Moomoo Investing App Promo: Up to $1,000 of NVDA Cash Deposit Bonus, or 3% ACAT Transfer Bonus + 8.1% APY for 2 Months

Posted on March 12, 2026 // 77 Comments

Updated offers March 2026. Brokerage app Moomoo is offering a couple of new promotions for new customers (or existing ones that haven’t funded their accounts yet), one for cash deposits and one for ACAT transfers.

Cash deposit bonus. New customers can get $1,000 of NVDA stock + 8.1% APY for 2 months via referral link if they make a net deposit of $100,000+ by 8/31/26. The minimum hold period is 180 days for the $1,000 tier. The extra 4.75% APY is only valid for 2 months on the first $20,000 of cash sweep deposits. Full terms here. There are also lower tiers:

To be clear, this is for cash deposits, not ACAT transfers. You can invest the cash into stocks and options, but you can’t withdraw during the hold period. Earning $1,000 on $100,000 for a 180 day hold works out to 2% annualized, which is not nearly as good as in the previous version of this offer where it was a 60-day hold and thus 6% annualized.

ACAT transfer bonus.If you have existing investments of ETFs or stocks, new customers can get a 3% transfer bonus + 8.1% APY for 2 months. Maximum bonus is $600 on $20,000 transferred. The 3% bonus is paid out in quarterly installments and fully paid after a year. You must transfer “stocks, certain options, ETFs, and cash to MFI using an ACAT transfer from your existing brokerage account.” For the 8.1% APY, the extra 4.75% APY is only valid for 2 months on the first $20,000 of cash sweep deposits. Full terms here.

A 3% transfer bonus with a year minimum hold is pretty good, too bad it is only for new customers and the cap is at $20k transferred. Here the details of the 3% bonus:

A 3% match of the first transfer amount. The match amount is limited to the first $1-$20,000 transferred in. The match will be given as a “Cash Coupon” and credited in four equal quarterly installments. The first installment will be unlocked on Day 90 following the settlement date of the Qualified Transfer-In; the second on Day 180; the third on Day 270; and the fourth on Day 360. Each installment equals 25% of the Cash Coupon; the total Cash Coupon equals 3% of the Transfer Amount.

What Moomoo calls a “Cash Coupon” is not a direct cash credit to your account; it works like a coupon that rebates a future stock trade. You may have to activate it and then make a trade to claim it. In the past, I have chosen to just buy (and then sell) enough SGOV (again, a conservative T-Bill ETF) to trigger it in a simple manner if you don’t have other stock trades you plan to make. For example, you might need to buy a single $101 share of SGOV to trigger a $100 cash reward into your account. It was a bit of a hassle, but I’ve always managed to convert all my Moomoo “Cash Rewards” or “Cash Coupons” converted to actual cash.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Investing //

Best Interest Rates Survey: Bank Accounts, Treasury Bills, Money Markets, ETFs – March 2026

Posted on March 8, 2026 // 2 Comments

Here’s my monthly survey of the best interest rates on cash as of March 2026, roughly sorted from shortest to longest maturities. Banks and brokerages love taking advantage of idle cash, and you can often earn more interest while keeping the same level of safety by moving to another FDIC-insured bank or NCUA-insured credit union. Check out my *fixed!* Ultimate Rate-Chaser Calculator to see how much extra interest you could earn from switching. Rates listed are available to everyone nationwide. Rates checked as of 3/8/26.

TL;DR: Savings account interest rates dropped slightly on average overall. You can still get 4.6% if you accept certain hoops/restrictions, but most are under 4% now. Short-term T-Bill rates were flat at ~3.6%. Top 5-year CD rates are ~4% APY, while 5-year Treasury rate is ~3.7%.

High-yield savings accounts*
Since the huge megabanks still pay essentially zero interest, everyone should at least have a separate, no-fee online savings account to piggy-back onto your existing checking account. The interest rates on savings accounts can drop at any time, so I list the top rates as well as competitive rates from banks with a history of competitive rates and solid user experience. Some banks will bait you with a temporary top rate and then lower the rates in the hopes that you are too lazy to leave.

  • The top saving rate at the moment: Pibank at 4.60% APY (no min), but they have some weird restrictions; like you can only use wire/Plaid to deposit and wire transfers to withdraw funds?! CineFi (no min) dropped a bit to 4.25% APY, a division of First Entertainment Credit Union. OnPath FCU also dropped to 4.25% APY with $25,000 minimum balance. CIT Platinum Savings held at 3.75% APY with $5,000+ balance. There are many banks in between.
  • SoFi Bank is at 3.30% APY (new customers can get up to 4.00% APY for 6 months + $325 bonus with qualifying direct deposit. You must maintain a direct deposit of any amount (even $1) each month for the higher ongoing APY. SoFi has historically competitive rates and full banking features.
  • Here is a limited survey of high-yield savings accounts. They aren’t the top rates, but a group that have historically kept it relatively competitive such that I like to track their history. This month they start at 3.30% APY on up.

Short-term guaranteed rates (1 year and under)
A common question is what to do with a big pile of cash that you’re waiting to deploy shortly (plan to buy a house soon, just sold your house, just sold your business, legal settlement, inheritance). My usual advice is to keep things simple and take your time. If not a savings account, then put it in a flexible short-term CD under the FDIC limits until you have a plan.

  • No Penalty CDs offer a fixed interest rate that can never go down, but you can still take out your money (once) without any fees if you want to use it elsewhere. Marcus has a 13-month No Penalty CD at 3.95% APY ($500 minimum deposit). Farmer’s Insurance FCU has a 9-month No Penalty CD at 4.00% APY ($1,000 minimum deposit). USALLIANCE Financial CU has a 11-month No Penalty CD at 3.90% APY ($500 minimum deposit). CIT Bank has a 11-month No Penalty CD at 3.75% APY ($1,000 minimum deposit).
  • USALLIANCE Financial CU has a 12-month CD at 4.05% APY ($500 minimum deposit). Early withdrawal penalty is 180 days of interest.
  • Farmer’s Insurance FCU has a 12-month CD at 4.00% APY with new money required. $1,000 minimum to open. Early withdrawal penalty is 90 days of interest.

Money market mutual funds
Many brokerage firms that pay out very little interest on their default cash sweep funds (and keep the difference for themselves). Note: Money market mutual funds are highly-regulated, but ultimately not FDIC-insured, so I would still stick with highly reputable firms.

  • Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund (VMFXX) is the default sweep option for Vanguard brokerage accounts, which has a 7-day SEC yield of 3.59% (changes daily, but also works out to a compound yield of 3.65%, which is better for comparing against APY). Odds are this is much higher than your own broker’s default cash sweep interest rate.
  • Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) is an alternative money market fund which you must manually purchase, but the interest will be mostly (100% for 2025 tax year) exempt from state and local income taxes because it comes from qualifying US government obligations. Current 7-day SEC yield of 3.62% (compound yield of 3.68%).

Treasury Bills and Ultra-short Treasury ETFs
Another option is to buy individual Treasury bills which come in a variety of maturities from 4-weeks to 52-weeks and are fully backed by the US government. You can also invest in ETFs that hold a rotating basket of short-term Treasury Bills for you, while charging a small management fee for doing so. T-bill interest is exempt from state and local income taxes, which can make a significant difference in your effective yield.

  • You can build your own T-Bill ladder at TreasuryDirect.gov or via a brokerage account with a bond desk like Vanguard and Fidelity. Here are the current Treasury Bill rates. As of 3/6/26, a new 4-week T-Bill had the equivalent of 3.70% annualized interest and a 52-week T-Bill had the equivalent of 3.54% annualized interest.
  • The iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV) has a 3.54% 30-day SEC yield (0.09% expense ratio) and effective duration of 0.10 years. The Vanguard 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF (VBIL) has a 3.54% 30-day SEC yield (0.06% expense ratio) and effective duration of 0.10 years.

US Savings Bonds
Series I Savings Bonds offer rates that are linked to inflation and backed by the US government. You must hold them for at least a year. If you redeem them within 5 years there is a penalty of the last 3 months of interest. The annual purchase limit for electronic I bonds is $10,000 per Social Security Number, available online at TreasuryDirect.gov.

  • “I Bonds” bought between November 2025 and April 2026 will earn a 4.03% rate for the first six months. The rate of the subsequent 6-month period will be based on inflation again. More on Savings Bonds here.
  • In mid-April 2026, the CPI will be announced and you will have a short period where you will have a very close estimate of the rate for the next 12 months. I will post another update at that time.

Rewards checking accounts
These unique checking accounts pay above-average interest rates, but with unique risks. You have to jump through certain hoops which usually involve 10+ debit card purchases each cycle, a certain number of ACH/direct deposits, and/or a certain number of logins per month. If you make a mistake (or they judge that you did) you risk earning zero interest for that month. Some folks don’t mind the extra work and attention required, while others would rather not bother. Rates can also drop suddenly, leaving a “bait-and-switch” feeling.

  • La Capitol Federal Credit Union pays 6.50% APY on up to $10,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases of at least $5 each per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization, Louisiana Association for Personal Financial Achievement ($20).
  • OnPath Federal Credit Union (my review) pays 6.00% APY on up to $10,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and login to online or mobile banking once per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via $5 membership fee to join partner organization. You can also get a $150 Visa Reward card when you open a new account and make qualifying transactions.
  • Genisys Credit Union pays 6.75% APY on up to $7,500 if you make 10 debit card purchases of $5+ each per statement cycle, and opt into online statements. Anyone can join this credit union via $5 membership fee to join partner organization.
  • Oklahoma Central Credit Union pays 6.00% APY on up to $10,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases (non-ATM) per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union if they are “affiliated with another credit union”.
  • First Southern Bank pays 5.50% APY on up to $25,000 if you make at least 15 debit card purchases, 1 ACH credit or payment transaction, and enroll in online statements.
  • Credit Union of New Jersey pays 6.00% APY on up to $25,000 if you make 12 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and make at least 1 direct deposit, online bill payment, or automatic payment (ACH) per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via $5 membership fee to join partner organization.
  • Andrews Federal Credit Union pays 5.25% APY (decreased) on up to $25,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and make at least 1 direct deposit or ACH transaction per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization.
  • Capitol Credit Union pays 6.00% APY on up to $15,000 if you make 12 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and make at least 1 direct deposit or ACH transaction per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization ($5 to Wild Basin Wilderness).
  • Find a locally-restricted rewards checking account at DepositAccounts.

Certificates of deposit (greater than 1 year)
CDs offer higher rates, but come with an early withdrawal penalty. By finding a bank CD with a reasonable early withdrawal penalty, you can enjoy higher rates but maintain access in a true emergency. Alternatively, consider building a CD ladder of different maturity lengths (ex. 1/2/3/4/5-years) such that you have access to part of the ladder each year, but your blended interest rate is higher than a savings account. When one CD matures, use that money to buy another 5-year CD to keep the ladder going. Some CDs also offer “add-ons” where you can deposit more funds if rates drop.

  • United Fidelity Bank has a 5-year certificate at 4.15% APY ($1,000 minimum), 4-year at 4.10% APY, 3-year at 4.10% APY, 2-year at 4.10% APY, and 1.5-year at 4.05% APY. Early withdrawal penalties are not disclosed clearly online.
  • Advancial Federal Credit Union has has a 5-year certificates at 3.97%/4.07%/4.18% APY APY based on either a $1,000/$25,000/$50,000 opening balance. Early withdrawal penalty for the 5-year is 365 days of interest. Anyone nationwide should be able to join via membership with partner organization US Dog Agility Association, but I would call to verify first.
  • Mountain America Credit Union (MACU) has a 5-year certificate at 4.00% APY ($500 minimum), 4-year at 4.00% APY, 3-year at 4.05% APY, 2-year at 4.20% APY, and 1-year at 3.80% APY. Early withdrawal penalty for the 4-year and 5-year is 365 days of interest. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization American Consumer Council (use promo code “consumer” when joining).
  • You can buy certificates of deposit via the bond desks of Vanguard and Fidelity. You may need an account to see the rates. These “brokered CDs” offer FDIC insurance and easy laddering, but they don’t come with predictable early withdrawal penalties. Right now, I see a 5-year non-callable brokered CD at 3.90% APY (callable: no, call protection: yes). Be warned that both Vanguard and Fidelity will list higher rates from callable CDs, which importantly means they can (and will!) call back your CD if rates drop significantly later.

Longer-term Instruments
I’d use these with caution due to increased interest rate risk (tbh, I don’t use them at all), but I still track them to see the rest of the current yield curve.

  • Willing to lock up your money for 10 years? You can buy long-term certificates of deposit via the bond desks of Vanguard and Fidelity. These “brokered CDs” offer FDIC insurance, but they don’t come with predictable early withdrawal penalties. You might find something that pays more than your other brokerage cash and Treasury options. Right now, I see a 10-year CDs at 4.05% APY (non-callable) vs. 4.12% for a 10-year Treasury. Watch out for higher rates from callable CDs where they can call your CD back if interest rates drop.

All rates were checked as of 3/8/26.

* I no longer recommend fintech companies due to the possibility of significant loss due to poor recordkeeping and the lack of government protection in such scenarios. The point of cash is absolute safety of principal.

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers, Investing // Tagged:

Berkshire Hathaway 2025 Annual Shareholder Letter by Greg Abel

Posted on March 5, 2026 // 2 Comments

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) recently released its 2025 Letter to Shareholders (also see full 2025 Annual Report). Usually, this is when I read Warren Buffett’s teachings and share my personal takeaways (2024, 2023, 2022, etc). Sadly, the time has come when the new CEO, Greg Abel, must take over this duty.

In the letter, Abel does a nice job of listing all the often-unique strengths of Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett. Longtime shareholders will be familiar with these attributes, but I suppose it’s good that he repeats them himself.

  • Corporate culture built around honesty, transparency, and straightforward communication with shareholders.
  • Decentralized structure where subsidiary CEOs operate autonomously with minimal headquarters oversight.
  • Strong culture of trust: managers are expected to run their businesses independently and ethically.
  • Long-term ownership mindset focused on decades, not quarters.
  • Preference for owning high-quality businesses with durable competitive advantages.
  • Disciplined capital allocation, including a willingness to hold large cash reserves until attractive opportunities appear.
  • Insurance operations provide “float,” which acts as low-cost capital for investments.
  • Limited use of leverage and avoidance of excessive financial risk.
  • Preference for permanent ownership rather than buying businesses to sell later.

As noticed by @TCII_Blog, Buffett is explicitly listed as someone that will be consulted on any share buybacks in the full annual report:

Berkshire’s common stock repurchase program permits Berkshire to repurchase its Class A and Class B shares at prices below Berkshire’s intrinsic value, as conservatively determined by Berkshire’s Chief Executive Officer after consultation with the Chairman of the Board. We are not committed to a minimum or subject to a maximum repurchase amount. We will not repurchase our stock if it reduces our consolidated cash, cash equivalents and U.S. Treasury Bills holdings to below $30 billion. Financial strength and redundant liquidity will always be of paramount importance at Berkshire. There were no share repurchases in 2025.

No buybacks in 2025, but on 3/5/26, Greg Abel announced that they have started buying back shares again (WSJ gift article). We can only assume that means both he and Buffett agree that BRKB very recently traded below their “estimate of intrinsic value, conservatively determined.”

In addition, Abel also announced that he will be using his entire after-tax annual salary as CEO (currently ~$15 million after-tax/$25 million gross) to purchase Berkshire Hathaway shares. In other words, he will have “skin in the game”.

Abel, who succeeded Buffett as CEO in January, also said in a regulatory filing that he personally bought about $15 million in Berkshire shares and plans to purchase more annually.

“I’m committed to doing this every year,” Abel said during an interview televised on CNBC. “My entire salary, as long as I’m CEO. We’ll file our 10-K, I’ll write the letter, and after the 48-hour cooling-off period, I’ll purchase.”

I’m not a billionaire like Abel, but starting with a $50 bonus from the now-gone ShareBuilder brokerage site in the early 2000s, I’ve built up a nice little position in Berkshire Hathaway. Whenever there is a new brokerage bonus, I prefer to buy BRKB shares because the long-term return will likely at least match the S&P 500, and it never distributes dividends. This means no 1099-DIV forms to deal with at the end of the year, ha. I also never sell the shares, only move them around for ACAT transfer bonuses or they get merged into other brokers, so no 1099-B. This all adds up when you open as many new brokerage accounts as I do…

As a 20+ year shareholder now, I feel that Abel has been saying and doing all the right things so far. Charlie Munger famously said “Greg will keep the culture!”, and so I wish him the best and am holding all my shares for now. In fact, I think it’s quite possible that Berkshire will perform even better price-wise in the next decade as Abel takes a more active role in areas that he likes. Buffett had his strengths and preferences, and Abel has his own.

However, nobody knows what will actually happen, and people can change over time. Look at how many billionaires out there have been corrupted by power and money. I’ll miss the Buffett wisdom, but I’ll still be watching (and hopefully learning) from Berkshire’s activities since I have my own “skin in the game”.

Filed Under: Inspirational, Investing //

Robinhood HOOD Rewards Season 2026 Promos: Up to 3% ACAT Transfer Bonus

Posted on March 1, 2026 // 2 Comments

Robinhood is running “HOOD Rewards Season” from 2/19-3/25, which includes the return of some competitive account transfer bonuses. Noteworthy are the 3% total match if you have $10,000 in margin (which you can “create” beforehand) and the 2% match that includes 401k rollovers. However, note that they have very long minimum holding periods where you are stuck at Robinhood (and can’t pursue other opportunities) or they will clawback the bonus. Transfers must be initiated by March 25, 2026 to qualify.

