“I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time, so when that young person turns 18, if they have finished high school, they will be able to access it to go to college,” Clinton said.

Clinton failed to offer any details on how the program would be funded, but the idea of a “baby bond” prompted me to create the following poll.

Would you support a $5,000 baby bond?

Personally, I think they have a certain “cool” factor to them, but in reality I would never use them. I hate carrying change in my pockets. But in Europe, for example, they’re used to carrying $1, $2, or even $5 coins with them - and even the guys carry a “change purse” for all of that change. Americans, however, are moving in the opposite direction. We don’t even carry cash anymore because everything can be bought with plastic.

Another thing to consider is the confusion that the new coins might cause. Reader Richard recently commented:

Merchants hated the $2 bills because they were odd; the registers were not setup for a stack of them; and checkout clerks too often accidentally accepted them as fives and made change accordingly.

Similarly, the customer learned to hate the $1 coin because it had the same instant look and feel as a quarter, and was often accidentally handed to checkout clerks as a quarter. Clerks readily accepted them as quarters. Customers had to be on their toes. The “mistakes” were good for clerks, but bad for customers. The same will be true with this new quarter-sized , quarter-shaped $1 coin.

So what do you think? Are the $1 coins a good idea, or just another waste of taxpayers’ money?

1. I’m never in my hotel room! This line of thought is the first to pop into my head. Why should I spend $150/night on a room that I’ll never really use? I won’t take a bath in the jacuzzi tub. I’m not going to enjoy the pull-out couch, living room, or any other amenities… because most of the time I travel to see something or someone in particular - and spend as little time as I can in a hotel room.
2. This is my time to splurge! I’ve worked and slaved for months and now I’m going to spend my hard-earned dollars on a little bit of luxury for me and my family. And when I get home, telling friends that I stayed in the Bellagio is a lot cooler than saying I stayed at the Stratosphere.

So the question of the day is, which train of thought do you follow? Or perhaps you have an entirely new way of looking at the hotel cost dilemma…

My point is, with all these security, precaution, screening of employee, rules and regulation—mistakes do happen. People are not perfect. While it’s less of a chance that someone will steal your money in the cash vault department than at the local branch, it DOES happen. Urban myth of deposited cash stolen from ATM? Think again.

Ever since his experiences working there he has always been nervous about depositing cash into ATMs - and I have to agree 100%. There’s just something about giving a machine money that doesn’t sit right with me - so if I ever have cash to deposit I go directly to the teller.

He goes a step further, however, and uses a teller when depositing larger checks as well. I’m not sure that I would go that far but if you feel nervous about using ATM machines for cash or check deposits then Wells Fargo has the answer for you.

Wells Fargo is converting 400 of its ATMs in California to digital imaging technology, eliminating deposit envelopes and paper checks. The new system, WebATM, has been piloted since 2002 and allows up to 30 bills and 10 checks to be inserted simultaneously. Assurance of received deposits is provided via check images on screen and on the customer’s receipt.

WebATM also provides instant credit for cash deposits, with funds immediately credited to the customer’s account. The deposit cut-off time has also been extended from 4pm to 7pm on weekdays, giving customers same-day credit for deposits outside banks’ opening hours. Wells Fargo expects the envelope-free WebATM machines to be up and running by the end of 2006.

Now this is a smart use of technology! My favorite feature is the ability to see immediately on the ATM screen which checks and bills have been scanned and deposited so that you can feel safer knowing the check hasn’t been lost. I really hopes the pilot program shows positive results because I would love to see technology like this implemented everywhere…

Oh, be sure to vote in the poll below! It’s not much of a “question of the day” if nobody answers the question!

(via cbronline.com)

The study reports that almost one-half of all U.S. adults (45%) say their household does not have enough money in liquid savings to cover at least three months of living expenses! Some other interesting bits of information from the article included:

• About one in ten adults (9%) say their household does not have any money in liquid savings, defined as any savings readily available as cash and not intended for long-term investment.
• 13% say they generally save none of their monthly household income in liquid accounts.
• For those earning less than $35,000 a year, nearly one in five (19%) does not currently have any money in liquid savings, compared to 4% of those earning $35,000 or more.

To be perfectly clear, three months worth of expenses is the minimum that you should have saved up - regardless of your income. In a perfect world, and something that I am personally trying to achieve, is an “emergency egg” worth 1 year of living expenses. But you should at least shoot for a 3-6 month reserve.

It’s also important to emphasize that these savings for emergencies should be separate from your retirement or investment accounts - this money should be in a liquid form (i.e. can withdraw today) and not in some stock market account that would take 3 days to sell and transfer into your checking account. Because when a disaster hits (financial, economic, physical) you probably won’t have 3 days to wait for your money to arrive.

I didn’t want people to feel embarrassed or anything about answering this question in the comments section so I’ve added a little poll below. Please take a second to report on how much liquid savings you have saved up in case of an emergency.

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However, this weekend I ran to Chili’s to pick up some food as part of their Carside-to-Go program. There are many traditional restaurants that are offering this service and I find myself taking advantage of them more and more - so naturally the question of tipping comes up. On the receipt that I sign there’s always a space for tip, but how much do you tip a carside-to-go server?

One perspective is that they don’t do very much other than throw your food in a bag and bring it to your car - a whole 5 minutes of work. The other view is that they are still paid the same meager minimum wage the other servers are so they are depending on those tips to make decent money.

So, how much should you tip your carside-to-go server?