Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Savings

Think global, bank local?

Mender — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:45:32 -0800

Do you use a credit union based in Brooklyn or Manhattan? If so, which one, and have you had a good experience there? I keep a savings account with a major national bank, and have been considering switching it to a local credit union. Looking for recommendations for credit unions in Brooklyn or Manhattan (I would also consider Queens). Tell me about your experience and why you would or would not suggest a particular organization.

Bonus question: is there a reason I should not put a large chunk of my savings in a credit union? I am not a financial risk taker, so if there are risks I might not be considering, please let me know! Anything I should know about credit unions in general?

Why can't college be cheaper?

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:04:26 -0800

My 1 year old daughter has been given money... what now? I know you're not my investor or anything, and thanks in advance for any help.

Every holiday my daughter receives money from her grandparents. She's up to $600 in cash as well as savings bonds. I'm trying to do the right thing and put her money up safely for her, I'm just clueless about the best way.

I have her money in a savings account that gains .60% APY as of now.

People in my family (namely - my mom) are telling me that I should put her money into savings bonds, it's the smarter thing to do, i need to be responsible, i need to save for college, yada yada yada...

Other people are saying I should look into college savings plans.

I've looked into it myself, but I'll confess that I get a little confused trying to compare everything... What's best for my daughter?

Paid-for air travel—help me save the money for later

coolnik — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:50:41 -0800

Lots of air travel in near future. Help me survive and save money. Early next year, I will be traveling a lot for business—conferences, seminars, etc. While almost all of this travel is paid for, I will be reimbursed only after the said event is done. Which means I will have to buy my own flight tickets.

Help me identify how I can use this opportunity to save money for my personal travel later in the year? What are the best options to to accumulate the air miles? If it helps, I am based in Rhode Island, and all of my upcoming business travel is going to be within the US.

Should we take the risk and buy a bigger house now or should we save up a safety net before we buy another house?

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:57:02 -0800

Should we take the risk and buy a bigger house now or should we save up a safety net before we buy another house? I am in my early 30s. I live in St. Paul, MN. I have two young boys (4 & 2 yrs - neither is in school yet). I have a good job. However, I am worried that if I lose my job I won't be able to get another at anywhere near the same salary level. Also, We don't have a financial safety net. The wrinkle is the kids are starting to get ready for school and we have decided we are moving in the next couple of years. So if we didn't buy a house we would be moving into an apartment.

One thing to note. I don't care about timing the housing market or interest rates for mortgages.

Throwaway email address is here: stpauldad@gmail.com

Our Current House:
------------------------------
Purchased 5 years ago. Our monthly payment is around $1400. Our house is a small 2 bedroom (~800 sq feet). Our house is in a BAD school district. We ARE moving sometime in the next year.

Income/Careers:
------------------------------
My wife previously made in the < 30,000 range as a secretary. She is now a full-time mom. Realistically though she won't be back in the workforce for another 4 years. She also has a side job (3 hrs a day from home) that pays around 700 a month.
I work in "technology/internet". I am making $84,000 and have a cap in my current job at around $120,000. My biggest worry is I am the primary breadwinner. Also we don't have savings to cover mortgage if anything happens. However, my job is fairly steady and with a reliable medium sized company. I have had my job (with diff titles obviously) at the same employer for the last 12 years.

Current Financial Situation:
------------------------------
- We have around $10,000 in debt (credit cards, bank line of credit - stupid stuff)
- Each month we have around $1,000 extra income that we can apply to debt or savings.
- $0 - our current savings (I have around 50K in a retirement account but I don't want to touch that)
- we own one of our two cars
- our net (combined) salaries are around $5000 a month

Option 1 - Buy a new house now:
------------------------------
To make this happen we would have to save like mad for a down payment (before the $6,500 credit expires) and forgo the savings. The one thing that helps is we usually get a substantial tax refund (near $10,000 last year). So we could use that to wipe out our debts.

pro - $6,500 tax credit for second time home buyers
pro - we would have enough space
pro - good school district
con - cost.. we are looking at houses in the $250,000 range - monthly payments would be $1,700 +
con - because of the increased mortgage - we will be in a worse position to build up our savings and pay off our debts
con - we are in a much less flexible situation if I lose my job

Option 2 - Move to an apartment and save until we have enough cash for 20% down payment & have an emergency fund:
------------------------------
pro - cost savings - we could rent an apartment/duplex/house for less than or mortage (probably $1,200) so thats around $500 in monthly savings
pro - good school district
con - we would have to move 2x (assuming we eventually buy another house)
con - we have a ton of house shit that we would have to store or sell (snowblower, mower, lawn stuff, etc.)
con - we would probably have less space than if we bought a house
con - we would miss out on a year of the tax rebate, right? or do renters get money back too?

