Ally Bank: 4.75% APY, 11-Month No Penalty CD – Doctor Of Credit

IMO the Ally No Penalty CD is almost as good as a Savings account as you can withdraw the funds anytime you want (before it matures) penalty free. The one downside I can think of is that if you only want to withdraw part of the funds, you’ll have to withdraw them entirely, then open a new No Penalty CD for the remaining balance (assuming the rate remains as good or better). It’s a few extra steps, but it’s less work than establishing a new account at Marcus (assuming you don’t currently have one but do have one at Ally).

FYI, one way to reduce the need to close and open new No Penalty CDs is to open several CDs (for varying amounts) at the beginning. Let’s say you have $25K to invest into a CD. Instead of dumping all $25K into a single CD, open five (5) CDs for $1K/ea, two (2) CDs for $5K/ea, and one CD for $10K. That’ll total $25K. This way you can withdraw any combination of money you need (in increments of $1K), up to your $25K, by closing the respective CDs totaling the amount you need. This is sometimes referred to as a CD ladder.