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6.10.2007
6.08.2007
6.03.2007
Whats APY ??
Annual Percentage Yield - APY
Learning, Earning, and Calculating APY
Annual percentage yield (APY) is a tool for evaluating how much a deposit earns you. Why would you look at an account’s APY? Because it is a standardized way of comparing investments. Your job as a consumer is to put your money where it will get the highest APY.
What is APY?
As the name suggests, APY is the yield you earn on a deposit over a year. It refers to your earnings – how much money you’re making. Because we all want our money to work for us and grow, it is important to get a good APY from the bank.
What is Unique About APY?
APY is notable because it takes compounding into account. In very simple terms, compounding means making earnings on your earnings. This means that the quoted APY is telling you how much you’re really making on your money. Other ways of quoting a rate don’t necessarily show you the whole picture.
How to Get the Best APY
In general, you’ll find that the APY is higher for more frequent compounding periods. Ask your financial institution how often they compound. If your money is compounded daily as opposed to quarterly, you’ll be able to earn a better APY.
You can also pump up your own “personal APY”. I always urge people to look at all of their assets as one. In other words, don’t think of one CD investment as separate from your checking account – they all go together and should be considered one. Think of yourself as the Chief Financial Officer of You, Inc.
To pump up your personal APY, find ways to make sure that your money is compounding as frequently as possible. If 2 CD’s pay the same APY, pick the one that pays out interest most often (monthly instead of at maturity, for example). Then, you can reinvest your interest payments and start earning interest on that payment.
How to Calculate APY With Ease
Calculating an investment’s APY can be tricky. If you want to just find out what an APY is with Excel, here's the function:
=POWER((1+(A1/B1)),B1)-1 where A1 is the Rate and B1 is compounding frequency.
Try pasting this formula into any cell on a spreadsheet (except A1 or B1). In cell A1 you’ll put the stated annual interest rate – in decimal format. For example, if the stated annual rate is 6%, you’ll type “.06” in cell A1. Then, you put the number of times you’ll compound each year. For example, for daily compounding you’d enter “365” (or 360 depending on the institution) in cell B1.
In the example I’ve used, you’ll find that the APY is 6.183%. In other words, if you get 6% annually with daily compounding, your APY = 6.183. Try changing the compounding frequency and you’ll get an idea of how the APY changes. For example, you might show quarterly compounding (4 times per year) or the unfortunate 1 payment per year (which just results in a 6% APY).
The APY Formula
If you like doing math the old fashioned way, here’s how to calculate APY:
APY = (1 + r/n )n – 1 where r is the stated annual interest rate and n is the number of times you’ll compound per year.
Finance people will recognize this as the Effective Annual Rate (EAR) calculation.
Wrap-up
Now that you’re up to speed on APY and how it works, go out and find the best APY you can get!
Learning, Earning, and Calculating APY
Annual percentage yield (APY) is a tool for evaluating how much a deposit earns you. Why would you look at an account’s APY? Because it is a standardized way of comparing investments. Your job as a consumer is to put your money where it will get the highest APY.
What is APY?
As the name suggests, APY is the yield you earn on a deposit over a year. It refers to your earnings – how much money you’re making. Because we all want our money to work for us and grow, it is important to get a good APY from the bank.
What is Unique About APY?
APY is notable because it takes compounding into account. In very simple terms, compounding means making earnings on your earnings. This means that the quoted APY is telling you how much you’re really making on your money. Other ways of quoting a rate don’t necessarily show you the whole picture.
How to Get the Best APY
In general, you’ll find that the APY is higher for more frequent compounding periods. Ask your financial institution how often they compound. If your money is compounded daily as opposed to quarterly, you’ll be able to earn a better APY.
You can also pump up your own “personal APY”. I always urge people to look at all of their assets as one. In other words, don’t think of one CD investment as separate from your checking account – they all go together and should be considered one. Think of yourself as the Chief Financial Officer of You, Inc.
To pump up your personal APY, find ways to make sure that your money is compounding as frequently as possible. If 2 CD’s pay the same APY, pick the one that pays out interest most often (monthly instead of at maturity, for example). Then, you can reinvest your interest payments and start earning interest on that payment.
