While shopping around for an online bank, I came across SmartyPig, a mix of personal finance and social networking that’s primarily alluring because of its 3.9% APY. While I’ll spare you the detailed benefits of letting friends and family check in on your progress of saving for goals (click here and here for reviews of the service), I’m guessing that one would have to run with a pretty understanding crowd to share such personal information with ‘em, especially since that sharing translates into helping from time to time.
Then again, I’m just not one to run my finances like an NPR fund drive. Sure, Smartypiggies won’t be interrupting Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me to ask for a few bucks, but the service seems a bit intrusive, both for the piggies who open up their bank accounts for viewing and to the folks who see how slowly that piggy saves for a down payment.
That said, SmartPiggy sounds wonderful for certain circumstances, such as weddings when we already shroud financial assistance in bathroom towels and china sets as we peruse registries. And SmartPiggy is golden for those folks who just eat up the APY and keep their screens shut.
(I was, by the way, rather impressed by ING Direct, and I’ll be happy to save quietly in that corner of the ‘net.)
