It's getting harder and harder to find a savings account rate above 1% APY, but we've found them. This week, I'm going to spotlight Liberty Bank & Trust, a 22 branch bank headquartered in New Orleans. Liberty is offering a 1.31% APY savings account with a $50 minimum balance. That's pretty good considering the highest online rate is 0.95% APY and the average savings rate across the country is 0.20% APY.

Liberty Bank & Trust has a strange branch network, with a cluster of branches in the New Orleans area, a branch in Kansas City, MO, and one in Detroit, MI. View Liberty Bank & Trust's branch locations. This geographic spread is the result of several bank acquisitions, including the purchase of Home Federal Savings in Detroit, Michigan. Liberty has put together a nice video that highlights the bank and its history. The section on surviving and gowing after Hurricane Katrina was especially interesting - 6 of their branches flooded and the rest were looted.

The bank's financials look pretty sound. After spiking to 24% in 2009, the bank's Texas Ratio has dropped to 12.2%. The national average Texas Ratio is 20.28% and the lower the ratio the better (read more about the Texas Ratio). Liberty has just about doubled its assets from $290 million in 2006 to $571 million in 2011.

If you don't live near a Liberty Bank & Trust branch, BestCashCow can help you find a great savings rate in your area.

• Find other great savings rates in your local area by clicking on the "Savings" tab above.

New - Email Rate Updates for BestCashCow Readers

Users can now register to receive the best bank rates via email every Monday. You can choose to either receive the best rates for banks across the country, or you can receive the best rates for your state. You can cancel delivery at any time and also login to change which product rates you receive for which state. This email service is free. You can register for the service here.

I hope to eventually also have the weekly rate updates go out via this email service.

Previous Weekly Rate Deals

• January 30, 2012 - WYMAR Federal Credit Union Offering 2.27% APY 24-Month CD
• January 23- 2012 - Frederica Credit Union Offering 1.65% APY 12-Month CD - Open to All
• January 17, 2012 - Western Heritage Bank Offering 2-Year CD Paying 1.75% APY
• January 9, 2012 - Navy Federal Credit Union Offering 3.00% APY 20-Month IRA CD
• January 5, 2012 - Consumers Credit Union Offers 4.09% APY Rewards Checking Account - Nationally Available
• December 29, 2011 - Aflac Federal Credit Union Offering 2.41% APY Savings Account
• December 19, 2011 - CIT Bank and Its 1.15% APY 12-Month Achiever CD
• December 12, 2011 - Citizens State Bank of TX Offering 2.85% IRA CD
• December 5, 2011 - Digital Federal Credit Union Offering 2.86% APY CD - Nationally Available

Check back next Monday for a new bank deal. Email any deals you know about to ratedeal (at) bestcashcow.com. Feel free to also share them below. If you're a bank and have a great deal not listed on BestCashCow, register for access and add the deal to the site.

New- Remember, to receive FREE weekly emails updates with the best bank rates for your state, click here to register.

• Find the best savings account rates
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There must be something in the water in Illinois that's making the state's bankers a bit more generous than the rest of the country. Illinois has some of the top money market account rates. That's especially true of the Davenport area, where Reynolds State Bank and Buffalo Prairie State Bank are offering the two highest money market rates in the country. The national average money market rate is 0.23%. Illinois has many rates far above this level. In fact, Illinois has several banks with money market rates above 1.50% APY.

