I suck at finances.

It's not that I blow all my money, or I don't pay my bills, because I don't blow all my money, and I do pay all my bills, it's that finance, particularly investing, makes my face hurt.

Early this year I resolved to make business investing a top-of-the-list priority. emmarie Web Design is growing. A lot. I wanted to be smart with the money that was coming in and do grown-up stuff with it. Like open a high-yield savings account and [wait for it] buy stocks.

Really, finance is not my thing. But, lucky for me, at one time it was David's.

Though David is Hard-Core Science Man now, at one time he was Super Conservative Finance Man. Before I pulled him over to the geography dark side, he was a Finance major. And still received his finance minor, with his actual BS being in Business Geography. Who'd'a thunk it from Mr. Tree Man, himself?

To begin, several months ago, I opened a high-yield savings account. Returns on savings accounts these days blow. That's just how it is, so it will take some looking. Chances are: you're local bank isn't going to have fantastic rates. Mine didn't. Look elsewhere and forget about loyalty. Loyalty won't pay out in this case.

I went with ING, the online bank. David and I have had a joint personal account there for years, which is good considering how much we've moved around in the past 5 years, and how much we'll be doing so in the future. They also have fantastic returns (I say fantastic as in better than any I've found, not so much that you'll be getting killer returns) on savings accounts. So, I opened a business savings account there (they do not offer business checking) and that's where I've been stowing the extras.

A few things about opening an ING Direct business savings account: it's not easy. At least not as easy as walking into your local branch and talking to the sweet lady that's been depositing your checks for the past ten years. You have to gather paperwork - all of it - and fax/scan it in. If you have a DBA as I do, get ready for some extra legwork. Make sure your umbrella name is on your checks, statements, forms. I don't have my LLC on my checks, just my DBA, so that required extra paperwork and proof. Good news: they're phone support is astounding. Oh, and those returns are worth it.

Getting that savings account was critical. I now transfer money into it (and this will take up to a week or so with ING, as holding your money a few extra days is how they offer such great rates) whenever I get a chance, and am watching it grow.

Watching it grow until I got to the next step.

Check out tomorrow's post on my next step: choosing a stock trading service.