I know this has been asked before but I don’t see anything really recent.
Years ago, I moved from brick and mortar to online savings when ING, Emigrant, FNBO were the leader in rates (I am sure that ages me:) and over time just went back primarily to my credit union. Recently with rates rising, I opened a Ally bank money market and still use my credit union for a small amount. I really don’t want to chase rates so, for those who consistently use a savings/ MM online over a long time, do you just watch Bankrate and move your cash constantly or have you have been with a bank that is somewhat consistent overtime on decent rates and so you don’t feel the need to “chase” rates.
I have been happy lately with my core in Fidelity Brokerage account SPAXX or Vanguard VMRXX earing 4.75 to 5%. The old ING Orange seems to be under 4% so I still have my account open but not much in there.
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I have been with Ally for a number of years. When Money Market Funds yields started to exceed the yields of online savings accounts, I moved almost all of my cash to Vanguard. Slight difference from c200ns, I am using VUSXX Vanguard Treasury Money Market fund rather than the VMRXX Vanguard Federal Money market fund. I plan to move cash back to Ally if/when online savings accounts yields are higher than MM yields.
I also did some short term Treasury Bills.
I have 4 savings-type options, and I just adopt a “highest number wins” mindset:
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Capital One 360 Performance Savings.
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Marcus.com Online Savings
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Schwab Value Advantage Money Fund (SWVXX)
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Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund (VMFXX). This is actually Vanguard’s cash settlement fund, auto-swept into VMFXX.
Right now, Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund (VMFXX) has the highest yield (5.04%), so that’s where I currently park my “savings account” money.
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I transfer any idle cash to Vanguard’s money market VMFXX. I ladder T-bills at Treasury Direct periodically too ( you can buy $100 increments of bills, notes, bonds at Treasury Direct versus the usual $1000 increments that brokerages require). Likewise, Fidelity has some fractional CDs where you buy in $100 increments.
I have Schwab Value Advantage Money Market Fund
(SWVXX) which is paying 4.9% right now. They also have CD ladders starting at 5.4% for 3 month CDs and going down the longer term. Everything is inverted right now.
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I will check into the Vanguard MM as well. Thanks!
I’ve had a Vanguard VMRXX MMA for a long time. For many years it didn’t earn a penny of interest so I kept very little money in it. I recently moved a decent amount of cash into it to take advantage of the 4.9%+ 7 day SEC rate. However, I am monitoring it weekly. When rates drop, I will move that money to an online high yield savings. This sentiment was confirmed when I recently spoke to a personal advisor at Vanguard.
I have MMAs, credit union accounts, and online accounts. I used to chase rates but it’s really too much trouble for me these days. The MMA is a great place to stash cash right now but eventually the rates will fall lower than some savings accounts. For years, I made zero interest on VMRXX so invested elsewhere. I have checked Bankrate many times but they don’t seem to have all of the high interest rate offers that I find by looking at my current bank’s websites. For me, at least, it’s not that useful. I have a small handful of banks/ credit unions that I stick with to make things simpler. Ally seems good, but I think you should also check into Marcus by Goldman Sachs and Pen Fed credit union, and perhaps CIT as these seem to have consistently high rates. [I dropped ING and FNBO years ago.] In addition to savings or MMA accounts for an “emergency money” parking place, for non-emergency monies I think dollar cost averaging into some index funds could be your best bet over time. Also, someone mentioned broker placed CDs. I have looked into Vanguard’s CDs a little. What I noticed was that these CDs pay only simple interest, not compounded daily interest, and that many are callable. Clark did a recent segment on this. Good luck.
Thank you Jane, lots of great points!
I just opened a Robinhood Gold account to trade options with no per-contract fees, and they currently offer 4.65% on uninvested cash. Currently, I keep my cash at Lending Club (online savings account) earning 4.25%. I also have a Citi online savings that earns 4.05% and Discover at 3.90%.
At Fidelity and Schwab I roll US Treasury Bills. I also have Ally Money Market Savings. I have I-Bonds. I stick with those.