Help a smart but inexperienced young man manage my money (UK)!

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:22:02 -0800

You Are Not My Financial Planner. But I'm a (still barely) young man living in the U.K. Took a long time to get a career together, with 2 good degrees, but finally achieved slightly below average salary with slow growth prospects. What approach to savings / investments should I take? Further to the above, I earn just below the national average (aout £1,300 monthly after tax etc) but hope to increase this in the next few years to just above the average (say £30k p.a. before tax). My job is in higher education libraries, which doesn't have huge prospects for salary increases. I guess maybe £40 or £50k in ten years is doable? I live frugally, don't even have a car, and rent at the lowest possible rate (about £400/month in !).

I've just got the point where I'm a "young professional" hanging out with others of my age (28) and realising they have way more financial sense (and success) than I ever have. I have about £1000 in a cash ISA. I add £50/month to it. That's it. Some of my peers have saved, invested and are now looking into buying houses. Why the disparity? Is it purely down to salary and willingness to risk on the markets?

Given that my aims in life are mainly just to get a modest house, raise a family, continue working like a dog until (or beyond) retirement, run a modest, boring car if I really need it for kids, work etc, take cheap inland holidays and live frugally til I die, what savings and investments should aim to get?

I'm already aiming to "save 3 months salary" as recommended by popular financial advice books. My bank supplied me with an "advice session" where the talk escalated quickly from my idea of investing £500-£1000 upfront then £50 per month in an investment ISA (in a medium risk band) to more like £200-£300 split 50-50 between medium and second-from-top risk bands... at this point I got cold feet and split.

I have a Masters in Physics so I can handle algebra but all the arithmetic makes my head spin (the sales pitch doesn't help!). I'm reading basic guides but I'm struggling to understand what I should do. My family never discussed these issues and I wonder if I'll ever afford to raise one of my own to teach them to... can anyone "hope me"?

PS. I know about moneysavingexpert.com etc and will continue to look into that. Pointers to specific relevant pages would be really welcome though! :)

PPS I have no debts except the usual UK student loan at about 20k, which I just ignore as a graduate tax. I only have credit cards in case I need to sign up to online stuff or prove I have a good record

Where to find good state-by-state savings statistics?

ejfox — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:06:46 -0800

Where can I find solid nationwide savings statistics/data? I am trying to make a map illustrating income & savings in the united states. However, the only data I am finding related to savings is based on measuring the entire United States as one unit. Does anyone know if I could find a state-by-state breakdown?

I have been looking through the "Saving and Investment" section of the BEA website (BEA NIPA Tables) to no avail.

If this information is not available, any advice on how to show a geographic breakdown of income/savings would be appreciated.

How should we start saving for our first daughter?

NotSoSimple — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:32:41 -0800

How should we start saving for our first daughter? We are expecting our first and feel we should start setting aside some money for college/career dev/whatever she may want to do. We are both young (22 and 23) but make decent money ($75k/Year pre-tax) and can spare a little bit. Of course as salaries increase, so will the amount we put in. Where do we start? I was suggested a financial adviser, but will not pay for one. A simple savings account sounds like the simplest but worst way. Help a new-to-be-parent out! Wife and I are both financial newbies, so no idea where to start.

Savings for convenience?

Raze2k — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:55:09 -0800

Should I bother with a savings account? I recently dug myself out of credit card debt and for the first time in years, I'm finding myself no longer living check to check. I've continued to use one of my cards for most of my expenses, partially for convenience, but mostly for the cash back rewards now in tandem with Chase Blueprint (specifically 0% APR on all purchases, as long as I completely pay my bill each month with extra points for having a Chase checking account).

