Latest news with #TammyWynette
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How to break up with your bank (and take your money somewhere better)
If Tammy Wynette had written a country song about savings, it would probably have been titled, 'Stand By Your Bank.' Most Americans are stubbornly, resolutely loyal to their banks — and in many cases it costs them money, time and a better experience. Only 9 percent of consumers changed banks in the 12-month period ended January 2025, according to the latest J.D. Power Retail Banking Satisfaction Study, which surveyed more than 109,000 bank customers. But the fact that few customers are changing banks isn't exactly reflective of how many customers want to change banks. The J.D. Power survey also found that 13 percent of bank customers said they were likely to change their primary banks in the next 12 months. (Throughout the history of the J.D. Power study, the number of people who say they're going to change banks has been about twice the number of people who actually do it.) Learn more: Bankrate's primer guide on checking accounts Further, the number of customers who are switching has more than doubled since 2019, when just 4 percent of customers changed banks. And younger survey respondents reported higher levels of willingness to switch. Twenty percent of Gen Z and 21 percent of Millennials said they'll 'definitely or probably' switch their primary financial institution in the next six months, according to the latest outlook survey from the Bank Administration Institute, a nonprofit research organization focused on education for the financial services industry. But a full two-thirds of respondents in the J.D. Power survey say they're unlikely to make a move. Even when another bank offers better rates or lower fees, only about one in four are willing to switch. The hassle of switching banks So, why are Americans unwilling to switch? The biggest reasons, according to J.D. Power, are hassle, uncertainty about the benefits and worries about fees or missing payments during a banking transition. That means that millions of us are missing out on higher yields, better digital tools and lower costs—leaving real money and benefits on the table. It's understandable. Breaking up with your bank can feel daunting. There's paperwork, direct deposits, automatic payments—and, let's be honest, a little bit of emotional inertia. But just like ending any relationship that's stopped serving you, it's about taking control and moving on to something better. Bankrate's take Earlier this year, Bankrate released its latest checking account fee survey and found that Americans with a checking account have held onto their account for an average of 19 years, while those with a savings account have had it for 17 years. But the survey, in collaboration with YouGov, revealed much more than bank longevity. Learn more about Bankrate's findings in its 2025 Checking Account Fee Survey. So, here's a step-by-step guide to making the switch—painlessly, confidently and with your finances intact. Step 1: Know why you're leaving Before you start the process, get clear on why you want to switch. Is it high monthly fees? Low interest rates? Frustrating customer service or outdated technology? Pinpointing your reasons will help you choose a new bank that actually solves your problems—rather than just picking the first bank that offers a shiny sign-up bonus. Pro tip Make a list of your must-haves, whether it's no minimum balance, a robust mobile app, ATM fee reimbursement or stellar customer support. Step 2: Shop around for your next bank Don't just jump to the next big brandwagon. Stop and take the time to compare options: Online-only banks often offer higher interest rates and lower fees than traditional and brick-and-mortar banks. Credit unions can mean lower costs and a more personal touch. Community banks may provide better service and local investment. Find a bank that has all the features you want and has hours and policies that fit your schedule and personal finances. Learn more: Bankrate's best list of online-only banks Step 3: Open your new account (but don't move all your money yet) Once you've picked your new bank, go ahead and open your new account. Most online banks let you do this in minutes. Be ready with your government-issued ID, Social Security number and an initial deposit (some banks have a minimum deposit requirement, so be sure to know this amount before you sign up for an account). Learn more: Bankrate's step-by-step guide on how to open a bank account You don't have to close your current account to open a new one. You can have multiple accounts with multiple different banks. But wait, there's more! Don't close your old account just yet. You'll need both accounts open for a few weeks to ensure a smooth transition. This is key to avoiding some of the headache and heartache that