Short-Term Savings Account

Added June 12, 2008 by Ilyce R. Glink

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Summary: Unfortunately, there aren't great interest rates for saving short-term cash right now. Shopping around might reveal the best rates among Internet banks. Some mutual fund companies have accounts that will pay decent rates without fees also.

Q: Thank you for all you do. I just have a quick question about a short term investment.

I'm saving for a down-payment on a new house and my goal is to save $24,000 within the next 2 years. Where is the best place to keep that money? Traditional savings accounts are paying around 1 percent in interest. Because I am contributing twice monthly, it doesn't make sense to put in my account at the investment company. It'll cost me $300 in trading fees over 2 years.

So I'm kind of at a loss as to where to keep short term cash. Do you have any ideas?

A: Unfortunately, there is no great place for short-term cash at the moment. If you shop around, you can find some Internet banks that are offering savings rates of 2 to 4 percent in money market accounts. To start your search for these, check out BankRate.com. But be sure to read the fine print. Some of these Internet banks require minimums to get their advertised rates, and there may be other sticking points as well.

Some mutual fund companies have accounts that you can set up and can deposit those funds into the account without paying brokerage fees or trading fees.

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