Forget 1% CDs — This Alternative Pays Four Times More

1.80%. That's the highest paying FDIC-insured bank CD I could find on BankRate.com. And that's only if keep my money tied up for five years! The average one-year CD pays just 0.72% APY. I remember when I worked for a community bank a few years ago, just after CD interest rates plummeted from a healthy 5% to a paltry 2%.  Bank CDs, a product that customers would have lined up for in the past, became a tough sell — especially to retirees that actually depended on the interest to live every day. When I told one of our elderly customers he'd have to invest in a five-year CD to get a rate even remotely close to the . . . → Read More: Forget 1% CDs — This Alternative Pays Four Times More