Rates are on the rise. Deseret Bank has raised the rate on its Deseret Money Market account to 3.56% APY. The rate is competitive and is within the top 10 yielding money markets. The account is also competitive with a mimimum balance requirement of only $1000.

For more details on the bank and the rate see a good post on Bank Deals.

The NY Times published an interesting article today that declared that:

"The numbers are staggering. Between early 2004 and mid-2007, a period of unprecedented wealth on Wall Street, seven of the nation’s largest financial companies earned a combined $254 billion in profits.

But since last July, those same banks — Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — have written down the value of the assets they hold by $107.2 billion, gutting their earnings and share prices. Worldwide, the reckoning totals $380 billion, much of which reflects a plunge in the value of tricky mortgage investments."

The article then goes on to state that the financial services core business model and money making machine has been severely compromised by the credit crisis and credit crunch:

"Even when the losses end, bank executives are looking toward a new era of lower returns, thinner profits and fewer jobs. Greater scrutiny from regulators is forcing Wall Street firms to reduce their use of leverage, or borrowed money, which had fueled profits in good times but backfired when the credit crisis struck last summer. Nearly every finance company is cutting jobs and battening down.

“They are going to have to build a new business model,” Richard X. Bove, a financial services analyst at Punk Ziegel, said of investment banks. “I do not believe those businesses have the ability to generate the kind of profit they did in recent years without all the leverage.”

This parallels my own thinking, which I spelled out in a November 2008 article entitled Financial Companies Face $1.2 Trillion Risk.

It was clear that Wall Street profits were unsustainable and that the popping of the housing bubble was the catalyst for popping an even bigger financial bubble. When Wall Street becomes an end as opposed to a means, there is trouble brewing.

What will this mean?

1. Fewer high paying financial services jobs as banks shed assets and positions.

2. Permanent lower valuations for banks and investment banks.

3. Higher long-term interest rates on credit products.

SmartyPig, a social networking piggybank is running a small promo on Twitter where you can win one of three $100 gift cards. The contest happens tomorrow, June 12. Here's how it works:

1. Follow SmartyPig on Twitter
2. They’ll ask the $100 question on Thursday, June 12th.
3. Answer the question.
4. Tune in to their Blog to see if you have won.

How are they picking the winner?

Below is what they have to say:

This is how we’ll choose the winners:

1. After 10 minutes, we will be picking 20 random people with a number generator from the pool of correct answers.
2. We will then pin those 20 names into the 20 slots of a dartboard.
3. While blindfolded, we will throw darts and three lucky winners of a $100 SmartyPig gift card will be chosen.
4. We’ll post the process here on our blog, so everyone can see it!

Good luck!