Since opening my Presidential account, I decided to pay more attention to the actual interest rates I'm getting on my other accounts. I knew they were pretty pathetic, but here's a rundown:
Chase Checking: 0.29%
Chase Savings: 1.01%
Chase 2-yr CD: 2.57%
E*Trade Money Market: 2.2%
E*Trade Savings: 1.01%
E*Trade Checking: 0% (I only have $100 in this account.)
E*Trade 2-yr CD: ??? maybe 4.7%?
E*Trade 6-mo CD:??? maybe 4.33%?
E*Trade is getting on my nerves. Their rates used to be quite good, but over the last few years, they've really lost it. And what drove me nuts as I tried to compile this list was that I could not find out how much interest my E*Trade CDs were earning! There was no online statement or screen anywhere I could find that just told me what my rate was, which seems crazy. (I've listed their current rates being offered above, but I don't know exactly what I'm getting because I don't feel like calling E*Trade's 800 number or digging out the account paperwork from my files at home. I'm sure mine are a bit lower.) I want to keep some money in E*Trade, as the combined balance with my brokerage account saves me a little money on fees, but I am going to pull out every penny I can and transfer it to Presidential, where I can earn 4.12% on up to $35,000.
The rates at Chase don't bother me so much-- I like having a local bank, and I just keep as much money there as I have to for avoiding fees, and I frequently transfer into other accounts.
I have over $70,000 spread among the accounts above-- I need to keep it fairly liquid so I can be ready to buy an apartment, but I want to make the most of my returns on this money. And since my stock investments have been so stagnant lately, this is almost the only investment income I have!
Friday, November 04, 2005
Interest Rates
Posted at 10:40 AM
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1 comment:
Presidential definitely looks like a good deal for you. But you might also want to calculate what you'd be making putting the "rest" of the etrade money in something like emigrant (after CDs come due etc etc) just to make sure you're making out better by lowering your etrade fees vs the 4.12 and 4.0 interest split on your non-chase money (and say...absolute mins in etrade) Just a thought!
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