End of Year CD Deals

[Free bird]

I'm wasting time as I see fit. So far I'm taken care of business I love to w*rk at nothin al day.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Free bird CDs are a third world prison for money. You have to pay to get out. The war on savers has created unfavorable terms for savers. Its a risk on environment as dictated by the system.

It's not that bad. And it's all relative. Still better than Treasuries.

No penalty CDs are available. Also 6 months interest penalty for longer CDs if you want to get out early - not any forfeit of principal.

Unless the economy takes off like a rocket and/or inflation raises its ugly head (which would be worse in the big picture, IMO), there is no-one going to want to pay you more to hold your money with FDIC backing. You have to take much greater risks for higher yield.

There is just not demand for borrowing.

[Dash man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Free bird I'm wasting time as I see fit. So far I'm taken care of business I love to w*rk at nothin al day.

Time for a nap before bed.
But to end my evening back on topic, I cashed in two Ally Bank no penalty CDs last week to come up with cash for a house on the Jersey Shore we’re buying. Ally Bank was so easy to deal with and transferred the money directly to the account we’re paying for the house from. They’re a great Bank for customer service.

[Free bird]

Good job Dash. I can barely take care of one house much less two. Borrowing is pretty easy these days. So penfeds CD terms are not that great. Some are better some are worse. I've got 2001/02 era ibonds 3% penfed CDs & 2.75% CDs at another CU. All have favorable access to the money. But overall the screws have been tightened.

[Dash man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Free bird Good job Dash. I can barely take care of one house much less two. Borrowing is pretty easy these days. So penfeds CD terms are not that great. Some are better some are worse. I've got 2001/02 era ibonds 3% penfed CDs & 2.75% CDs at another CU. All have favorable access to the money. But overall the screws have been tightened.

My PenFed CDs @ 3% mature next year. Then goodbye to PenFed unless they change their ways.

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Free bird Being bored takes on new meaning when your retired.

Yeah, wait until you get up to 5,000 posts.

[pb4uski]

Piker.

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrayHare The rates on some of the money market funds are moving up. I see VMMXX quoted at a 1.13% yield now.

Thanks. I moved every penny of our VMMXX to Ally years ago so I hadn’t noticed VMMXX is paying interest that’s much more competitive again (finally). I’m not moving cash back but I might let some sweep money accumulate at Vanguard again.

My Dad just moved a big chunk to Chase for FDIC insurance coverage. What their savings and CD’s pay is still criminal woefully uncompetitive.

[audreyh1]

Yeah the money market rates have moved up smartly this year.

[GrayHare]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 Yeah the money market rates have moved up smartly this year.

It has me rethinking CDs. If rates continue to move higher, which is uncertain of course, a money market will relatively quickly give those higher rates, all without having to break a CD and possibly incur a penalty.

[Chuckanut]

I’m looking to beat the PenFed 3% deal of a few years ago.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrayHare It has me rethinking CDs. If rates continue to move higher, which is uncertain of course, a money market will relatively quickly give those higher rates, all without having to break a CD and possibly incur a penalty.

I'm not sure money market rates are going to beat the high yield savings account rates anytime soon. The Vanguard rate is the highest, but it's still just shy of the 1.20% to 1.35% rate offered by several banks. Those high yield savings rates have been moving up very quickly with the Fed Funds rate. And even short CD no penalty rates are available above that.

It's certainly way better than a couple years ago when savings/CDs were the only game in town.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut I’m looking to beat the PenFed 3% deal of a few years ago.

I loaded upon some Andrews CDs at 3% early this year.

Yep - curious to see if anyone offers above that any time soon.

[ShokWaveRider]

It is only prison if you need the money. If you put Dividends in another account you can live off them. We have for 4 years now. Very easily. I would have NO intention of touching the principle. If one did, then it is possibly not a good investment for them.

My Maturity dates are December 2018 and January 2019. Then I will by looking for some 3% + CDs myself. $2m @ 60k PA not such a bad income for a retiree. Add SS and Not too bad at all.

[jazz4cash]

I still have 3 yrs left on Penfed 5% CDs plus a yr on the 3% ones. The 5% were 10 yr notes and I remember how tough it was to commit to that term. Looking back it was a great move. The only reason it feels like a prison is that I feel forced to reinvest the dividend due to lack of decent alternatives. I do like the NASA 49 mo CDs @ 2.25 but they keep sending me emails suggesting that may end soon. NFCU has been pretty good with Add-On features and I open one with a tiny deposit every time they are offered to reserve the rate. Last one was 2% for 17 mo. Overall I am maxed out on fixed income so just need to continue rungs on the ladder. I use these to substitute for bonds.

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShokWaveRider It is only prison if you need the money. ...

Agreed... so I only put money in there that I don't think I will need and in $50k increments so if it ends up that I do need it I don't have to break the whole thing.

[Free bird]

3% seems to be the magic number. I put money in 2.75% CDs earlier this year. Created 20 smaller CDs instead of one large one. They don't allow partial withdrawls or taking the dividends out after they get distributed into the CD so I had to have the dividends put into a share account. Just another example of how the system has become increasingly hostile toward savers. That's the way I view it. With so much money having been created it's no longer required to court savers. Money is not rare under the current system.

[Free bird]

10 year CD purchase was a genious move Dash. Buying a 30 year bond circa 1980 is more genious. So far I have a zero in the genious moves column. Buy & hold doesn't count as genious does it?

[Free bird]

Bitcoin anyone?

[Another Reader]

I dumped GE Capital when they were bought out by Goldman Sachs. I figured GS would not invest much effort in the platform and be less than friendly to the little people.

Today I decided to open up a small one year CD at 1.65 percent to see how they do. So far, the platform seems well designed and easy to use. They had all my GE Capital info in their database, so it was easy to open the account.

My 11 month no penalty CD at Ally expires this month. The account is not large enough to qualify for the 1.5 percent at renewal. That money will go back into the savings account or into another CD at an institution with better CD rates.

Hoping some 3 percent CD's show up by the end of December so I can commit more money to them.