Page 42 - Kiplinger's Personal Finance - November 2018

TOP-YIELDING SAVINGS
30-day
Taxable Money Market yield as Minimum Website
Mutual Funds of Sept. 4 investment (www.)
Vanguard Prime MMF Inv (VMMXX) 2.09% $3,000 vanguard.com
REWARDS
Invesco Premier Port Inv (IMRXX)* 2.07 1,000 invesco.com
Best Ways to Give Northern MMF (NORXX)* † 1.93 2,500 northerntrust.com
Vanguard Federal MMF (VMFXX) †
vanguard.com
3,000
1.93
30-day Tax eq. yield
Miles and Points Tax-Free Money Market of Sept. 3 bracket investment Website
yield as 24%/35% Minimum
Mutual Funds
(www.)
Vanguard Muni Inv (VMSXX) 1.37% 1.80%/2.11% $3,000 vanguard.com
bnymellon.com
BNY Mellon Ntl Muni M (MOMXX) 1.18 1.55/1.82 10,000
Northern Municipal (NOMXX)* 1.18 1.55/1.82 2,500 northerntrust.com
Fidelity Municipal (FTEXX) 1.17 1.54/1.80 5,000 fidelity.com
SHARING AIRLINE MILES Funk, managing editor
Annual
that you’ve accumulated for travel site One Mile Savings and Money Market yield as Minimum Website
through your credit card at a Time. Deposit Accounts of Sept. 18 amount (www.)
or frequent-flier program Your best bet is to use BankPurely (N.Y.) #ठ2.25% $25,000 bankpurely.com
may sound like a great way your miles to book a ticket Customers Bank (Pa.) #ठ2.25 25,000 customersbank.com
to give the gift of travel this in the recipient’s name. iGObanking (N.Y.) #‡§ 2.25 25,000 igobanking.com
holiday season. But transfer- Most airlines allow you to MySavingsDirect (N.Y.) #§ 2.25 none mysavingsdirect.com
ring miles is usually pricey. do so, and you won’t have Annual
Certifi cates of Deposit yield as Minimum Website
The major U.S. airlines levy to pay extra fees. Or, if you 1-Year of Sept. 18 amount (www.)
fees of about 1 cent to 1.5 know that the recipient
BankPurely (N.Y.) # 2.65% $1,000 bankpurely.com
cents per mile transferred, regularly flies with a cer- iGObanking (N.Y.) # igobanking.com
and most also charge a flat tain carrier, you could buy 2.65 1,000
North America Savings Bank (Mo.) # 2.63 none nasb.com
fee of $15 to $30 per trans- him or her its gift card, if
Limelight Bank (Utah) #¶ 2.61 1,000 limelightbank.com
fer. Plus, the programs often it offers one. (But you still
Annual
may want to pay cash rather Certifi cates of Deposit yield as Minimum Website
than redeem miles to buy 5-Year of Sept. 18 amount (www.)
RATE UPDATES
the gift card—you’ll likely United States Senate FCU (D.C.) & 3.47% $20,000 ussfcu.org
For the latest savings yields squeeze more value from KS State Bank (Kan.) 3.37 500 ksstate.bank
and loan rates, visit kiplinger miles by using them for Communitywide FCU (Ind.) & comwide.com
.com/links/rates. For our top flights.) State Department FCU (D.C.) & 3.30 2,000 sdfcu.org
rewards cards, go to kiplinger 3.29 500
Want to share hotel *Fund is waiving all or a portion of its expenses. † Gabelli US Treasury MMF AAA off ers a similar
.com/links/rewards. yield. #Internet only. ‡ Money market deposit account. §Northfield Bank offers a similar yield.
points? Hotels typically
¶TIAA Bank offers a similar yield. & Must be a member; to become a member, see website.
don’t let you book a room SOURCES: Bankrate, DepositAccounts, Money Fund Report (iMoneyNet).
impose caps on the num- for someone else with your
ber of miles you can move. points, says Funk. But their TOP CHECKING ACCOUNTS
With United MileagePlus, policies for transferring or
Must meet activity requirements* Annual
for example, you can trans- pooling points are often yield as Balance Website
fer a maximum of 25,000 more generous. For example, High-Yield Checking of Sept. 18 range † (www.)
miles per transaction (with with the Hilton Honors America's Credit Union (Wash.) # 5.00% $0–$1,000 youracu.org
a 100,000-mile limit per program, you can transfer First Financial Credit Union (Ill.) # 5.00 0–2,500 firstfcu.org
year). At a rate of 1.5 cents points to another member Consumers Credit Union (Ill.) # 4.59 0–20,000 myconsumers.org
per mile plus a $30 fee, or pool your points with La Capital FCU (La.) # 4.25 0–3,000 lacapfcu.org
transferring 25,000 United up to 10 other members *To earn the maximum rate, you must meet requirements such as using your debit card several
miles would set you back free. World of Hyatt lets times monthly and receiving electronic statements. † Portion of the balance higher than the
listed range earns a lower rate or no interest. # Must be a member; to become a member, see
$405—or what you might you share points or other website. SOURCES: Bankrate, DepositAccounts.
pay to simply buy a ticket. awards, such as free nights
Alternatively, you could and select room upgrades,
Month- Year- As of September 18, 2018.
buy miles from the airline at no extra charge. And YIELD BENCHMARKS Yield ago ago ● EE savings bonds purchased
after May 1, 2005, have a
and give them to someone you can transfer Marriott U.S. Series EE savings bonds 0.10% 0.10% 0.10% fi xed rate of interest.
else. But you’ll pay up to Rewards points for a $10 U.S. Series I savings bonds 2.52 2.52 1.96 ● Bonds bought between
3.5 cents per mile with the fee (or no fee if you have Six-month Treasury bills May 1, 1995, and May 1, 2005,
earn a market-based rate
1.18
2.24
2.36
big domestic carriers. “In a status of Gold Elite or Five-year Treasury notes 2.94 2.75 1.83 from date of purchase.
general, I don’t recommend higher). LISA GERSTNER Ten-year Treasury notes 3.05 2.87 2.23 ● Bonds purchased before
May 1, 1995, earn a minimum
either option,” says Tiffany lgerstner@kiplinger.com SOURCE FOR TREASURIES: U.S. Treasury of 4% or a market-based rate
from date of purchase.
11/2018 KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE 47
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