Bank Deals Blog: Deposits Education and Strategies

Certificates of deposit (CDs)...

An important concern with long-term CDs is having your money locked into a low-rate CD when interest rates are increasing rapidly. With the possibility that we are moving into a period of rising inflation, that is a growing concern. DA reader kcfield made several good points in this DA Forum thread for savers to consider in today’s low-rate environment. As kcfield asked: “Should we give up our 0.50% interest savings account to invest in a 1% long term CD?” I think many savers and investors would agree with this opinion...

At the completion of its two-day FOMC meeting, the Fed issued a statement very similar to its June statement. The only significant change was a subtle reference to tapering. It suggests that the Fed is starting to think about tapering. It should probably be viewed as the first step that will culminate in a formal announcement in the FOMC statement that a reduction in asset purchases will take place. Below is an excerpt of today’s FOMC statement. I bolded the new sentence that was added.

That formal announcement is probably several...

At the completion of its two-day FOMC meeting, the Fed issued a statement very similar to its April statement. As expected, there were no policy changes. The big news was in the Fed’s Summary of Economic Projections (SEP). The SEP dot plot shows that the majority of the Fed now think that there’ll be rate hikes by the end of 2023.

Today’s FOMC statement only had minor changes from the April statement. First, the Fed removed the opening statement about the pandemic “causing tremendous human and economic hardship.” That sentence has...

At the completion of its two-day FOMC meeting, the Fed issued a statement very similar to its March statement. The only change was in the economic overview. The April statement is a little more positive about the progress on the recovery. Also, the new statement is acknowledging a rise in inflation, but as expected, the Fed considers this a temporary situation. The following are excerpts of the two statements that show the changes:

Excerpt of the March FOMC statement:

Excerpt of the April FOMC statement:

The Fed also removed the word “considerable” in...

Last Saturday was the one-year anniversary of a little-known change in a Federal Reserve regulation that impacts savers. On April 24, 2020, the Fed announced a change to Regulation D that permits banks and credit unions to allow their customers to make more than six payments or withdrawals per month from their savings and money market accounts.

One thing that wasn’t apparent when the Fed first announced this change was if this change would be permanent or just temporary. A couple months after the announcement, the Fed updated its FAQs by...

At the completion of its two-day FOMC meeting, the Fed issued a statement very similar to its January statement. There was just a small change to the economic overview which acknowledged some progress:

As expected, there were no policy changes. The target federal funds rate remains near zero and the pace of asset purchases remains unchanged. No one dissented at today’s meeting.

The Fed also released updates to its Summary of Economic Projections (SEP) which includes federal funds rate forecasts that extend out through 2023. On the plus side, the economic forecasts...