Well I have to admit I’m very excited about the gte jumbo because if rates tank I can “pull a shinobi”. What’s that you ask? That’s when you dump all your funds in one cd WAY over the FDIC limit because you want that higher interest rate. He’s the one who first demonstrated that trick here. 
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Wow, famewolf, you have quite a memory. I do not recall mentioning that here on FD. But I could easily have written about it back on FW.
Yes, I did do that following the 2008 crash. The target back then was NWFCU, where I had a high-rate add-on CD. That CD had a ridiculous amount of money in it at maturity . . . . far, far too much. But with rates having tanked in the wake of the crash it was, for me, “the only (sensible) game in town”.
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I think you did it again between 2016 and now cause I’m not sure I would have remembered back to 2008 nor was I tracking cd’s so closely. It’s a good trick provided you trust the bank you are doing it with…I have to admit I’d prefer more of a big name than GTE for doing that sort of thing but will see how it goes. You should have a banner: Shinobi, helping people save money since xxxx 
When searching for financial/cd deals 3 of my Holy Grail sites are:
Does anyone have any additional sites to recommend? I use ifttt.com to have their rss feed forwarded to my email when a new article appears. Has been very useful.
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No; the $5000 charge went through and posted the next day. The smaller charges into the 3 and 4 year CDs actually did raise a flag and I had to confirm those charges.
Oh, snap. This stinks. Appears as if Powell has spilled the beans and pre-announced his now seemingly inevitable announcement at month’s end.
Powell folds like cheap suit in wake of Trump jawboning
This will commence costing me money on September 1, 2019. That is when the interest rate on my Bellco Index Advantage CD will descend. It will be the first time my CD rate actually goes down. Up until now I have had nothing but rate increases.
Hey, Trump: Yer costin’ me money here!!
Course when you buy index CDs you have to be willing to take the good with the bad.
Up until now: all good . . great actually.
Going forward to maturity: I dunno.
ETA
By way of further explanation and elaboration:
The Bellco Index Advantage CD, which was offered back in spring of 2017 and is no longer available, is indexed to the Federal funds rate (FFR). The CD interest rate is reset first of every month depending on the FFR on the prior 26th of the month.
Lucky for me the Fed does not meet until the very end of July, so old Powell will not change the FFR until after the 26th of July. But on the 26th of August the new rate will be in effect, in time to get me when the CD interest rate again resets on September first.
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Congratulations! You are the perfect Lifetime Products customer. 
This _may_be the case at GTE, but it is NOT the case at Ally. I am talking about their High Yield CD, and not the no-penalty CD. From their website (emphasis by me):
The penalty amount is calculated at the interest rate in effect for the CD, and is equal to the interest accrued during the time period specified in the penalty schedule. If the accrued interest is less than the penalty amount, the difference will be deducted from the CD’s balance.
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They’re baaaaaak!!
Keesler, famous for their 5% deal not long ago, is back in the fray:
21 Month Step Share Certificate - $1,000 minimum
First 7 Months APR: 1.5%
Second 7 Months APR* 2.5%
Final 7 Months APR* 3.5%
Blended APY 2.54%
30 Month Step Share Certificate - $1,000 minimum
First 10 Months APR: 2.0%
Second 10 Months APR* 3.0%
Final 10 Months APR* 4.0%
Blended APY 3.1%
21 Month Jumbo Step Share Certificate - $100,000 minimum
First 7 Months APR: 1.6%
Second 7 Months APR* 2.6%
Final 7 Months APR* 3.6%
Blended APY 2.65%
30 Month Jumbo Step Share Certificate - $100,000 minimum
First 10 Months APR: 2.1%
Second 10 Months APR* 3.1%
Final 10 Months APR* 4.1%
Blended APY 3.21%
You can find their current rate table here:
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Thanks shinobi… Finally happy to see you are also back in the fray.
This 30 mo CD 3.21% is not to bad. But first, you must have $100K & second you must stay for the long run. No bowing out early. 
Yikes. I haven’t had a CD with this bad an early withdrawal penalty but in that case, you’d definitely not want to close it early.
This post is for FD participants only. Please do not post what I’m sharing here over on Ken’s site. Thanks.