  • 2% bonus on ACATS transfers to your Robinhood joint or individual taxable brokerage account from an external brokerage. 5-year minimum hold period + Robinhood Gold ($5/mo or $50/year) membership for a year required.
  • 3% total bonus on ACATS transfers (1% extra) with a margin balance of $10,000 or more to your Robinhood joint or individual taxable brokerage account from an external brokerage.
  • 2% bonus on ACATS transfers to your Robinhood IRA, including 401k rollovers. 5-year minimum hold period + Robinhood Gold ($5/mo or $50/year) membership for a year required.
  • 3% bonus on IRA contributions. This is a standard offer for Robinhood Gold customers, but still worth noting if you are joining the Robinhood ecosystem. 5-year minimum hold period.
  • Robinhood will also cover outgoing transfer fees (up to $75) if you transfer $7,500+ in assets.
  • 2% bonus on crypto transfers. They are also announcing new products/features on March 4, 2026.

Full terms at Robinhood.com/hoodrewardstransfer.

The 2% bonus on taxable account transfers requires a subscription with Robinhood Gold ($5/mo) and customers must stay subscribed to Gold for 1 year after receiving each Gold match to keep the full Gold match. A 1% match is available to non-Gold customers, no subscription required. The funds that earned the match be kept in the account for at least 5 years to avoid a potential chargeback of the bonus. Transfer must be initiated by March 25,2026 to qualify. Offer only applies to self-directed individual or joint taxable accounts. For more information refer to Hood Season Account Transfer Bonus at robinhood.com/hoodrewardstransfer??

The additional 1% margin bonus is available to all customers who are approved for a margin account and transfer a margin balance of at least $10,000 using ACATS.

If you don’t want to move your money around all the time, I think this is a pretty good promo. If you move over a $100,000 portfolio for 5 years, that’s $3,000. If you move over a $1,000,000 portfolio for 5 years, that’s $30,000. If you have a $100,000 portfolio parked at Merrill Edge, given the upcoming Preferred Rewards changes, compare this bonus against potential cash back. Might be better to take the upfront money than to chase a higher tier. Robinhood now has over $300 billion in assets under custody.

It’s not hard to “create” a $10,000 margin balance by buying some extra SGOV/VBIL in your account right before the ACAT transfer (assuming you have enough equity collateral), do the transfer, and then pay off the margin by selling the SGOV/VBIL right after the transfer is completed. You’ll just pay a little margin interest in the meantime, should be less than $10 as your SGOV/VBIL will earn interest as well (price should increase in interim if no dividend distribution). Robinhood wants investors that use margin, as they tend to be more profitable.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Investing //

The True Global Market-Cap Weighted Portfolio: Gold as 3rd Largest Asset Class?

Posted on February 23, 2026 // 4 Comments

A market-capitalization weighted portfolio is one where assets are held in proportion to their total market value (share price * # of shares). For example, if you were to buy into the S&P 500 index (a cap-weighted index), right now you would be buying ~170 times more of Amazon (~$2 Trillion value) as Best Buy ($13 Billion value). But as the share value of each company changes, you wouldn’t have to do anything to maintain market-cap weighting.

What if you wanted to weigh your entire portfolio based on values of all the investable assets in the world? This chart from WisdomTree’s 2/26 update breaks it down for you (found via Weekly Chartstorm).

Roughly, you’re looking at 50% equities, 30% debt (fixed income/bonds), 12.7% of gold (!), and 1% in digital assets. The gold number surprised me. These values are credited to Bloomberg and Wisdomtree as of 2/2/26. Market cap values are in billions.

Let’s check some of those numbers. The chart estimates the total market value of all the equities in the world at ~$135 Trillion, which also roughly matches other sources. The chart estimates the total market value of all the gold in the world at ~$33 Trillion, which roughly matches other sources. That gives us a ratio of roughly 4:1 of stocks:gold.

However, I wrote in 2016 about the idea of Investing 1% Of Your Portfolio Into Gold, where another source said that the world market cap weighting for gold at that time was a tad under 1%. Looking closer, this number appears to be an estimate of the world’s total quantity of gold held for investment.

At first, I thought this was like how you can’t own every business in the world since many are privately-held, when we talk about equities we are actually talking about publicly-investable businesses. Okay, so it looks like roughly 50% of the gold above ground is used in jewelry and 15% for industrial purposes. But still, isn’t gold jewelry also considered an investment? How do you decide how much of gold is an investment asset by someone, and how much isn’t? Maybe a true global market-cap weighting of gold is not quite as high as in the chart of above, but still significantly higher than what I previously thought.

Filed Under: Investing //

Best Interest Rates Survey: Bank Accounts, Treasury Bills, Money Markets, ETFs – February 2026

Posted on February 11, 2026 // 1 Comment

Here’s my monthly survey of the best interest rates on cash as of February 2026, roughly sorted from shortest to longest maturities. Banks and brokerages love taking advantage of idle cash, and you can often earn more interest while keeping the same level of safety by moving to another FDIC-insured bank or NCUA-insured credit union. Check out my Ultimate Rate-Chaser Calculator to see how much extra interest you could earn from switching. Rates listed are available to everyone nationwide. Rates checked as of 2/11/26.

TL;DR: Savings account interest rates are mostly unchanged from last month. You can still get 4.6% if you accept certain hoops/restrictions, but most are under 4% now. Short-term T-Bill rates have fallen, now ~3.6%. Top 5-year CD rates are ~4% APY, while 5-year Treasury rate is ~3.7%.

High-yield savings accounts*
Since the huge megabanks still pay essentially zero interest, everyone should at least have a separate, no-fee online savings account to piggy-back onto your existing checking account. The interest rates on savings accounts can drop at any time, so I list the top rates as well as competitive rates from banks with a history of competitive rates and solid user experience. Some banks will bait you with a temporary top rate and then lower the rates in the hopes that you are too lazy to leave.

