7. Make sure your cash is really safe
Sadly, investors who've been saving in "cash equivalents" have discovered there's no way to grab for more yield without getting a fistful of extra risk.
Short-term bond funds - sometimes used as money fund substitutes - are down more than 1% this year. Ultra-short-term bond funds have lost nearly 3%, partly because of the mortgage mess.
Yet you don't need nontraditional accounts to earn decent yields. With the Fed likely to raise rates soon, money fund yields, now about 1.9%, could climb. Some online banks are already beefing up savings offers. HSBC Direct extended a 3.5% yield, originally set to expire in August, to mid-September.
NEXT: Keep expenses low, low, low
Last updated August 16 2008: 4:37 PM ET
RSS
