which is the fastest way of dubbling my money u.s. gov. bonds ($50 for $100 in 5 years)or cds from your bank?
960695
The time needed to double your money depends on the interest rate.  Currently you can get 5% or 6% some places on CD's.  At 5%, it would take 14 1/2 years to double your money.  To double in 5 years, you'd have to find an interest rate of 15% - you're not going to find that today on safe investments like gov bonds or bank CD's.
851405
Money market.\n\nHighly liquid (you can draw on it whenever you want).\nNo penalties for withdrawal (like in CD or Money Market Funds)\nGood yield (you get about 4.50% at ING, which is only about a 60 basis point sacrifice for the liquidity you are looking for).\nNo risk (e.g. FDIC insured, no volatility in price)\n\nAddendum: Since liquidity is a huge part of what you need, laddering CDs is not a good idea since you are guaranteed to forfeit interest income that is greater than the yield pickup from investing in CDs compared to money market. Also, careful about money market funds - there is a penalty for withdrawing money early as Vanguard discourages "trading".  Also, I wouldn't do munis since you "only" have $100k.  Not to belittle this amount (as it is a sizeable amount), but it hints that you are not in a tax bracket high enough to make the lower yield in munis worthwhile.
1076510
As long as you have the savings bonds and they have your name on them, you only have to take them to a bank.  With you proper ID they will be able to cash them in for you and will be able to give you the proper interest.  They stop earning interest after a certain amount of time, so don't let them hang on for say 25 year thinking you'll earn lots of money, you do better investing them or putting them in a mutual fund.
474746
Yes. Go to usbonds.gov.  The have a whole section dedicated to lost U.S. bonds.  You can also now electronically store them (no more paper bonds).
981755
You are somewhat nebulous in your question.  What is substatntial to you and what is too much money to you? And how much risk are you willing to take?  \n\nING pays about 5% on on line savings accounts.  High yield bond funds pay about 9%.  You can purchase those through an on line broker or through a mutual fund.
974739
Bank CD's usually have a penalty for early withdrawal.  If you cash in a Tbill early, you might win or lose, depending on current interest rates.  There's also another commission to pay the broker when you sell the Tbill versus letting it mature.\n\nAs far as safety goes, Tbills are the safest but CD's are pretty close.  You also don't have to pay state income tax on Tbills.
382614
I think you would be better off putting that 20k into a 90-day CD at or around 4.5%.  Thus eliminating the chance of losing it.
190710
Put it in a CD until you have $ 10,000 to invest in Exchanged Traded Fund
773962
Apply for a secured credit card.Deposit,let say $500,and your credit limit equals that amount.Use it for expenses you would otherwise make,like buying gas,groceries,phone bill,...etc.\nWhen the bill arrives,pay it in full.This way you avoid paying expensive interest while building credit.\nAfter a year or so of doing this,your credit card issuer,will raise your limit and convert you to a non secured card (you get your $500 back).\nAlso buy a CD (certificate of deposit) at your local bank say for 6months or one year term.Use that CD as a collateral to obtain an installement loan from the bank. Make the payments on time for at least six months before paying it off.\nThese two methods will certainly raise your credit profile.\nBut also important is save,save and save money for a down payment of at least 5-10% of the cost of that condo.It will make you less of a risk to lenders. Try to avoid meaningless consumerism and keep your long term goal of owning your own place permanent in your mind,and I am sure you will reach your goal.\nBTW,like tyou I am a relatively recent (legal)-chill out Lou Dobbs-LOL- immigrant to the US. I got here little bit over five years ago and own my condo,and just closed on a second house.It can be done.Whatever the Mind can Conceive and Believe,the Mind can Achieve.\nPeace
1067682
Government Bonds are issued by the US Treasury.  The treasury can print money so you can always be assured that you will receive greenbacks when you redemn your bonds.  The problem for investers is that the US Government is deeply in debt and has an obligation to pay Social Security and Medicare that it can't meet without borrowing more.    In order to pay future obligations the US government will have to pay higher and higher interest rates.  The higher rates on bonds issued in the future will diminish the market value of the bonds issued at low rates in the past.  If you hold your US bonds until matuity you will receive US currency for them - but what will it buy?
1036940
If you dont plan on touching the money for a while, a CD would be good. They have interest rates around 4 percent.
1159412
they are not priced they are determined by the amount of time you want to lock in your money.  For instance you have $10000.00 okay.  You want to lock it away for 90 days at 4.5% apr.  If you pull your money out before 90 days that will penalize you something like 6 months interest.  You can't add fund until the CD matures.  You can add if you want to roll it over and do it all again or you can pull your money.
273207
By wanting a 6 month CD I'm assuming that you may be needing the money at that time.  If this is the case, a better alternative would probably be a high interest savings account.  Most of them are actually paying higher then short term CD's.  Try online either ING, Capital One Bank, or Allstate Bank.
92347
If you want to be 100% safe long term bank deposits would be safest. Next best thing are bank bonds/certificates the Gov't Banks issue out.\n\nOf course, investing in anything else would introduce risks and possibly increased returns/losses.\n\nAny investment that probably promises me anything more than 5% with no risk would be highly questionable.
212176
It depends on how long you plan to have you money lock by the investment. \n\n(1) For long-term, I would suggest bonds. In the past, bonds offer better rate for long-term. (However, this is not true recently.)\n(2) For short-term, CD is easier to liquidate (or the penalty of getting out of it could be smaller).
60557
Yahoo! is good for some answers, not for others. Ask your lawyer to recommend a stockbroker or financial advisor, and ask him/her this question.\n\nThere is a thing called risk-return ratio. The more you risk, the higher the (possible) return. If you put the money in a CD, it will get 3% - 5% and be as safe as you can get. Other investment have higher risks. To take an extreme example, if you put $1,000 into a one-year CD at 4%, at the end of the year you'd have $1,004, unless the US Government collapsed. \n\nIf, on the other hand, you flew to Las Vegas and put your $1,000 on "Red" at a roulette table, at the end of 45 seconds you'd have either $2,000 or nothing. Roulette carries a lot of risk, but the returns are high.\n\nStocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate partnerships, rare coins and stamps, uncut diamonds, race horses, classic muscle cars, old paintings - there are risks and possible returns with all of them. You have to decide how much risk you are comfortable with. Any banker, stockbroker or financial advisor worthy of the name will tell you the same thing. \n\nLong-term CD's are guaranteed by the FDIC; they almost always have the highest return for virtually no risk. 1-year CD's are running about 4.12% today (see link).\n\nIf the finacial advisor you go to has a sure-fire way to get over 8% a year, with NO risk, put one hand onyour wallet and walk away, slowly, never taking your eyes off his hands.\n\nThere are ways to get a 10%, 20% or 30% return on your money. They all carry some amount of risk of a 10%, 50% or 100% loss. The higher the potential return, the higher the potential risk.
141241
It depends. You would have to work out the interest rates to see which one will yield you the most money. My guess is that the daily compounded cd will yield the most. Go to http://www.finaid.org/calculators/scripts/compoundinterest.cgi to see what will yield the most over the time period you need.