren't 😉 That's the whole idea...actually doing it lol.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Funny, $20 a week for two years is actually $2080, so you're losing $80/2 years? 🙂

I think this would be more interesting if it described how to put that money to work by investing and interest income, making MORE than $2000/2 years.

That's beyond the scope of this article 😉 And a "$2,000" computer looks better as a headline than a "$2,080" computer. Plus you can use the $80 to cover shipping, haha. And despite what people will say about inflation, computer technology gets cheaper all the time, so your money will be worth even more in 2 years! 😀

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Raduque

Originally posted by: fatpat268
Wow... some of you guys are serious financial snobs.

This is atot, where everybody makes 1m+ a year, drives a veyron as their beater, and dates a different VS girl every weekend. Srsly, who needs to save when you can lie on the internets?



As for me, I'm going to try this and see if I can save the money I want for the mods for my truck.

Whoohoo, adding you to the list! :thumbsup: 😀

 

[ghostman]

I think the last part - "spend the money on what your goal was to spend it on" - is where most people will falter. If someone can't control his spending, then I don't see what will stop this person from pulling the money out early for other purposes.

While I think it's a good idea to set aside spending money on pre-defined goals, I think it would be a very bad idea not to keep a larger, separate pool for undefined, unexpected expenditures. The latter, of course, being a typical savings account. Use the ING to auto-transfer another $20, $50, $100 to another account and don't touch it unless it's an emergency. After a while, you don't even need to fund it anymore since you'd have enough of an emergency buffer. But as with the OP's idea, what will keep someone from pulling money out of this as well?

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Funny, $20 a week for two years is actually $2080, so you're losing $80/2 years? 🙂

I think this would be more interesting if it described how to put that money to work by investing and interest income, making MORE than $2000/2 years.

Earning more than what an online savings account pays requires taking on some amount of risk. If you are saving up for a purchase at a specific time, then you may not want to risk not having the money available at that time.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: ghostman
I think the last part - "spend the money on what your goal was to spend it on" - is where most people will falter. If someone can't control his spending, then I don't see what will stop this person from pulling the money out early for other purposes.

While I think it's a good idea to set aside spending money on pre-defined goals, I think it would be a very bad idea not to keep a larger, separate pool for undefined, unexpected expenditures. The latter, of course, being a typical savings account. Use the ING to auto-transfer another $20, $50, $100 to another account and don't touch it unless it's an emergency. After a while, you don't even need to fund it anymore since you'd have enough of an emergency buffer. But as with the OP's idea, what will keep someone from pulling money out of this as well?

This is a good point. The issue in the thread seems to be people who lack the willpower to save money. I don't see how a savings account is going to help with that. What's going to stop them from simply raiding the savings account the next time they want to make an impulse purchase?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: ghostman
I think the last part - "spend the money on what your goal was to spend it on" - is where most people will falter. If someone can't control his spending, then I don't see what will stop this person from pulling the money out early for other purposes.

While I think it's a good idea to set aside spending money on pre-defined goals, I think it would be a very bad idea not to keep a larger, separate pool for undefined, unexpected expenditures. The latter, of course, being a typical savings account. Use the ING to auto-transfer another $20, $50, $100 to another account and don't touch it unless it's an emergency. After a while, you don't even need to fund it anymore since you'd have enough of an emergency buffer. But as with the OP's idea, what will keep someone from pulling money out of this as well?

That's part of the "piggy bank" idea - it takes a few days to transfer ING funds, and if you're the type who gets really impulsive about purchases, the impulse will most likely fade if you have to wait 4 days to get the money. For the small percentage of people who completely lack impulse control, of course it's not going to work, but for your average joe who's not that great at saving (me!!), it's a pretty good system.

I have multiple ING savings accounts setup within my main account....Computer Fund, Retirement Fund, etc. The point of this article is to narrowly focus a small amount of savings over time towards a very clear, specific goal. In 2 years I'll have the cash for a brand-new computer. I won't have to scrounge up $2,000 from my bank account or even wish that I had some funds to blow on a new computer toy because...surprise! It's already there!

So far I've heard a lot of insecure reactions and denial reactions, but only one person has signed up to actually doing it. I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to have a nice, shiny new computer in 2 years 🙂

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: ghostman
I think the last part - "spend the money on what your goal was to spend it on" - is where most people will falter. If someone can't control his spending, then I don't see what will stop this person from pulling the money out early for other purposes.

While I think it's a good idea to set aside spending money on pre-defined goals, I think it would be a very bad idea not to keep a larger, separate pool for undefined, unexpected expenditures. The latter, of course, being a typical savings account. Use the ING to auto-transfer another $20, $50, $100 to another account and don't touch it unless it's an emergency. After a while, you don't even need to fund it anymore since you'd have enough of an emergency buffer. But as with the OP's idea, what will keep someone from pulling money out of this as well?

That's part of the "piggy bank" idea - it takes a few days to transfer ING funds, and if you're the type who gets really impulsive about purchases, the impulse will most likely fade if you have to wait 4 days to get the money. For the small percentage of people who completely lack impulse control, of course it's not going to work, but for your average joe who's not that great at saving (me!!), it's a pretty good system.

