Surely hope you are right about that. I mean, rates in some venues overseas have gone negative!
Still, am only suggesting some sort of split be considered. Right now I have too much short stuff. Need to put at least some CD money out longer, I think.
My CDâs extend into 2023, actually I only have 1, Sharonview 4%. Oh how I wish I had put the whole sink in that one. I have a couple that mature 2022 & several 2021. I donât call these short stuff.
So you think going for 5 years + would be worthwhile. A very high $ rate would only tempt me to go long term. The best I see, donât even reach as high as 4 % now.
All talk at this point. But we do have a few add-onâs that can help for a while. 
I was lucky enough not to procrastinate in Nov 2018 with Gardensavings and got 2 4 year ones @ 4%. In February when rates started tanking I was ticked off to miss a 3.6x% rate @ Connexus by 1 friggin day before it dropped to 3.51%. Itâs a 5 year. It looks pretty good now with hindsight. MACUâs 5 year 3.51% is an addon but capped at 100k. Itâs for wiggle room. The rest are smallerâŚ17 monthâŚ10 monthâŚ
I have a 30 month agfed no penalty cd paying 2.40% and Iâve looked at it several times saying âwhy donât I cash that in and put it in an account earning moreâ but all the accounts earning âmoreâ are much shorter term so each time Iâve held off decided the guaranteed rate even if lower with the ability to break it any time is good enough in this situation.
if I good rate came along NOW for a 7-10 year cd I WOULD get at least 1 but the 3.45% @ andrews is not quite making my âinternal cutâ. I may regret it later.
Sure, but only for a portion of the old nestegg. How large a portion? That each individual must decide on her/his own.
There is a really high level of uncertainty out there right now. The election is coming up. The stock market is up but certain other indicators are pointing down. At a time like this you just do not want all eggs in one basket . . . or so I think. An interest rate of 3.3% APY is not a catastrophe today. It is not. And rates available right now are all that matter, except for participants here owning time machines. I own no such contraption. So Iâm stuck in the present.
Of course, to counter my own point - being âlocked inâ is only theoretical anyways. Get that 5year (or longer) certificate at 3%, and if rates do rise back up to 4-5%+ you can always pay the penalty and cash out early. Thereâs a relatively narrow window where you wouldnât still come out ahead.
This post is only for big money participants here. You people know who you are:
Stumbled across an interesting wrinkle at APY = 3.3% for five year CD money. You can get that rate in Chicago with the $10k minimum like I have mentioned already endlessly up thread, ad nauseum.
Now hereâs the wrinkle:
You can also achieve 3.3% on a five year CD at GTE Financial provided you are willing to go jumbo!
Q: Shin big whoop. Why bother with GTE at all? The Chicago deal is just as good and I do not need so darn much dough to participate.
Not so fast. Here is the kicker:
That GTE jumbo deal is an add-on CD, which the Federal Savings Bank deal in Chicago is not.
I have not scoured the internet. But that 3.3% APY GTE deal might be the highest 5 year add-on deal today extant. Course you need a whole lot of dough to play. That is the downside. But for anyone out there stranded without sufficient add-on CD capacity in this time of interest rate peril, for anyone who was snoozing a few weeks ago when you should have been feathering your nest with add-ons, this might be a solution.
Iâm not disagreeing with anything you said but just mentioning in this case itâs 100K to playâŚthatâs the minimum for the jumbo. You can choose to add more later as mentioned.
It depends on what your focus is. If you have plenty of years before you retire you might go stock heavy but still have some in secure fundsâŚbonds, cdâsâŚetf for treasury fundsâŚyounger folks typically do 80% stock and %20 bonds/cdâs etc. You should still have a blend because the market could tank and leave you in a position of being unable to get the money when you need itâŚunexpected medical issue? IRS audit? New Baby? etc.
If you are close to or at the retirement stage you should have MORE of your funds in the stable areaâsâŚperhaps as close to 50/50 or 60/40âŚmy brokerage is set to an 80/20 aggressive retirement portfolio with a well diversified low cost etf blend but itâs only part of my retirement fundsâŚa good portion stays in cdâsâŚsome of which pay me monthly or quarterly to generate the income I use along with social security to have a monthly âpaycheckâ.
