Place to "invest" emergency money?

Intel486 · 05-01-06, 04:56

I've got some emergency money just sitting in a savings account earing really bad interest rate (.5%).

Was wanting to find a place to put it that it earns more interest but be able to still get to it easily if I need it.

What are some good options where I can keep it to earn more interest than .5%, not really have any risk of losing it, and still be able to get it quickly if I ever need it.

Diesel1 · 05-01-06, 06:19

Don't know if they have em by you, but alot of banks here offer liquid CD's that earn about 5% and you can take out up to a certain level. You do need to maintain a balance but you can play with anything over that limit. Typically they are only 5-6 month CD's so you may want to look into something like that.

newwaxer · 05-01-06, 06:56

4.5% currently. No minimum. FDIC insured, Liquid savings account.

http://www.emigrantdirect.com

Dave N · 05-02-06, 04:43

I have my ready money in a Vanguard Prime Money Market account. There's a minimum, but the interest is good compared to local bank money markets.

http://flagship2.vanguard.com/VGApp/...FundIntExt=INT

SHICKS · 05-02-06, 05:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by newwaxer

4.5% currently. No minimum. FDIC insured, Liquid savings account.

http://www.emigrantdirect.com

Or try a citibank online saving account. I have one at 4.5% Link it to you checking. Basically, when I am not investing I can move money through my online trading to my checking to the savings. 4.5% is not bad when you are trying to keep the powder dry waiting for a good buying opportunity.

Steve

OutlawTitan · 05-03-06, 04:41

I second the Vanguard Prime Money Market. You can open and manage the account online and it currently pays about 4.4%. This fund will always have competitive rates and when you add that to the ease of use (basically can be used like a checking account) and safety factors it is pretty hard to beat.

ebpcivicsi · 05-03-06, 05:00

Yeah, I don't think 5% is that bad at all with that type of availability. We opened up a money market account much like what is mentioned above and we are seeing about 4.5-5%--that was with a 10 grand "buy in." I would just keep 6-9 months of expenses in available cash, the rest in long term investments.

DETAILKING · 05-03-06, 05:06

Keep your emergency money fund to a minimum. Right now it's not good to have large cash positions. The dollar is weak and getting weaker every day. It's value is going down and in the future it will take more and more dollars to buy the same things. You gotta wonder if the dollar will be the next peso to be honest with the amount of gov debt the past 5 yrs and the amount of money that has to be printed to cover it. Put a small emergency fund in an ING direct savings account...decent interest and you can access the loot quickly if you want. With the rest put it in gold or silver which will hold it's value as the dollar declines.