I cashed in my certificates of deposit yesterday. My bank failed, was taken over by another bank and reset my c.d. rates from 4% and 2.75% to 1%
I was able to get almost 2% at another bank, so I was able to redeemed the c.d.'s without any penalty.
That has cut my interest income in half. I was hoping that someday I could live on the interest, but not with these rates.
My electric bil came and was much lower than my budget , so I am adding what was left in that envelope to the challenge money.
Prev. total $3096.00
today 100.00
new total $3196.00
Cashed in my c.d.'s
February 24th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
February 24th, 2010 at 11:19 pm 1267053581
February 25th, 2010 at 01:58 pm 1267106291
For instance, the most recent data available shows that inflation in January 2010 was 2.6%. So you're actually losing money in that CD.
If you could invest a portion of your assets in a stock mutual fund, you might do a little better. For instance, my T. Rowe Price Equity Index 500 fund, which mirrors the S&P 500, returned 32.92% in the last 12 months ending January 31, 2010.
February 25th, 2010 at 03:29 pm 1267111766
February 26th, 2010 at 11:01 pm 1267225315
I've seen a few cases when the bank that takes over the failed bank's deposits is slow to notify customers of the rate change, and unfortunately, the FDIC allows the assuming bank to change the rate on the day after the bank failure.