can come with making the switch. Step 4: Make a list of all linked payments and deposits This is the step where most people get tripped up. Your checking account is probably the hub for direct deposits, bill payments, subscriptions and transfers. Missing one can mean a late fee or a bounced payment. Download your last two or three months of statements. Make a list of every recurring deposit (like your paycheck) and every recurring withdrawal (like rent, utilities, streaming services, gym memberships, etc.). Bankrate budgeting Understanding how much money you're making, and where you're spending it, comprise the foundation of a strong financial plan. Visit Bankrate's Budgeting Basics page for all you need to know about budgeting, from getting started and envelope budgeting, to understanding the 50/30/20 rule and how to make a zero-based budget. Step 5: Start moving your money Transfer a small amount of money into your new account to make sure everything works. Then, update your direct deposit information with your employer or benefits provider. You may need to be patient, as this can take a pay cycle or two to process. Then start switching your automatic payments and linked accounts. Many companies let you do this online, but some may require a phone call or a form. Bankrate insight: How to transfer money from one bank account to another Step 6: Monitor both accounts For the next month, keep an eye on both your old and new accounts. Watch for any stray transactions or missed payments. If you spot any, update the information right away. Pro tip Leave a small buffer in your old account to cover any lingering charges. Step 7: Close your old account (the right way) Once you're sure all deposits and payments have been switched and your old account balance is zero, it's time to make the breakup official. Contact your old bank—ideally in writing—and request to close your account. Get written confirmation that the account is closed and ask for a final statement. Don't forget Destroy old checks and debit cards linked to the closed account. Bottom line Switching banks isn't as hard, or as scary, as it seems. With a clear plan and a little patience, you can break up with your old bank and find a financial partner that actually deserves your loyalty. The hardest part is getting started. But once you do, you'll wonder why you waited so long in the first place. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Sun
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Emotional Lana Del Rey breaks down in tears before snogging husband as she opens debut stadium tour
LANA DEL REY brought plenty of drama to the stage as she kicked off her debut stadium tour – breaking down in tears and snogging her husband. And that was all during the first song, so there was plenty to get fans talking. 3 3 3 When she announced her debut stadium tour last summer, there were questions over whether she'd be able to bring the necessary theatrics to a room with tens of thousands of people in it. She proved her doubters wrong at the opening night at Cardiff's Principality Stadium, even if her performance of Stars Fell On Alabama did come with unexpected waterworks and a kiss with her other half Jeremy Dufrene, who she married in September. Composing herself, Lana said: 'It's good, it's just a long way to come.' She added: 'Oh my goodness. They're good tears. 'It's just actually funny to think about it in front of so many people. 'Thank you so much. I love you Cardiff.' It's a huge feat for a star to headline stadiums without an all-singing, all-dancing pop show, or a massive band to rock out with. Lana decided to transform the room into her backyard, draped with twinkly fairylights, with the gig acting like a singalong in the garden of her Louisiana home. On stage, there was a house surrounded by plants and even a pond, from which she, a band and a fleet of singers and dancers performed. While Lana had a healthy back catalogue to pick from, she opted to play a cover of Tammy Wynette's Stand By Your Man as she settled in. She explained: 'This is the first big show I've done while I've been married. 'I really love singing this song.' But the real crowd-pleasers were the lush tracks from her early career, with a dramatic string instrumental for Ride, which is impossibly moving, and her breakout hit Video Games performed from a swing. Lana's power is her irresistible mystique and she kept that up for the entire set. She will continue her stadium tour this week in Glasgow, Liverpool, Dublin and London. After turning 40 last Saturday, it's something of a celebration for her. This set may well leave fans crying out for more, but Lana proved she will be around for many, many years to come.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
I had a bitter divorce with my ex-husband. I didn't expect his new wife to become one of my best friends years later.