I have multiple ING savings accounts setup within my main account....Computer Fund, Retirement Fund, etc. The point of this article is to narrowly focus a small amount of savings over time towards a very clear, specific goal. In 2 years I'll have the cash for a brand-new computer. I won't have to scrounge up $2,000 from my bank account or even wish that I had some funds to blow on a new computer toy because...surprise! It's already there!

So far I've heard a lot of insecure reactions and denial reactions, but only one person has signed up to actually doing it. I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to have a nice, shiny new computer in 2 years 🙂

This brings up an entirely different topic, but I hope you aren't trying to save for your retirement in an online savings account.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: ghostman
I think the last part - "spend the money on what your goal was to spend it on" - is where most people will falter. If someone can't control his spending, then I don't see what will stop this person from pulling the money out early for other purposes.

While I think it's a good idea to set aside spending money on pre-defined goals, I think it would be a very bad idea not to keep a larger, separate pool for undefined, unexpected expenditures. The latter, of course, being a typical savings account. Use the ING to auto-transfer another $20, $50, $100 to another account and don't touch it unless it's an emergency. After a while, you don't even need to fund it anymore since you'd have enough of an emergency buffer. But as with the OP's idea, what will keep someone from pulling money out of this as well?

That's part of the "piggy bank" idea - it takes a few days to transfer ING funds, and if you're the type who gets really impulsive about purchases, the impulse will most likely fade if you have to wait 4 days to get the money. For the small percentage of people who completely lack impulse control, of course it's not going to work, but for your average joe who's not that great at saving (me!!), it's a pretty good system.

I have multiple ING savings accounts setup within my main account....Computer Fund, Retirement Fund, etc. The point of this article is to narrowly focus a small amount of savings over time towards a very clear, specific goal. In 2 years I'll have the cash for a brand-new computer. I won't have to scrounge up $2,000 from my bank account or even wish that I had some funds to blow on a new computer toy because...surprise! It's already there!

So far I've heard a lot of insecure reactions and denial reactions, but only one person has signed up to actually doing it. I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to have a nice, shiny new computer in 2 years 🙂

This brings up an entirely different topic, but I hope you aren't trying to save for your retirement in an online savings account.

Considering I work part-time, hourly, and I'm a full-time college student - yes. This is my only means of savings at the moment. I don't have access to a 401k and I don't make enough to bother with any serious investments at the moment 🙂

 

[ivan2]

why you need a 2k computer to play game?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: ivan2
why you need a 2k computer to play game?

Because you need a $600 ATI 4870 X2, duh 😉

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: ghostman
I think the last part - "spend the money on what your goal was to spend it on" - is where most people will falter. If someone can't control his spending, then I don't see what will stop this person from pulling the money out early for other purposes.

While I think it's a good idea to set aside spending money on pre-defined goals, I think it would be a very bad idea not to keep a larger, separate pool for undefined, unexpected expenditures. The latter, of course, being a typical savings account. Use the ING to auto-transfer another $20, $50, $100 to another account and don't touch it unless it's an emergency. After a while, you don't even need to fund it anymore since you'd have enough of an emergency buffer. But as with the OP's idea, what will keep someone from pulling money out of this as well?

That's part of the "piggy bank" idea - it takes a few days to transfer ING funds, and if you're the type who gets really impulsive about purchases, the impulse will most likely fade if you have to wait 4 days to get the money. For the small percentage of people who completely lack impulse control, of course it's not going to work, but for your average joe who's not that great at saving (me!!), it's a pretty good system.

I have multiple ING savings accounts setup within my main account....Computer Fund, Retirement Fund, etc. The point of this article is to narrowly focus a small amount of savings over time towards a very clear, specific goal. In 2 years I'll have the cash for a brand-new computer. I won't have to scrounge up $2,000 from my bank account or even wish that I had some funds to blow on a new computer toy because...surprise! It's already there!

So far I've heard a lot of insecure reactions and denial reactions, but only one person has signed up to actually doing it. I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to have a nice, shiny new computer in 2 years 🙂

This brings up an entirely different topic, but I hope you aren't trying to save for your retirement in an online savings account.

Considering I work part-time, hourly, and I'm a full-time college student - yes. This is my only means of savings at the moment. I don't have access to a 401k and I don't make enough to bother with any serious investments at the moment 🙂

What about a Roth IRA? IIRC, if you earn an income in any given year, you are eligible to contribute to a Roth IRA for that tax year. The maximum contribution allowed for tax year 2008 is the lesser of your earned income and $5000.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: Naustica
That's what a credit card is for. 😉 You can use the same idea for pretty much anything you want to purchase. People should really do this for a car purchase. But how many people have the discipline to do this for a car?

paying credit card off at $20/month means you're accruing interest each month. Dumping into savings account means you're earning interest...which is pretty high with ING.

very different.

 

[aceO07]

Wamu currently has a higher APY (3.75%) compared to INGDirect (3.0%). Wamu also has scheduled transfers. Wamu has physical locations. Just a FYI.

 

[JDub02]

Originally posted by: aceO07
Wamu currently has a higher APY (3.75%) compared to INGDirect (3.0%). Wamu also has scheduled transfers. Wamu has physical locations. Just a FYI.

Closest B&M is 8 hours away in another state. Not sure it's worth switching for 3/4 of a point. But great deal for anyone looking to open an account. :thumbsup: