Good options to safely "invest" 10-15k for about a year?

[SunnyD]

I came into a bit of money last month, and finally the last of it has cleared my bank. Since we've decided not to buy a house at the moment, I'm trying to determine a good way to save a portion of it and maybe make a little bit of money off interest or what have you.

Currently, my interest-bearing checking account is rather pathetic to that cause, at 0.78%. I was thinking CD's, money market, something. Thing is, I don't really want to put it into a long term investment as I'm weighing options of possibly moving to a different state, which may need to have more liquid assets in case I find a house or something.

Any good options around these days? Obviously I'd like to maximize gains, but keep things as fluid as possible.

Thanks!

 

[Stunt]

High interest savings account is the most fluid, you are never going to maximize gains "safely".

 

[vi edit]

CD at local bank
vanguard prime money market
HBSC online bank
imigrant direct online bank

 

[cHeeZeFacTory]

probably a CD >5%

 

[Ayah]

High interest savings account ftw.

 

[SoulAssassin]

eloan 5.5%...wtdirect 5.26....emigrant 5.05.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

World Savings

They are a brick & mortar bank in California with great short term CD rates.

 

[DaveSimmons]

High-interest savings is the right answer if you don't know the exact term you want.

You could do slightly better getting a CD for a year then moving it to savings for any additional time but that is more work.

I can't recommend anything offering a higher APY, not even my beloved VFINX, because the low-risk investments only (virtually) guarantee their yield if you can hold them for several years and can wait out short-term drops in value.

 

[Svnla]

If you want savings, you can get around at least 5% and more at Presidental, HSBC, Emigrant, CitiDirect. with $500 minimum

If you want CD, I got a CD account with World Savings for about 5.5% for 6 months but with $10K minimum.

 

[thomsbrain]

CD or money market/online savings.

 

[PAB]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
I came into a bit of money last month, and finally the last of it has cleared my bank. Since we've decided not to buy a house at the moment, I'm trying to determine a good way to save a portion of it and maybe make a little bit of money off interest or what have you.

Currently, my interest-bearing checking account is rather pathetic to that cause, at 0.78%. I was thinking CD's, money market, something. Thing is, I don't really want to put it into a long term investment as I'm weighing options of possibly moving to a different state, which may need to have more liquid assets in case I find a house or something.

Any good options around these days? Obviously I'd like to maximize gains, but keep things as fluid as possible.

Thanks!

I was in the same boat recently, my broker at Raymond James put me in some growth mutual funds.

I'm up about 5% over the past month. I'm pleased. You can do a hell of a lot better than less than 1%. Even a credit union will give you 5% a year in high yield checking.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I was in the same boat recently, my broker at Raymond James put me in some growth mutual funds. I'm up about 5% over the past month. I'm pleased.

VFINX is up over 11% this year but if you'd bought in July '05 and needed to cash out in June '06 it would be only around 0% APY because of a short term dip.

That's the drawback to stock based mutual funds: they're a great long term investment, but not great if you can't pick the right time to cash them out.

 

[kranky]

What vi_edit said.

 

[PAB]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

I was in the same boat recently, my broker at Raymond James put me in some growth mutual funds. I'm up about 5% over the past month. I'm pleased.

VFINX is up over 11% this year but if you'd bought in July '05 and needed to cash out in June '06 it would be only around 0% APY because of a short term dip.

That's the drawback to stock based mutual funds: they're a great long term investment, but not great if you can't pick the right time to cash them out.

I bought in November first. My best fund is up 10%, my worst fund is 2.5. I'm alright.

 

[CptObvious]

I'd go with online savings. The difference between that and a CD probably won't be much for the money you have. Maybe $55 of interest earned a month for online savings (at the current ~5% rate) vs. maybe $5/month more for a CD.

 

[her209]

Loan shark it.

 

[lokiju]

Me?

 

[FelixDeCat]

$10.5 in a 7 month "bonus" cd @ 5.25 paid monthly

Rest ($4.5) in checking account for quick access.

Enjoy.

 

[chambersc]

Originally posted by: Stunt
High interest savings account is the most fluid, you are never going to maximize gains "safely".

...is what I always recommend to safely invest.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
$10.5 in a 7 month "bonus" cd @ 5.25 paid monthly

Rest ($4.5) in checking account for quick access.

Enjoy.

Hmm... Checking account isn't an issue. I'm trying to tuck away 15k out of about 35k to simply not be usable for ~6-12mos. But still, just in case, I want to have it somewhat liquid.

 

[AStar617]

http://www.ingdirect.com/