When my ex-husband began dating, I wanted to meet the woman who would be spending time with my kids. Despite some initial coparenting challenges, we bonded over shared experiences and family ties. Now she's one of my closest friends, someone I can depend on in good times and bad. Patti has become one of my closest friends. We go to shows, crawfish boils, and out to eat. We show up at family parties arm-in-arm, and most recently celebrated her daughter's college graduation together. It's a beautiful friendship — one I never expected to have with my ex-husband's wife. I remember the day I met Patti. I'd invited her to lunch after learning my ex-husband was dating her. I wanted to get to know the woman who might become my kids' stepmother and, truth be told, I was feeling a little guilty about the impending divorce. My husband and I had been married for 12 years and had five kids within the first five years. We didn't really communicate much at all. He was a good provider and a great father, but we were more parenting partners than lovers. I eventually began searching for affection and companionship outside of marriage. He eventually discovered the truth and moved out. We coparented amicably at first, even taking turns staying in the family home to provide stability for our children. It was heartbreaking to see the hurt I'd caused, both to the children and to my ex-husband. I think I subconsciously felt it was my mission to help him find happiness again. When I heard he was dating Patti, I wanted to meet her. We had a great meal and conversation at a local Mexican restaurant with me admitting to my shortcomings as a wife and building him up as a husband. I was trying to be both an honorable ex and used car salesman that night. But I did like her and she left with my blessing if they decided to get married. Not long after, they did get married. It was just a couple of months after I had gotten remarried myself. And then it all went south. After the divorce, coparenting became difficult. We fought over custody, family land, and more. By the time the details were worked out, we were so angry with each other that our handoffs had to take place in public. On top of that, my ex-husband and my new husband seemed to hate each other, making communication tough. Through it all, Patti and I were stuck in the middle, with all communication taking place solely between us. No longer friendly, it was cordial at best as we collectively personified Tammy Wynette's song, "Stand by Your Man." With age comes wisdom, though, and we eventually realized blind loyalty to men was overrated. Girl power took its place and over the years we started talking on the phone, bonding over the now-grown kids' antics, our new roles as grandmother, and the ordeals of living with grumpy old men. This started while I was living out of state and Patti was living less than five miles from my parents. She started to take care of them like they were her own. Many people actually thought she was a third sister, not realizing her husband was actually an ex son-in-law. When my second marriage was ending, Patti was one of the first people I turned to. She had been there at the end, listening as I weighed out my decisions and offering her support. She, of all people, knew the struggles we'd had. My ex-husband, who I'd regained a friendship with by then as well, was also supportive. While Patti had always been at family birthday parties and holiday events, our friendship grew even stronger in recent years. She's just like any of my other girlfriends, and has taken me to drop my car off at the mechanic, while I've picked up stuff at the store for her. I know I can count on her when I need to and she can do the same for me. Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
27-05-2025
- General
- Business Insider
I had a bitter divorce with my ex-husband. I didn't expect his new wife to become one of my best friends years later.
When my ex-husband began dating, I wanted to meet the woman who would be spending time with my kids. Despite some initial coparenting challenges, we bonded over shared experiences and family ties. Now she's one of my closest friends, someone I can depend on in good times and bad. Patti has become one of my closest friends. We go to shows, crawfish boils, and out to eat. We show up at family parties arm-in-arm, and most recently celebrated her daughter's college graduation together. It's a beautiful friendship — one I never expected to have with my ex-husband's wife. I made the first move I remember the day I met Patti. I'd invited her to lunch after learning my ex-husband was dating her. I wanted to get to know the woman who might become my kids' stepmother and, truth be told, I was feeling a little guilty about the impending divorce. My husband and I had been married for 12 years and had five kids within the first five years. We didn't really communicate much at all. He was a good provider and a great father, but we were more parenting partners than lovers. I eventually began searching for affection and companionship outside of marriage. He eventually discovered the truth and moved out. We coparented amicably at first, even taking turns staying in the family home to provide stability for our children. It was heartbreaking to see the hurt I'd caused, both to the children and to my ex-husband. I think I subconsciously felt it was my mission to help him find happiness again. When I heard he was dating Patti, I wanted to meet her. We had a great meal and conversation at a local Mexican restaurant with me admitting to my shortcomings as a wife and building him up as a husband. I was trying to be both an honorable ex and used car salesman that night. But I did like her and she left with my blessing if they decided to get married. Not long after, they did get married. It was just a couple of months after I had gotten remarried myself. And then it all went south. Coparenting nearly broke us After the divorce, coparenting became difficult. We fought over custody, family land, and more. By the time the details were worked out, we were so angry with each other that our handoffs had to take place in public. On top of that, my ex-husband and my new husband seemed to hate each other, making communication tough. Through it all, Patti and I were stuck in the middle, with all communication taking place solely between us. No longer friendly, it was cordial at best as we collectively personified Tammy Wynette's song, "Stand by Your Man." The women took a stand With age comes wisdom, though, and we eventually realized blind loyalty to men was overrated. Girl power took its place and over the years we started talking on the phone, bonding over the now-grown kids' antics, our new roles as grandmother, and the ordeals of living with grumpy old men. This started while I was living out of state and Patti was living less than five miles from my parents. She started to take care of them like they were her own. Many people actually thought she was a third sister, not realizing her husband was actually an ex son-in-law. My relationship with my ex came around, too When my second marriage was ending, Patti was one of the first people I turned to. She had been there at the end, listening as I weighed out my decisions and offering her support. She, of all people, knew the struggles we'd had. My ex-husband, who I'd regained a friendship with by then as well, was also supportive. While Patti had always been at family birthday parties and holiday events, our friendship grew even stronger in recent years. She's just like any of my other girlfriends, and has taken me to drop my car off at the mechanic, while I've picked up stuff at the store for her. I know I can count on her when I need to and she can do the same for me.
