Best CD, MM Rates & Bank Special Deals Thread 2022 - Please post updates here

[Another Reader]

At this exact point in time, you can't go wrong with VMFXX. It is better than languishing in a bank account.

But this will change someday, and change fast.

One suggestion? If someone wants to try out their broker's treasury buying process, now is a good time to buy a small 8 or 13 week bill. There's little risk, and you can understand the process so that perhaps someday when you want to buy the big one, you'll have more confidence in the interface.

It is very different than buying an equity, ETF or mutual fund. Windows open and close on purchasing at auction. Settlement occurs later after the results are announced. The mechanics are very different, so it is worth trying out and buying a small T-bill or two right now to get a feel for how it all works, and what is presented on your brokerage holdings screen.

Great advice! I could not understand how this worked until I started buying them at Fidelity. The interest rate was never what was quoted. Why? It's an auction. And I learned to look up the auction date and get the order in the day before. Also, rolling them over meant you could be out of the market for a couple of days. I'm lazy, so for short term, I just use VMFXX now. If the spread widens, it's back to treasuries.

 

[audreyh1]

If you look at where T-bills are trading on the secondary market late Friday, you’ll have a general idea of what you might get Monday morning (for 13 week, 26 week T-bills). It’s not going to be exact. And it’s always possible something happens over the weekend to cause a larger change in rates, but what happens at auction simply reflects the state of the treasury market at the time. Usually I have gotten a slightly higher yield then what Fidelity projected when I entered my order.

Maybe it’s possible to see where treasuries are pre-market early Monday and get an order in then in time for the auction. I have never tried to cut it that close and have no idea of the deadline.

I have the CNBC app and different treasury durations are part of my watchlist. This is generally very useful. It’s a good view of the shape of the yield curve too.

And you might also learn how to calculate your annualized yield on a zero coupon t-bill. I found an online calculator for that https://goodcalculators.com/treasury-bills-calculator/. The Auction Results page from Treasury Direct does show reinvestment rate for the most recent auction which is similar. It just changes each week, so you need to take a snapshot right after your auction completes to save that info.

Overall I don’t worry about it too much and just ladder t-bills so that I have something maturing every 3 months, or even shorter sometimes. It depends on how much the MM and high yield savings are yielding in comparison at the time.

At some point CDs will likely be yielding more than t-bills again, and I switch back over as my laddered t-bills mature.

 

[Car-Guy]

I noticed this morning that CD's at Charles Schwab are either flat or (slightly down) I look at them daily and noticed the 12 and 18 mo CD's are down slightly from late last week while everything else appears to have stayed the same, IIRC. So I guess when they "sell out", the lower rates CD's move to the top. Not a big deal but I guess I'm expecting a steady increase these days, even if it's only slightly. Watching to closely I guess.

 

[aja8888]

https://goodcalculators.com/treasury-bills-calculator/[/url].

Thnaks for the link! Pretty handy. (https://goodcalculators.com/treasury-bills-calculator/)

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Are there CDs that pay interest Annually as opposed to monthly? What I am looking for that a CD if purchased in January of 2023, where the interest is Taxable in 2024 vs the end of 2023.

I know they have these in Canada for GICs, but not ever seen in the USA.

 

[erkevin]

Goldman Sachs (Marcus) HYSA is up to 1.7%

 

[Car-Guy]

Are there CDs that pay interest Annually as opposed to monthly? What I am looking for that a CD if purchased in January of 2023, where the interest is Taxable in 2024 vs the end of 2023.

I know they have these in Canada for GICs, but not ever seen in the USA.

Yes - I see several 1 yr CD's at Schwab right now that pay at maturity.

 

[jazz4cash]

If I am using a broker (Fidelity) what are the pros and cons of buying at auction vs. secondary market?

 

[Chuckanut]

One suggestion? If someone wants to try out their broker's treasury buying process, now is a good time to buy a small 8 or 13 week bill. There's little risk, and you can understand the process so that perhaps someday when you want to buy the big one, you'll have more confidence in the interface.
.

+1

It pays to try new things on lesser amounts. I did the same the first time I bought a Treasury obligation from a broker. I learned a few things that I didn't know I didn't now. Nothing critical, but it was less stressful than learning them when Big Money was involved.

Note: I do the same thing when I need to find a new shop to service my car. It's a life lesson earned at the School of Hard Knocks.

 

[pb4uski]

Thnaks for the link! Pretty handy. (https://goodcalculators.com/treasury-bills-calculator/)

You can also use the =RATE function in Excel or Librecalc.

 

[aja8888]

You can also use the =RATE function in Excel or Librecalc.

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that function.

 

[teej1985]

Are there CDs that pay interest Annually as opposed to monthly? What I am looking for that a CD if purchased in January of 2023, where the interest is Taxable in 2024 vs the end of 2023.

I know they have these in Canada for GICs, but not ever seen in the USA.

No.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

Just as a FYI, I had an irritating event occur today at Schwab.

Over the weekend, I had put an order in for 40K worth of 180 day t-bills (auction today). Schwab has a 9:30AM cutoff for order submission.

This morning, about 8:45AM, I decided to reduce the order somewhat, so I needed to cancel the existing order and resubmit. Again, the cutoff to cancel was 9:30AM. So I do the cancel, and it then proceeds to tell me "cancel pending", and some verbiage about not doing subsequent orders using that $ until the order is confirmed cancelled.

So I wait and wait, hit refresh and it continues to show cancel pending status, with me in limbo not knowing whether the order would be processed or not. This continued until about 9:40AM, at which time the status changed to cancelled...and of course 10 minutes too late for me to put in the changed order.

