Money Funds Returning Close to 0% - Consider a Savings Account

Here's a Wall Street Journal article that's stating the obvious if you read BestCashCow. Money market funds, not money market accounts, are returning close to 0%. On BestCashCow, the highest money market fund rate is W&R advisors with a 0.67% 7-day trailing average. With inflation, or deflation, the returns are a bit better (add another 1%) but still well below the return on an FDIC insured savings account, money market account, or CD.

The Journal article even suggests short-term bond funds although the article states that last year, "Vanguard Short-Term Investment Grade took a beating—returning a negative 6.9% in the six months through November."

That's not where I want to park my "safe" cash. Go with a savings account or a CD. And if you have several million dollars to invest and are worried about FDIC insurance limits and don't want to run around opening 10 different bank accounts, then consider the CDARS program. The Certificate of Deposit Account Registry allows individuals to get up to $50,000,000 in FDIC insurance from a single bank when opening a CD.