Getting the most out of your money

I was speaking with a friend recently who mentioned that he feels that banks are really not giving a good interest rate on savings account. I did some checking and turns out he is right, my bank currently pays less than a percent. I never really paid much attention to interest rates and thought all banks pretty much give you the same return on your money. Turns out, I am more than wrong.

There is one bank who is offering close to 5% on any direct deposit account, the bank ING, the trick, there is no physical bank. They claim they can provide a higher ROI because the have cut down the overhead of physical branches. I'm not sure I feel 100% comfortable with this idea, yet! But in all honesty what's the difference, the money is FDIC insured, they seem legit as they advertise on most major TV networks, sponsor the New York City Marathon, and claim to have over 200k professional clients. With all these facts and more how can you not thrust and take a leap of faith?

The bottom line is that your money isn't going to gain anything by just sitting in a bank account, you must research your options and study them carefully, I know I am, and will let you know how things work out.