Poorer Americans shortly.

[Old Crank]

5. Here is what he said

Just got an email back.

Other than what he told me this is where he is keeping a good part of his cash.
Laddered CDs mean you get a CD for a fixed term, then you wait a period of time and buy another one, and so on.
This gives you reasonable security for the investment, the chance to get a better rate when each one comes due and the ability to have cash available every so often.

"We have not tried to get creative about where to stash our savings, except for spreading it out among three different banks (2 banks and a credit union). About a third of our cash is in one-year CD's, laddered (i.e., 48 spread over the 12 months so that one comes due about every week. Our bank tried to encourage us to get into a $100,000 bond investment (not FDIC-insured) in late 2023, but we thought trump was going to be elected, and didn't want to tie up the cash.

I don't know if this is the best approach. But we're stashing away savings like the dickens."