Good morning Reader!

If you want to know what interest rates will do and we're far from a Fed meeting, the best place to look is the 10-Year Treasury yield. When there's news (or even just before!), you can see it reflected in the changing yield of the 10 Year.

For example, the 10-Year jumped to 4.595% this week on the news of new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's confirmation and inflation data.

When the yield goes up, interest rates go up. When it goes down, interest rates go down.

You're probably wondering why not just pay attention to the Fed funds rate? The Fed funds rate is a policy tool (the Fed "sets" the rate) while the 10-Year Treasury is a rate established by the market through trading activity.

Both are important but the 10 Year is the benchmark used by banks to set their interest rates on long term loans like a 30-year fixed mortgage.

💲 Best Bank Rates (as of 5/20):

💰 High Yield Savings - 4.00% APY + $400 from SoFi​

🏛️ Short Term Treasury - VBIL 3.58%, SGOV 3.54%

📀 Certificates of Deposit (see all 40k+ rates)

🔍 We list nationwide rates, CD Valet has local rates which can be higher so click through to double check for your state.

• Best: 9% from American Airlines FCU (9mo Anniversary Special - click All CDs)
• 6 months: 4.15% from TBO Bank​
• 12 months: 4.15% from LendingClub Bank (11mo)
• 60 Months: 4.20% from First National Bank of America​

💵 Bank Bonuses - $450 US Bank, $400 Sofi, $500 Bank of America, $400 BMO, $1500 Raisin & more​

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🏦 Should You Switch Banks?

One of the easiest wins in money is going from a regular savings account to a high yield savings account (HYSA). If your bank has branches, there's a good chance your savings account pays something miserable like 0.01%. Switch to a high yield savings account.​

What if you're already have a HYSA but there are other accounts with slightly higher rates?

You can use this simple calculator to decide if it's worth switching.

​👉 Should I Switch Banks?​

🧑‍💻 Remove Your Data from Brokers

You already know data brokers have your personal information and sell it to third parties, the question is what can you do about it?

You can ask them to remove it. It's time-consuming but important if you don't want to pay a service to do it for you. (DeleteMe is $10/month and Incogni is $8/mo)

Here are step by step instructions, I just did a few each weekend:

​👉 How to remove your information from data brokers (has links to each brokers' opt out page)

🗞️ Money Stuff I Found Interesting

Here are some interesting articles you may have missed:

• ⭐ The One Security Setting That Could Save Your Life Savings [Rob Berger] - It's 2fa... set it up!
• ​Which college majors offer the best long-term return on investment? [CBS News]
• ​How Portfolio Diversification Works in Inflationary Periods [Morningstar]
• ​The Risk-Wealth Paradox [Nick Maggiulli]

💵 Good Deals If You Need Them

• AARP is running a Memorial Day sale - only $11 a year and anyone can join to get their discounts.
• ​50% off Monarch Money with code SMARTMONEY, makes it just $50 a year for the first year.
• ​Origin is an AI-powered budgeting tool and it's only $1 for the first year.
• If you like affordable wine, Firstleaf is running a sale, six wines for $40 + free shipping.

What did you think of today's email?​
✅ I Loved It! 🟨 It Was Okay ❌ Not My Favorite​

Talk to you soon!

Jim

PS. I'm on Instagram! Follow to get videos that can protect you from scams like this travel scam that cost someone over $12,000.

​(see archive of previous emails)​