• Reynolds State Bank leads the charge with a 1.61% APY money market account with a $2,500 minimum balance. This is the best money market rate in the country. The bank was founded in 1888 and is headquartered in Reynolds, IL, which is located just outside Davenport, near the Iowa border. The bank has a very low Texas Ratio of 2.10% versus the national average of 20.28%. A low Texas ratio is one indicator that a bank is financially stable (the lower the Texas ratio the better). Assets have grown from $59 million in 2006 to $98 million in 2011.
• Buffalo Prairie State Bank isn't far behind with a 1.51% APY money market account. This is the second best money market rate in the country. The minimum balance for this account is $2,501. Buffalo Prairie was founded in 1920 and has one branch located in Bufallo Prairie, IL, right outside Davenport, near the Iowa border (anyone seeing a pattern here?). This bank also looks strong financially with a Texas Ratio of 1.92%. Assets have grown from $40 million in 2006 to $57 million in 2011.
• The City National Bank Of Metropolis is offering a money market account that pays 1.26% APY with a $2,500 minimum balance. Founded in 1908, the bank has two branches at the souternmost part of the state near the Kentucky border. The bank's health ratios look strong with a Texas Ratio of 7.24%. Assets have grown from $189 million in 2006 to $338 million in 2011.
• First National Bank In Taylorville is tied with the Washington Federal Bank For Savings. Both banks offer a 1.01% APY money market account. First National has a minimum balance of $2,500 while Washington Federal has a $1,000 minimum balance. First National is located near Springfield while Washington Federal has two branches near Chicago.

Don't Live Near These Banks?

Another option is to consider opening a savings/money market account online. Online savings and money market accounts offer attractive rates, low minimum balances, and the convenience of banking from home. Some featured accounts are:

As interest rates on bank products have continued to fall, it has become increasingly tempting for investors to cut the cash portion of their portfolio. But an article from Morningstar provides a reason why such a move would be a mistake. The article, entitled A Market Lacking Diversification, explains how nine of eleven asset indexes analyzed by the author Abraham Bailin have become increasingly correlated from 2002 to today. The two outliers that didn't show increasing correlation were weighted heavily with Treasury bonds.

What does this mean?

For an investor, it means that diversifying a portfolio has gotten harder than ever. Diversifying means allocating money so that if one asset falls, the other goes up - or at least doesn't fall. The idea is not to have all of your eggs in one basket. Correlation measures how closely different assets move in relation to one another. So, if the S&P 500 drops, a closely correlated index would also drop by a similar amount. To diversity a portfolio, you want correlations that are as low as possible or negative. Otherwise, when one market goes down, all of your other investments will also drop with it.

Note: A correlation number of 1 means that something perfectly mimicks the indicator it is being compared to. The closer to 1, the stronger the correlation.

Putting money into Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) or commodities used to be one way to diversity. Today, REITS have a .91 correlation to the S&P 500 while commodities have a .46 correlation, up from 0 ten years ago.

Why is Correlation Increasing?

Mr. Bailin hypothesizes that correlations have increased because of the growing importance of the risk on/risk off sentiment. Since the crash in 2008, investors view the market through a risk prism. When risk is perceived as low, they buy up assets that are considered more speculative. When risk is high, money flows out of these assets and into less speculative investments. Less speculative investments, like Treasuries happen to have a negative correlation to more risk based assets in the other indexes.

He also believes that correlation is increasing because more markets and indexes are being made in different asset classes. Ten years ago, trading in commodities was tiny. As more investors have piled in, the commodity index has come to reflect the sentiments of the general market.

The Growing Importance of Cash

Because cash is FDIC insured, it is the least risky of all asset classes. It also has a correlation of 0 to all other assets. Its value does not move in relation to any investment index. Therefore, if the rest of an investor's portfolio is getting increasingly correlated, it makes sense to hold cash, or to even increase the amount of money deposited into the bank. This is a phenomon we notice on BestCashCow. When there is a particularly bad day in the market, we see spikes in traffic as more investors look to protect their cash in insured banks and credit unions. As correlation has increased, it becomes even more important to place money in non-correlated holdings. An investor could put cash into Treasuries as another way to diversity their portfolio, but there is great risk in this. With interest rates so low, rates will eventually go up. When they go, Treasuries will lose value (Treasury prices move inversely to yield). It can be argued that at that point, Treasuries and the stock market will become more tightly correlated since rising rates will hurt Treasury prices as well as stock prices.

The Impact of Correlation on Your Interest Rate

Many investors already intuitively know this. Banks now hold record amounts of cash in the form of savings, CDs, and checking account. Even with the low rates, investors are parking a significant amount of money in cash. The irony is that the flight to safety has helped to bring down savings rates and CD rates. Many investors though, view banks as a safe place to park the safer portion of their portfolio until the world economy stabilizes. Any return is a bonus.