How to Calculate APY With Ease
Calculating an investment’s APY can be tricky. If you want to just find out what an APY is with Excel, here's the function:
=POWER((1+(A1/B1)),B1)-1 where A1 is the Rate and B1 is compounding frequency.
Try pasting this formula into any cell on a spreadsheet (except A1 or B1). In cell A1 you’ll put the stated annual interest rate – in decimal format. For example, if the stated annual rate is 6%, you’ll type “.06” in cell A1. Then, you put the number of times you’ll compound each year. For example, for daily compounding you’d enter “365” (or 360 depending on the institution) in cell B1.
In the example I’ve used, you’ll find that the APY is 6.183%. In other words, if you get 6% annually with daily compounding, your APY = 6.183. Try changing the compounding frequency and you’ll get an idea of how the APY changes. For example, you might show quarterly compounding (4 times per year) or the unfortunate 1 payment per year (which just results in a 6% APY).
The APY Formula
If you like doing math the old fashioned way, here’s how to calculate APY:
APY = (1 + r/n )n – 1 where r is the stated annual interest rate and n is the number of times you’ll compound per year.
Finance people will recognize this as the Effective Annual Rate (EAR) calculation.
Wrap-up
Now that you’re up to speed on APY and how it works, go out and find the best APY you can get!
5.25.2007
My Dancing Certification ^^
This six months, a lot of tears, a lot of hurt, smile....finally..Its all worthy
Whats Money Order
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
In the United States, a money order is a type of check intended to provide a safe alternative to sending cash (in the mail). Money orders are typically sold by third parties such as the Postal Service, grocery stores, convenience stores, and financial service companies such as banks who often do not charge for money orders to their clients. Money orders are often employed by people who have a checking account as a way to offer greater security as money orders would not contain their routing number or account number such as on a check.
A money order as purchased by a presenter typically consists of two portions: the negotiable check for remittance to the creditor, and a receipt the customer retains for his records. The amount is imprinted by machine or checkwriter on both portions, and similar documentation, either as a third hard copy or in electronic form, is retained at the issuer and agent locations.
A money order is purchased for the amount desired. In this way it is similar to a certified check. The main difference is that money orders are usually limited in face value to some specified figure (for example, $1,000 for Postal money orders as of February, 2006) while certified checks are not.
One of the reasons for the growing popularity of money orders is that, unlike a personal bank check, they are pre-paid and therefore cannot bounce. The only hypothetical reasons a money order could ever bounce are if the payment is stopped by the maker of the money order, if the issuing company goes bankrupt, or if the money order is fraudulent or counterfeit.
Money orders are generally considered safer for payments from parties unknown to the payee, as opposed to a personal check drawn on the maker's bank account. This is mainly because money orders are unlikely to bounce due to insufficient funds, since a money order is drawn on a bank's funds rather than on an individual's bank account like a personal check is. And while an individual's checking account balance is susceptible to running out due to personal whims and incompetencies, a banking institution's funds generally are not. In recent years, partly for this reason, money orders have become a preferred method of payment by sellers of goods over the Internet, but are rapidly being replaced by electronic transfer services (such as PayPal) as the most popular method.
On the other hand, recently (2006) there has been a significant increase in sightings of counterfeit postal money orders. Often, such a counterfeit will be sent to an unwitting victim who is instructed, on some pretext, to deposit it at his bank and return some of the funds. The victim is more likely to trust an "official" money order than a regular check, for the reasons given above. However, because money orders are paid through the postal service rather than the usual check clearing system, they often take longer to "bounce" than an ordinary check. When this finally occurs it is charged back to the victim, who may already have sent back the funds, for which he or she must take the loss. For this reason banks are now applying increased scrutiny to incoming money orders, and are becoming more reluctant to accept them. A safer approach is to cash them at a post office. In this case, the authenticity of the item is immediately determined, and if deemed good, the holder is paid and absolved of further responsibility for the funds.
