Best Month for CD Renewals?

[Gearhead Jim]

We are doing some juggling of our CD ladder, and will have the opportunity to choose which month(s) they will mature each year. Although future renewals can be handled from some remote location via phone/fax/email, I prefer to be in town for this work.

Because of vacations and other travels, we might be gone at any time from May to November, and January to March.

Looking at that, mid-December fits well into our schedule. But is there any tendency for CD rates to be higher in some months than others? I'd hate to be giving up .5% each year because I was renewing during the traditional "bad" month.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

Nobody ? ! ?
There's got to be some way to game the system...

 

[Gotadimple]

When you figure it out, can you post it here? We'd all like to know if there is a way to know when interest rates will change, so we can adjust our investing habits.

But seriously, interest rate sensitivity for CD's has virtually nothing to do with a particular time of the year.

-- Rita

 

[bbbamI]

I assumed there were no particular months in which cd rates were higher, but I sent a note to my friend that is a retired bank examiner and asked her. She said I am correct.

The only thing I do is tell my banks to notify me when they have cd specials.

 

[Purron]

I'm wondering the same thing Gearhead Jim and was hoping for some good ideas. I guess the answer is "it's anybody's guess", particularly with the uncertainty in the markets these days.

I think the month of maturity is not as important as the term of the CDs you purchase. If I had a crystal ball (mine's in the shop) I would look into the future and see if CD rates will be going up or down and plan accordingly. Otherwise, like bbbamI, I just keep my antennae up for good deals.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

Thanks to all for the comments.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

I'm no expert in CD's, especially CD ladders, but now I'm locked into two five year CD's, one of which is an IRA. One thing I learned though is that you have to shop around for the best rate. bankrate.com is a joke as are most other web sites as they are getting paid by the issuers to post their rates. I recently bought a five year standard CD at 4.75% and an IRA CD for five years at 5.0%. I searched everywhere for the best rates and nothing even close was posted on the web. I found these at a local back and jumped through hoops to make it happen.