Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
I'll leave it to more sophisticated observers to comment on the implications, if any, but it does seem to suggest that (supposedly non-existent) inflationary pressures may be driving up these rates.
I watch the mm rate at Schwab way more than I should. It’s been moving in a very narrow range for quite a while. No trend yet. I am happy it stopped going down.
Seems to me that J. Powell is in possession of a pair of huevos. He won't be pressured into cutting rates. We must follow the jobs and GDP data. If stuff is tanking, he and the others may choose to cut the rate. But inflation at 2%? We're still not there. And then there's the tariff nonsense...
T-bills are still an option (especially in taxable accounts) - the latest auction had a 6 week T-bill with an estimated yield of 4.33% or so.
And if you want something liquid and FDIC insured, Marcus is offering 7 and 13 month no penalty CDs with APY of 4.15%.
I would go with the longer term. If rates go up one can cash out and reinvest at a higher rate. Or if the Fed pushes rates down because of a softening economy, one has a rate lock for over a year.
Yes, I keep a mix of T-Bills, FDIC CDs, and Mmkt. I just wondered if the Mmkt rate creep might be "forecasting" anything in particular. If not, we can always fall back on chicken intestines and tarot cards.
And if you want something liquid and FDIC insured, Marcus is offering 7 and 13 month no penalty CDs with APY of 4.15%.
I would go with the longer term. If rates go up one can cash out and reinvest at a higher rate. Or if the Fed pushes rates down because of a softening economy, one has a rate lock for over a year.
Marcus offer looks good, but then I’d be Goldman man and have to get my Grey Poupon!
Goldman Sachs/GS now views its excursions into retail banking/brokerage as missteps. So, keep an eye on what happens with Marcus.
Marcus robo-adviosor was sold to Betterment. GS has been curtailing moves in credit cards (GM card - new deal with Barclays, Apple card - new deal with Chase?, etc).
And if you want something liquid and FDIC insured, Marcus is offering 7 and 13 month no penalty CDs with APY of 4.15%.
I would go with the longer term. If rates go up one can cash out and reinvest at a higher rate. Or if the Fed pushes rates down because of a softening economy, one has a rate lock for over a year.
Marcus offer looks good, but then I’d be Goldman man and have to get my Grey Poupon!
Marcus has had the worst customer support of any bank or brokerage I've ever dealt with (at least a couple of dozen). In my experience, they've been so cartoonishly awful that I can probably write a short book trying to describe all my travails with them.
The book would probably start with this classic: they've once held up a transaction for over two weeks because "their fax machine was broken" and they refused to accept a document by any other means (overnight/regular mail or email).
First, in the typically officious manner, they said that my fax must not have gone out and that I needed to re-fax. When I'd emailed them 3 different successful fax-out reports from 3 different sources - email was apparently acceptable for that - they told me that it must be someone in the office systematically misplacing faxes (a nefarious saboteur in their midst planted, no doubt, by Messrs. Merrill and Morgan!) and that they would search for them.
After days pass w/o any follow-up, I call them to find that no faxes have been discovered. Fax it over again - nothing. At this point, I politely ask whether they've gotten any faxes from anyone during this time. The rep is incredulous but, after I push, puts me on hold then comes back and more sheepishly tells me that it does not look like they have. (Mind you, fax is the only way they get documents in, at least in that department.) So, he promises to check if the machine is broken. When I call back the next day, they confirm that it is and would be fixed asap, of which they would let me know at once.
Hooray, Marcus is finally getting ready to get down to actual business! (After all, we are by then over a week into the process.) Not so fast, Goldman Sachs is a respectable financial institution and everyone needs to follow proper protocols - even the fax machine! (I did not think of it at the time, but perhaps the latter got too much Grey Poupon?? Not sure...) Anyway, several days go by when I do not hear from them. When I finally run out of patience and call thinking that the fax machine is surely fixed by now and they have just forgotten to let me know, I discover that no, their fax is still offline because this needs to be rectified "properly" as it is a "question of security" (i.e., the fact that we are closing in on two weeks in just getting started on my transaction is all for my benefit).
Finally, I began losing it a bit and went up the chain. I ended up with a senior supervisor who intimated that they are still trying to figure out whose budget, account, or grandmother is supposed to pay for the case-appropriate fax machine replacement / repair. I, only half-joking, offered to send them a new one. Alas, the rep very courteously pointed out that this would be futile as they indeed could not receive any physical mail at that office - not to mention the field day those aforementioned saboteurs would have violating security policies and bringing the good name of Marcus and Goldman Sachs to disrepute...
The story ended mere 2+ weeks thence it began when the fax demon was at last successfully subdued, probably by the spirit of Mr. Marcus himself, bringing to a close one of several wonderous tales I can relate about this remarkable institution.
Too bad, I no longer have any accounts with them to collect more.
Marcus has had the worst customer support of any bank or brokerage I've ever dealt with (at least a couple of dozen).
While not trying to minimize your personal travails with Marcus, they beg the question: are your experiences typical or are you an outlier? YMMV.
My experiences are just the opposite - everything handled efficiently electronically or by phone, immediate credit for deposits even before the transfers are received, clean minimalistic website designed for savings and little else.
Other sources suggest good customer service from Marcus:
BBB rates Marcus A+ (top rating) for customer interactions. While BBB does not use the content of complaints in establishing its ratings, it does use the number of complaints received and how the business has resolved those complaints.
J.D. Power rates Schwab, American Express, and Marcus, in that order, highest in savings account overall satisfaction. Customer service is one of six factors considered in generating the ratings.
Sites that rate businesses by averaging user ratings are IMHO not that helpful. That's primarily because people who post there tend to want to complain. Fewer people post to praise a business. So one gets ratings like those on TrustPilot, where T. Rowe Price gets rated 1.9 out of 5. Sounds pretty accurate, until one sees that places rated even worse include Schwab (1.6) and Fidelity (1.3). That's just above Marcus' 1.2.
If those folks at Marcus had read the manual for their Xerox telecopier they'ld know that someone has to stand by to answer the fax phone, wait for the tone, then slap the handset in the fax cradle. Easy peasey.
I have the fax machine story beat by a country mile. I once submitted order for a cd labeler and duplicator. Six months went by and order was lost. I resubmitted and months later a boss was asked by IT (their answer is always no) why couldn’t I just use a sharpie? Needed to print over 300 characters on CD so magic sharpie was a no go. Order was held up because IT was under infamous audit. 6 months later new IT resubmitted and things looked like they were moving along. 3 months later order rejected because machine was not assembled in “right” place. End of year budget was used up, so another delay till fiscal year budget. IT found another machine and machine showed up few months later. However, couldn’t use machine because IT rules required support contract, which took another 6 months. Then went to use machine but software to make labels was not approved or was having problems being installed. IT made a workaround and made first CD over 2 years after my initial request for this $3,000 machine.
TBUX (TRP Ultra short bond ETF) is also doing well, with a 1-wk return of .23%. The 7-day SEC yield is 4.65%. I sometimes combine it with a MMF to juice overall returns.
But now we're drifting from money markets to ultra-shorts. Not that I mind the drift. I track twenty oef and etf ultra-shorts. I would look further back than one week returns, especially since we are around the time when many have paid their dividends.
OTOH, I suppose I should be more mindful of the tax consequences of the mmf's in my taxable account. But I don't think it would make that much difference to the tax bill.
While not trying to minimize your personal travails with Marcus, they beg the question: are your experiences typical or are you an outlier? YMMV.
My experiences are just the opposite - everything handled efficiently electronically or by phone, immediate credit for deposits even before the transfers are received, clean minimalistic website designed for savings and little else.
Agreed. Glad to hear you've had good experience!
I never bother with online reviews but did offer feedback to Marcus, though I do not believe they ever followed up. Perhaps, my outlier was too far for their statistics.
BTW - getting back to the main subject of this thread - if you are looking at CDs, there are a few 6+ month no-penalty ones still in the 4.2% to 4.3%+ APY range that I have seen recently. These are mostly smaller banks, so not sure about their CS or online interface, but some larger ones too.
To qualify for the bonus, the first deposit must be initiated between August 1, 2025, and September 30, 2025. Bonus to be deposited within 30 days after qualifying.
Thanks everyone for the positive comments on the story! Just wanted to share the experience in case someone here might find it useful (and/or entertaining).
I've got to concede, though, that the cd labeler tale has mine beat by the sheer timespan. The best I could come back with for the duration and hilarity would be one where the finance department for a major dealership chain had tried to get me to return a car I bought from them because they thought they sold it to me too cheaply, but that one did not even push a year... Perhaps, I should try opening an account w T Rowe Price - I've never had one and from @hank's comment as well as what else I've read on MO that sounds promising!
I’m sure you have better choices than lame MM. You probably don’t like to brag, but bet you have 10-15% in $TRUMP cryptocurrency, which for MM folks here, is up over 600% year to date. By far the best investment of the year and it goes up 10% a month on average. It may crash at some point, but just have to read between the tweets.
Now you may be able to buy $TRUMP cryptocurrency In your 401K. If your company refuses, just call White House and the IRS may perform a million dollar audit and disallow all deductions for the company.
I hope Treasury Secy has been buying $TRUMP cryptocurrency with Billions in Treasury bills he’s been selling the past month. Deficit for year could have disappeared with my simple advice, but I don’t have the 24K Gold plate or airplane gifts to get heard.
I’m sure you have better choices than lame MM. You probably don’t like to brag, but bet you have 10-15% in $TRUMP cryptocurrency, which for MM folks here, is up over 600% year to date. By far the best investment of the year and it goes up 10% a month on average. It may crash at some point, but just have to read between the tweets.
Now you may be able to buy $TRUMP cryptocurrency In your 401K. If your company refuses, just call White House and the IRS may perform a million dollar audit and disallow all deductions for the company.
I hope Treasury Secy has been buying $TRUMP cryptocurrency with Billions in Treasury bills he’s been selling the past month. Deficit for year could have disappeared with my simple advice, but I don’t have the 24K Gold plate or airplane gifts to get heard.
Another TDS post and how you detail this site for hundreds of investors who don't want to discuss politics. For that use the OFF TOPIC forum.
I've never had an account with Raisin myself, but have heard some positive things about the platform.
Agreed, especially with Sallie Mae offerings. I've also looked at them from time to time.
Perhaps worth noting is that Raisin itself is a fintech company, and the FDIC insurance is pass through ("inherited" from Sallie Mae or whomever). Like Fidelity that also sells CDs, it is not a US chartered bank and is not a "member FDIC".
Deposits are sent to a custodial bank (Lewis & Clark or Starion Bank) that is FDIC-insured. The custodial bank in turn aggregates deposits for a given partner bank (such as Sallie Mae) and puts the total into an omnibus account at the partner bank. Generally the custodian bank is responsible for keeping track of how much each depositor owns in that omnibus account.
This usually all happens smoothly, invisibly. But on one occasion (where the intermediary was Synapse), the bookkeeping (not the banks) failed. IMHO this not a risk worth worrying about. OTOH if one can do about as well without going through a fintech, then why take the chance? On the third hand, Raisin offers a measure of convenience similar to using a brokerage rather than going directly to a bank. https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/62442/fintech-apps-yotta-funds-missing
One other curiosity. All of Raisin's no-penalty CDs have a 30 day lock up. 7 days is typical in the industry. See, e.g. Ally (withdraw after 6 days), CITbank (beginning 7 days after funds have been received), etc.
But now we're drifting from money markets to ultra-shorts. Not that I mind the drift. I track twenty oef and etf ultra-shorts. I would look further back than one week returns, especially since we are around the time when many have paid their dividends.
OTOH, I suppose I should be more mindful of the tax consequences of the mmf's in my taxable account. But I don't think it would make that much difference to the tax bill.
You are correct - 30-day. I appreciate the correction and comments. And yes, a bit of drift.
Comments
And if you want something liquid and FDIC insured, Marcus is offering 7 and 13 month no penalty CDs with APY of 4.15%.
I would go with the longer term. If rates go up one can cash out and reinvest at a higher rate. Or if the Fed pushes rates down because of a softening economy, one has a rate lock for over a year.
https://stockcharts.com/sc3/ui/?s=$IRX&id=p89924289903
Marcus robo-adviosor was sold to Betterment. GS has been curtailing moves in credit cards (GM card - new deal with Barclays, Apple card - new deal with Chase?, etc).
Marcus is only sticking to online banking now.
Marcus has had the worst customer support of any bank or brokerage I've ever dealt with (at least a couple of dozen). In my experience, they've been so cartoonishly awful that I can probably write a short book trying to describe all my travails with them.
The book would probably start with this classic: they've once held up a transaction for over two weeks because "their fax machine was broken" and they refused to accept a document by any other means (overnight/regular mail or email).
First, in the typically officious manner, they said that my fax must not have gone out and that I needed to re-fax. When I'd emailed them 3 different successful fax-out reports from 3 different sources - email was apparently acceptable for that - they told me that it must be someone in the office systematically misplacing faxes (a nefarious saboteur in their midst planted, no doubt, by Messrs. Merrill and Morgan!) and that they would search for them.
After days pass w/o any follow-up, I call them to find that no faxes have been discovered. Fax it over again - nothing. At this point, I politely ask whether they've gotten any faxes from anyone during this time. The rep is incredulous but, after I push, puts me on hold then comes back and more sheepishly tells me that it does not look like they have. (Mind you, fax is the only way they get documents in, at least in that department.) So, he promises to check if the machine is broken. When I call back the next day, they confirm that it is and would be fixed asap, of which they would let me know at once.
Hooray, Marcus is finally getting ready to get down to actual business! (After all, we are by then over a week into the process.) Not so fast, Goldman Sachs is a respectable financial institution and everyone needs to follow proper protocols - even the fax machine! (I did not think of it at the time, but perhaps the latter got too much Grey Poupon?? Not sure...) Anyway, several days go by when I do not hear from them. When I finally run out of patience and call thinking that the fax machine is surely fixed by now and they have just forgotten to let me know, I discover that no, their fax is still offline because this needs to be rectified "properly" as it is a "question of security" (i.e., the fact that we are closing in on two weeks in just getting started on my transaction is all for my benefit).
Finally, I began losing it a bit and went up the chain. I ended up with a senior supervisor who intimated that they are still trying to figure out whose budget, account, or grandmother is supposed to pay for the case-appropriate fax machine replacement / repair. I, only half-joking, offered to send them a new one. Alas, the rep very courteously pointed out that this would be futile as they indeed could not receive any physical mail at that office - not to mention the field day those aforementioned saboteurs would have violating security policies and bringing the good name of Marcus and Goldman Sachs to disrepute...
The story ended mere 2+ weeks thence it began when the fax demon was at last successfully subdued, probably by the spirit of Mr. Marcus himself, bringing to a close one of several wonderous tales I can relate about this remarkable institution.
Too bad, I no longer have any accounts with them to collect more.
Thank you for sharing the story.
Good story—terrible Marcus customer support!
While not trying to minimize your personal travails with Marcus, they beg the question: are your experiences typical or are you an outlier? YMMV.
My experiences are just the opposite - everything handled efficiently electronically or by phone, immediate credit for deposits even before the transfers are received, clean minimalistic website designed for savings and little else.
Other sources suggest good customer service from Marcus:
BBB rates Marcus A+ (top rating) for customer interactions. While BBB does not use the content of complaints in establishing its ratings, it does use the number of complaints received and how the business has resolved those complaints.
J.D. Power rates Schwab, American Express, and Marcus, in that order, highest in savings account overall satisfaction. Customer service is one of six factors considered in generating the ratings.
Sites that rate businesses by averaging user ratings are IMHO not that helpful. That's primarily because people who post there tend to want to complain. Fewer people post to praise a business. So one gets ratings like those on TrustPilot, where T. Rowe Price gets rated 1.9 out of 5. Sounds pretty accurate, until one sees that places rated even worse include Schwab (1.6) and Fidelity (1.3). That's just above Marcus' 1.2.
As a side note, Marcus was named after Goldman Sach's founder, Marcus Goldman.
https://www.goldmansachs.com/our-firm/history/moments/2016-marcus
Guess what type of industry I worked in.
SUTXX nets more after accounting for state income taxes. And it's safer as it is a pure Treasuries fund.
SNAXX yield drops to 4.067% after subtracting off state taxes. SUTXX yields 4.13%. It's been like this for a few years now.
Even better than SUTXX are funds outside of Schwab, including VUSXX (4.24%, $3K min) and FSIXX (4.16% and $1 min).
But now we're drifting from money markets to ultra-shorts. Not that I mind the drift. I track twenty oef and etf ultra-shorts. I would look further back than one week returns, especially since we are around the time when many have paid their dividends.
OTOH, I suppose I should be more mindful of the tax consequences of the mmf's in my taxable account. But I don't think it would make that much difference to the tax bill.
I never bother with online reviews but did offer feedback to Marcus, though I do not believe they ever followed up. Perhaps, my outlier was too far for their statistics.
BTW - getting back to the main subject of this thread - if you are looking at CDs, there are a few 6+ month no-penalty ones still in the 4.2% to 4.3%+ APY range that I have seen recently. These are mostly smaller banks, so not sure about their CS or online interface, but some larger ones too.
Here is a 14 month no-penalty CD from Sallie Mae Bank with 4.20% APY offered through Raisin. (No penalty after 30 days.)
I've never had an account with Raisin myself, but have heard some positive things about the platform.
Raisin is also currently offering a potential extra 1% boost via a new customer bonus of up to $1000 tiered as follows:
$75 for depositing $10,000 to $24,499,
$250 for depositing $25,000 to $49,999,
$500 for depositing $50,000 to $99,999, and
$1,000 for depositing $100,000 or more.
To qualify for the bonus, the first deposit must be initiated between August 1, 2025, and September 30, 2025. Bonus to be deposited within 30 days after qualifying.
I've got to concede, though, that the cd labeler tale has mine beat by the sheer timespan. The best I could come back with for the duration and hilarity would be one where the finance department for a major dealership chain had tried to get me to return a car I bought from them because they thought they sold it to me too cheaply, but that one did not even push a year... Perhaps, I should try opening an account w T Rowe Price - I've never had one and from @hank's comment as well as what else I've read on MO that sounds promising!
$TRUMP cryptocurrency, which for MM folks here, is up over 600% year to date. By far the best investment of the year and it goes up 10% a month on average. It may crash at some point, but just have to read between the tweets.
Now you may be able to buy
$TRUMP cryptocurrency In your 401K. If your company refuses, just call White House and the IRS may perform a million dollar audit and disallow all deductions for the company.
I hope Treasury Secy has been buying $TRUMP cryptocurrency with Billions in Treasury bills he’s been selling the past month. Deficit for year could have disappeared with my simple advice, but I don’t have the 24K Gold plate or airplane gifts to get heard.
For that use the OFF TOPIC forum.
Perhaps worth noting is that Raisin itself is a fintech company, and the FDIC insurance is pass through ("inherited" from Sallie Mae or whomever). Like Fidelity that also sells CDs, it is not a US chartered bank and is not a "member FDIC".
Deposits are sent to a custodial bank (Lewis & Clark or Starion Bank) that is FDIC-insured. The custodial bank in turn aggregates deposits for a given partner bank (such as Sallie Mae) and puts the total into an omnibus account at the partner bank. Generally the custodian bank is responsible for keeping track of how much each depositor owns in that omnibus account.
This usually all happens smoothly, invisibly. But on one occasion (where the intermediary was Synapse), the bookkeeping (not the banks) failed. IMHO this not a risk worth worrying about. OTOH if one can do about as well without going through a fintech, then why take the chance? On the third hand, Raisin offers a measure of convenience similar to using a brokerage rather than going directly to a bank.
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/62442/fintech-apps-yotta-funds-missing
One other curiosity. All of Raisin's no-penalty CDs have a 30 day lock up. 7 days is typical in the industry. See, e.g. Ally (withdraw after 6 days), CITbank (beginning 7 days after funds have been received), etc.