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My mother has recently won a lawsuit against the state, and she is set to receive about $35-40k after lawyer/court fees.  Problem is, she has no clue how she should manage it.  She says that she doesn’t want to blow the money, but on the other hand she doesn’t want to stash it away for years. She is looking for something that will allow her to maximize the growth over a short period (approximately 2 years) while having the convenience of being able to touch the money in times of emergency. Would you suggest placing the money into a Money Market Account or a high yield savings account? - Dosh, Delaware

Dosh,
Thanks for asking another question. If your mother is looking to safely maximize her return over the next two years, she should avoid equities. Unfortunately, many high yield savings accounts are also not offering the same 5% interest rates they were last summer. Does your mother need access to all $35-40k at once? If she has some flexibility with this, I would recommend taking a look at CDs. In the current financial landscape, certificates of deposit offer relatively attractive rates with the bonus of being FDIC insured. One caveat to CDs is that your mother will pay an early withdrawal penalty if she needs to access the money before the maturity dates of the CDs.

If your mother wants immediate access in case of emergency for all of her money, I would recommend creating an online savings account with a provider like Emigrant Direct or ING Direct. Right now those two banks offer annual percentage yields of 2.75% and 3.00% respectively. A note of caution: your mother should not keep more than $100,000 in a single bank account, as the FDIC only insures amounts up to $100,000. If a bank were to have liquidity problems and your mother had $150,000 in her account, she could potentially lose $50,000.