Their ruthless tactics are starting to pay off for savings-minded customers. Capital One is the type of company that offers credit cards to people with poor credit history. People who are happy to qualify for a credit card are willing to pay high interest rates (upwards of 20% APY) and yearly fees (upwards of $50) for the priviledge.

Now people who are interested in saving money can benefit from this. Capital One is offering a savings account with an annual percentage yield of 2.25%. That’s the highest I’ve noticed lately. They don’t seem to be offering any special promotions or bonuses, but I signed up for an account and transferred some money over.

It looks like ING Direct is getting some tough competition. They’re currently offering only a 1.8% APY on their savings account.

Scott Adams, creator of the comic strip Dilbert and holder of an MBA from Berkeley, wrote a “book” on personal finance, and is summarized today on The Motley Fool. Adams boils personal finance down to nine points, which you will see if you read the article.

Joan Ferreria of the Bronx, 19 and unemployed, has traded his Web design skills for a computer keyboard, as well as piano, photography and driving lessons. For giving Spanish lessons, he has banked two 30-day unlimited ride MetroCards. [New York Times article, username: flexoweb, password: flexo]

In a bad economy, some people turn to bartering for goods and services instead of paying cash. If you have a skill or items that someone else might find valuable, you can hook up with other people on sites like Barter Advantage (fee-based) or Craigslist (free).

Who can afford million dollar homes? Coldwell Banker polled their real estate salespeople to find out.

It turns out that buyers of million dollar homes most often pay in cash, or if they take financing, many put down a payment of at least 50% of the sale price. The two most common professions are corporate executives and entrepreneurs.

As you could probably guess, buyers with a seven-figure budget are just a little different from mainstream home buyers.

CNN/Money asks, Is your job making you fat? This article stresses the importance of proper eating and exercise specifically for sedentary worker bees. Today for the first time in a long time, I had breakfast (bagel with cream cheese and orange juice) before heading to the office.

Not only that, but being overweight takes a toll on your wallet, both in terms of medical bills and career advancement opportunities which tend to favor non-overweight individuals.

If you bought a new car recently and didn’t pay cash, chances are pretty good you’re driving a vehicle you can’t afford.

Having a car requires more money than the dealers let you believe. Edmunds.com features a ”>for a used 2002 Honda Civic is $11,708, or $0.28 per mile based on 15,000 miles a year. This compares pretty favorably with other cars in its class, most of which cost more than $0.30 per mile to own. Interesting.

How you choose to spend your money has something to do with how wealthy (or poor) you feel. If you’re constantly confusing need with desire (desire to keep up, desire to have the latest and greatest, desire to show off), chances are you’ll never feel rich enough.

This article tells the reader what he already knows, wealth, like most things in this world, is relative. The author notes an organization called the Money, Meaning and Choices Institute that assists people who have suddenly (or not-so-suddenly) run into large amounts of money. Here’s cofounder Joan DiFluria’s head shot, for no obvious reason.

Contact the institute if you need some guidance on how to live a meaningful life while also being socially responsible with your wealth. I’m sure I’ll be giving these guys a call shortly.

Over the last couple of days, Microsoft has released their new version of their personal finance software, Microsoft Money 2004. PC Magazine has already reviewed this updated version. They seemed to be quite happy.

I’ve used both Intuit’s Quicken 2003 and Money 2003 (concurrently) to compare the two pieces of software, and unlike many people I do like Microsoft’s product better. However, I installed Money 2004’s Free Trial and was not impressed. There seems to be very few improvements and bug fixes over the 2003 version which I have been using for almost a year. My advice is that if you have Money 2003 and are happy with it, there is no need to buy the upgrade.

I can think of one feature in Quicken I would like to see in Money; namely, on every screen in Quicken no matter where you navigate, you can always see your net worth and its breakdown. I would like to see this information added to the sidebar in Money. There is room available so I cannot think of a good reason for its absence.

CNet does not yet have a review of the software online, although they do have a release announcement claiming, “Money hasn’t posed a significant threat to Quicken, which accounts for more than 85 percent of the market.”