You may remember that I had been looking for a new apartment. At the time, my girlfriend and I were planning to live with each other. Since then, we have decided to delay cohabitation.

In any event, I searched for affordable one-bedroom apartments near my office, but I didn’t find anything that convinced me it was worthwhile to move from my current location. My noisy neighbors have moved out, and for the moment, my lack of overtime frees me up to take care of my chores during the week, such as laundry. This in turn will allow me to visit my girlfriend’s new apartment over the weekend.

I’ve renewed my lease for a year, but if I decide not to continue living here—either to move in with Amy or to transfer to a new job—I will break my lease. I’ve considered the implications, and it’s not horrible as long as I can plan ahead.

With the new lease, my rent is increasing to $901 a month. The photograph at the top of this post is a picture of the apartment complex where I live.

Rasing4Boys is hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance on Wednesday next week. If you’re a blogger and you’ve written about personal finance recently, please consider submitting an article.

ING Direct raised the interest rate the bank offers on its savings accounts, resulting in a 4.35% APY. This is good news, hot on the heels of the Fed’s raising of interest rates yesterday. Millions of people will benefit from ING Direct’s move, as this particular bank is one of the most popular for “online savings accounts.”

If someone is starting a new savings account, I would suggest one of these banks instead. ING Direct has lagged behind the pack in terms of interest rates for along time now.

Meanwhile, HSBC Direct is up to 5.05% APY.

Here’s what’s been happening on the MoneyBlogNetwork and beyond in the past week.

Five Cent Nickel was on vacation but he opened his blog to guest writers. “Frugal” wrote about leverage, the secret of making big money. Mighty Bargain Hunter laments the loss of a discount grocery store.

AllFinancialMatters says men don’t know jack about retirement. Free Money Finance wants you to stop living paycheck-to-paycheck. Blueprint for Financial Prosperity agrees with Robert Kiyosaki regarding mutual funds and the real winners.

For another perspective, Moomin Valley says Kiyosaki is wrong.

Kira from Penny Foolish has $400 in her emergency fund, but she’s thinking of beefing it up after considering her employment situation. Three to six months of living expenses is a good target.

Amanda from Young and Broke writes about shopping for car insurance. My rates were lowered this year, by about $15 a month.

That’s it for this week’s wrap-up. It was a busy week for me, and unfortunately I didn’t have the chance to write as much as I like to. To those celebrating the American holiday this weekend, enjoy!

Here’s another caption contest. What do you imagine is going on between Warren Buffett and Kelli Swanson? Leave your photo caption in the comments below. The winner gets a cookie.

The Federal Reserve Board raised the federal funds rate to 5.25% today. Consumers like us will eventually see that increase in mortgage loan and credit card interest rates. While I don’t have a mortgage and I don’t pay interest to credit cards at the moment, I do have student loans that have been affected by rate increases. Unfortunately, my savings accounts lag behind the Fed.

Possibly as a result of the rate hike, stocks were up today. The last few months have killed my investment values. Looking forward to my June financial report, I’ll probably end up with a lower net worth despite not spending some of my income this month.

Today, Microsoft (MSFT) announced it would delay the release of Office 2007 to focus on comments received by testers. I’ve been testing the new version of the suite of applications, and I am impressed with the changes. If you’re a PowerPoint power user, you’ll love the revamped software.

One of my banks (Wachovia, where I have a checking account) is already offering downloads for Quicken 2007. The software’s not out yet, and I’ve come across only one report of a beta test for Macintosh users.

I don’t expect there to be many improvements in the software compared to Quicken 2006, which I have currently.

On the other hand, I’ve been beta testing Microsoft Office 2007. I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of Microsoft normally, but the software is miles ahead of Office 2003. If Bill Gates finds some way to make similar improvements in Money 2007, I may try to switch back.

Stephen Dubner, the author of Freakonomics, noted that Warren Buffett (who I’ve been writing much about lately, it seems) made a comment on a talk show recently describing one particular failing of market systems, particularly the free market system enjoyed in this country.

Buffett’s comment: “A market system has not worked in terms of poor people.” This is why he feels the need to give away his fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which works hard for those with no means to help themselves.

The comments following Dubner’s post have been somewhat insightful. Is philanthropy outside of the free market system, or does this form of economy rely on the “goodness” of a few with incredible means to help those without? Buffett believes that if a better economic system was in place—it looks like he’s thinking globally—there would be no need for this type of philanthropy. But does the economic system take philanthropy into account, thus relieving the government from potential responsibility to the poorest?