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Personal Finance
How to Keep Your Money Earning Interest By Eileen Koutnik-Fotopoulos
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s the economy slowly recovers from the financial crisis, you may be looking for ways to boost the minuscule interest payments you are earning on your money. Although many different options and strategies for increasing your income stream are available, they may not be appropriate for your situation. Before making any decisions, do research and shop around for the best rates.
Savings accounts A savings account is the most convenient place to save money whether it is with your local bank or credit union. Most people also have this account linked directly to their primary checking account to make it easy to transfer money to savings. It is important to look at the interest rate you are earning from this account. Depending on where you bank and the type of account you have, the interest rate could be anywhere from less than 1% up to 4% or more. The national average for a basic savings account is about 0.80%. You may find that community banks are offering better
interest rates, compared with the big national banks. Visit www.bankrate.com to find the top-yielding bank and credit union savings deals. Money markets If you are not satisfied with the interest rates from your savings accounts, consider a money market account. This type of account can serve as your checking account in many situations and can average 3% to 4% interest. If you decide to link your money market account to your checking account, make all deposits to the money market account. Keep the minimum needed in the checking account to avoid fees and transfer money to the checking account only when necessary. A money market account does have restrictions. Because the money held in this account is invested differently, higher balance requirements, a limited number of withdrawals per month or quarter, and a limited number of checks to be written per month may apply. Checking accounts An interest-bearing checking account
is another option. How much money you regularly keep in your checking account and how often you need to access the money or write checks will help determine whether you will benefit from this type of account. The average interest earned with regular checking accounts is less than 1.5%, with most checking accounts earning 0.5% interest. Although the low rate of return is not going to maximize your earnings even with a high balance in your checking account, some interest is better than none. Keep in mind that most checking accounts that earn interest also charge monthly fees if you do not maintain a minimum balance. This may not be an issue if you always keep a large balance in your checking account. Local and national banks also offer what is called reward checking accounts. You can earn higher interest (about 4%) with no principal risk. To earn this higher yield, you typically have to make one monthly direct deposit into your account and use your debit card at least 10 times per month. A word of caution: If you cannot meet
the account requirements, your interest rate can drop to 0.25%. Certificate of deposit If your financial situation allows for locking up some of your money to get a higher interest rate, consider a certificate of deposit (CD). A CD is a time deposit, which means you are tying up some of your money for a specific amount of time before you can withdraw it. If you withdraw early, you will lose interest and possibly principal. This fixed-income investment is most often issued by banks. You can purchase short- or long-term CDs ranging from 1 month to years. This option guarantees a fixed amount of interest, which is added to your account periodically throughout the term of the CD. If you decide to purchase a longerterm CD, you can withdraw the interest payments as they are received. You may decide that you want several options for saving money depending on your financial situation. Whatever you decide, make sure your money is working as hard as it can and providing you with a return on your investment. ●
PHARMACY CAREERS
Business Management Programs... Continued from page 23 daily operations and processes; and fostering an environment of learning and leadership. Between the modules, participants work on projects that are relevant to their organization and relate to the curriculum. In the first session, students complete a series of exercises that are meant to encourage self-reflection and help identify areas of organizational opportunity. Participants also complete online tutorials in finance and accounting. In the second session, participants write a business plan for a new service line or rewrite the plan for an existing one. Faculty keep in touch with the students by sending periodic “healthcare in the news” articles, recommended readings, and surveys about specific management issues, according to Sterling. “Managing healthcare delivery has become increasingly complex,” says Harvard Business School professor Richard Bohmer, MBChB, MPH, faculty chair of the Managing Healthcare Delivery program. “Individuals who attend this program are looking for the right balance between clinical management and science. “If you want to run an organization more effectively, you have to design an organization that runs well,” explains
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Bohmer. He points out that individuals in a nonmanagerial role, such as in a practice with oncologists, also can benefit from the Harvard program. In an oncology practice, for example, staff needs to have an appreciation for baseline managerial principles to bring people together to work effectively and to get the highest quality outcomes for the practice and patients. Managing Healthcare Delivery is not the only program available for the medical community. Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business has just started a 1-year Master of Management in Clinical Informatics degree program in partnership with the Duke Center for Health Informatics. The cost of the program is around $48,000. The program will allow students to develop business knowledge in tandem with advanced health information technology (IT) skills. Curriculum requirements include seven management courses and five informatics courses, including a new practicum experience to be completed in a realworld setting at Duke. Duke has a long history in business management and healthcare management programs. This new graduate program is the “intersection of those two,” according to Randy Sears, assistant direc-
tor of Masters of Management in Clinical Informatics. “IT alone is not a panacea to improve the patient experience or to impact the cost of healthcare. IT needs to be married to process improvement and organization innovation to change paradigms. Bringing this all together is our focus at Fuqua,” comments Kevin A. Schulman, MD, director of Duke’s Health Sector Management program. At the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, students complete nine programs over 24 months to receive a certificate in Advanced Health Care Management. The university, in partnership with the Minnesota Medical Group Management Association, developed this educational program to help organizations prepare for the future of healthcare. The cost is $375 per program. Program topics meet seven core competencies determined by the University of St. Thomas and the Minnesota Medical Group Management As sociation. Core competencies include leadership, finance, operations, marketing, IT, human resources, and care delivery and policy. Participants will be educated on new ideas, strategies, and tools to improve their organization; learn theory and participate in experiential instruction that will provide the tools to
integrate knowledge learned into organizations’ operations; gain education and exposure to ideas and concepts beyond what healthcare professionals experience in their daily role; and network with other healthcare professionals. Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management graduated its first Master of Management in Health Care class in September 2009. The 1-year, part-time, 30-credit-hour degree program targets physicians, nurses, and other clinical professionals. The program cost for the 2008-2009 academic year was $43,000, according to the university’s website. The program is organized into three main components: core general business classes, healthcare-focused business classes, and a yearlong team strategy project. Specific courses include managerial economics, services marketing, managerial accounting, finance, operations, and healthcare leadership. ●
Did You Know? It is estimated that the generic oncology market in the United States will be $35 billion after 2011, The Economic Times/ India Times reports.
www.TheOncologyPharmacist.com