33% RETURN ON MY EMERGENCY FUND

When times are tough, like they have been for the past year or so, you have to look for every way you can to increase your personal earnings. My sister emailed me today with a great offer from one of her banks. For each person she refers to the bank who opens a free checking and savings account, she gets $25 added to her account and the person she refers gets $50 added to their checking and $50 to savings. You have to agree to online banking, but otherwise there are few restrictions to the offer. I decided to take $300 from my emergency cash reserve in my passbook savings and open a checking and savings account with her bank. In addition to the $100 they pay within 3 days of opening the accounts, I'll also receive double the going interest rate on savings for the next 6 months. So I'll actually be making more than a 33% return on my original investment. This is money I keep close at hand that has been earning very little interest. Now I'll be able to make a quick $100 and earn twice the interest on any money I deposit into this account for the next 6 months.

O.K., so maybe you're saying it's only $100, but I'll be doing next to nothing to earn it! If you start thinking of ways to increase your income without increasing the amount of physical labor you personally perform, that's when you truly begin to do what rich people do. When you get good enough at doing what rich people do, you eventually become one of the rich people.