For many years, ETrade and TD Ameritrade have given customers $2,500 for bringing over $1,000,000 in cash or securities into a new or existing account (these bonuses are ordinarily limited to one per year).

Ally Invest today sent an email to their savings and CD customers, matching the ETrade and TD Ameritrade offer, and offering an additional $1000 (for a total of $3,500) for those new accountholders bringing a total of $2 million or over. The Ally Invest offer expires on July 31, 2018 and you must have completed moving your assets into the Ally Invest account within the following 60 days in order to receive the full credit.

Ally Invest is also offering smaller cash and trading bonuses for lesser deposits. The full details are below.

Cash bonuses from online brokerages, of course, are reported on 1099-MISC forms and subject to taxes at your ordinary income tax rate. TD Ameritrade and Fidelity once gave bonuses in the form of Apple gifts cards (also reported on a 1099-MISC) or your choice of American, United or Delta miles. The frequent flier miles are not reported as taxable and therefore considered more attractive by many.

See how BestCashCow values frequent flier miles from the major programs here.

Brokerage bonuses of this nature usually contain a provision requiring that you not remove the assets from the broker for a year. Nevertheless, a prudent self-directed investor who views online trading platforms as largely all providing the same level of service can easily receive one of these bonuses every year by rotating their account between ETrade, TD Ameritrade, Ally Invest and perhaps others. Even though these bonuses are fully taxable, they represent a nice windfall when you make a practice switching brokers in order receive one every year.

See our comparison of online brokers here.

Following the Fed’s raising of the Fed funds rate in March, we have seen savings and CD rates begin to tick higher as we move towards the Fed’s second meeting with Jay Powell as Fed Chairman.

Powell’s testimony following his first meeting in March continues to indicate that the Fed will be raised by 25 basis points at least 2 more times before the end of 2018 and as many as 7 more times between now and the end of 2019. That continues to cause us to be very reluctant to recommend CDs. However, our president has opted to engage China in a trade war, and against an increasingly uncertain economic environment that creates, small CD exposure can provide some protection within your investment portfolio.

Here are 5 products that have caught our attention as we begin April.

1. Popular Direct – 2.00% Savings rate

Popular Direct is a subsidiary of Banco Popular North America, a bank that continues to be the subject of acquisition rumors. The online bank’s website was recently revamped, and it now has raised their savings rate all the way to 2.00% for new depositors. We generally encourage depositors to be careful to stay below FDIC insurance limits with FDIC limits and we would recommend extraordinary caution here.

2. Purepoint – 1.75% Savings rate

Purepoint is a relatively new name in the space and we have written about the bank before. There is plenty of things not to like about Purepoint (such as odd customer service hours and offering better rates in some areas than others), but the customer reviews on BestCashCow are generally very good. The recent move in their savings rate to 1.75% shows some commitment to continue to be aggressive.

3. Marcus – 2.10% 1-Year CD rate

Marcus is the new name for Goldman Sachs’s online bank. With generally outstanding service, we think that this is a good place to stash cash, and it is the only one of the major online banks where I would consider going over FDIC limits. Their 2.10% 1-Year CD rate is among the best 1-year CD rates. We see very little risk in locking in for such a short period.

Editor’s Note: Marcus is an advertiser of BestCashCow. Please read our Advertiser Disclosure here.

4. Live Oak Bank – 2.40% 18-Month CD rate

Live Oak Bank’s 18-month CD is attractive as it offers a premium over one-year CD rates, yet the early withdrawal fee is only 90 days’ interest which will allow you to withdraw your month early with a payment of only 0.60% of your principal if rates were to move dramatically higher.

5. Live Oak – 2.70% 5-Year CD rate

We certainly are not recommending a 5-year CD at this point in the cycle, but if you were to want to protect yourself from the possibility of a reversal in Fed policy, this would be the one to look at. Live Oak’s early withdrawal penalty for their 5-year CD is only 180 days’ interest. In other words, if rates move up, you can withdraw your money early with the payment of 1.35% of your principal (many other online banks have penalties for early withdrawal of 5-year CDs of at least one year’s interest).

While the above rates are all available online, you may find better rates from brick-and-mortar banks and credit unions. BestCashCow enables you to check the best savings rates for local banks and credit unions where you live. CD rates for local banks and CD rates for credit unions can also be checked here.

The Federal Reserve raised the Fed Funds rate by 25 bps to a target of 1.50% to 1.75% this afternoon.

The move marks the sixth such move since the Fed began moving the Fed Funds rate from zero in December 2015, and was unanimous. While the Fed did not raise its outlook for 2018 (the median forecast remains at a total of 3 hikes), it raised its Fed funds rate forecast to 2.75% at the end of 2019 and 3.40% at the end of 2020 (the long-run forecast was also raised to 2.90% from 2.75%).

The Fed’s decision to raise to a 3.40% Fed funds forecast basically assumes an additional 2 more 25 basis point hikes over the next three years than it had guided to previously. Interestingly, it is making these forecasts at a time when it also does not see inflation rising much above 2% between now and the end of 2020, and sees the unemployment rate falling from its current 4.1% level all the way to 3.6% in 2019.

Unforeseen economic events can often cause the Fed to quickly change policy. In this case, however, the Fed is guiding towards a faster pace of action against both the assumption of a very stable inflationary environment and the increasing likelihood of economic disruption caused by an unhinged President Trump.

We would, therefore, continue to be very, very cautious about locking into CDs longer than 1-year right now.