When you are in between investment or if you have opted out of the stock market for a time you may wish to look at two of the most popular investment choices around- certificates of deposits and money markets. Here we look at CD and money market rates.

Once the maturation date of the CD has been reached you are left with a few options. You can reinvest the money into a new CD (in other words allow it to roll over) or you can put the funds into your checking account or your savings account. Another option is to cash out the money to use it for whatever you require.

To do a CD cash out you first must wait until your CD has reached the date of maturity. Your bank should send you a letter to let you know once this has taken place. Most financial institutions let their customers know of the upcoming maturation date of a certificate of deposit approximately two to three weeks in advance.

Not only will you be notified of the date but the options left up to you will also be explained. If you choose to do nothing then what will happen is your CD will roll over into a new one and it will be for the same length of time as the original one was for.

To keep your money safe in your CD accounts leave it in place for the complete length of the investments. If you take the money out early, even a small portion of it, you will have to pay a penalty. The penalty may come in the form of a cash penalty or forfeiture of interest payments.

Money market accounts are similar to CDs in that they share many of the same benefits. One added benefit of a money market account however that is it has the features of a checking account. Basically a money market can be likened to a mutual fund that always tries to keep its share price at a constant one dollar. Money can be deposited in a money market account and then it is used to invest in such things as certificated of deposits, savings bonds and government t-bills, etc. The income from the account is then paid to whoever opened the money market.

Think very carefully about the length of time you can go without the money you wish to invest before you actually invest it. CD accounts are not the same as savings accounts and you must be well aware of this before you make the decision to invest in this manner.

Find the Highest CD Rates and Highest Certificate Of Deposit