Good way to invest 30k for 1 year??

[timmis1127]

Hello all,

I have about 30k saved up for my wedding but its not until June 2013 so while I am waiting I was wondering if anyone knows a good way to invest that money for alittle over a year instead of sitting in a bank account?

Thank you in advance

[IOBA]

You can call your bank and ask them for a "rate exception".     They will sometimes grant a rate exception, paying you a higher interest rate, for a set amount of time.

Will you be spending 30k for your wedding?   Some CD rates for 18 months, on a balance like that, will top any rate exception you can get a bank.    And one of the great things about the CD's is they are FDIC insured and considered SAFE.   You won't loose any money, or sleep, over the market.

[PetRaccoon]

I suggest an AmEx FSB Savings account with .90% interest, so that way you can always take it out if you really have to incase of emergency.  Its a lot of money to lock in an investment. You'll make $270 or so, which with the ability to take it out at any time isn't bad and theres no risk to it.. (Before taxes of course).

[pizzadude]

Wow, first of all congrats on saving up that much $$ for your wedding !!!. Many people make the mistake of charging wedding expenses on a CC and end up getting off to a really bad start financially.

I would make a few phone calls around to various banks & CUs and ask them what they can offer you. $30K is a nice chunk o' change and I would bet that somebody out there would want your business enough to give you better than 1%.

Also, thinking ahead this might be a good time to negotiate a better deal with florists, photographers, caterers....if you pay early and in cash you are in a much better bargaining position.

Best of luck and congrats again !!! Keep us posted....

[Jazzzy]

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@pizzadude wrote:
Wow, first of all congrats on saving up that much $$ for your wedding !!!. Many people make the mistake of charging wedding expenses on a CC and end up getting off to a really bad start financially.

I would make a few phone calls around to various banks & CUs and ask them what they can offer you. $30K is a nice chunk o' change and I would bet that somebody out there would want your business enough to give you better than 1%.

Also, thinking ahead this might be a good time to negotiate a better deal with florists, photographers, caterers....if you pay early and in cash you are in a much better bargaining position.

Best of luck and congrats again !!! Keep us posted....

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Be very, very careful about paying in advance. The bridal shop where we purchased all of the bride's maids gowns, shoes, etc. for my daughter's wedding closed up in the middle of the night and loaded all of its merchandise into trucks about 7 weeks before the wedding. They then declared bankruptcy. We were lucky. We had put everything on a credit card. I disputed the charge and got every penny back. We had to do some scrambling to buy new dresses, but other bridal shops stepped up and gave great discounts.

The people who had paid cash or written a check to this shop were out all of their money. All of it. Even people who had dresses there that were done with alterations were not able to get their wedding dresses. Those dresses all went on the trucks and were gone.

I use credit cards for every purchase possible because then I have a dispute mechanism. I would caution against ever paying in cash for expenses such as this...especially in advance. Go ahead and negotiate your discounts, but pay with a credit card. Then go online the next day and pay off the charge if you want.

Good luck...and congratulations on saving upfront for the type of wedding you have chosen.

[awal]

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@LynetteM wrote:

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@pizzadude wrote:
Wow, first of all congrats on saving up that much $$ for your wedding !!!. Many people make the mistake of charging wedding expenses on a CC and end up getting off to a really bad start financially.

I would make a few phone calls around to various banks & CUs and ask them what they can offer you. $30K is a nice chunk o' change and I would bet that somebody out there would want your business enough to give you better than 1%.

Also, thinking ahead this might be a good time to negotiate a better deal with florists, photographers, caterers....if you pay early and in cash you are in a much better bargaining position.

Best of luck and congrats again !!! Keep us posted....

---

Be very, very careful about paying in advance. The bridal shop where we purchased all of the bride's maids gowns, shoes, etc. for my daughter's wedding closed up in the middle of the night and loaded all of its merchandise into trucks about 7 weeks before the wedding. They then declared bankruptcy. We were lucky. We had put everything on a credit card. I disputed the charge and got every penny back. We had to do some scrambling to buy new dresses, but other bridal shops stepped up and gave great discounts.

The people who had paid cash or written a check to this shop were out all of their money. All of it. Even people who had dresses there that were done with alterations were not able to get their wedding dresses. Those dresses all went on the trucks and were gone.

I use credit cards for every purchase possible because then I have a dispute mechanism. I would caution against ever paying in cash for expenses such as this...especially in advance. Go ahead and negotiate your discounts, but pay with a credit card. Then go online the next day and pay off the charge if you want.

Good luck...and congratulations on saving upfront for the type of wedding you have chosen.

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+1

[pizzadude]

I agree that you should be cautious when paying in cash, but many times you can leverage it to save money, being careful about who you choose to do business with. I wouldn't agree that you should never pay cash, just weigh the money you might save against the risks.......good luck !!

[stan_the_man]

On another financial site some folks recommend getting a CD for a longer term if it has a short interest penalty (i.e. 2 or 3 months).

For examply, Ally offers 1.77% for a 5 year CD, but the penalty is 2 months interest for early withdraw -- which will reduce your effective rate down to 1.475% for one year.

Other than that, there are rewards checking accounts out there that offer better rates -- but you have to jump through hoops like setting up automatics ACHs and/or direct deposits, signing up for emails statements, logging into your account regularly, and using the check card a certain number of times each month.

Nothing other than FDIC insured deposits, or short term treasuries held to maturity (which should have lower rates) would be recommended due to your very short time horizon -- you have no time to recover from any market setbacks.