You open up five cds with staggered term lengths so that one new cd comes due each year and then renew it into a five year cd.
5 year cd ladder.
The traditional cd ladder model divides your investment evenly over five cds with one cd maturing each year.
If you had 10 000 to invest you could spread out your money like this.
Choose a model cd ladder.
Sample 5 year cd ladder.
A five year term may get you closer to 3.
More about these products high yield cds.
Instead of locking all your money up by opening.
The five year five cd ladder this is the baseline cd ladder strategy we outlined above.
How we make money.
Essentially a cd ladder is an investment strategy where you invest in a series of individual cds with staggered maturity dates.
2 000 in a.
Over these 5 years your money will have grown a lot the whole time you were climbing.
Choose whether you want the maturing positions in your cd ladder to be returned to cash or use auto roll to automatically reinvest in new cds at the end of the ladder.
If you decide to renew your cd the bank may do so automatically and roll it into another cd with the same term as the old one.
The downside of course is that you are much more likely to liquidate a 5 year cd in an emergency losing money to the penalty most banks charge for early withdrawals.
Five year cds are also a popular choice for cd ladder strategies.
Once the 1 year cd matures you reinvest that money into a 5 year cd and you do that every year.
After four years all of your cds will be in five year cds earning the maximum amount of interest.
By using a cd ladder however you can get the higher rates that accompany longer terms while also reducing the risk that you ll need to liquidate a cd before it matures.
1 year 2 year or 5 year.
It s important to remember that rates are subject to change over time.
The cd ladder illustrated below was calculated using your initial deposit amount and today s rates.
Build a cd ladder to grow your savings.
Select the fidelity account in which you want to build your model cd ladder and enter the total amount you want to invest.
Get a certificate of deposit with our highest fixed cd rate for a fixed term.
A common cd ladder is to divide your money among five separate cds with staggered terms 1 year 2 year 3 year 4 year and 5 year so that one cd matures every year.
Once your cd matures you can renew it at the current rate withdraw your initial deposit along with the interest or both.