[Aleta]

Lux Living: You are so right. Although the rates are great now, we don't know what they will be in the future. It is good to ladder so that way you can take advantage of the rates. I have a friend that likes to lock up money in 1 yr CD's. Let's say the minimum is $1000.00 and she wants to invest $5,000; she will be 5 CD's at $1,000. each. She says that if she needs the money, she can break one or two. She looks at what rate she needs to get on deciding which ones to get.

I remember some years back when I got a 9 month CD for 6.85% and I had a gut feeling to buy another one and I didn't. The banker said , "oh don't worry the economy looks good".
WRONG! So, it is good if you can ladder them, say a 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, and 1 year. That way one is coming due every 3 months. Usually the 9 month is the same as the 6 month rate.