Whether your cd or stock portfolio pays out monthly or quarterly may also play a part for those who donât have a budget or the funds to go 3 months to get âpaidâ in dividends/interest.
Happy 4th of July to those celebrating!
Just a heads up for participants here:
The June employment report has come in strong, much in excess of what was anticipated. This makes more likely no rate cut at monthâs end, or at worst only a 25 basis point cut, good news for CD purchasers.
Iâm not sure why everyone says it came in strong when unemployment actually went up from 3.6% to 3.7%. If anything it proves that job report expectations are more or less just wishful thinkingâŚ
Either way, Iâm not sure itâll be enough to sway the Feds decision in favor of not cutting interest rates in July.
The net number of new jobs was more than triple Mayâs total. Meanwhile the rate ticked up only one tenth of one point, remaining very near to an all time low.
The wizards are saying a half point cut no longer is in the cards, to which I would add âthank goodnessâ. Jury remains out regarding a possible quarter point cut. We must hope for the best.
The FOMC meets next prior to release of the July jobs numbers, which does not happen until August second. Fingers are crossed for Powell and his compatriots to decide to wait at least one more meeting before doing anything. At their September 17-18 get together, the FOMC will have in hand two more employment reports beyond the good one released today. Sure hope they are OK with âwait and seeâ until then.
Thatâs because Mayâs number were abysmal. Much better than abysmal is good in the sense that May did not start a trend towards accelerating unemployment but unemployment still went up a bit. So my view is that itâs still not as good a number as the media spams.
As far as the Fed is concerned, I think theyâll still cut by 0.25% (either now or in September) but they could also temporarily pause their balance sheet reduction in the meantime. None of which points to much higher savings rates any time soon though. 
Agreed. My thought from the jump was not a hope for higher rates, which have not appeared to be in the cards for a while. Iâm just hoping rates do not decline, or if they must fall then as little and as slowly as possible. Prior to today a half point drop was in the discussion for monthâs end. Such concern as that has now been extinguished.
Ha! Wait for the revision of the results. You think the same thing.
The GTE Jumbo is now 3.25%
update This is WRONG. The dividend rate is 3.25 giving you the same 3.3% APY previously mentioned. I apologize for the confusion on my part.
Per Kenâs site, Chartway Federal Credit Union has added a 9-Month CD Special at 2.75% APY; $500 minimum deposit. Easy membership (you can qualify for membership by joining Chartwayâs âWe Promise Foundationâ with a $10 donation).
Navy Federal Credit Union 5 year CDs have gone up to 3.50% APY; $1,000 minimum - no maximum. Note: not an add-on CD.
I called GTE financial (I hope you never have to do thisâŚtry the live chat) and waited foreverâŚ20+ minutes to get a personâŚI explained they had dropped the rate while my funds were being transferred via ach and I had opened my cd without noticing the drop (which was a mistake on MY part because the 3.25% dividend rate would give the 3.3% APY I was expecting so I was in the wrong there.). I also explained Navy Federal was offering 3.50% APY. THe girl on the phone was very nice but she put me on hold again to see if they could either cancel the cd or MATCH Navy Federal. After another 20 minute (literally based on phone log) hold she came back and apologized for the wait. She said she had to get approval for the rate to be matched but had succeeded so I got the 3.50% apy AND itâs an addon similar to the macu one however this one isnât limited to 100K.
If you contacted GTE Financial and told them youâd like to open the jumbo cd but Navy Fed is offering 3.50% APY on their 5 year cdâs they may match you.
update It appears they set my DIVIDEND rate to 3.5. If I understand correctly then the APY would be 3.55% due to compounding? Can Anyone confirm my math?
Iâve had some annoyances with GTE already. The $5K I put on my credit card to fund the 5 year still hasnât shown up in my account after almost 2 weeks. I funded a 3 and 4 year a few days later and those showed up right away. I used the chat and was told some are quicker than others (what?) and to give it a few more days. I gave it a few more days, did the chat again, and was told the transfer people werenât in and to try during business hours. So I need to try again.
Meanwhile, as a test, I tried to transfer a small amount ($20 is the minimum) from my share account to the add-on CDs. I got an error the first dozen or so times, then got a couple through, and now canât get another through. I was told in chat that they were having an issue and it should be resolved when the system reset the next day. Surprise; it still doesnât work.