re: are cd's a good idea?

quote:

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Your grandparents are probably remembering a time when CDs yielded 5-6%. However at this time mortgages were also likely in the 8-10% range. People don't always acknowledge the big picture when talking about "The good ole days."

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I long for those old days because I'm hitting those "done borrowing, time to save and draw interest days." But I sure appreciated those low interest rates in recent years. My dad was always a cash guy. Bought everything - houses, cars, boats - with cash. If he didn't have the cash for it, he didn't buy it. CDs were the riskiest investments he ever made. He lived off of interest for a long time. Post-Katrina, he's had to go deep into his principal, though he has enough to last his lifetime. Back in the early 90s I tried to sell him on index funds. At the time he said it was fine for me, but he didn't have enough years left to take risks with his money. Geez - the money he'd have now if he listened to me. Those high interest rates were very kind to a guy like him though.