Having said that, I now find the balance of my checking account growing and I feel as though I ought to be earning interest. The sticking point here is that I need the money to be very liquid and easily accessible. Most of my accounts are with Chase and I'd like to keep it that way. Unfortunately I don't have a high enough balance to qualify for their interest-bearing checking accounts and the interest on their savings accounts is currently a pathetic 0.01%.

Since I'm not sure of my financial needs over the next year and I want to keep my funds readily available at a moment's notice, is it worth bothering with a Chase Savings account -- if only to provide the convenience of separating theoretical savings from day-to-day funds?

I'm not at a point where I feel comfortable transferring funds to an online-only bank and, admittedly, convenience is huge to me. Are there any down sides to opening a new savings account (other than the obviously terrible interest rate)?

Note: Chase Savings accounts are free as long as you have a minimum balance of $300.

What should we do with our money?

Tarumba — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:41:55 -0800

What should we do with our money? We save about $1000 a month, and I have the feeling we are being too passive with these savings. Right now we have them in a joint savings account in our Credit Union, were the interest rate is a meager 0.5%. We would like to continue being members in the credit union (we both have checking accounts, and we use them to pay for bills, etc.) There is a good possibility we will be saving more in the future, since we are VERY cheap, and we both may be promoted soon. Retirement is not a worry, we are already taking care of that.

What can we do with the $$ we are saving? Are mutual funds a good option? Do you have any recommendations as to specific banks and accounts?

Also...My boss proposed us that we pay him 50 dollars and he'll manage our money on etrade.com, but I don't know if that would be good (he does have a talent for finances)

Where to hide the money?

odi.et.amo — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:15:22 -0800

How can I figure out the minimum amount to keep in my checking account? Basic financial stats: I pay for everything I can (including bills) with my American Express for the cash back bonus. A few utility bills are withdrawn from my checking account, as well as rent. I pay my CC bill from checking, and my paycheck is deposited there. Income > Expenses.

My only debts are student loans (at such a low rate that I have no intentions of paying it off early), and about 4k left on a car loan that I could probably pay off now if I wanted to.

I'd like to make the most out of my savings account, though, and even though I feel like this should be easy, I can't figure out how little I need to keep in checking. Is there an easy way to figure this out? I know I can move some money to savings now, but I'd love a formula to figure out how much that should be (in addition to the money that I have automagically transferred every month).

Side question - should I put this extra money towards my car loan instead so that I can start saving even more each month? The interest rate on the car loan is between 5-6% if I recall. Online savings is with INGDirect which is somewhere around 1.4%.

Use cash to start a business or for a down payment on a home.

mintchip — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:40:50 -0800

Use cash to start a business or for a down payment on a home. I have been interested in having my own business. I have read business magazines for years and have even had a couple of small service-based businesses that I ran part time. No big bucks there but a rewarding experience.

Recently I've been considering trying to start a business for real. I have a small sum of cash (between 10-20k) I've been slowly saving for a home down payment.

It's a tough choice. Since I need a home to live in, buying one would mean an investment in my future and security. However, chances are that I won't get rich working for a private company. In fact, it's quite hard to get ahead nowadays with most of the good middle management positions gone. Meanwhile, most of the people I've known who did quite well for themselves did it by owning their own business.

I'm not saying it's easy. I'm just thinking that owning a business seems like my best shot at getting ahead, and it also happens to be a genuine interest of mine. At the same time, starting a business is a huge risk (I think it's something like 4 out of 5 fail within 5 years) and I could lose the money as well as a lot of time and energy.

I believe I have many of the qualities that would contribute to success in business. But it's hard for me to know if I have all of them.

What's your take? How have those of you who have been in a similar position weighed the pros and cons of such a decision.

Not an IRA, I know that much.

EmpressCallipygos — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:32:20 -0800

I want to start a dedicated bank account -- but what specific kind of account? At some point in the future -- possibly this year -- I'll be getting a portion of an inheritance from my grandfather. I've already decided that since he was a MAJOR traveler -- and I'd like to be -- that I want to take a portion of however much I get and start a new account to fund all my travel for the next couple years (it'd be a sort of legacy gesture, plus...money for travel! W00t!).

