Thanks for voting!At ING DIRECT headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, there’s a thin white line painted in front of the main entrance. The line has been the subject of curiosity, speculation and inspiration by our colleagues and visitors alike.
So what gives with the white line? It’s the brainchild of Arkadi Kuhlmann, our CEO of Savings. It exists as a physical reminder of why we show up for work each day, committed to helping Americans save their money.
It’s also a reminder that being a dedicated Saver is never easy and sometimes takes drawing your own “white line.” Tangible or not, crossing that line reflects your commitment to saving.
A Saver’s white line isn’t really about being cheap or frugal. It’s simply knowing when to spend and when not to spend, determining which purchases have real meaning and which are meaningless, and recognizing the things in life that matter most.
So what’s your white line? What’s it going to take to cross it? And to stay there?
Here’s a white line to cross to get you even closer to all your savings goals. Set up a monthly Automatic Savings Plan with ING DIRECT and you could win up to $50,000 in a special sweepstakes for Savers. Learn more and set up your Automatic Savings Plan today.
Tags: Arkadi Kulhmann, White Line
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Thats really interesting and cool. I crossed my line ong time ago. My strategy is “Make IT, Manage IT and Master IT”. Make it rightly, Manage it wisely and Master IT with class.
Very good object lesson. I’m learning and growing and getting better and better at it every month. I like this physical reminder, though, and may even put one on the threshold of my door and near the computer screen!
I save when I can afford to save. Right now I’m living on a deficit and off of my savings. Thanks for nothing.
Kelly,
You a Laugh. Your Blaming your Bank for Your Spending.
You are Also Someone that Fell for the Governments Cash for Clunkers Rip-Off Deal!
Wake Up and Smell the Money, Stop Living Beyond Your Means!!!!
How fantastic to see a CEO talking in such a frank way. After being so mistrated by banks, It feels great to know that everyone at ING is helping those that really want to become fiscally responsible. I have made the commitment to control my money instead of my money controlling me. To people like Kelly I say to read “I will teach you to be rich” by Ramit Sethi. It will really help you understand debt, credit and how to be able to set up your finances so that you can save. Don’t give up trying to understand your money. I don’t make a six figure salary and I have debt, but books like his really helped me to save despite all the hardships. Hope it helps you.
This brings new meaning to the song “White Lines”. I love you ING, but maybe it should be a “green line”. Just a thought.
I started about two years ago. With NO EXTRA money. Using the auto deposit feature, I saved $25.00 a month.
On the surface, 25.00 is a joke. A joke of a savings plan and a joke if you tell yourself that you can’t put aside $6.25 a week. Glad I started!
I set up a monthly budget, and when I get paid everything that isn’t already marked for mortgage, utilities, groceries, and transportation goes into my Orange Savings account. That’s my “white line” — if I’m considering buying something that would make me cross that line and take money out of savings, I ask myself if I’d rather have that thing, or have some savings for when I might really need it. Sometimes I cross it, sometimes I don’t - but I always think before I do.
To the Kelly’s of the world,
Life sometimes throws some awful curveballs: job loss, major medical expenses, and the like. That is why saving at every other time is so important. You mention that you are living off your savings right now, so it sounds like you already were a saver. Don’t get discouraged! Keep applying the philosophy of really critically thinking about which purchases are needs, and which are wants, and do everything you can to limit your expenses to the “needs” category. Hopefully, the hardship will pass, and you will find (like I did) that it was a valuable learning time about what is truly important, and what is just “keeping up with the Joneses,” and your savings will soon soar!
Nice ascot.
After starting my own account I started one for each of my children. This year I expanded to Sharebuilder accounts for each of them too. They will be so surprised when I turn them over for their control. Son in about 5 years daughter in about 7 years or so. Very convenient to control and transfer!!
Make it, save it, invest it. That’s the simple path to wealth. ING could afford to pay a little better interest rate to help out its committed savers.
My husband would always ask me “do you really need it or you just want it?”, then I have to stop and think and ask the same question to myself. There is a big difference between need and want. Spend wisely I guess is the key. My way of saving is allocating a certain amount through direct deposit every pay period. Think of it as part of your salary deductions. You will be surprise how much savings you have overtime.
Laurel- What a beautiful attitude!
ING- I love the way this article ended. It’s about determining what is most valuable to YOU, and letting your spending follow your values.
It would be a lot easier to save if banks paid a higher rate of interest. After the bail out, I see interest rates of .005% being advertised as a great gift. The value of money is historically 5%. I’m old enough to remember being told to move your money out of accounts only paying 5%. At least Ing Bank is higher than most.