Sigh.

 

[xlf11]

Are there CDs that pay interest Annually as opposed to monthly? What I am looking for that a CD if purchased in January of 2023, where the interest is Taxable in 2024 vs the end of 2023.

I know they have these in Canada for GICs, but not ever seen in the USA.

I recall Ally used to have CD with option to choose when you would like to get interest paid...

 

[freedomatlast]

I recall Ally used to have CD with option to choose when you would like to get interest paid...

Uugh! Ally. Not the same bank they used to be. Poor interest rates. Left hand definitely doesn't know what the right hand is doing. In the process of closing all my Ally accounts. You'd think that would be easy, but it's not. Terrible internal communication.

 

[audreyh1]

I recall Ally used to have CD with option to choose when you would like to get interest paid...

Their 11 month no-penalty CDs do not pay interest in December but wait for maturity.

But all the other longer CDs do pay interest accrued so far at the end of each December if you’ve used the pay at maturity option AFAIK. There must be a requirement for banks to pay accrued interest annually except for shorter duration.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Another 4% (37 month) Certificate at Great River Federal Credit Union with a possible Bump feature. Ken at DepositAccounts.com will have more information soon.

https://www.greatriverfcu.org/money-market-and-share-certificates/

Well this one didn't last long

https://www.depositaccounts.com/banks/great-river-cu/offers/

 

[mpeirce]

Uugh! Ally. Not the same bank they used to be. Poor interest rates. Left hand definitely doesn't know what the right hand is doing. In the process of closing all my Ally accounts. You'd think that would be easy, but it's not. Terrible internal communication.

This isn’t really uncommon.

Over 10 years ago I found a local bank that had excellent CD rates and I had a nice ladder of CDs with them. And I liked keeping my money in a local bank that was lending to local businesses.

They prospered for a while, then their rates slowing returned to the average (i.e. not great). A couple of years ago they got sold off to another larger regional bank.

It was nice while it lasted. Happens to lots of businesses.

 

[Graybeard]

If you look at where T-bills are trading on the secondary market late Friday, you’ll have a general idea of what you might get Monday morning (for 13 week, 26 week T-bills). It’s not going to be exact. And it’s always possible something happens over the weekend to cause a larger change in rates, but what happens at auction simply reflects the state of the treasury market at the time. Usually I have gotten a slightly higher yield then what Fidelity projected when I entered my order.

Maybe it’s possible to see where treasuries are pre-market early Monday and get an order in then in time for the auction. I have never tried to cut it that close and have no idea of the deadline.

I have the CNBC app and different treasury durations are part of my watchlist. This is generally very useful. It’s a good view of the shape of the yield curve too.

And you might also learn how to calculate your annualized yield on a zero coupon t-bill. I found an online calculator for that https://goodcalculators.com/treasury-bills-calculator/. The Auction Results page from Treasury Direct does show reinvestment rate for the most recent auction which is similar. It just changes each week, so you need to take a snapshot right after your auction completes to save that info.

Overall I don’t worry about it too much and just ladder t-bills so that I have something maturing every 3 months, or even shorter sometimes. It depends on how much the MM and high yield savings are yielding in comparison at the time.

At some point CDs will likely be yielding more than t-bills again, and I switch back over as my laddered t-bills mature.

Audrey that link is so cool! I just pulled out the confirmations I printed for some 13 and 26 week T bills I bought. I knew the profit (which is simple) and annual return (not so simple) because being the first I bought T bills I did not understand the Vanguard confirmation so I called and talked to someone. The calculator matched the numbers I have. I am bookmarking this! Thanks.

 

[Car-Guy]

Over the past week, I've noticed fewer and fewer brokered CD's are available at Schwab. This morning I couldn't find any with maturities greater than 9 mos... Maybe I'm doing something wrong or my search parameters have changed... Anyone else with Schwab notice this?

 

[jim584672]

I applied to EFCU last week, heard nothing. Called today, they say no more out of state applications being accepted. If you applied please give 3 business days. At this point I just want to kill my application entirely, not acceptable service and I want nothing to do with them.

 

[Silver]

Bask Bank just increased the APY on their savings account from 2.0% to 2.20%.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I applied to EFCU last week, heard nothing. Called today, they say no more out of state applications being accepted. If you applied please give 3 business days. At this point I just want to kill my application entirely, not acceptable service and I want nothing to do with them.

Nasa FCU now has 49mths 3.85 if it helps.
New money only, that's the annoying thing about them.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I applied to EFCU last week, heard nothing. Called today, they say no more out of state applications being accepted. If you applied please give 3 business days. At this point I just want to kill my application entirely, not acceptable service and I want nothing to do with them.

They've also dropped the rate to 3.85% and 3.95% for the Jumbo IRA.

 

[aja8888]

Over the past week, I've noticed fewer and fewer brokered CD's are available at Schwab. This morning I couldn't find any with maturities greater than 9 mos... Maybe I'm doing something wrong or my search parameters have changed... Anyone else with Schwab notice this?

Today at Schwab, I bought a 3.4% CD (JP Morgan) with a 2 year term. It's callable but so what? I believe it's a new issue.

"The following was processed in your account ending in 191 on 08/16/2022:

Settle Date: 08/23/2022
Action: Bought
Quantity: 10,000
Symbol: JPMORGAN CHASE & 3.4%24 CD FDIC INS DUE 08/23/24 US
Unit Price: $100.00
*Principal Amount: $10,000.00"

Between these and bonds, I'm building a ladder as rates go up and keeping the principal amount between $10,000 - $20,000.