  • The top saving rate at the moment: Pibank at 4.60% APY (no min), but they have some weird restrictions; like you can only use wire/Plaid to deposit and wire transfers to withdraw funds?! CineFi (no min) is new at 4.50% APY, a division of First Entertainment Credit Union. OnPath FCU is at 4.40% APY with $25,000 minimum balance. CIT Platinum Savings is now at 3.75% APY with $5,000+ balance. There are many banks in between.
  • SoFi Bank is at 3.30% APY (new customers can get up to 4.00% APY for 6 months + $325 bonus with qualifying direct deposit. You must maintain a direct deposit of any amount (even $1) each month for the higher ongoing APY. SoFi has historically competitive rates and full banking features.
  • Here is a limited survey of high-yield savings accounts. They aren’t the top rates, but a group that have historically kept it relatively competitive such that I like to track their history. This month they start at 3.30% APY on up.

Short-term guaranteed rates (1 year and under)
A common question is what to do with a big pile of cash that you’re waiting to deploy shortly (plan to buy a house soon, just sold your house, just sold your business, legal settlement, inheritance). My usual advice is to keep things simple and take your time. If not a savings account, then put it in a flexible short-term CD under the FDIC limits until you have a plan.

  • No Penalty CDs offer a fixed interest rate that can never go down, but you can still take out your money (once) without any fees if you want to use it elsewhere. Marcus has a 13-month No Penalty CD at 3.95% APY ($500 minimum deposit). Farmer’s Insurance FCU has a 9-month No Penalty CD at 4.00% APY ($1,000 minimum deposit). USALLIANCE Financial CU has a 11-month No Penalty CD at 3.90% APY ($500 minimum deposit). CIT Bank has a 11-month No Penalty CD at 3.75% APY ($1,000 minimum deposit).
  • Genisys CU has a 13-month certificate at 4.16% APY ($500 min). Early withdrawal penalty is a clearly-disclosed 90 days of interest (many places hide this info now). Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization Arthritis Foundation or Paint Creek Center for the Arts (one-time $5 fee).
  • Farmer’s Insurance FCU has a 12-month CD at 4.25% APY with new money required. $1,000 minimum to open. Early withdrawal penalty is 90 days of interest.

Money market mutual funds
Many brokerage firms that pay out very little interest on their default cash sweep funds (and keep the difference for themselves). Note: Money market mutual funds are highly-regulated, but ultimately not FDIC-insured, so I would still stick with highly reputable firms.

  • Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund (VMFXX) is the default sweep option for Vanguard brokerage accounts, which has a 7-day SEC yield of 3.59% (changes daily, but also works out to a compound yield of 3.65%, which is better for comparing against APY). Odds are this is much higher than your own broker’s default cash sweep interest rate.
  • Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) is an alternative money market fund which you must manually purchase, but the interest will be mostly (100% for 2025 tax year) exempt from state and local income taxes because it comes from qualifying US government obligations. Current 7-day SEC yield of 3.64% (compound yield of 3.70%).

Treasury Bills and Ultra-short Treasury ETFs
Another option is to buy individual Treasury bills which come in a variety of maturities from 4-weeks to 52-weeks and are fully backed by the US government. You can also invest in ETFs that hold a rotating basket of short-term Treasury Bills for you, while charging a small management fee for doing so. T-bill interest is exempt from state and local income taxes, which can make a significant difference in your effective yield.

  • You can build your own T-Bill ladder at TreasuryDirect.gov or via a brokerage account with a bond desk like Vanguard and Fidelity. Here are the current Treasury Bill rates. As of 2/11/26, a new 4-week T-Bill had the equivalent of 3.69% annualized interest and a 52-week T-Bill had the equivalent of 3.47% annualized interest.
  • The iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV) has a 3.55% 30-day SEC yield (0.09% expense ratio) and effective duration of 0.10 years. The Vanguard 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF (VBIL) has a 3.55% 30-day SEC yield (0.06% expense ratio) and effective duration of 0.10 years.

US Savings Bonds
Series I Savings Bonds offer rates that are linked to inflation and backed by the US government. You must hold them for at least a year. If you redeem them within 5 years there is a penalty of the last 3 months of interest. The annual purchase limit for electronic I bonds is $10,000 per Social Security Number, available online at TreasuryDirect.gov.

  • “I Bonds” bought between November 2025 and April 2026 will earn a 4.03% rate for the first six months. The rate of the subsequent 6-month period will be based on inflation again. More on Savings Bonds here.
  • In mid-April 2026, the CPI will be announced and you will have a short period where you will have a very close estimate of the rate for the next 12 months. I will post another update at that time.

Rewards checking accounts
These unique checking accounts pay above-average interest rates, but with unique risks. You have to jump through certain hoops which usually involve 10+ debit card purchases each cycle, a certain number of ACH/direct deposits, and/or a certain number of logins per month. If you make a mistake (or they judge that you did) you risk earning zero interest for that month. Some folks don’t mind the extra work and attention required, while others would rather not bother. Rates can also drop suddenly, leaving a “bait-and-switch” feeling.

  • La Capitol Federal Credit Union pays 6.50% APY on up to $10,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases of at least $5 each per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization, Louisiana Association for Personal Financial Achievement ($20).
  • OnPath Federal Credit Union (my review) pays 6.00% APY on up to $10,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and login to online or mobile banking once per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via $5 membership fee to join partner organization. You can also get a $150 Visa Reward card when you open a new account and make qualifying transactions.
  • Genisys Credit Union pays 6.75% APY on up to $7,500 if you make 10 debit card purchases of $5+ each per statement cycle, and opt into online statements. Anyone can join this credit union via $5 membership fee to join partner organization.
  • Oklahoma Central Credit Union pays 6.00% APY on up to $10,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases (non-ATM) per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union if they are “affiliated with another credit union”.
  • First Southern Bank pays 5.50% APY on up to $25,000 if you make at least 15 debit card purchases, 1 ACH credit or payment transaction, and enroll in online statements.
  • Credit Union of New Jersey pays 6.00% APY on up to $25,000 if you make 12 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and make at least 1 direct deposit, online bill payment, or automatic payment (ACH) per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via $5 membership fee to join partner organization.
  • Andrews Federal Credit Union pays 5.25% APY (decreased) on up to $25,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and make at least 1 direct deposit or ACH transaction per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization.
  • Capitol Credit Union pays 6.00% APY on up to $15,000 if you make 12 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and make at least 1 direct deposit or ACH transaction per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization ($5 to Wild Basin Wilderness).
  • Find a locally-restricted rewards checking account at DepositAccounts.

