Best Interest Rate Banks

If you have a few extra dollars and are considering investing in the stock market but find yourself a little scared, don’t worry. Everyone new to the stock market is always wary of it because it’s such a huge beast. Millions of shares trade hands each day, billions of dollars fly around, and that’s just on the New York Stock Exchange. There’s the NASDAQ, Chicago, and countless other international stock exchanges. When you add in foreign exchange opportunities, options, derivatives, futures… it’ll make your head spin and give you a good reason to hold on for a minute. And that’s OK.

Take your time, there’s no rush, the market will be there once you’ve had an opportunity to read up more about how the markets operate and how you can best protect yourself against disaster. While you learn, put your funds in an online bank and it’ll earn a competitive interest rate that won’t make your retirement, but it won’t break it either.

Some people recommend putting your money in an index fund while you spend time learning, I think that’s a mistake unless you plan on learning for about five years. If the market takes a nosedive, as it did last October, you’ll have to leave your money in there and all your research will be put on hold until it recovers. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s simply not what you planned to do.

One great place to do this is E*Trade because you can have a bank linked to a brokerage account. While your cash is waiting for a good place to go, it can earn a competitive interest rate and be instantly transferred to your brokerage account if you need it for a trade.