The question is: what kind of account should I be starting? Ideally, I want something that gets the highest possible amount of interest, but also lets me pull out a chunk whenever I need (maybe just once a year) for plane tickets and such, without getting penalized by any "you can only withdraw money once per year/decade/whatever" fees. I'd feed it once in a while, if I have anything left over from my regular savings or get little windfalls, but that would be infrequent.

So should this be a savings account? A second checking account? A money market? Some other kind of account that I in my ignorance am not aware of?...I'm probably going to keep it all at my main bank just for convenience's sake, unless there are good reasons/better interest with some other source.

Thanks.

You can ALWAYS come home...

greekphilosophy — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:17:24 -0800

Please share your re-nesting experience. Help me avoid getting sucked into the vortex of hometown life. I am strongly considering re-nesting.

Five years ago, I moved across the country for law school. Leaving home was a great decision and it has served me well. I have much more appropriate boundaries with my parents and I'm a little older, a little wiser and a lot healthier. But I'm a lot more in debt.

I love my adopted city (Philadelphia, PA) but I am not moving forward professionally or financially. Actually, I'm backsliding ever so slightly. For a year now, my father has suggested I move home, live at little or no cost, and use that time to get settled into adulthood by getting into a routine with my student loans, rehabbing my credit, getting some savings put together, and even taking the bar exam. Despite my aversion to living in my hometown (Galveston, TX), I think I am ready to accept that it is my best option. The low cost of living back home, coupled with my father's generosity, means that I can do significantly more - even staying at the $30k that I currently make.

How do I achieve the goals of re-nesting (extreme savings and financial rehab coupled with professional development on the order of taking and passing the bar exam) without getting sucked into hometown life AND without undermining my success by spending my way out of potential hometown blues? What timeline should I be looking at? What rules should I set for myself to make this the most pleasant/productive/positive experience possible? How do I deal with my grief over leaving behind a life (and friends!) I truly enjoy to do what I know, deep down, is the right thing? What do you wish you had known before you (or your children) re-nested? What are your favorite re-nesting resources?

Expat with scattered savings and retirement funds - how do I organise them?

wingless_angel — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:36:19 -0800

Expat needing to organise and manage money across two (or more) countries. How best to save in multiple places, and organise superannuation/retirement accounts? I recently moved to the UK, and I am self-employed here. For the first time, I have to take care of insurance, tax, and expenses instead of my employer organising this. I am putting aside money for tax every month. I have savings accounts both in the UK and Australia with various amounts in them. I am not sure how long I will stay in the UK (probably no more than a few years) and will either go home or to another country. I really need to get my money together and work out what to do with it.

I have two Superannuation accounts that refuse to roll together in Australia (both public sector). I have not signed up for a retirement fund in the UK. The most pressing issue right now is whether I let my most recent super account switch from Defined Benefit to Accumulation. I don't necessarily plan to go back to the same sector, so would accumulation be wise?

Should I open a retirement account here in the UK, even if I only plan to stay for a few years (I am paying NI contributions)? Or should I do something else with the money I would have otherwise saved? For example I have an Etrade account for share purchasing that I opened and never used.

Are there any savings accounts that work well for expats in multicurrency? I know about HSBC Premier but I do not have enough money to go with them.

I am concerned that I have pools of money all over the place, and I am not getting the best out of them. I would like to work these things out for myself if I can, if you are an expat how do you manage your money and savings?

How much should we have saved up before we have a baby?

mittenbex — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 06:45:13 -0800

When the time comes, I'd like for it to be possible for me to stay at home for at least a year after a baby is born (I am not pregnant yet). I guess this is two questions. First, how much should I have saved up to care for baby for the first year and secondly, how much should I have saved up to cover myself for the year? Mr. Mittenbex is a teacher so there will be other income obviously. I am currently only bringing in about 21k a year.

I know the obvious one-time costs like crib, car seat, furniture etc. But I'm looking for advice from parents who have an idea on what they spent on their kid in the first year. I am planning to breastfeed so hopefully that works out and out goes the cost of formula.

Thanks, guys!

How do I do this right?

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:55:27 -0800

I want to do savings/401k right this time - how do i do that? After going through layoffs back in February and running through a good bit of my savings – I’ve landed a brand new job that almost doubled my salary – I want to do 401k/savings right this time to save for the future and be prepared for an unexpected/vacation/life events.

