We haven’t had a loan/mortgage since our early fifties but there is another world out there besides old people.

Safe deposit is excellent for important documents, holding valuables when traveling, etc. You can’t hide much in a safe deposit box and who needs jewelry when traveling?

I understand. As a trustee, I need to make several monthly payments to individuals who are out of state. I don't know of a more convenient way to do that. They cannot accept a credit card and sending paper checks is a hassle and takes too long, and I don't want to link our accounts. Zelle has been very convenient, and there are daily limits on the amount you can send. Also, if any money is removed from my account I get an immediate alert.

My financial advisor has me keeping a small amount in a low-paying savings account. But the bulk of my fixed income holdings are in U.S. Treasuries paying between 4.5% and 4.7%.

The alerts are a great implement but is the money that might have been stolen refunded to people by Zelle? I know our kids use Zelle.

I signed up for Zelle through my Truist bank account. I don't have a Zelle account number and Zelle has none of my money on deposit. I log in to my Truist account and request a Zelle transfer to a specific email address. So, I don't understand how someone could hack Zelle and access my money without knowing my Truist log in information. I really don't know the answer to your question, but it seems like a pretty safe way to transfer money. My Zelle transfers are reported on my Truist statement, and I expect Truist to safeguard my log in information. I have no direct dealings with Zelle.

Chase and Fidelity are my primary online accounts. Chase is extremely secure.

Ohiobuckeye
 

I’m with Chase but that doesn’t make any difference. I’ve had my Credit Cards broken in to about 4 times, the last time about 1 1/2 yrs. ago & I have to admit they took care of it every time, no problems. So to answer your question, NO problems! But I’m sure some people will disagree with me. All I can say is if the bank you’re with doesn’t do anything to help you, well I would look for another bank.

Discover bank is great. very helpful reps.

Thanks for all those that took the time and answered my on-line banking questions.

Is there a Vanguard office around TV?

No. Vanguard mostly does business online and by phone.

They are headquartered near in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and have regional offices in Charlotte, North Carolina and Scottsdale, Arizona.

Online banking is extremely unsafe. There is a thing called porting where they steal your phone number and then get into everything you have. The cops are helpless due to the volume of these types of instances

Yes. I use 2 of them [ for the rates.]

I have been tempted by the higher rates of these non brick and mortar financial 'places', but I've resisted. Still prefer institutions that can be visited if there's an issue even though that's yet to be necessary!

where is Fidelity's bank?
 

where is Fidelity's bank?

I don't know what you mean by "Fidelity's Bank". Fidelity Investments is an investment and brokerage company, not a bank. They have an office at 1057 Lake Sumter Landing.

I'm the same way.
Although I'm do a lot on my computer, but taking $5,000 - $10,000 and investing on line
just seems weird.

There has been some mention here of credit card hacks. Someone ‘stealing’ your credit card number almost never occurs because the issuing bank has been hacked. It’s almost always someplace where you used the card to buy something where your card info was stolen. That would include you yourself responding to increasingly effective and official-looking e-mails asking you for personal financial information.

But it’s the issuing bank who has extensive security operations which almost always catches the fraudulent attempt to use your card, cancels the card, refunds any fraudulent charges, and issues a new card. That’s happened to me 3-4 times. It’s an irritant reassigning a new number to your AutoPay bills, but very safe financially.

I’d suggest that getting credit cards issued by the largest banks—Chase, Bank of America, etc. is the safest because they have the largest and most well-developed anti-fraud operations.

Driving a car is also extremely unsafe. There are things called crashes, and the cops are helpless due to the volume of these types of instances.
But almost all journeys are completed without a problem!:icon_wink:

Disagree that online banking is 'extremely' unsafe, If you are worried about porting contact your carrier & find out about the security around a port out request. If you are unhappy with the answers, then I would suggest looking for a new carrier that meets your needs.

What did your stock broker say?

Oh Crap, not again. :a040:

He asked why anyone would contact a stock broker for investing these days with the market sliding. You didn’t get hoodwinked by yours again, did you?

I’ve done mine that way for, oh my gosh about 20 years & had no issues, knock on wood. Only problem I’ve had was at gas pumps where some stole my identity but my bank took care of it ! Don’t know how you use your credit cards or how your bank is ran but I haven’t had any problems. Good luck!

This is 2023, everything is done online, banks and stores use the internet to transfer money every day....

I would think, you need to ensure the bank login is safe. You should have the multiple safety on login, meaning for login you have to enter a code sent to your cell phone or other app. Also if you want to go one level more secure inquire the bank if they use physical keys e.g. UBkeys. This process uses a physical small device that you have to plug in your laptop to login. Pls ensure you have more than one key for the site (so you have to buy more than one device) This works like house keys, if you don't have a backup for your house and you lose the key you can't get into your house. Do some more research so you can be familiar with this process.

I’ve used online banking from my state employees credit union since 1986. Never a problem. Best rates. I can use most ATMs.

I believe most sex is still in person.:a040:

I have a savings account online with American Express Bank for over 6 years.
They are currently paying 3.3%. Not a CD and FDIC insured

Is there any tax advantage to doing more than a year CD?

No. For a standard CD, even if you have a multi-year CD, you still receive a 1099 from the bank every year and you are required to pay tax on the interest earned during the year.

I was referring to short vs long term capital gains on the interest paid? My financial advisor specially said get a 13 month CD. I figured this was the reason.

“Are they safe?”

Interest is taxed as ordinary income. It is not a capital gain.

Online access to banking IS BECOMING A GRIND. What worked last year on one site has been ramped up in security. Ever year there is one more hurdle to access you money. I am calling this 'senior abuse'. Why must I keep buying new phones and desktops just to maintain access to my accounts. These hi-tech companies ARE OUT OF CONTROL.

Even if your CD cannot be touched for lets say two years, you are taxed on the interest income, yearly. Go figure damn IRS. You are told you have to pay a penalty for early withdrawl. So how do you get the damn money to pay the interest tax ?

Is that Fidelity CD FDIC insured?

It's not weird at all.

Yes. But now you can get higher rates. The 1-year CD is 4.85 percent and the 5-year CD is 4.65 percent. You can go to Fidelity.com and view all of the available CDs.

If you don't like investing online, you can make an appointment with a Fidelity representative at their Lake Sumter office.

There is an easy way to delay the taxes
Buy a US Treasury on the secondary market (Fidelity, Vanguard etc) with a very low interest rate. You can find zero interest or low interest (say 0.25% or 0.5%)

Because of the low interest you can buy these at a discount that brings the yield to maturity equal to recently issued treasury bonds. Just make sure the maturity date is longer than 12 months from the date you purchase.

The interest is taxed yearly (but your interest is minimal).
At bond maturity, you have a long term capital gain that is taxed at long term capital gain rates.

So if you buy a two year zero coupon (0% interest) … you pay no yearly tax on interest because no interest was paid. At the end of two years you are taxed on a long term gain (currently about 8% = 2 years x 4% / year).

Currently for a married couple, their first $83,000 in long term gains are taxed at zero! So no tax on the long term gain if your total long term gains is less than $83,000

CD's are available that pay interest monthly or semiannual.