Money Market Mutual Funds: Pain That Won't Yield

Great column by Steven Syre in the Boston Globe this week about money market mutual funds.

Pain that won't yield

Start with yields: We are living through what surely feels like the Dust Bowl of short-term investing. The average taxable money fund offered a yield of 0.07 percent last week, according to iMoneyNet of Westborough. The company, which has been tracking money market yields since 1975, never recorded a lower number. You could grow old waiting to earn just 1 percent.

Syre goes on to mention that while yields have dipped to near zero, the safety of money market mutual funds is in question as well after the Reserve Primary Fund "broke the buck" last year.

A suggestion if you're looking for better returns coupled with investment safety - certificates of deposit. While the national average cd rate yield is also fairly low, with MoneyAisle.com's reverse auction platform you can get a much higher rate than the national average. You can see what the overnight MoneyAisle CD Rates are here: MoneyAisle CD Rates. It's free, it's safe, and it's easy to use.

In fact, it's the opposite of Syre's column title: it's not painful, and it will yield.