Smart savings plan

Check this out! My pals over at Consumerist ran this story and link last week. I'd never heard of such a thing before. The thing I'd never heard of before is a website called Smarty Pig. I am a huge fan of online savings accounts. I've been a loyal account holder at Ing Direct for a while now and I cannot endorse the practice of regular, planned savings loudly enough.

Last year, I took what ended up being the most expensive vacation I'd ever taken in my life. About a year before I left, I opened a new savings account with Ing that was dedicated to this vacation. I squirreled away small sums of money regularly and repeatedly and before I knew it, I was able to pay cash for that vacation. For a lot of people, the idea of goal-oriented savings was covered in adulthood 101. Well, I must have slept through that class or something because I figured it out on my own in my 40s. Better late than never though. Right?

As fond as I am of Ing Direct, Smarty Pig takes the idea of a goal-oriented savings plan and improves it by an order of magnitude or two. Smarty Pig pays 3.9 percent interest for starters, that's nearly a point higher than what I'[m getting from Ing. But that's not where the differences end. When you join Smarty Pig, you set up an account for a specific goal. Whether it's for a vacation, a new TV, or a kitchen renovation. Once you set that goal, your savings are locked away where you can't get at them until you reach that goal.

If you're new to savings (looking at the average debt load of most Americans, that's just about everybody), one of the hardest things to do is keep your hands off your money once it starts to accumulate. By locking it away, Smarty Pig removes the temptation.

Smarty Pig also gives you the option to make your savings goals public so that your friends and family can watch your progress. It defeats the purpose of learning how to save money, but those same friends and family can also contribute toward your goal.

So, if you're not a saver but know you should be, check out Smarty Pig. It's a great tool to learn how to save money and that 3.9 percent interest rate cannot be beat.

Sherwin-Williams' color picks for '09: violet and blue

In keeping with my earlier post about Sherwin-Williams' take on colors for next year, and because I can't think of enough good things to say about their company or their products, here's what they're predicting in the world of violets and blues.

SW expects violets and plums to become more red-based than they are now, they are predicting that they will also appear in more smoky shades. Whether red-based or smoky, look for violets to be paired with neon greens, pinks, greys and blacks.

Blue will remain pretty important and its tones and hues will start to be more influenced by the colors of water than they are today. Goodbye Tiffany gift box and hello Mediterranean Sea.

SW 6804 Dignity Blue

SW 6808 Celestial

SW 7613 Aqua-Sphere

SW 6284 Plum Dandy

SW 6558 Plummy

SW 6785 Quench Blue

A bathroom to covet

I've been on a marble kick lately. I've landed two new jobs that involve my beloved Calacatta Gold. Honed please, it has to be honed. Calacatta is often mislabeled as Calcutta and it bothers me when I see that. Calacatta is a small town north of Rome and Calcutta is the capital of West Bengal, India. Learn your geography people. And learn your geology for that matter. The marble in question is Calacatta Gold, not Calcutta Gold. Anyhow, I found this shot of a vanity on Apartment Therapy last week and I think it's just handsome. One of the best uses of marble I've seen in a bathroom. Ever. It's a photo by the brilliant Ngoc Min Ngo from New York. Some sweet day, I'll be brushing my teeth in a set up like this. But in the meantime, every client on my current roster is in for another round of "Have you ever thought about using marble here? Let me show you something..."

Dwell + Google SketchUp: the follow up

On the 26th of July, I wrote a post about a contest Dwell magazine and Google's SketchUp were running where they invited anybody who uses SketchUp to design a dream home. There were some restrictions placed on entries, the most notable being where the dream home had to be sited.

Ever the clever ones, the contest's sponsors provided only a set of coordinates and a link to Google Earth and left it up to the contestants to find the lot themselves. I thought it was clever at any rate.

It turned out that the lot was within sight of the Golden Gate Bridge. The winning entry (shown above) was submitted by Drew Wilgus, an intern at an architectural firm in North Carolina. 

There's a slideshow and description of Wilgus' entry on Dwell's website. It's a gorgeous, well thought out entry. Congratulations Drew.

Is Lehman the Fifth Horseman?

I received this e-mail from my pals at Ing Direct at about the same time that Lehman Brothers were preparing to file for bankruptcy. If you missed it, Lehman's failure will be the biggest bank failure in US history and marks yet another lurch toward the abyss. This is bad and not to incite a bigger financial panic than the one that will greet the morning, but if you're smart you'll get your money out of Washington Mutual while you can...

Why is the financial sector meltdown not an issue in this presidential campaign? The roll back regulation crowd and market fetishists are awfully quiet and seem to be counting on the usual smokescreens and tabloid-derived wedge issues to make this go away. "He called her a pig!" "She's a hockey mom gals can relate to!" "She's qualified! She can field dress a moose!" "He wants to teach sex ed to kindygartners!" "She's a reformer!" Well, let see her, or anybody for that matter, reform this mess. That is, if it doesn't destroy the world economy first.

Anyhow, thank you Ing. Leave it up to a non-US-owned bank to run a bank properly. Read this man's surprisingly candid advice and believe like I do.

	Dear Paul, Customer Number: XXXXXXX178 As we enter the final few months of 2008, I want to thank you for your continued confidence in ING DIRECT. Over 700,000 new Savers have joined us so far this year strengthening the bank and their own financial footing through our savings, home mortgage and ShareBuilder investment accounts. Despite a challenging economic climate, our Customer base is 7 million strong and growing. The consequences of the mortgage meltdown on financial institutions and individuals continue to erode many Americans' dreams. We will continue to stress the right way to achieve home ownership – buying only as much house as you can afford and paying off your mortgage as fast as possible. In return for good credit and prioritizing home investment, ING DIRECT mortgage Customers are rewarded with exceptional rates and a transparent, direct administration process. Rather than selling your mortgage to another bank or investor the minute you get it, we keep your mortgage and service it here. Doing so gives us flexibility to find innovative solutions to help Customers keep their homes during unexpected financial downturns. While we don’t have an Orange crystal ball, we do expect the economy to remain fragile through 2009. The best course of action for our Customers is to be disciplined: avoid splurging; identify and cut out unnecessary expenses and save for what's essential; and hedge against those tough times. We can all benefit by developing good spending habits: confront - and cut up - credit cards; use your home as a savings vehicle - not as an ATM; and establish and contribute regularly to an IRA or 401(k). In this difficult financial environment, we work tirelessly to safeguard your deposits, mortgages and investments. Importantly, your deposits are FDIC-insured according to its limits and your investments are SIPC-protected. Our security processes are the best in the business and are in place to protect your savings from those with bad intentions. While we are constantly vigilant, we need your help. Keep passwords to yourself. Never give personal information through an email. And always install both the latest antivirus and anti-malware software on your home computer. Thank you for your continued trust in ING DIRECT. We will not waver in our promise to provide you with great value, service, security and convenience. Arkadi Kuhlmann CEO of Savings

ING DIRECT 1 South Orange Street Wilmington, DE 19801