Follow The Eater

VillageVines.com has an interesting concept that has a bigger advantage for alcohol drinkers.  Hybrid of a happy hour and a Groupon.  The restaurants however set the time range that the discounts apply to bring in people during slower parts of the day. $10 dollars to reserve a table, and 30% discount is discretely applied to your bill.  

I question how much one would really save due to the $10 fee.  For instance, $60 bill with a 30% discount would be $42. Adding back the reservation fee of $10 puts the cost back to $52 and the effective saving is really only about 13% (omitted tax/tip which one would have to pay anyhow except it’s higher of course on a bigger bill).

Currently available in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington DC, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Denver, Miami, Atlanta.

It’s almost the weekend, which in my book, is cause for celebration. At Brio Tuscan Grille, you can celebrate seven days a week with Happy Hour specials from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. and reverse Happy Hour specials from 9:00 p.m. to close.

Happy Hour deals include:

• $1 off domestic beer
• $4 martinis
• $2.95 appetizers
• $5 house wines

Brio Tuscan Grille is located at 500 Nichols Road on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri.

Source: http://kansascityonthecheap.com/?p=4376

I get tired of people leaving lots of money on the table. And what’s worse is that the general media sources perpetuate the ignorance or inferior options.

There are many that just put their money in a savings account with a typical big bank like Bank of America whose savings rate is in the neighborhood of 0.2%.

Then there’s the next step up with online saving accounts such as Ally Bank, HSBC Direct, ING Direct, EverBank, and Emigrant Direct. I’ve personally have used ING Direct (4% in 2005), Emigrant Direct (5.25% in 2006), HSBC Direct in (6% in 2007).

However the rates have plummeted since 2008.  The options above are somewhat respectable ranging from 1.20% to 2.50% which is still 6X the typical saving account rate.

Many people have seen finance blogs or websites continue recommending these so called great saving interest rates from these online banks giving the impression it’s the best thing out there.  While the so called “best” options were around 3% or lower the last two years, I’ve been making between 6.01% and 5.01% the the last two years. (Rate dropped from 6.01 to 5.01 early 2009)

You can easily find a bank near you that beats all those other online saving accounts through:

https://www.checkingfinder.com/

It’s a site that finds high interesting checking accounts from regional banks (all FDIC insured).  This checking account IS my savings account. There are some catches or qualifications you have to meet on a monthly basis or statement cycle in order to earn such a high interest like 5.01% currently for where I live.

Some include:

• Minimum of 10 debit or credit card purchases
• 1 Automatic Payment or Direct Deposit transfer
• Receive your monthly account statement electronically

I easily get 10 card transactions per month.  Setting a direct deposit with your employer to the bank is common nowadays, but if you’re not able to do that, you can just have one bill pay or automatic payment for a utility bill or something.  Receiving your monthly statement electronically is probably a freebie if you’re reading this blog. And a typical bonus of these banks is free ATM refunds as well!  And if somehow you slip up and don’t meet all the qualifications for a certain statement cycle, you’ll still earn more than 0.20% on your money.

One may wonder how can these banks offer rates that are so far ahead of the competition that most people know about.  We’ll they’re definitely not making much money off you…maybe none at all.  Which is why there’s usually a limit on your balance that can qualify to earn the high rate.  Typically balances up to $25,000.  But hey…if you’re fortunate enough to have more than that much, you can open another account at a different bank.  Just search for another one at https://www.checkingfinder.com/