We have been saving for about 3 years now and today I am feeling so defeated. Since February both our cars have been in the shop, both of them, every single month. This month we finally decided to buy my husband a new car since the latest repair bill was over $1800. We pulled what we had left in savings and paid cash for a $5000 car. That was after replacing the A/C that went out last month, $3800. Today the other A/C unit went out and on my way home my car started overheating. Sigh. We’ll do what we can with what money we have left and start saving again! Thank God we had enough saved to weather these storms, can you imagine how much in debt we’d be if we hadn’t saved!
Interest rates are a joke and do not keep up with inflation. I know professionals in the financial world do not believe the phony inflation figures put out by the government. So the fact is use your savings when you need to. It is a losing game to try to hold on to money that is losing value, not growing.
Dear Beth,
Getting a good used car is a good idea. For the A/C, usually you don’t need to replace the system, the mechanical parts still work. It’s probably a slow leak of the coolant gas. Add 2-3 cans of the coolant gas at the beginning of the summer, it will keep you cool until October. (Sometimes the gas is input from a large tank, not separate cans). This will just cost 100-200 dollars every summer, and you can keep using your car.
The radiator could be replaced by a used one— but that is very important, you’ve probably already fixed it by now.
Keeping our old cars on the road is much more environmentally friendly than building too many new cars!
Finding a trustworthy mechanic is a life-long good investment, too!
Best wishes for more savings next year.
Does the white line denote where ING stopped taking out “Dead Peasant” policies when they had to start disclosing them?
I opened an Orange Savings Account in July 2008 with a rate of 2.96. The financial crisis began soon after this date and the rate began to drop. The rate on my June 2010 statement has dropped to 1.095. The financial situation started to turn upward several months ago, yet your rates continue to drop.
Most of the banks in the city where I live ( New York ) have raised there rates over the past few months, not by much, but they are going up.
Please explain to me why your rates continue to drop and why I should keep depositing with you and not with one of my local banks.
James - You’re RIGHT! You should not look at ING as an investment opportunity; rather a savings opportunity, You will NEVER get rich, out-of-debit, or financially wealthy by SAVING money. When you SAVE you have money for life’s curveballs; like Beth above. When you SAVE you have the money for car repairs, braces for the kids, or when the A/C goes out in the house. Want to make more money? Want to be wealthy? Want more? Then you have to INVEST. Invest is different than SAVE. Invest has risks. Invest requires more of your time and effort. But, take the time to learn HOW to invest and you will make more money then you can spend. I would first invest in yourself: knowledge, goal setting, and learning about all the opportunities that await. Remember, don’t believe everything you think! Best of luck.
Interesting how they are committed to our savings. I just realized that Personal Savings from American Express pays better interest. I moved a large portion of my money over to them. It really pays to compare what your are getting. While this was great at one time, the competition is fierce.
Personally, I’m not so concerned about what rate of interest I’m getting from ING.
The reason is that I agree with Stuart–ING is a savings opportunity, not an investment opportunity. So I save up an amount that is meant to get me through unexpected periods of financial need, and anything beyond that goes into investments. The amount that I want in my savings account is small enough that, quite frankly, one or two percent higher interest doesn’t mean as much to me as convenience.
As a doctor, I commit myself everyday to see EVERYONE who calls to see me the same day, or the patient of another doctor calling me to see their patient: it’s how *I* would want to be treated, how I would want my family to be treated. I try to teach my staff these principle of customer service, which are universal, to either a bank or a retail store or a doctor’s office.
This is more of a comment for the e-mail blast that brought me to this page. The language was really fun and engaging. I was surprised. Whoever is writing your copy is fantastic.
I started working when I was 13 or 14 years old and was always surprised that, unless I was working, I would be broke.
The concepts of goal-setting, saving or delayed gratification just never occurred to me!
At some time, someone, in person or in my reading clarified the difference between “needs” and “wants.”
While I understood the difference, I never really allowed it to govern my spending/saving habits until I became responsible for others and got a job where a few bucks were left over after expenses. Using payroll deductions for saving and automatic withdrawal for “investing,” the discipline that I lacked for funding these items went on “auto-pilot.” I never really saw the money until it showed up on my statements as savings in one form or another.
I was very fortunate to have had these mechanisms available to me; my personal discipline for saving was insufficient to do ANYTHING along the lines of regular contributions.
Our times are much more complicated and unpredictable now and I’m not sure how I would cope with the economic realities that have developed since the 80’s. It’s fortunate that the mechanisms which allowed my undisciplined self to save and invest are still available for anybody willing to avail themselves of them.
To the Kelly of the world,
I was laid off, My wife got cancer, and three little kids needed food. Putting a little away each month helps like Jon D said. You are not the only one feeling the crunch!! You however are the only one that can Make the Change. My white line is in the eye’s of my family. We try to put $20 away every month. Not much to the world, but in a years time..I love compounding. I locked into a 5yr cd with ING for my oldest daughter a year ago @ 4.25%. That’s $2400 at maturity.My daughter thinks I am the greatest thing since the invention of P&J sandwiches. It takes self control. You can do it Kelly, only IF YOU want!!!
