Bank Deals Blog: Deposits Education and Strategies

Unlike banks, credit unions have fields of membership (FOMs). You must be in the FOM to be eligible to join the credit union. Many FOMs include a geographic area. If you live or work in that area, you are part of the FOM and eligible to join the credit union. Also, many credit union FOMs include Select Employee Groups (SEGs). If you work for one of these employers, you are part of the FOM and eligible to join. It’s also very common for credit union FOMs to include family members.

Family...

The speed-up of tapering was formally announced in today’s Fed statement. This speed-up will result in tapering ending in March 2022. During the press conference, Fed Chair Powell confirmed that the Fed does not want to start hiking rates before tapering has been completed. Thus, the tapering speed-up should be considered a speed-up of future rate hikes. Also, the speed-up of future rate hikes can be seen in the new dot plot from today’s Summary of Economic Projections (SEP). The dot plot shows that 12 out of 18 of...

High-yield reward checking accounts can be an alternative to online savings accounts for money that you want to keep safe. Like online savings accounts, reward checking accounts are liquid and safe. Many reward checking accounts offer higher yields than online savings accounts. The two main issues with reward checking are the monthly activity requirements to qualify for the high rate (debit card usage being the primary requirement) and the balance cap that limits how much of your money can earn the high rate.

You can use our reward checking table to...

At the completion of its two-day FOMC meeting, the Fed announced the start of tapering in its FOMC statement. As expected, the pace of tapering will be $15 billion reduction per month, which should end asset purchases by June of next year. The Fed left open the possibility that it might adjust the pace of tapering:

The only other important change is related to the Fed’s “transitory” inflation language. The Fed is still sticking with transitory, but it added some acknowledgement of uncertainties. It also tried to provide an explanation about...

At the completion of its two-day FOMC meeting, the Fed issued a statement that had the one important addition that points to a taper announcement at the Fed’s next meeting (November 2-3):

The only other change from the July FOMC statement was the recognition that the latest COVID-19 wave has impacted the economic recovery:

Everything else in today’s FOMC statement was the same as the July statement. The statement continues to claim that the recent high inflation is transitory. “Inflation is elevated, largely reflecting transitory factors.” The zero interest rate policy and...

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...