Another caveat to the oft-purported safety benefit of mailing money orders is that if they are damaged in the mail, they may literally become worthless. This is because when trying to redeem the money order (whether by the recipient, or by the original purchaser―if it was damaged enough to be returned to the sender), some institutions will not cash it, nor issue a new one, if the routing number on the bottom of the money order is unable to be read by their processing machine (as might happen with a torn or water damaged money order), commonly even if a receipt is present. When this happens, a claim must usually be filed with the issuing bank or institution. Unfortunately, most of the institutions that issue money orders charge a "non-refundable service fee," which is sometimes greater than the value of the money order itself―especially for lower denomination money orders (the service fee[1] for filing a claim with MoneyGram, for example, is $12). The claim then generally takes 30 to 60 days to be procesed, though it may be rejected. Sending cash in the mail, on the other hand, while still generally discouraged, would at least offer a greater chance at redeeming the entire value of the amount sent should damage occur (unless the envelope or package is known to be carrying cash and is stolen), since most banks will exchange damaged bank notes so long as the bill is at least more than fifty percent intact
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_order
In the United States, a money order is a type of check intended to provide a safe alternative to sending cash (in the mail). Money orders are typically sold by third parties such as the Postal Service, grocery stores, convenience stores, and financial service companies such as banks who often do not charge for money orders to their clients. Money orders are often employed by people who have a checking account as a way to offer greater security as money orders would not contain their routing number or account number such as on a check.
A money order as purchased by a presenter typically consists of two portions: the negotiable check for remittance to the creditor, and a receipt the customer retains for his records. The amount is imprinted by machine or checkwriter on both portions, and similar documentation, either as a third hard copy or in electronic form, is retained at the issuer and agent locations.
A money order is purchased for the amount desired. In this way it is similar to a certified check. The main difference is that money orders are usually limited in face value to some specified figure (for example, $1,000 for Postal money orders as of February, 2006) while certified checks are not.
One of the reasons for the growing popularity of money orders is that, unlike a personal bank check, they are pre-paid and therefore cannot bounce. The only hypothetical reasons a money order could ever bounce are if the payment is stopped by the maker of the money order, if the issuing company goes bankrupt, or if the money order is fraudulent or counterfeit.
Money orders are generally considered safer for payments from parties unknown to the payee, as opposed to a personal check drawn on the maker's bank account. This is mainly because money orders are unlikely to bounce due to insufficient funds, since a money order is drawn on a bank's funds rather than on an individual's bank account like a personal check is. And while an individual's checking account balance is susceptible to running out due to personal whims and incompetencies, a banking institution's funds generally are not. In recent years, partly for this reason, money orders have become a preferred method of payment by sellers of goods over the Internet, but are rapidly being replaced by electronic transfer services (such as PayPal) as the most popular method.
On the other hand, recently (2006) there has been a significant increase in sightings of counterfeit postal money orders. Often, such a counterfeit will be sent to an unwitting victim who is instructed, on some pretext, to deposit it at his bank and return some of the funds. The victim is more likely to trust an "official" money order than a regular check, for the reasons given above. However, because money orders are paid through the postal service rather than the usual check clearing system, they often take longer to "bounce" than an ordinary check. When this finally occurs it is charged back to the victim, who may already have sent back the funds, for which he or she must take the loss. For this reason banks are now applying increased scrutiny to incoming money orders, and are becoming more reluctant to accept them. A safer approach is to cash them at a post office. In this case, the authenticity of the item is immediately determined, and if deemed good, the holder is paid and absolved of further responsibility for the funds.
