Apr 12th, 2008
Economy of Technology: Online Money Transfer Saves the Day
I sent a $4,000 check to Firstrade last week, my 2007 Roth IRA contribution. It takes awhile for the transaction to be credited and the 15th is the deadline for a contribution to count for last year, so I thought I had plenty of time.
I was wrong.
On Wednesday when I returned home from teaching my parenting class, I discovered a FedEx overnight letter delivered to me. From Firstrade.
I had neglected to sign the check.
Given the distance between the Firstrade office (New York) and my mailbox (Hawai’i) and the deadline for the 2007 contribution, I considered going to the post office to have the check sent overnight–a totally unnecessary fee caused by my incompetence.
Until I realized that I could have done the transfer online all along. I logged onto Firstrade.com and got the transfer going with a few days to spare.
So, one of the few times I relied on old technology to deal with a financial matter, new technology had to come to the rescue. Thank you, Firstrade, for having the option of doing a money transfer online; it saved my bacon–and my 2007 Roth contribution!
Squeaking in!
[...] at Uncommon Cents reminds us how great new technology can be when we forget one simple little [...]