Done! I had my larger CDs mature after rates started dropping, but I thankfully managed to get the last of the good deals: just-shy-of 5% to 5.25% for 12, 18 and 24 months. I was looking for shorter terms this time anyway, so it worked out well.
How did the rest of you do? A lot of specials seen on DA 1-2 years ago matured recently, so I think many were in the same boat as myself. Hope you all did well, with no problems moving funds around to get the best deals out there. The only thing I'll need coming up is a new IRA CD at the New Year when I can contribute again, but I already have my IRA places, and unless there's some incredible deal elsewhere, I'll probably just stick to the best of my current IRA places.
I realized a couple things. For years I'd always just ladder 5yr CDs exclusively, but that stopped a couple years ago when both shorter-term rates were higher, and more importantly, my guess of when I might need a large percentage of my funds for something else seemed to get closer, so I changed to shorter-term ones. But for those with time and no other purpose for their funds, I still think it's a good idea to consider longer-term CDs if the rate is decent, especially if the curve continues to become more normal; it worked very well for me for many years.
Things always change of course, but it seems like the places that had the best deals earlier now have the worst rates. They must be flush with deposits. I'm honestly surprised at how large the rate difference is now between a lot of CUs that used to be farily close to each other with their rates.
Not needing any new CDs for a while now, I may not be on here as much, but I'm not leaving. Though the DA of today is not what it once was, it still has a lot to offer (even just from other members posting on deals). I do miss a lot of old-time DAers like Kaight, SouthernGirl, and so many others though, and hope they're doing well. Hey, gone-quiet long-timers... if you've gone lurking-only, come out just for a minute to say hi!
When you think about it, it's amazing that DA's been useful for well over a decade. Places like CD Valet helped(?) for a short while, but I now find CDV to be completley useless. Investopedia lists the major deals but while it says it's updated daily, it's really only updated monthly. NerdWallet's CD list is also pretty useless to me. However, Kent Jamison's Deposit Quest (google it) is good; it's not as complete or accurate as Ken used to be, but he tries hard, it offers a lot of info, and sometimes has some nice finds. When I was researching CDs this cycle, there were a few times where the only place a particular deal was mentioned was on DQ, at least that I noticed; it's worth checking out. (Personally I have DQ to thank for reminding me of a deal that I first saw mentioned by a fellow DAer in the DA Deals area -- but DA never put it in the rate tables, and by the time my CD was maturing and I needed a new CD I had forgotten about it. With perfect timing, it was mentioned again on DQ.)
Looking back, I can't believe the amount of CD income last year compared to years past. I'm not wealthy by any means, but last year my CD income was near my work income (my work amount changes year to year). I won't be buying any yachts or Ferraris, but I probably could have not worked at all and still been okay -- which makes me realize how those who are even slightly wealthy can decide not to work at all and still get by okay if they're not greedy with their lifestyle, letting their money work for them. Granted, this was a period when savings rates were unusually profitable; rates in the coming years most likely won't be as good, and I'm not anywhere near wealthy enough to where I could ever count on it, as I'll most likely need those funds for other things in the coming years... but it was still interesting to see.
Hope all of you who had CDs maturing recently did okay this time around too!
