My local bank posts its CD rates on a board over the tellers' stations, so it's hard to miss. I note them every once in a while, but they've been going up quickly this year...
On Feb 14, 2018:
Term Interest Rate APY*
12 Month 1.00% 1.00%
18 Month 1.49% 1.50%
36 Month 2.08% 2.10%
60 Month 2.57% 2.60%
On Feb 20, 2018:
12 Month 1.00% 1.00%
18 Month 1.73% 1.75%
36 Month 2.23% 2.25%
60 Month 2.71% 2.75%
On May 9, 2018
Term Interest Rate APY*
12 Month 1.00% 1.00%
18 Month 1.73% 1.75%
36 Month 2.47% 2.50%
60 Month 2.96% 3.00%[/b]
(added on 9/26/18)
Term Interest Rate APY*
12 Month 1.49% 1.50%
18 Month 1.98% 2.00%
36 Month 2.71% 2.75%
60 Month 3.20% 3.25%
I would be tempted to put some of our cash reserve into a CD this year, but I'm waiting to see if they continue to rise. My wife likes having a cash cushion, but I think she would be fine with moving about $10,000 of our cushion to a CD. I know even if rates hit 3%, that's only $300 in interest per year, but it's free money.
Again, this doesn't affect our investments. My wife is more comfortable with having some cash around, so I figure it's near time to move it out of savings.
Has anyone read any recent articles talking about interest rates with any projections for 2018?
Has anyone found a CD offering 3% yet? I'm assuming if you have, it's a 5-year CD, and I'm not sure I'd want to lock up money for that long right now, but I'm still curious. I check bankrate, but I noticed that my local bank's 5-year CD rate is .10% higher than the highest listed on bankrate, so I'm sure there are some more hidden deals out there.
(ADDED 5/9/18) So my local bank is pretty much at 3% now. Still as good or better than anything on bank rate. Has anyone found anything even better? I didn't know if any folks nearing FIRE were looking at these rates as they lock in CD ladders to live off while they do the 5-year IRA/Roth IRA conversion plan.