Another caveat to the oft-purported safety benefit of mailing money orders is that if they are damaged in the mail, they may literally become worthless. This is because when trying to redeem the money order (whether by the recipient, or by the original purchaser―if it was damaged enough to be returned to the sender), some institutions will not cash it, nor issue a new one, if the routing number on the bottom of the money order is unable to be read by their processing machine (as might happen with a torn or water damaged money order), commonly even if a receipt is present. When this happens, a claim must usually be filed with the issuing bank or institution. Unfortunately, most of the institutions that issue money orders charge a "non-refundable service fee," which is sometimes greater than the value of the money order itself―especially for lower denomination money orders (the service fee[1] for filing a claim with MoneyGram, for example, is $12). The claim then generally takes 30 to 60 days to be procesed, though it may be rejected. Sending cash in the mail, on the other hand, while still generally discouraged, would at least offer a greater chance at redeeming the entire value of the amount sent should damage occur (unless the envelope or package is known to be carrying cash and is stolen), since most banks will exchange damaged bank notes so long as the bill is at least more than fifty percent intact
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_order
Students' Performance
#1 May 16, 2007 Students performance in Taiwan Center 學生在台灣會館的舞蹈影片
報紙上的宣傳:
台灣會館五月十六日 舉辦街舞成果展
盧雲帆(Sherry Lu) 老師指導 免費入場 歡迎前來觀賞
台灣會館五月十六日，舉辦街舞成果發表會， 星期三 晚間8:00pm入場，內容包括Hip-hop & Reggae & Jazz，結合了百老匯以及青少年的街舞風格，這場成果發表是所有學生們從今年的一月初辛苦認真學習舞蹈到現在的結晶。你想知道什麼是hip-hop嗎？你想知道現在最hot 最熱的舞蹈是什麼嗎？？歡迎大家共襄盛舉，一起party囉。
台灣會館位於法拉盛北方大道137-44號。聯繫電話: (718) 445-7007
青春洋溢hip-hop組
動感Sexy 雷鬼組
心得感想:
我在紐約的學生，他們第一次的成果展喔～～～大部份人都是第一次學舞～～ 真的很棒^^ 繼續加油～～ 我們朝carnival 出發～～
表演地方是在紐約的台灣會館，那是一個很不錯的地方，提供給當地的台灣人很多的資源。別看他們跳的都嚇嚇叫，大部分人都才國高中生而已喔～～ 學生當然不是全部都是台灣人拉，也有馬來西亞人，韓國人，所以教課的時候全程是要用英文教，偶而要講講國語，再不時要露兩句我很破的閩南語，呵呵～～我不費講韓國話和福州話～～所以請多多包含拉～～
You guys are the best ^^ never stop dancing o~~
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#2 July 08,2007 Students performence in Universal Dance Studio
Students performence in Universal Dance Studio in July 08, 2007
感謝Roy 在我不在紐約的這段時間幫忙大家排練這隻舞蹈，把我的精神發揮到最大空間～～
謝謝你～～
少了你還真的不行丫～～ 哈～～
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#3 July 28,2007 Universal Performance
hahaha.... The subtitle is really cute, I love you guys. You guys are the best best best cute students that I ever have.
I'm so sorry that I cannot teach in Universal anymore. But still hope to see you guys doing great in the future.
報紙上的宣傳:台灣會館五月十六日 舉辦街舞成果展
盧雲帆(Sherry Lu) 老師指導 免費入場 歡迎前來觀賞
台灣會館五月十六日，舉辦街舞成果發表會， 星期三 晚間8:00pm入場，內容包括Hip-hop & Reggae & Jazz，結合了百老匯以及青少年的街舞風格，這場成果發表是所有學生們從今年的一月初辛苦認真學習舞蹈到現在的結晶。你想知道什麼是hip-hop嗎？你想知道現在最hot 最熱的舞蹈是什麼嗎？？歡迎大家共襄盛舉，一起party囉。
台灣會館位於法拉盛北方大道137-44號。聯繫電話: (718) 445-7007
青春洋溢hip-hop組
動感Sexy 雷鬼組心得感想:
我在紐約的學生，他們第一次的成果展喔～～～大部份人都是第一次學舞～～ 真的很棒^^ 繼續加油～～ 我們朝carnival 出發～～
表演地方是在紐約的台灣會館，那是一個很不錯的地方，提供給當地的台灣人很多的資源。別看他們跳的都嚇嚇叫，大部分人都才國高中生而已喔～～ 學生當然不是全部都是台灣人拉，也有馬來西亞人，韓國人，所以教課的時候全程是要用英文教，偶而要講講國語，再不時要露兩句我很破的閩南語，呵呵～～我不費講韓國話和福州話～～所以請多多包含拉～～
You guys are the best ^^ never stop dancing o~~
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#2 July 08,2007 Students performence in Universal Dance Studio
Students performence in Universal Dance Studio in July 08, 2007
感謝Roy 在我不在紐約的這段時間幫忙大家排練這隻舞蹈，把我的精神發揮到最大空間～～
謝謝你～～
少了你還真的不行丫～～ 哈～～
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#3 July 28,2007 Universal Performance
hahaha.... The subtitle is really cute, I love you guys. You guys are the best best best cute students that I ever have.
I'm so sorry that I cannot teach in Universal anymore. But still hope to see you guys doing great in the future.
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