The vital stats

Current Salary
- ~70K+bonus
Current Assets:
- Savings ~500 (ING at 1.5%)
- Checking ~4000 (schwab at 1%)
- Rollover IRA (~2000 in a target date (2050) fund)
- Investments (~6000 in various blue chip stocks) – doing ok – back in the black.
- No debts excluding credit cards (with cash back) which I pay off in full every month

Current Expenses:
- Rent 840 a month
- Misc expenses ~500 a month
- Thinking about going back to school part time in the near future – but my company has an education reimbursement program so I’d likely only be on the hook for 1000-2000 a year.

What I’m currently doing:
- Contributing 6% to the company 401k (has a 6% match)
- Transferring random bits of money to my savings account.

My question is what should I be doing? From what I can tell – post expenses, taxes, and payroll contributions I’ll have ~$2000 left over each month. I’m just leaving most of my money in the checking account for now. Should I be moving x percent over to my IRA? Or just savings? Or a combo of both? Any specific tips + general financial best practices would be appreciated. I’m 25, living in NYC, and single.

Thanks all

Excel savings template

IanMorr — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:02:14 -0800

Can anyone recommend a good template for tracking multiple savings account balances in Excel? I have a number of savings accounts, plus an investment account. For our expense budget we have a whiz bang template that includes contributions to savings, investments, etc as an outgoing. I can't find anything similar to then track the balances and gains of the savings accounts.

Right now I have a clunky spreadsheet that looks kind of like this:

Accounts | May Bal | In | Out | Gain | Loss | June Bal
-------------------------------------------------
Sav 1 |
Sav 2 |
....... |
Invest |

I group the in month columns to only show the monthly balances, but it's still ugly and there must be a better way. Any ideas?

I have $30,000 burning a hole in my pockets.

brenton — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:11:08 -0800

Where is the best place to put my $30,000 as I slowly withdraw from it over the next 2 years to pay for Grad School. As of today, I saved exactly $30,000. I will quit my job in a month, and I'm starting classes in the Fall. I won't have any other source of income for two years, besides school loans and these savings.

I currently have them in a WAMU Online Savings account, which was paying 4% interest before, but now is paying next to nothing.

Wrong time for expensive house maintenance?

Anonymous — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:44:25 -0800

Getting the exterior of my house painted: A dumb investment, given the economy? Or not? (Anonymous due to details re: my personal finances.) I bought my house a couple of years ago, and if I sold it today, I would probably be able to get enough to pay off my mortgage. (It's an unusual house, and there isn't another to compare for value, but generally houses in my area have gone down just a little bit in value. However, I only put 9% down on my house, so I only have a small amount of equity in it.)

This summer I need to get my house painted (it's flaking off in some spots), which will cost somewhere between $6,000-$10,000, a big chunk of my financial cushion. The higher end of the above estimate includes re-doing (and improving) the screens on my porch, which is a definite improvement to my home, but the actual painting seems like basic maintenance and will therefore be a total wash (and not increase the value of my home). I can pay $10,000 without taking out a loan, but it will mean reducing my savings by a third (I have about $35,000 in the bank right now; my 401k is anemic and not worth considering). I am fully employed but work for an industry which is laying off people practically every day. I could, if needed, get a much cheaper job done for $2-3k -- basically, minimal prep work and a coat of paint slapped over it, which would of course have to be re-done sooner -- but I would rather have a really nice paint job done. I am 36 years old and do not have children, and I am not planning on selling the house in the next year or two. My gut feeling is that spending the big bucks is the right thing to do, but I am worried I will essentially be throwing $10,000 away. Am I? Is now a terrible time to do home improvements (ones you can't get awesome government grants or tax breaks for)? Please, either reassure me, or tell me I'm being foolish!

Most efficient balance for earning interest?

electric_counterpoint — Tue, 26 May 2009 08:46:44 -0800

Mathematically speaking, what's the optimal amount to keep in an account that earns a high rate below below a certain sum and a very low one above it? So I have an account that pays 4% APY on every dollar balance below $10,000 and 1% for every dollar beyond. To maximize the interest I earn, it seems like I should pack it up with the full $10K, right? But then my annual interest dollars are only getting 1%, so they won't compound as much.

