Checking & savings

Why timing your CD actually matters this year It’s September 2025, and the market’s been arguing for months about when the Fed starts cutting. Rates-sensitive accounts aren’t waiting around. In cutting cycles, CD yields usually move before or right alongside policy moves because banks reprice off market expectations, not a press conference. And that timing quirk can change your actual dollar outcome, not just the headline APY you glance at once and forget. Here’s how I’m thinking about it in plain dollars. If you can lock a 12‑month CD at 5.00% and we shift into a cutting phase where new…

The costliest mistake: parking cash where you can’t reach it Here’s the costliest mistake I’m seeing right now: people chasing yield after this year’s rate cuts and parking emergency cash in places they can’t actually reach. It looks smart on paper. Then the promo ends, the APY sinks, or there’s a lockup/transfer delay, and, bam, you’re paying overdraft, missing rent, or swiping a 20%+ APR credit card to patch the gap. I learned that lesson the ugly way in ’08 when my “safe” CD had a six‑month lock just as my furnace died. Heat or penalty? I picked heat and…