By Trent Hamm
When I first started writing The Simple Dollar, it was quite easy to find savings accounts that offered interest rates as high as 5%. Even more amazing, banks offered certificates of deposit (CDs) that had rates that approached (or sometimes crossed) 6%.
In that environment, there were a lot of pieces of personal finance advice that made sense that might not make sense now.
I’ll give you a clear example: CD ladders. I wrote about the idea of CD ladders almost four years ago, but the concept is simple to explain. Let’s say that a bank is selling 3-month CDs at 5%.
On January 1, you buy a CD.
On February 1, you buy a second CD.
On March 1, you buy a third CD.
On April 1, the CD you bought in January matures. You use the proceeds from... More...
