Finance - HL 291 (1)

Helpful miscellaneous articles regarding our retirement plan and planning.  Like you, I review my retirement nestegg and plan from time to time.  Recently, I went though some continued education for some credentials I maintain and it occurred to me that we all could use a review about these issues.  So with your help, we will share and post articles and info that may be helpful and of interest to many of you in this section.

Now that interest rates are on the rise, you may be interested in giving a look at a CD Ladder for at least a portion of your nestegg.  Very stable and safe strategy for retirees:

Will a CD ladder really earn you money?

Claes Bell, CFA

July 7, 2017  in  CDs

Photo illustration by Bankrate. Photo by Johnnie Davis/Moment/Getty Images

CD laddering may seem like a financial move from a bygone era, but it can still be a smart tactic for savers. And despite four recent Federal Reserve interest rate hikes, low CD rates over the past several years have left investors seeking other, more liquid savings accounts.

Laddering can still help savers

Just because rates are low doesn’t mean you should dump your CD ladder and wait for deposit rates to rise further, says Cary Guffey, certified financial planner and CFP Board ambassador.

“I’ve been having this conversation with my clients for the past five years. Everybody says eventually they have to go up, and they’re right. Eventually they will, but no one knows when and no one knows by how much,” Guffey says.

Guffey often hears this worry from clients: “I don’t want to tie up my money in case rates move up.”

“The problem with that thinking is you have that opportunity cost,” he says.

Staying short to wait for higher rates can cost you

Using real-world Bankrate data on average CD rates, let’s discover what you would have earned with three different risk-free investing strategies during the time when interest rates were at their lower level, beginning with the recession and going out five years.

1.        Scenario one: You took one look at CD rates in October 2009 and put $10,000 in a money market account

Result: Over that period of time, money markets averaged a 0.15 percent yield. So, by October 2014, you would have made $77 in interest income.

2.        Scenario two: You wanted to stay liquid in case rates rose, so you invested $10,000 in one-year CDs and rolled them over every year.

Result: $241.14 in interest income.

3.        Scenario three: You started a five-year, $10,000 CD ladder, reinvesting at the new averages as those CDs came due.

Result: $729 in interest income.

4.        As you can see, no one’s getting rich here, but $729 is a lot more than $77, especially when all the investments in question have the same Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage.

How laddering works

So how do CD ladders benefit savers?

“The way CDs work typically is you’re paid more for the length of time that you’re tying the money up,” Guffey says.

Once it gets established, CD laddering lets you earn the higher yields offered on those longer-term CDs while still having cash in hand as the older “rungs” of the ladder mature.

“Assuming the theory holds that the longer you’re tying up your money in that timed deposit, the more you’re compensated for that, you should make more by having that ladder than if you just did a one-year CD,” Guffey says.

You can create a ladder as long or as short as you like. For instance, you could shorten it by buying a six-month CD as the “bottom rung” and finish it out with a one-year CD, 18-month CD, 24-month CD and 30-month CD. These may seem like odd maturities, but they are available. Test out how much you stand to earn by using a CD ladder calculator.

A hedge against unpredictable rates

While no one wants to be “long and wrong” — stuck with low yields on long-term investments as you helplessly watch interest rates rise — you’re clearly giving something up by staying out of longer-term maturities altogether.

Laddering lies somewhere between those two extremes of very liquid (putting everything in a low-paying money market account or a short-term CD) and not at all liquid (investing in a long-term CD) because you’re regularly getting cash you could reinvest at higher rates as interest rates climb, Guffey says.

“Certainly, making more money on your money and building in liquidity features is a good idea,” Guffey says.

If you decide to ladder, adjusting the length can help manage interest rate risk. A short ladder could be construed as more “conservative” because the shorter maturities you’re buying mean you’re bearing less risk that interest rates will increase and leave your low-rate CDs behind.

On the other hand, longer ladders may be considered more aggressive because longer maturities mean you carry a greater risk of falling behind as interest rates rise.

Related Links:

·         Best 3-year CD rates

·         Best 1-year CD rates

·         Which type of CD (certificate of deposit) account is best for you?

Related Articles:

·         CD laddering strategies

·         CD rates for Aug. 16, 2017

·         Smart CD strategies

Claes Bell, CFA

Claes Bell, CFA, is the data and automation editor for Bankrate.com. In 2014, he earned the right to use a Chartered Financial Analyst designation from the CFA Institute.

 (As with any of these informative articles, anyone who needs someone to talk to about

this very subject contact me and I can direct you to a knowledgeable advisor).

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