Budgeting & Saving
How to manage income, build savings, create budgets, and develop systems for financial stability. Covers emergency funds, savings accounts, high-yield options, and money management tools.
Latest in Budgeting & Saving
A no-penalty CD lets a saver lock a rate yet pull the cash if rates climb
A certificate of deposit locks a saver’s money in exchange for a fixed rate, and leaving early on a standard CD costs a penalty measured...
A Fed official’s talk of a rate hike is keeping top CD yields near 4%
Savers shopping for a certificate of deposit this week are still finding offers close to 4 percent, even as the broader trend in deposit rates...
Inflation-adjusted I bonds shield savings from rising prices, with a one-year lockup
A Series I savings bond pays interest in two parts, and the design is what makes it a hedge against inflation rather than a bet...
Money-market funds are paying near 4%, often beating a big bank’s savings account
Cash sitting in a large bank’s ordinary savings account has been earning almost nothing, often a fraction of a percent, while short-term interest rates have...
U.S. savings bonds stop earning interest after 30 years, so cash the old ones
A U.S. savings bond stops earning interest exactly 30 years after it was issued, which means an old bond tucked in a drawer or a...
A no-penalty CD lets you lock a rate near 4% and still pull the money if you need it
A no-penalty certificate of deposit offers a rare combination for cautious savers: the ability to lock in a fixed interest rate while keeping the option...
High-yield savings accounts still pay near 4% while big banks pay almost nothing
Two savers can hold identical balances in identical products and earn wildly different amounts, and the only thing separating them is which bank holds the...
Money-market funds can pay retirees more than a big-bank savings account while staying liquid
The cash a retiree keeps for emergencies and monthly bills does not have to sit in an account earning almost nothing. A government money-market fund,...
I bonds pay a rate that rises with inflation and defer federal tax until you cash out
Series I savings bonds occupy an unusual corner of the savings world: they are backed by the U.S. Treasury, adjust with inflation twice a year,...
ABLE accounts let a disabled beneficiary save without losing Medicaid or SSI
For people with disabilities, saving money has long carried a cruel penalty: accumulate more than $2,000 and the assets can disrupt Supplemental Security Income and...
Treasury bills can pay retirees more than a big-bank savings account, no state tax
A short-term Treasury bill has recently paid interest in the neighborhood of what a certificate of deposit offers, while the typical savings account at a...
Idle savings are earning less as Federal Reserve rate cuts drag yields down, and locking a CD near 4.5% guards a retiree’s interest income
One number quietly decides how hard a retiree’s cash works, and lately it has been pointing down. After the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate...
Idle cash in a money-market fund earns far more than big-bank checking
Cash left sitting in a checking or savings account at a large national bank often earns almost nothing, while short-term interest rates elsewhere sit far...
A top CD still pays about 4.1% after the Fed held rates steady
One current certificate of deposit offer shows that a yield above 4% remains available even after the Federal Reserve held its policy rate steady in...
Top CD rates still pay about 4% while the Fed holds at 3.50% to 3.75%.
The most reliable savings rates in the country still cluster around 4%, with the best certificates of deposit paying roughly that even after the Federal...
New York returned a record $163 million in forgotten money to residents this year, and a free state search shows if any of it is yours
New York State sent back a record $163 million in forgotten funds to residents this year, driven largely by a fast-track program that mails checks...
A Series EE savings bond doubles in value if you hold it 20 years
Savers who buy a Series EE bond from the U.S. Treasury today receive a fixed interest rate that, on its own, may look modest compared...
Certificates of deposit still pay around 4%, but cashing out early forfeits months of interest
Savers who locked money into one-year certificates of deposit are still earning annual percentage yields near 4 percent, well above the sub-1 percent returns common...
Series I savings bonds are inflation-linked, tax-deferred, and free of state tax
Savers holding Series I bonds locked in a 4.26% composite rate as of May 1, 2026, a return that reflects the bond’s direct tie to...
$73 billion in forgotten money sits in state treasuries, and a free national search turns up any filed under your name
Billions of dollars in old paychecks, dormant bank accounts, and forgotten insurance payouts sit in state treasuries across the country, waiting for the people who...