Second question: imagine I have two such accounts, with equal terms, and $10K to distribute between them. Am I right to think the best option is to put $9615 into the first account, $385 into the second, and at the end of the year move the first account's new $385 into the second account (which then has a balance of $385+15+385, given its own interest)? Or am I missing something?

(The account is AmericaNet Bank's rewards checking offering, if you're curious. This question is mostly something I'm curious about rather than something I'd actually do, since earning the 4% on two accounts would require twenty debit card purchases a month, and who knows whether the terms will stay the same for more than a year?).

How to start a nest egg?

marclar — Mon, 04 May 2009 17:57:14 -0800

Now that I have a little extra money, how should I start saving it? (I don't have a 401(k)) For instance, what's an IRA and why should I care? Or what about this thread talks about high-yield savings? Or this one about index funds? While I *am* young, I'm mostly concerned with creating a nest egg, not playing the stock market (read: I'm more interested in low-risk that will hopefully allow me to afford a family and eventually retire). Thanks!

Tax advice, UK?

tavegyl — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:04:13 -0800

Where can I get good tax advice in the UK? I am not a UK national, but moved here a few months ago to marry one. Two money related questions - if they can be answered on AskMeFi, great, otherwise recommending a London accountant you or an acquaintance have had experience with would be great.

1. I've got permission to work in the UK (National Insurance number on its way), but my employment is a little complicated, as I work remotely, as a consultant, with an international development organisation's country office in another country. How should I sort out tax? As a self-employed individual?

2. My savings, a few thousand pounds, are still in a bank account in my home country. Will transferring them to my UK account (electronically) mean they'll have to be taxed? Having already paid tax on them once it seems a pity, but if that's how it is... I thought of transferring part of them to an ISA immediately but of course, they'll move through my account first.

3. Do you know of a good London accountant whom I could consult about all this? I'm not enough of a high roller to employ an accountant, but I think a consultation should do to avoid problems in the future.

Cayman Islands?

DieHipsterDie — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 10:02:59 -0800

I need a reliable off-shore savings account. Some place where I can easily and safely deposit less than $500 and where creditors or the IRS can not touch it.

Thank you for your recommendations.

For Shore?

Jaltcoh — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:06:03 -0800

I'm ready to start a savings account. Should I start one with ShoreBank, since they have a relatively high APY and seem to be "socially conscious"? Based on this post on Get Rich Slowly (which has over 1,200 comments), ShoreBank seems to have the highest APY. But then, that's so volatile given the current crisis that I wonder how much that really means.

I also wonder how accurate all this information is. For instance, I noticed that HSBC was listed as having a certain APY, but then if you went to their website there was fine print about how it was the APY as of some date a couple months ago. That's some pretty misleading airbrushing they're doing on themselves, since the rates have been steadily plummeting. My point being: how do I know ShoreBank (or any bank) isn't using similarly misleading fine print? (I haven't found it very easy to get clear information from ShoreBank's website.)

Most of the comments about ShoreBank in the Get Reach Slowly thread are positive, but this person makes it sound like the initial process of signing up was a bureaucratic nightmare. Also, everyone seems underwhelmed with the web interface.

Its image as a socially conscious bank is appealing. But a lot of what they consider socially conscious seems to be investing in "faith-based organizations." My views on religion are similar to those of Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Bill Maher, so I don't see investing in churches as a good thing per se. OTOH, (a) if they're specifically investing in church programs that happen do good charity/community work, then that's good, and (b) I obviously don't need to be a huge fan of every single client of the bank I open a savings account with.

It seems like everything about savings accounts on the web includes lots of praise for ING, but their APY is abysmal. That said, I'm completely open to anything.

(I have seen this AskMe question about ShoreBank, but that's outdated since it was back in the old days of early 2008.)

Peak vs Off Peak Electricity Hours

Black_Umbrella — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 12:10:10 -0800

How much can I save by using off peak electricity in the US? How does this compare to those in Europe? I realize that not many utilities in the states offer off peak hours but i know some do. What percent do some of you save by using this option?

My google fu has failed and i am only getting really skimpy results.

Can anyone find the how much free energy we are loosing (hydro/wind/thermal) because it is being produced but not used?