Where is the highest savings interest rate currently?  E-Trade 1.2%.  Schwab 1.75%.  Is there anything higher?

hm, i remember hearing about i-bonds before, but never bought them.

if they’re still available, they’re probably gonna be good in the next few years if you’re betting on big inflation from all this governtment spending.

^ good tip.  they are currently 5.64%.  must hold for at least 1 year and there is a penalty of 3 months interest if you redeem before 5 years.

the next best interest rate i have found so far is actually making microloans via ebay/microplace, that is if their 97+% payback rate statistic is true.

Is http://www.TreasuryDirect.gov really the place to buy US savings bonds?  It doesn’t look like a gov’t website.

^ only government can get .gov domains, right?

just kidding!  the current rate for i-bonds is 0%.  is that a typo or is that how they suck in people to buy i-bonds during one half of the year when they put a high rate while the other half of the year it’s zero?

i bonds are calculated with two rates, a fixed rate and a varying inflation rate.  theoretically, you’d always be ahead, because you’re going to be ahead of inflation.
I just tried to look at the current rates.  Apparently, the inflationary rate is -2.78%.  I didn’t think it’d be negative, but I think this suggests we’re in deflation?  (I guess I shouldn’t have bought that car).

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ibonds/res_ibonds_iratesandterms.htm

See the very bottom.

I think you were right about the 5.46%, except that it’s -5.46%, ok i-bonds suck right now.

S&P;500 P/E ratio is ~143.  Does that mean the stock market should drop another 90%?

http://www2.standardandpoors.com/portal/site/sp/en/us/page.topic/indices_500/2,3,2,2,0,0,0,0,0,1,11,0,0,0,0,0.html

AT&T;and Verizon dividend rates at the current prices are around 6.5%.  Why is it so high or why are the stock prices so low?  Why aren’t people buying these stocks and driving the prices higher?

I think the wireless market in North America is considered fairly saturated (everyone who can afford a cell phone probably has one).  It’s not a big growth market, so the stock price is not expected to jump I think.  Unless one of them comes up with a way to drive up profit.

Unless their profits are going to go down… it sounds better than putting my money in the bank. AT&T;revenue and profit nearly doubled in the past 2 years… haven’t looked closely as to why though.... Verizon revenue increasing in the last 5 years but profit decreasing…

I’m thinking about all the data plans with growth in e-book readers and non-cell phone mobile devices.

PG&E;also had a pretty high 4-5% dividend rate a couple months ago so I bought that.  I’m not sure but it seems like they would be even more stable than the above.

does what the company stands for affect anybody’s stock buying choices?  i certainly understand people only seeking out stocks that perform well but ask because of stocks like bp with the oil spill.  i’ve heard some people mention it’s a great time to buy bp now because it has to go back up.

^ provided they don’t go bankrupt or is bought out (depending on what the buy out price is)

Well, the market cap is down something like $80+ billion… depends if you think BP will end up paying that much for the costs of this accident.  That’s a lot of money.

Somewhat.  I don’t buy oil stocks but if they’re in a mutual fund that I want to buy, I wouldn’t avoid the fund unless it’s a top holding.  I think most other people would care less than I do.

Stock market capitalism is all about the money, whether you care about other things or not.  That’s the way businesses and the market are structured on the assumption that maximizing profits is the best for everything.

Do you actually feel like an owner owning a share of a company when you buy stocks?  I don’t.  In general, people have as much emotional and social investment in stocks as they do with the interest rate on their bank accounts.

On the other hand, if I really owned part of a business like owning a small business, I think my decisions and goals would not be only about making the most money.