Certificates of deposit (greater than 1 year)
CDs offer higher rates, but come with an early withdrawal penalty. By finding a bank CD with a reasonable early withdrawal penalty, you can enjoy higher rates but maintain access in a true emergency. Alternatively, consider building a CD ladder of different maturity lengths (ex. 1/2/3/4/5-years) such that you have access to part of the ladder each year, but your blended interest rate is higher than a savings account. When one CD matures, use that money to buy another 5-year CD to keep the ladder going. Some CDs also offer “add-ons” where you can deposit more funds if rates drop.

  • United Fidelity Bank has a 5-year certificate at 4.15% APY ($1,000 minimum), 4-year at 4.10% APY, 3-year at 4.10% APY, 2-year at 4.15% APY, and 1.5-year at 4.05% APY. Early withdrawal penalties are not disclosed clearly online.
  • Mountain America Credit Union (MACU) has a 5-year certificate at 4.00% APY ($500 minimum), 4-year at 4.00% APY, 3-year at 4.05% APY, 2-year at 4.20% APY, and 1-year at 3.80% APY. Early withdrawal penalty for the 4-year and 5-year is 365 days of interest. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization American Consumer Council (use promo code “consumer” when joining).
  • You can buy certificates of deposit via the bond desks of Vanguard and Fidelity. You may need an account to see the rates. These “brokered CDs” offer FDIC insurance and easy laddering, but they don’t come with predictable early withdrawal penalties. Right now, I see a 5-year non-callable brokered CD at 3.95% APY (callable: no, call protection: yes). Be warned that both Vanguard and Fidelity will list higher rates from callable CDs, which importantly means they can (and will!) call back your CD if rates drop significantly later.

Longer-term Instruments
I’d use these with caution due to increased interest rate risk (tbh, I don’t use them at all), but I still track them to see the rest of the current yield curve.

  • Willing to lock up your money for 10 years? You can buy long-term certificates of deposit via the bond desks of Vanguard and Fidelity. These “brokered CDs” offer FDIC insurance, but they don’t come with predictable early withdrawal penalties. You might find something that pays more than your other brokerage cash and Treasury options. Right now, I see a 10-year CDs at [none available] (non-callable) vs. 4.16% for a 10-year Treasury. Watch out for higher rates from callable CDs where they can call your CD back if interest rates drop.

All rates were checked as of 2/11/26.

* I no longer recommend fintech companies due to the possibility of significant loss due to poor recordkeeping and the lack of government protection in such scenarios. The point of cash is absolute safety of principal.

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers, Investing // Tagged:

Vanguard Money Market & Target Retirement Funds: Claim Your State Income Tax Exemption (Updated 2026)

Posted on February 4, 2026 // 45 Comments

Updated for 2026. Tax time is here again, and if you earned interest from a money market fund, a significant portion of this interest may have come from “US Government Obligations” like Treasury bills and bonds, which are generally exempt from state and local income taxes. However, in order to claim this exemption, you’ll likely have to manually enter it on your tax return after digging up a few extra details.

(Note: California, Connecticut, and New York exempt dividend income only when the mutual fund has met certain minimum investments in U.S. government securities. They require that 50% of a mutual fund’s assets at each quarter-end within the tax year consist of U.S. government obligations.)

Vanguard has recently released the U.S. government obligations income information for Tax Year 2025 [pdf] for all their funds, which states:

This tax update provides information to help clients properly report state and local tax liability on ordinary income distributions received from mutual fund investments in 2025.

On the next page, you’ll find a list of Vanguard funds that earned a portion of their ordinary dividends from
obligations of the U.S. government. Direct U.S. government obligations and certain U.S. government agency
obligations are generally exempt from taxation in most states.1

To find the portion of Vanguard dividends that may be exempt from your state income tax, multiply the amount of “ordinary dividends” reported in Box 1a of your Form 1099-DIV by the percentage listed in the PDF. Note that on the IRS Form 1099-INT, there is a special Line 3 that includes “Interest on US Savings Bonds & Treasury obligations”. However, for the Vanguard funds, they report on 1099-DIV and not 1099-INT. My Vanguard 1099-INT was all zeros.

For the default cash sweep Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund (VMFXX), this percentage was 66.61% in 2025. (For reference, it was 59.87% in 2024 and 49.37% in 2023.) Therefore, if you earned $1,000 in total interest from VMFXX in 2025, then $666.10 could possibly be exempt from state and local income taxes. If your marginal state income tax rate was 10% that would be a ~$67 tax savings for every $1,000 in total interest earned. For 2025, this fund DID meet the threshold requirements for California, Connecticut, and New York, which require that 50% of the fund’s assets at each quarter-end within the tax year consist of U.S. government obligations.

In comparison, the Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) had a GOI percentage of 100% in 2025. (For reference, it was 100% on 2024 and 80.06% in 2023.) If your marginal state income tax rate was 10% that would be a $100 tax savings for every $1,000 in total interest earned.

The total income return for Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund (VMFXX) was 4.22% and Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) was 4.23% over the 12-month period of 2025, meaning the pre-tax return was basically the same. This is why many people chose to manually buy VUSXX instead of the default settlement fund as it can earn you a higher after-tax interest rate.

(Why doesn’t Vanguard let you use VUSXX as your cash sweep? Most likely due to the many inflow and outflows of a cash sweep, those liquidity concerns make it hard to hold everything in Treasury bonds. I’m guessing that repurchase agreements are more liquid.)

