That’s not crazy. At least you are not going negative on your savings with dollar devaluation and inflation. Besides, ING is not FDIC insured, so keeping it under your mattress may be safer.

I had $14K in a TD Ameritrade savings account in June of 2005. I withdrew it and bought 2 vending machines and put them in an outdoor mall. I clear $650 a month. Doesn’t sound like much, but that’s a 56% annualized return on my $14K. After you factor in 17% inflation for the past 2 years, that’s still 39% return.