How Traditional Banks Make Money from You

Essential readings

4 min read

How Do Interest Rates Work? Here’s Everything You Need To Know

5 min read

Here’s the Difference Between FDIC and SIPC Insurance — And Why You Need to Know

4 min read

Why Rate-Chasing Doesn’t Pay

Why You Should Ditch Bank Branches

Note: This post was updated on September 21, 2020. We can’t imagine there are many people who get excited about a trip to their local bank. Unless you have a penchant for capless ballpoint pens, uncomfortable waiting room chairs, and stale hard candies, there’s not much reason to visit your…

“Distressed Blockbuster Video Sign” by trebomb on Flickr.

4 min read

Banks Are Having Their “Blockbuster Moment”

For many of us who came of age between the late 1980s and early aughts, Blockbuster Video is a pleasant memory. For roughly two decades, Blockbuster was a dominant force in the video rental industry. But despite this dominance, Blockbuster declared bankruptcy in 2010 and instead of operating 9,000 stores…

5 min read

What You Should Know About Bank Fees

Note: This post was updated on September 21, 2020. You’ve probably spent a significant amount of time and effort trying to avoid paying banking fees. Unfortunately, these fees are extremely difficult to avoid and they really add up. Last year, the Los Angeles Times reported that fees alone made…

4 min read

COVID-19 Has Put Bank Digitization On Fast-Forward

Legacy banks aren’t known for their innovative digital products. We’ve said it before: despite their billion-dollar annual IT budgets, banks’ biggest recent innovation has been building smartphone apps that put limited ATM capabilities on your phone. You can check your balances and transfer money, but you can’t see a…

2 min read

Retail Branches Pose an Existential Threat to Banks

There’s a battle for branch expansion among banks in the U.S. today. Both J.P. Morgan and Bank of America, for example, have been duking it out to open a total of 180 new branches across the country this year alone as well as “modernizing” existing branches. This battle is completely…

5 min read

Millennials and Bank Branches: A Bad Match

Consumer banks are about to experience an unprecedented upheaval as more and more young people — a critical demographic on which they depend for growth — become disenchanted with the status quo. This creates an opportunity for new entrants to reimagine what banking will look like. The number of people…