New blog article: How to Create a CD Ladder

[Elizabeth_FICO]

Hello everyone! If there's a new blog article that I think you guys might like I plan on posting it in the Forums.

This week's article is: How to Create a CD Ladder

Let me know what you think about the article.

For more content don't forget to check out our blog.

[Anonymalous]

A few comments:

• A visual representation of how the terms overlap would be a better way to explain the concept than a stock image of feet on a ladder.
• I don't think an emergency fund that takes 2 years to access qualifies as an emergency fund. The article doesn't do a good job covering the trade offs between access and withdrawal penalties.
• Under alternatives, I'm surprised there's no mention of treasuries.
• The description of the inverted yield curve is too brief. It would be better not to use the term, if you're not going to explain its importance or how it got its name.
• FDIC insurance is mentioned, but not the credit union counterpart (NCUA).

[ptatohed]

The article should at least mention the typical early withdrawal fees.  Sallie Mae, as an example, is 3 month's interest on CD terms of up to 12 months, and 6 month's interest for CD terms of 12+ months.  Yes, you should never plan on early withdrawal but, if you have to, it's not that-that bad.  Ex. you early withdraw your money at 6 months on a 12 month CD.  You pay 3 month's interest as a penalty.  Yeah, you chopped your 6-month APY earnings in half but you're still safely in the black.