OT- high yield savings accounts

[RobbieTunes]

Originally Posted by NHAero

Exactly what happened to me!

Some types of businesses value longstanding customers and some disvalue them. In the latter group I put insurance agents / cable providers / banks / propane dealers / and web site hosting services.

They all share high costs of customer acquisition relative to renewals.

Insurance is neither a savings account, nor a bank. The carrier is not saving your premium for you. It's a transfer of risk, period. You give them your money, they accept your associated risks for the policy period, and that money almost immediately cycles into claims payments. The carrier makes its money on investment income and loaning money to banks overnight. States often set insurance rates based on an industry average operating expense, and if a carrier can beat that (nothing to do with claims payments) they can gain a little on that, but it's mostly investment income and loans to banks. Other than reduction of deductible or loyalty savings, you are participating for that premium period only.

No clue about cable providers, or banks. Seems like I live my life on their schedule when I need them.

Propane dealers, I could probably match your story (ever try to buy your tank?)

Web hosts, I'm about to renew 3 domains out of 4, and not looking forward to it.

I try not to borrow for a rate more than what I'm making on savings/investments, especially if I consider depreciation a fixed cost.
This limits borrowing greatly in times when savings rates are down.
The last 15 years have revealed the value of being debt-free on depreciable assets as much as possible.

I think now is a good time to look at some of these good savings rates at the same time as removing debt that costs more than you can make on savings.
The Fed may be forcing a sea change in investing, savings, and borrowing. No one really knows. Computer modeling is all we have right now to go by.
As with everything else, stay tuned. The best-laid plans of mice and men.....

[verticaldoug]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

Wait, that's an annual return of, um, AWESOME!

Doesn't quite work that way.

Today the 13 week (3 mo , 91 day) bill is trading 4.21% Yield, 4.115 discount or in price terms 98.96.


In reality, you make 1/4 of the quoted Yield in actual return.

[alancw3]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

Wait, that's an annual return of, um, AWESOME!

That is annual return but for 13 weeks. Sorry for any misunderstanding.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by RobbieTunes

Web hosts, I'm about to renew 3 domains out of 4, and not looking forward to it.

Are you renewing domain names or hosting services? I have a handful of sites on pair.com, been with them for a *long* time, very happy user. They also manage domain names, very straightforward. I've transferred as many as I could from register.com, which is a huge PITA to use.

[KarlC]

CIT Bank is at 3.25 % for their Saving Connect account now.

.

[KarlC]

How about some updates on this ???

CIT Bank is at 4.05 % for their Saving Connect account

Wells Fargo is at 3.5% for their Saving account

Wells Fargo is doing Brokered CD's at 4.7% for 3 months

.

[deluz]

I am currently getting 3.75% from Goldman Sachs Marcus account

[witcombusa]

So getting around half of the current (hyper)Inflation rate is now considered a good thing?

Your still losing money while it sits in your 'savings' account!

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by witcombusa

So getting around half of the current (hyper)Inflation rate is now considered a good thing?

Your still losing money while it sits in your 'savings' account!

You're only losing money if you are buying things at inflated prices..

If your cash stash is for future purchases of discretionary items, getting a non-zero return on it is preferable to zero return. Or worse, taking on debt at the current exorbitant interest rates.

[Clean39T]

PayPal Savings accounts are paying 3.75% and are FDIC insured to the normal level with no minimums or activity required.

bUt i HaTe PAyPaL folks are out of luck I guess

[konstantkarma]

Federal I Bonds now paying 6.89%. But, you can only invest $10k per year (or $15k if you send in another $5k from your tax return). The interest rate is adjusted twice per year.

[deluz]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

You're only losing money if you are buying things at inflated prices..

If your cash stash is for future purchases of discretionary items, getting a non-zero return on it is preferable to zero return. Or worse, taking on debt at the current exorbitant interest rates.

Exactly. Also this is the time to economize.
Some personal examples are we turned down our thermostat to 65 degrees due to spiking natural gas prices.
A long time ago bought at a 25# bag of dried pinto beans at Costco and cook them in my pressure cooker, cost about 12 cents per serving as opposed to paying $2 or more for a can at the store.
I bake my own sourdough bread and buy 50# bags of wheat berries.
Cost is about $1.50 per loaf as opposed to $6.

[echappist]

Originally Posted by witcombusa

So getting around half of the current (hyper)Inflation rate is now considered a good thing?

Your still losing money while it sits in your 'savings' account!

What alternative would you propose?

S&P has been treading water, and there’s always risk of losing capital (like what happened in the middle of last year)

It’s neither good nor bad, but the most feasible option out of a lot of otherwise bad options, in particular for rainy day funds or down payment savings

[KarlC]

Originally Posted by witcombusa

So getting around half of the current (hyper)Inflation rate is now considered a good thing?

Your still losing money while it sits in your 'savings' account!

I had this same discussion with a buddy of mine a few weeks ago ....

- He was down 20% on his Index Fund
- I was up 4% on my saving accounts

Its all in what you want for your goals / risk

This thread and others like it on here are all about input, what are you doing with your money that might be helpful to others ?

Originally Posted by Clean39T

You're only losing money if you are buying things at inflated prices..

If your cash stash is for future purchases of discretionary items, getting a non-zero return on it is preferable to zero return. Or worse, taking on debt at the current exorbitant interest rates.

This is very true, we try not to buy anything unless its needed and then it must be on sale for 50% - 70%+ off. I can site so many example of friends way over paying for stuff at regular prices, its just crazy to me.

.

[Tony T]

US Note Auction today.
Got 2-Yr 4.625% and 5-Yr 4% to complete a ladder and get a cpn each month.
Will hold to maturity.