Sorry for the delayed response, i was on vacation for a long weekend and am still catching up. I haven’t used E-trade’s online bank, but I have not heard anything really bad from those who have. One thing to consider is the transfer times between a linked account, and how fast you may need to get to your money. Some people like it to be a little harder to get to, so the time to transfer back to a checking account is not a problem,, while others like an online savings or MMA with an ATM or even checks like Capital one. Thanks for the link to the discussion, there are some good points there.
Thanks for visiting!

I started a thread in the Wesabe discussion group, where I work, about where to put my emergency fund and got a range of answers. Thoughts?

https://www.wesabe.com/groups/4-saving-up/discussions/1845-made-an-emergency-fund-where-should-i-keep-it

@Megan- Thanks for visiting! I need to increase my “padding” in my local bank- Sounds like you have a pretty good system set up there.

I am a credit card user (and pay off the card monthly), so I frequently figure that in an emergency, I would use that card and then pay off the card from the emergency fund if necessary. The money in the brick and mortar is for an emergency immediate transfer of cash.

I’ll keep that in mind about interest rates. I plan to finance for whatever gets me the best interest, and then pay it off within 3 years at most. I had planned to save some fairly large amounts of money to buy a new car asap, so those will go towards paying the loan off early. I know that my credit union offers good interest rates and no penalty for early repayment, so it’s definitely an option. And since I’m used to living on a whole lot less than I’m not making, it shouldn’t be a problem.

@ Slinky- I like having the ability to write checks if need be from a MMA as well.
I totally understand needing to have a reliable car, especially if you have to travel long distances- I would recommend that you keep looking for a used one, but if you do buy new try to put down enough to keep your payments reasonable and try to finance for as short a period of time as you can. One of my financial regrets was financing my last 2 vehicles for 5 years each- the interest was actually pretty good, but that is too long! I will never finance a car longer than 3 years in the future.
Thanks for the feedback!

Unfortunately since that comment the water pump went on my 16 year old, 215,000 mile car. It has other issues (transmission for one) so this was the final straw. So I will have to go a little “wild” and get a new car. I am leaning towards buying a new new car as well. First off, the car I’m looking at (Scion tC – good reviews and a little sporty for me) I can get new and still in my price range (less than half my newly graduated annual salary). Second, there are very few of them to be found used in my area, which is a problem for buying used. Third, I really need a reliable car as I take several trips a year up north to visit family – 6 hours one way. Fourth, I’m actually a very petite girl who does NOT want to have to pull over because my car is dying in some of the distinctly unpleasant areas of my city – something I’ve worried about with the now dead car. So I’ll be paying a little more for peace of mind and more reliability, but I’ve decided that it’s a priority for me.

I’m pretty bummed that most (not all though, I still need an efund) of my emergency fund will be going towards a down payment on a car though. I had it all figured out to save up the money and buy a car out right, but the darn car didn’t last long enough.

great post!