Key takeaways

• Higher interest rates have increased yields on short-term investments including savings accounts, money market funds, certificates of deposit (CDs), and short-term bonds.
• Interest rates may start moving lower later this year, making this a good time to lock in higher yields.
• To decide where to put your cash, you need to consider your goals, time frame, attitude, and needs.

Whether you are looking for a place to stash cash for short-term needs or waiting for the right opportunity to invest it for the long term, you have more opportunities right now to capture relatively high yields than you've had in decades. That's because the Federal Reserve’s policy of keeping interest rates high to fight inflation has pushed up yields on many popular ways to hold cash.

But while the Fed has kept rates “higher for longer” than many predicted, the central bank’s leaders have said they expect to start cutting rates later this year. That makes this an excellent time to make sure your cash is earning as much as it can and to lock in today’s high yields while they’re still available. Once the Fed announces a decision to lower its key interest rate, known as the fed funds rate, yields on cash products are likely to begin declining shortly after. Some are likely to decline sooner after a rate cut than others and that may be another thing to consider as you look at your options for where to put your cash.

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