The Guardian
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
That's me in the spotlight: Michael Shannon on swapping Hollywood for an REM covers band
Michael Shannon was a teenager when he first heard REM. 'I was out at my cousin's trailer; he lived in the country. He put Document on his little cassette recorder, and I sat in his room with him and listened to it. Any art I find compelling is usually because it seems singular, like the people who are making it are the only people that could be making it.' Shannon is used to making singular art himself, as a distinctive presence in notable films for many years: Nocturnal Animals, Knives Out, The Bikeriders, The Shape of Water, Bullet Train and more. But he can also sing – in George and Tammy he played the country legend George Jones opposite Jessica Chastain as Tammy Wynette, doing all his own performances. Not for him, though, the vanity album. Instead, Shannon has taken to the road, with a band put together by US indie-rock lifer Jason Narducy backing him as he performs REM's back catalogue. First it was 1983 debut Murmur played in full, now it's 1985's Fables of the Reconstruction, a show that is coming to the UK later this year. Shannon turns his face away for most of our video call, but leans in with questions about their London dates: 'What neighbourhood is the Garage in? Is it near the Almeida [theatre]? I want to be there. We're coming over to your flat before the show!' Shannon and Narducy first met in 2014, when the musician Robbie Fulks invited them to help him perform Lou Reed's album The Blue Mask in Chicago. The two took that ball and ran with it, playing a different classic album in that city every year – the Modern Lovers' debut, Neil Young's Zuma and the Smiths' The Queen Is Dead among them. But REM was the mother lode, and for Narducy part of why he started playing music. 'They had a punk rock ethos,' he says. 'They were anti-Big Rock Band, but they didn't sound punk rock at all. So they were mysterious to me, but immediately engaging. And I think a lot of that had to do with the sadness in the music. Mike and I talk about this all the time, about how decades later, this music is still so profoundly moving.' Shannon chips in. 'And I certainly think as a lyricist, Michael Stipe is a truly unique and very effective communicator, considering that people tend to go on at length about the inscrutability of some of his lyrics. I would argue that there's not a more efficient and direct communicator in the history of rock'n'roll frontmen.' Playing Murmur in 2023 got them offers to gig nationwide. When they played at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia, in February 2024, the whole of REM turned up; when they returned in February this year, REM didn't just turn up, they all played with Shannon and Narducy. 'It was emotional,' Narducy says. 'There were people crying and screaming. You couldn't help but get wrapped up in the emotion of it.' Shannon is more circumspect. 'Honestly, the main thing I'm thinking when [REM] come up is that I want them to enjoy being there. It's their moment. It's their music. It's their house. It's a big leap of faith for them to walk up there and do that with us.' Narducy says that his and Shannon's versions of REM songs 'don't sound much like REM did when they played them at the time'. Again, Shannon counters this a little: 'We are very faithful to the records. The one exception is me. We're steeped in the source material; we spend a long time studying it before we even get together in the room. Everybody takes a lot of pride in paying attention to the little details: if you listen to early bootlegs of REM live, they sound a little sparse and they're not able to do everything on the record.' Is it a privilege to have the status that you can get a crack backing band – with REM themselves or not – to play these songs you love, for you to sing? 'Everything is a privilege,' Shannon says. 'I'm just glad I'm not on a plane to El Salvador. It's a privilege to be able to walk around freely.' But, he concedes, 'the world is very dark, and the timing of this has ended up being a beautiful thing. We did our first press for this the morning after Trump had won, and we were both pretty despondent. But the tour seemed to give everybody a boost, including us. It's wonderful to remember there's music that can transport people to a time and place in their lives that's separate from all the insanity.' He must really take pleasure in singing to go out on tour doing it. 'Pleasure? I don't know. I sang when I was a boy. I was in a choir. And I've written some of my own music and sung that from time to time. No matter what I do, some people will appreciate it and some won't. It's not a numbers game for me. It's a lot more spiritual than that.' Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy's Fables of the Reconstruction tour of the UK and Ireland begins 19 August
