Introducing Myself

[Gypsy Anne Rose]

Hi - I'm a wannabe 'gypsy' ... My plan is to go back to school (I'm nearing the 1st anniversary of my 39th birthday) - and become an RN and join the travel RN niche. It's a 3 year plan before I'm on the road full-time, but my feet get itchy after about 3 months. I've moved cross country twice now and both times ended up downsizing drastically - right now half of my belongings are near Seattle and the rest are with me in Baltimore. So, I'm looking for opinions and advice on how to do this. I went to my first RV show and of course fell in 'love' with a Class A 30' - Itasca Sunova 29R (I saw a 2005 model that I adored) - so ... here's some questions ... what is a comfortable amount of money to have in reserve for 'emergencies' ? Are short-term CD's good for this? or just using a standard savings account? What about health Insurance? etc... 

I have lots of questions... so I will venture through the forums and see if I can find the answers so there isn't a repeat...

Thanks

 

[Ron]

Welcome to the RV Forum.  Please look around the forum,  join in on any of the on going discussions, start new discussions, or ask questions.  Thanks for joining us.

 

[Shayne]

For CDs  I like the short term CDs with staggered dates and amounts.  That way I always have something about to mature and seldom have to pay a penalty for it.  Should I have to use one I then set out to replace the amount and the time slot for availability.  This way I always have a set amount readily available. Also I can redeposit them where ever I foresee my self being located at given times.  All for convience sake.  That's only my opinion cause it works for me, it may not for you or others.  I do the same with bank accounts, which we have several and can choose the working.  I know big banks are nice and fancy and all over the place,  but I hate them.  I love the little small independent banks that are just what suits me best. Perhaps a wee bit less interest, but personal touch.  I can get on the phone and tell them I need 3, 4 ,10 or 50G and they immediately dipurse it to me. Can't do that with be banks. I've been dealing with Chase Bank here and have had as much as 60G  in there and after 8 months I can go to the same teller every week and I still have to show ID.  That to me is not personal  that to me sucks  I will be withdrawing from there soon.  I wanted to take 45G out a couple of weeks ago and they wanted to charge me $5 for the cashiers check.  Told them to shove it and borrowed their phone to call another bank and said send me 45G  and had it the next AM.  They looked at me as if they ruled, well not me, when I have to pay to withdraw my money-------no way.  told them fine-  give me the cash==== Oh sorry we don't have that much here.  Fine  now they are going to lose a nice account.  Guess I'm just too damn old and grumpy to get along with big business.  Sorry for taking up your time  guess, I'm justing venting.  This strickly my opinion  and mine only.

 

[D2]

You may want to compare yields on money markets vs short term CD's to see if the difference is significant enough to warrant locking in on a CD.? GMAC bank (www.gmacbank.com) is currently paying 5.0% APY on mm.? However, they change their rates weekly so you are not guaranteed a rate for more that one week vs locking in a rate with a CD.

I would suggest you go to www.bankrate.com or www.banxquote.com.? They give different products for different financial institutions and will give you an idea of some of the current rates.

 

[Ned]

ING Direct is paying 4.40% on a savings account and your money is instantly available at any time.  It's strictly an online bank without the overhead of a brick and mortar bank.

 

[Shayne]

Our last short term 20 days ago (8 mo) is pay 5.24%.  That's why I do mine that way/