If youre a savvy investor, you most certainly have a fair bit of cash tucked away for general spending and emergencies. The stock market is a long term investment and not for cash to you need to have around. So where do you put the money you dont want in the stock market? Theres 3 main options to place your cash and get it FDIC insured for up to $250,000.

1. You can put your money in a checking account where you have fast and easy access to funds.
2. You can put your money in a savings account where you can take money out and put money in while still earning interest on your funds, or
3. You can put your money in a certificate of deposit. which typically has higher yields than savings but your money is locked into the account for the agreed upon term.

So Where Should You Put Your Money?

Well all 3 of course.

Checking

For money that you plan on spending you should keep in a checking account. Its the easiest account to get money into and out of so it makes sense to keep spending money in it. You shouldnt keep more than you need to however because you dont get a return on your investment in a checking account.

Savings versus CD

If you pay attention to CD rates you know that theyre at the lowest levels since the 80s right now. So it doesnt make much sense to lock in to a long term CD right now because theyre bound to increase when the unemployment rate drops and the Fed decides to raise interest rates. So theres 2 main strategies you should consider. The first is to convert any maturing CDs you have into savings accounts.

Most people dont expect interest rates to rise for at least 6 months if not longer, so another option would be to invest your money into 6 month CDs. The interest rates arent great but your money will be free to transfer out in 6 months and you can re-evalute what the economic climate in the US is going to be. Theres also little risk that rates will rise dramatically in that time, so you wont miss out on a great rate. Nobody knows whats going to happen for sure, but what we do know now is that deposit rates are low and you dont need to be locked into long term CDs even if the rates being offered are a little higher than short term CDs and savings accounts.