Everyone’s ideas for saving are wonderful. I’m getting a lot if ideas. I also just want to say to some fellow posters; before you pass judgment on why someone sounds so frustrated with their situation, why not give encouragement first. Just a suggestion.
Beth: I know how you feel when your ride is on it’s last leg. After 13 years of driving my car. I discovered one repair was almost equal to 9 months of car payments. That is when I crossed the white line. I always took good care of my purchases. I now own a band new car for 10 months and only spent money on an oil change ($32.00) v.s. over three thousand one month on the old one. Your car has a thermostat problem. If the car overheats . The computer in your car will automatically shut down the air conditioner to eliminate any extra heat from frying your engine. Have the mechanic install a new thermostat correctly, and follow purge procedures to eliminate any air in the coolant system. The car should then run without overheating and the air conditoner will return to function by itself.
Hope this helps, but I think it’s time for you to consider crossing the white line ( you need it, and treat youself to an extra upgrade). Take the money you would save from having no repairs and put it in ING Savings.
Art, You are So Correct.
I Purchased a NEW $45K Pick-Up for 0% Financing and a Lifetime Warranty, $100/Issue Out of Pocket.
The Auto Companies are Still Issueing these Deals All the Time, Just Shop Around.
A family member just had had their car totally give out and were in a bit of a rough patch. My siblings and parents have all been “savers” for several years. We we able to get together and buy her a used, but very nice, car out of our savings.
We couldn’t have done that if we hadn’t all saved in advance. So, saving isn’t just about responsible management for yourself, it puts you in the position to help others when they need it.
It would be cool to hear an explanation about the interest rates with ING from someone at ING regarding the comments that James F. Smith made. I agree with him and even Bank of America has some better interest rates on some of their savings plans. Seems ING has changed their original intent and now is more interested in how much money THEY can make. Sure, its not an investment but why not get the best that you can for your pocket?
To everyone complaining about interest rates…
I’ve been a saver with ING for about 4 years now and remember when the rates were up near 4%. They’ve gone down considerably, but for good reason. But what’s the difference of 2 or 3% when you should only be “saving” an emergency fund, or somewhat short term goals. Everything else should be investing. Like some other posters have said, you need to start investing in yourself with education. Long term goals are met with investing in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. With smart investing, you can power through tough economic times like these and still make a decent interest rate.
I personally have made some bad decisions in the market in the recent past, but diversification helped me stay in the black. Even in a down market, i’ve been able to average about 5% on my investments. Sharebuilder is a great program, and lets you start your investment accounts at little or no charge. They provide loads of information to assist you in making some of those tough financial decisions. Check it out and start investing in your future.
I started saving with ING when the rates were @ 4%. Before this, I didn’t save at all. The money always ran out before the month. I still only save a small amount each payday, but it has come in handy to have that little amount in there for emergencies. And, once in awhile I even get to leave it in there for a couple of months.
Interest rates are low because mortgage rates are low. Like anyone, a bank can’t spend more than they make. If they are getting a much smaller amount for their mortgage loans, they can’t pay out as much in interest on savings accounts. I mean, seriously, mortgage rates are less than 4% right now.
And banks like ING that DO NOT charge overdraft fees and do not have minimum balance requirements have less income coming in than, say, American Express who, now that they have the blue card, are actually making mooney off people who carry balances from month to month.
The interest rate issues does make sense once you remember that what a bank pays out is closely tied to what they bring in and, like ING is always saying, you can’t spend more than you earn. Once mortgage rates start going back up, then you’ll see saving rates start to climb again.
What a great reminder of one of the fundamental rules for long term financial success. I call it “paying yourself first.” If you start young putting only a little away each paycheck you can easily have the savings that allow you to erase “emergency” out of your future.
I’m committed…Thanks ING DIRECT!!!
Wow … such sour pusses some of you! Yes, interest rates are low, but ING’s are many times what one makes in a savings or checking account, and my T. Rowe Price Money Market has paid ten times less than a bank. I have two accounts: one for a new blue water sailing yacht, and one for personal security. I love watching both of them grow. Like the poster stated above, live within your means, even if those idiots you elected to Congress can’t … and that’s with your money …
I have been saving for a little while but wish I had started sooner. I like it that the account is connected with the bank but I seriously consider the move of transfering funds. I want to save enough to have a vacation out of state. Savings are always going to be important to me.
I am glad I switched my savings account to ING. I went from .19 cents a month to $3 to $5 depending on my balance (like others I had to raid my savings for car work). Plus the bonus $10 for each recommendation make me glad I did. I do $25 a week and it does add up.
This is a great concept. Kudos to ING Direct!