The following Vanguard funds and ETF equivalents have 100% of their interest from US government obligations:

  • 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF (VBIL)
  • Ultra-Short Treasury ETF (VGUS)
  • Short-Term Treasury Index Fund (VGSH, VSBSX)
  • Intermediate-Term Treasury Index Fund (VGIT, VSIGX)
  • Long-Term Treasury Index Fund (VGLT, VLGSX)
  • Extended Duration Treasury Index Fund (EDV)
  • Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities
    Index Fund (VTIP, VTAPX)
  • Inflation-Protected Securities Fund (VIPSX, VAIPX)

Note that several other Vanguard funds have a lower but nonzero percentage of dividends from US government obligations, including the popular Vanguard Target Retirement 20XX funds (up to 33-34% for Target Retirement 2020 and Target Retirement Income!). Definitely worth a closer look for residents with high state/local income tax rates, especially those closer to retirement (holds more bonds).

To obtain these tax savings, you’ll have to manually adjust your state/local income tax return. I don’t believe that TurboTax, H&R Block, and other tax software will do this automatically for you, as they won’t have the required information on their own. (I’m also not sure if they ask about it in their interview process. You may need to click on certain spot.) If you use an accountant, you should also double-check to make sure they use this information. Here is some information on how to enter this into TurboTax:

  • When you are entering the 1099-DIV Box 1a, 1b, and 2a – click the “My form has info in other boxes (this is uncommon)” checkbox.
  • Next, click on the option “A portion of these dividends is U.S. Government interest.”
  • On the next screen enter the Government interest amount. This will be subtracted from your state return.

Standard disclosure: Check with your state or local tax office or with your tax advisor to determine whether your state allows you to exclude some or all of the income you earn from mutual funds that invest in U.S. government obligations.

[Image credit – Tax Foundation]

Filed Under: Banking, Investing, Taxes //

Vanguard ETF & Mutual Fund Fee Cuts (February 2026)

Posted on February 3, 2026 // 3 Comments

Vanguard just announced a new round of expense ratio drops spanning 53 funds (roughly 25% of them), totaling close to $250 million in fee reductions in 2026. See their press release and full list of changes. This comes almost exactly a year after their February 2025 cuts which spanned 87 funds with an estimated $350 in fee reductions that year.

Over the past two years, Vanguard has reduced fees on most of its fund lineup totaling nearly $600 million in savings for investors—Vanguard’s largest-ever two-year combined cost reduction. Vanguard’s product lineup across all asset classes and styles now has an average expense ratio of 0.06%, reinforcing the firm’s longstanding cost leadership position. These consistently low costs help investors keep more of their returns, contributing to stronger long-term performance.

Additional media coverage at the Wall Street Journal (gift article) and Morningstar.

At this point, most of their expense ratios are so low on their big funds that most individual investors won’t notice much of a difference. The largest index funds VTI, VXUS, BND are unchanged. Target Retirement funds are also unchanged. However, I do believe it is an important indicator that Vanguard is still lowering costs as their assets under management continue to grow.

As an individual investor, it’s also important to remember that costs matter and those costs directly affect performance. Jack Bogle was right in his past skepticism of ETFs in that over time, the group has grown to include a lot of complex, expensive options. While the overall, asset-weighted average expense ratio for ETFs has declined over time, the average fee of newly launched ETFs has actually increased. Be wary of all those new, fancy ETFs that make attractive promises like limited downside and extremely high dividend income. This “Boomer candy” almost always comes with a higher expense ratio, and I am willing to bet it will also end up with lower long-term returns. New tricks, same old story.

Personally, I note that the Vanguard 0–3 Month Treasury Bill ETF (VBIL) lowered its expense ratio from 0.07% to 0.06%. My current go-to is iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV), which is at 0.09%.

The 30-day median bid/ask spread on VBIL is now 0.01% of market price, meaning its liquidity is now basically on the same level as SGOV (also at 0.01%). I will probably start using VBIL instead of SGOV for the times when I want a short-term cash equivalent in a brokerage account. 0.03% is a small difference, but I gotta keep incentivizing those lower costs. Long live the Vanguard Effect!

Filed Under: Investing, Retirement //

Fidelity Money Market Funds: Claim Your State Income Tax Exemption (Updated 2026)

Posted on February 2, 2026 // 26 Comments

Updated for 2026. As the brokerage 1099 forms for the 2025 Tax Year are coming out, here is a quick reminder for those subject to state and/or local income taxes. If you earned interest from a money market fund, a significant portion of this interest may have come from “US Government Obligations” like Treasury bills and bonds, which are generally exempt from state and local income taxes. However, in order to claim this exemption, you’ll likely have to manually enter it on your tax return after digging up a few extra details.

(Note: California, Connecticut, and New York exempt dividend income only when the mutual fund has met certain minimum investments in U.S. government securities. They require that 50% of a mutual fund’s assets at each quarter-end within the tax year consist of U.S. government obligations.)

Fidelity has released 2025 Percentage of Income from U.S. Government Securities [pdf]. Here are the results for the most popular core Fidelity money market funds:

  • Fidelity® Treasury Only Money Market Fund (FDLXX, CUSIP 31617H300) – 98.67%.
  • Fidelity® Government Money Market Fund (SPAXX, CUSIP 31617H102) – 50.90%. *Did not meet the minimum investment in U.S. Government securities required to exempt the distribution from tax in California, Connecticut, and New York.
  • Fidelity® Government Cash Reserves (FDRXX, CUSIP 316067107) – 52.17%. *Did not meet the minimum investment in U.S. Government securities required to exempt the distribution from tax in California, Connecticut, and New York.
  • Fidelity® Treasury Money Market Fund* (FZFXX, CUSIP 316341304) – 61.52%. *Did not meet the minimum investment in U.S. Government securities required to exempt the distribution from tax in California, Connecticut, and New York.

It is disappointing that SPAXX as a default cash sweep did not meet the requirements to exempt any of their interest from state income tax in California, Connecticut, and New York. They must have missed the 50% minimum cut-off in one of the four quarters of 2025.

This is why I mostly own FDLXX as my “pseudo-core” money market fund via automated recurring purchases. For more information on this “hack”, see my post Fidelity Treasury Only Money Market (FDLXX) as Fidelity Core Position Workaround.

