Highest CD Rates Roundup For Feb. 1

Personal finance websites, this one included, spend a good deal of time referencing the scary stats that are so easy to find today about retirement preparedness.

Let’s avoid those numbers for one day.

I thought it would be interesting, instead, to see if there’s a secret sauce — so to speak — that successful retirees have used.

Turns out, a recent survey sought to answer this basic question: How did you do it?

I can’t say the results of the TD Ameritrade survey are particularly surprising, but they certainly reinforce some positive behaviors. In fact, we hope Bankaholic contributes a bit to one of the primary reasons people are successful in retirement: saving wisely.

Here are the top 5 things successful retirees said contributed to their preparation:

• Limiting use of credit
• Saving early and consistently
• Limiting discretionary spending
• Earning a good salary
• Maintaining a well-balanced portfolio

With saving in mind, we turn toward the best CD rates in the country.

This week we added two deals to our list of the highest CD rates from credit unions and local banks:

• Beacon Credit Union (www.beaconcu.org) in Indiana pays 2.11% APY on 60-month CDs, 1.61% APY on 34-month CDs and 1.51% APY on 36-month CDs. Minimum deposits vary. Credit union membership is open to those who live and work in 18 Indiana counties. These counties include the major cities of Anderson, Fort Wayne and Kokomo.
• Crescent Bank & Trust (www.cbtno.com) in Louisiana pays 2.05% APY on 60-month CDs, 1.80% APY on 44-month CDs, 1.60% APY on 37-month CDs and 1.55% APY on 35-month CDs. Minimum deposits vary. You have to be a Louisiana resident to purchase these certificates of deposit and do so in person at one of Crescent Bank & Trust’s branches in and surrounding New Orleans.

There are a couple other bits of rates news to report.

First, Pentagon Federal Credit Union, which has raised its CD rates at the beginning of each of the last two months, has kept its yields unchanged for the month of February. Several of these nationally available rates are among the top deals on our list.

Also, USAlliance Federal Credit Union has extended its Friday-only deals through February. We wrote about these nationally available CDs in January.

We also have a couple of rate cuts to report.

San Antonio Federal Credit Union cut its 10-year CD from 2.70% APY to 2.60% APY and its 7-year CD from 2.34% APY to 2.25% APY.

And we removed Wings Financial Credit Union from our list after it trimmed its 36-month CD rates.

You’ll find all the top-paying deals clearly marked on our highest CD rates page, showing where they are available, with a quick link back to the original post, which includes more information on the institution and its requirements.

We’ll update this page weekly, so you’ll always know what great deals are out there from credit unions and local banks.

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