If you’ve been wondering whether your savings account is still the best place to keep your cash, you’re not alone.
The answer could mean earning hundreds of dollars more in interest each year, depending on how much you’ve saved
Back when CD rates topped 5% in 2024, personal finance expert Suze Orman urged savers to consider moving some of their money into a certificate of deposit (CD), a type of savings account that lets you lock in a fixed interest rate for a set period in exchange for agreeing not to withdraw the money until the term ends. At the time, those unusually high rates made CDs an attractive option. Today, interest rates have come down, raising an important question: Does Orman’s advice still make sense today?
How Orman’s CD Advice Holds Up Now In a January 2024 post on SuzeOrman.com, Orman explained why she believed CDs were the smartest place for some cash savings while rates remained elevated. “The smartest money move you can make right now is to lock up today’s great rates, by putting some of your ‘cash’ savings in certificates that have a one-year to two-year maturity,” she wrote. When Orman shared that advice, CDs paid more than 5% annual percentage yield (APY), which is the total amount of interest you can earn on your money in one year, were widely available. While those eye-catching returns have largely disappeared, the broader principle behind her advice remains relevant: Make sure your cash is earning a competitive return instead of sitting in a low-paying account.