I just got an email from Mark, a fellow Trabianian*, pointing me to a Pew Study about the internet’s role in key life decisions – PDF File.

Highlights include (based on the May 2005 survey):

• Over the last three years the number of internet users who used the internet to help make investment or financial decisions increased by 45%
• Within the past two years 41% of internet users have “Made a major investment or financial decision”
• Only 5% of people who said the internet played an important or crucial role in their decision said they got bad advice or information online

That last stat got me to thinking about the most frequent bit of misinformation I’ve found on credit union websites: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen incorrect IRA contribution limits listed (presumably because contribution limits have changed so much over the past few years). And now that the deposit insurance for IRAs has increased to $250,000, I’m betting a lot of sites still don’t reflect that change either.

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On a completely unrelated topic, one of my favorite blogs, Ask Uncle Bill, included a quote today that would make Yogi Berra smile. I dub it The Open Source CU Quote of the Day:

Overnight success usually takes a long time.

Read Uncle Bill’s Advice From A One-Earred Man post to give the quote some context.

*Personal to-do list: Make up new word today … check.