Top Websites

• Children’s Literature, Chiefly from the Nineteenth Century
  Organization: University of South Carolina (USC)

  This site displays selections from the University of South Carolina’s collection of children’s literature. View the books that children were reading over one hundred years ago and read about the popular authors of that century.

• Leonardo da Vinci
  Organization: The British Library

  “Everyone has heard of the Mona Lisa, but less well-known than Leonardo’s painting are his notebooks. They show that he was a designer and scientist way beyond his time. He drew his visions of the airplane, the helicopter, the parachute, the submarine and the car. It was more than 300 years before many of his ideas were improved upon.” (THE BRITISH LIBRARY) Through his notebooks, this site explores the amazing life and work of Leonardo da Vinci.

• Women of Our Time
  Organization: National Portrait Gallery

  This site “highlights a variety of American women of the twentieth century. These iconic images include studio portraits, glamorous publicity shots, press photographs, fashion photographs, advertising images, and amateur snapshots.” (NPG)

Investing Tip of the Month

Provided by  Morningstar -

Extract More Yield from Your Savings by Rachel Haig

If you’re looking for somewhere to stash your cash for a relatively short period, you are probably familiar with the traditional vehicles: savings accounts, money market accounts, money market funds, and certificates of deposit. These vehicles have all been around for some time and have made their way into the general personal finance lexicon.

These are fairly straightforward and stable investments, so it makes sense that there is little in the way of new reflections on these different vehicles. However, like most investments, your short-term savings options look a bit different now than they did before the economy began its nosedive in the fall of 2008.

For one, it’s much harder to find an attractive interest rate. Now, investors are lucky to eke out gains of over 1% from these investments–hard to swallow not simply because many investors were accustomed to returns over 3%, but also because these minuscule returns may find it increasingly difficult to keep pace with future inflation.

Second, one of the most-favored options in recent years now looks much riskier: the money market fund. Morningstar’s Director of Fixed Income Research, Eric Jacobson, says the future of money market funds is uncertain after 2008 when an established fund famously “broke the buck” (its NAV fell below $1 per share).

Savings Account

This is your typical bank account.

Positives: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures bank deposits. Through Dec. 31, 2013, the FDIC temporarily guarantees higher amounts, up to $250,000 per depositor. After that date, the FDIC will insure its standard amount of $100,000 per depositor for all account categories except IRAs and other certain retirement accounts, which will remain at $250,000 per depositor. Savings accounts also have flexible withdrawal and check-writing privileges.

Negatives: This account is probably only paying you pennies.

Money Market Account

This is a savings account that pays money market rates. The yield will fluctuate depending on the direction of interest rates.

Positives: Money Market accounts offer higher rates than regular savings accounts, and they are still FDIC-insured.

Negatives: Rates are now only a fraction of what they once were. While you are still likely to do better here than in a traditional savings account, you shouldn’t expect much in the way of extra cash. Initial deposits for these accounts are often high, starting at $5,000 or $10,000, especially for the accounts with higher interest rates. However, in recent years many institutions have lowered their initial deposit requirements, some to as low as $500, and a few do not have a minimum requirement at all. Money market accounts also restrict the number of checks you can write and withdrawals and transfers you can complete each month, making these accounts less liquid than regular savings accounts. Click “more” to see more options: