So I was going to open a money market account
 

I've had checking, savings, stocks, and retirement for years but decided to set a little aside in a separate interest bearing MM account. The interest rate quoted to me was .01%. I thought he made a mistake speaking so I asked him to repeat that. This means if I put $1000 in, I'll get all of ten cents interest at the end of the year, on a grand. I'd have to put $10k in to get $1 in interest. I told the guy it's not worth the gas to drive over with the check.

I knew rates were low, but dammmmm!

Check out the Treasury rates...also next to nothing.

That said, we're quite a bit into cash right now...not much in equities, just waiting and watching.

Many are a little better, but not much.

Top 50 Money Market Rates & High Interest Savings Accounts

Mine is somewhere around .5% so a little better than that. That is a far cry from when I first opened it 12 years ago at 8%. So sad.

Everbank intro is 1.25 going to 1% currently.

MMA Rates by Bankrate.com

.01%, may as well put it under the mattress.

This is why I bought a rental condo this last Summer. After taxes, write-offs, expenses, I expect to get maybe 5% ROI this year. Not a lot, but at least better.

Or into another Porsche. :D

Yup. Not worth the time to take it to the bank. For the bank either.

Thank Ben Bernake for this.

But that .01% intrest bearing account will not drop like a rock when the idiots in DC push us over the cliff. A matter of balancing your portfolio. Risk vs Reward.

Not sure you can blame Ben for this though. With $16T in debt and a growing dependent population, the guy has very little choice to keep us afloat.

Been managing eight figures (not mine unfortunately) in various low/no risk liquid investments for several years, so have gotten really versed in this. Short story: supply and demand. There are trillions parked in cash and money markets right now - there's vast supply of cash and almost zero demand.

Look into laddering some CDs, which pay a tiny bit to a whole lot better depending on the term.

To put it in context, if I mailed in a check for $1000, it would be 4 years before the interest paid for the stamp. If I drove over it would take 40 years to cover the gas. Not saying interest rates will stay this low forever but based on current rates....

This has got to be hell on retirees depending on interest payments.

Not this retiree. I sold commercial property and am carrying the contract. I demanded 20% down so they wouldn't skip. They wanted 30 years. That was fine by me since I set the interest at 9%. In the case of high inflation, I can increase that, but it will not be lowered. They also cannot pay it all off in any one year, since I didn't want to get burned with capital gains. No more than 1/4 of the balance can be paid in any given year.

Of course, there is more than that, but that's the gist of it.

As the attorney who wrote the contract for me said; "Paul, your ass is covered with a blanket."

As I've posted here before, financial happiness is paying no interest while others pay interest to you. ;)

Paul, I think you could have a second career as a pawnbroker. Franchises are available.
Jim

The company I work for is one of the biggest players in money market funds. I cannot wait until the phrase "fee rebate" is not used during the earnings release. Unfortunately, I think it will be a while.