What is Your Favorite "Safe" Investment : CDs, Online Savings, etc...

[ElCubano]

I have my "CASH" in a high yielding savings account (Right now 1.85%) and I just bought T-bills at auction with Treasury Direct.

1.85 is where I'm at. HSBC has 2% just saw it the other day.

 

[mbondy]

Yeah, that is true. "absolute safety" is a whole different thing. T-bonds, T-notes, T-bills, TIPS, etc. should not be seen as safe either as the US Government could theoretically go bankrupt.

When you can print money, it is not possible, theoretically or otherwise, to go bankrupt.

US government debt is the safest investment vehicle there is.

 

[Edith.M]

Any trade with a stop loss and proper money management consideration is a safe investment to me.

 

[sle]

When you can print money, it is not possible, theoretically or otherwise, to go bankrupt.

That, by the way, is not true. The US government has been in default on it's obligations several times. Besides the ancient history (i.e. the War of 1812 and the withdrawal from the gold standard during the Great Depression), the US had a so-called “mini-default” in 1979 and has changed the bond covenants when it abandoned the gold standard in the early 1970s. Both would constitute a proper, CDS-triggering default.

 

[zghorner]

I wanted to give an update to Interactive Brokers idle cash interest policy after speaking with a representative...

- They pay 1.68% on idle cash in your account.
- They pay that interest ONLY IF your account (including equities) has a value over $100,000.
- They do not pay interest on the first $10,000 of idle cash.

EXAMPLE: You have $90k in stock and $10k cash sitting in your account -> You will earn ZERO interest.
Now if you have $90k in stock and $20k in cash sitting in your account -> You will earn 1.68% interest on ONLY $10k.

Kind of shifty IMO but still better than nothing. Im only at $80k in my account so now torn between putting another $20k in or open an online savings account.

 

[Grentez]

The safest investment - real estate purchasing. Of course, its not interesting for everyone, but I think l, buying real estate means that it is safe to invest money in your future.

 

[ironchef]

The safest investment - real estate purchasing. Of course, its not interesting for everyone, but I think l, buying real estate means that it is safe to invest money in your future.

Safe if you bought in 2006-07-08?

 

[Handle123]

Real estate is like any other investment, you buy too high, your property might take decades to recover the losses, and when real estate takes a hit, rents go down, so you could be sitting on over priced property and can't get but half the mortgage each month for rent. I don't know if Las Vegas has fully recovered from the meltdown, or even Florida. There was so much flipping back in 2006-2008. Of course like in buy low, after meltdowns, buy cheap and see rise in both capital appreciation and rents.