To find the portion of Fidelity dividends that may be exempt from your state income tax, multiply the amount of “ordinary dividends” reported in Box 1a of your Form 1099-DIV by the percentage listed in the PDF. For example, if you earned $1,000 in total interest from Fidelity Treasury Only Money Market Fund (FDLXX) in 2025, then $986.70 could possibly be exempt from state and local income taxes. If your marginal state income tax rate was 10% that would be a ~$99 tax savings for every $1,000 in total interest earned.

On a net after-tax basis, folks with a ~10% state income tax rate will likely find that FDLXX earns more interest than the default core holdings of SPAXX/FZFXX, even though the gross yield of SPAXX/FZFXX is higher than that of FDLXX.

To obtain these tax savings, you’ll have to manually adjust your state/local income tax return. I don’t believe that TurboTax, H&R Block, and other tax software will do this automatically for you, as they won’t have the required information on their own. (I’m also not sure if they ask about it in their interview process.) If you use an accountant, you should also double-check to make sure they use this information. Here is some information on how to enter this into a previous version of TurboTax:

  • When you are entering the 1099-DIV Box 1a, 1b, and 2a – click the “My form has info in other boxes (this is uncommon)” checkbox.
  • Next, click on the option “A portion of these dividends is U.S. Government interest.”
  • On the next screen enter the Government interest amount. This will be subtracted from your state return.

Standard disclosure: Check with your state or local tax office or with your tax advisor to determine whether your state allows you to exclude some or all of the income you earn from mutual funds that invest in U.S. government obligations.

[Image credit – Tax Foundation]

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers, Investing, Taxes //

Estimate Your Personal Rate of Return (Quick Calculator)

Posted on January 28, 2026 // 32 Comments

Fixed for 2026. I initially wrote this calculator in 2007. Hey, at least you know it wasn’t AI! Some of you may be wondering how well your specific portfolio performed last year (or over any specific period of time). Let’s say you started the year with $10,000 and put in another $5,000 through 10 different deposits spaced throughout the year, and ended up with $16,000. What was your rate of return? Your main goal is simply to separate the effect of new deposits (or withdrawals) and your actual return from investments.

Figuring out your exact personal rate of return requires you to know the exact dates of all your deposits and withdrawals, along with a financial calculator or spreadsheet program with an IRR function (example here). However, for a quick and simple estimate of your returns, try this calculator instead:

Initial Balance: $
Total Deposits: $
Total Withdrawals: $
Final Balance: $
Time period:   year(s)
Your estimated annualized rate of return:   %

Instructions

  1. Get your initial balance. This is probably from your brokerage statements. Try January of last year.
  2. Tally up any deposits or withdrawals. For example, let’s say you know you put $3,000 in your Roth IRA and also 5% of your $40,000 salary into a 401(k). That would be $3,000 + $2,000 = $5,000. That’s it, you don’t need to worry about looking up the specific dates and amounts.
  3. Get your final balance. Your December statement is probably available already.
  4. Find the time elapsed (in years) between your initial and final balances.
  5. Hit Calculate. An estimate of your annualized return is instantly given.

How Accurate Is This Estimate?
The calculator assumes that the inflows and outflows are spread evenly around the middle of the year. I originally saw this method in the book The Four Pillars of Investing (review). However, unless the deposits and withdrawals are very large as compared to the initial balance, the estimates are actually pretty good.

For example, let’s say that you start with $100,000 on 1/1/2025, and end up with $120,000 on 1/1/2026. If you had net deposits of $10,000 during the year, the calculator above would estimate your return at 9.52%. If the $10,000 was actually deposited all at once on one of these specific days, you would get the following exact returns:

Deposit Date Exact Return
1/1/2025 (very first day) 9.1%
6/04/2025 (middle of the year) 9.5%
1/1/2026 (very last day) 10%
Estimate 9.5%

 

Also check out the rest of my Tools and Calculators.

Filed Under: Investing, Tools & Calculators //

Callan Periodic Table of Investment Returns 2025 Year-End Update

Posted on January 25, 2026 // Leave a Comment

Callan Associates updates a “periodic table” annually with the relative performance of 9 major asset classes over the last 20 years. Above is the most recent snapshot of 2006-2025, which you can find on their website Callan.com. The best performing asset class is listed at the top, and it sorts downward until you have the worst performing asset. I find it easiest to focus on a specific Asset Class (Color) and then visually noting how its relative performance bounces around.

The Callan Periodic Table of Investment Returns conveys the strong case for diversification across asset classes (stocks vs. bonds), capitalizations (large vs. small), and equity markets (U.S. vs. global ex-U.S.). The Table highlights the uncertainty inherent in all capital markets. Rankings change every year. Also noteworthy is the difference between absolute and relative performance, as returns for the top-performing asset class span a wide range over the past 20 years.

Filed Under: Investing //

Top 10 Largest US Companies 1985 vs. 1995 vs. 2005 vs. 2015 vs. 2025 (The Haystack Keeps Changing)

Posted on January 23, 2026 // Leave a Comment

The late Jack Bogle was often credited with the saying: “Don’t look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack.” If you look at the entire “haystack” of the overall market as hundreds and thousands of individual companies, over time there are a lot of losers and a few big winners, or “needles”.

In addition, I’d also add the saying that “The haystack is always changing.” Check out the table above of the top 10 largest US companies in different decades, updated as of 12/31/25 as collected by JP Morgan Asset Management (this is a useful resource that is updated every quarter).

Notice that all the 1985 Top 10 companies are marked as green. There are fewer and fewer left in the top 10 after each decade that passes, and there are none in 2025. Most likely, by the time 2045 or 2065 rolls around – when you might be retired! – the Top 10 will include companies that don’t even exist today.

Investing in a simple market-cap index fund will always be criticized as “dumb” or “overweight this” or “underweight that”. I think weighing by the company value is a perfectly fine system for the patient, long-term investor. In the end, things shakes themselves out. If you buy the entire investable US stock market, or even extend this to the entire investable world stock market, you can be sure that you own all the eventual winners.

I enjoy not having to worry about things in the long term. If I feel like doing some active trading, I can, but I can also go weeks without checking a single stock ticker if I’m not in the mood.

Filed Under: Investing, Retirement //
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