This is an uncertain thing anyway, but CD deals are not that easy now so I’m posting what I can. If this is too convoluted for you, I understand. Please be aware others might have a differing view and simply move on if you do not like this.
We start with Ken’s post this morning regarding Empower:
You can read that for yourself and some of you probably already have seen it. Personally I do not see a lot of juice in what Ken posted, but that is only MHO.
Q: OK, Shin. Where’s the juice?
There are two things you need to consider. First, Empower is well known for their Christmas time “givebacks”. Each Christmas season they offer members a bonus based on the amount of business done with Empower the previous year. Christmas of 2018 they returned four million bucks to members. Expressed as a percentage that is between ten and fifteen percent. So . . .
Q: Shin, how do you know that? What is your basis for making that claim?
I have been an Empower member for many years. The last two years the giveback has been toward the higher end of that range . . above 15% actually.
Q: But is the giveback guaranteed?
It is not. If Empower has a poor year the amount of the giveback declines. But they have paid a giveback at Christmas for every year at least since 2012. And the term of these CDs is relatively short (see Ken’s post). So it’s a good bet the giveback will hold in the short run.
Obviously you must decide for yourself whether or not you want to run the risk of the giveback disappearing.
Q: Anything else?
The other item missing from Ken’s post, or maybe not, is that anyone can join Empower (or maybe not). If you look here you will find the reference:
See the fifth item down on their list
I know about that because that is how I myself joined Empower. I do not live in their service territory.
Q: What’s with all this “maybe not” stuff?
I joined many years ago. I telephoned Empower this morning to learn if the rules regarding CNYPCUG had changed. I was told the rules have not changed. That is really all I can do. The "maybe not’ part comes because there is always the possibility I was given bad information. But I have done what I could do.
Let’s face reality. There is an NFCU CD deal out there right now known to all, with no hassles whatsoever, paying 3.5% APY. And this Empower deal pays less, even with the giveback bonus! So your only reason for being interested in this deal is if you have preference for an eighteen month CD over a five year CD. Opinions on the merits of investing shorter will vary all over the place. Some people will want to do a split, putting a portion of their money shorter and other of their funds out the five years. I understand. Enjoy!
ETA
Just offering here a clarification on the giveback bonus, since I did not state this as overtly as I should have. By way of example:
If your nominal APY is 2.5%, and the Christmas time giveback bonus is 10%, then your effective APY for that year becomes 2.5% plus 0.25%, which equals 2.75%. You can do the math yourself for each of the several tiers Ken mentions in his post.
In 2018 my giveback bonus percentage was 15.4%. In 2017 my giveback bonus percentage was 16.8%. In 2016 my giveback bonus percentage was 16.22%. But back in 2015 my giveback bonus percentage was only 10.22%.
So you can see the giveback bonus number varies widely and, once again, it is not guaranteed.
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Thanks shinobi for the commentary… This 18 mo 2.90% takes $100K. I do go for the shorter terms. Here is my dilemma… My $100K is drawing 2.75% at Grow & it’s liquid… Your giveback bonus sounds great… So what to do? By the way I already have the NFCU deal. 
For those who got in on the United Bank (CT) 3.15% 18 month add-on CD they were offering late in 2018, heads up that the bank is being bought by People’s United Bank. Stay alert for possible changes to the unlimited add on feature. No news about it right now.
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Looks like Hanscom 19-month dropped to 2.75%
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Hmm… Buffalo NY area CU. Wonder if I could qualify by telling them my stories of experiencing snow for the first time, slipping on ice first time, etc as a Southern boy 
Trust me, the one that will give you the best chance is getting stuck in the snow for the first time. It is the first time my wife heard me cussing up a storm.
ETA: and had your first beef on weck.
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Yeah. Good post. And I’m worried the same thing will happen at Empower before I’m able to get money in. Sure hope they will hold deal until month’s end. But Hanscom didn’t.
Financial institutions are tripping all over themselves in their race to lower our CD rates . . . and other interest rates, too.
They’re just pricing in the nearly guaranteed quarter point rate cut due at end of July. Unless they need to boost their deposits badly, no need to offer the same CD rates knowing where the rates are sure to go very soon.
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