Comments on: CD Rate Interest Calculator

By: Uncle Sam

Uncle Sam — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 00:15:38 +0000

The confusion lies in the fact that people don’t understand decimals. My bank reports 0.45% APY (Annual Percentage Yield on a 12 month cd. This means the cd is based on a compounding period of 1 year/12 months. 0.45% literally means just .05% shy of being a whopping 1/2 of 1% of earned interest. Sadly due to inflation currently resting at approximately 3.8% thanks to the people calling the shots in this country, my 1 year cd of $3000 will be worth $2,901 when it mattures. This tells me that I need to find an alternative investment option that can produce greater than 5.5% ROI unless I’m ok with donating money to the bank and government. (Which I’m not.) Federal reserve… eat your heart out. The people will learn of your secret and understand…. THIS. IS. AMERICA!!!

By: Abe

Abe — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:08:41 +0000

I totally agree with Mike. Thanks again Jim.

By: mike

mike — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:24:55 +0000

why is everyone so confused on how to use this? it is the most straight-foward thing i have ever seen

By: alex

alex — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 18:43:15 +0000

Corrie,

you enter .3505 in to the AYP

By: Corrie

Corrie — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 02:52:06 +0000

If my APY is 0.3505% , is that what i put in the AYP ? or would i put 35?? This stuff barely makes sense to me :0

By: jeanie

jeanie — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 01:52:05 +0000

Okay, I put 11,100 in a cd in a bank that will earn 1.99% APY for the term of 9 months. Yet after 3.5 full months, now it has only earned 13.95.

what is with that? Also I put 10,000 in a cd in another bank for 1.59% for 2 year term and after 3 months it earned 30.00. That calculates to 1.21%. What is going on please? thanks.

By: cdiver

cdiver — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:41:35 +0000

The calculator returns earned interest for the entire life of the cd, which is an input variable.

By: Crystal

Crystal — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:31:58 +0000

So the “caculate interest.. Is this yearly or monthly? I put 12 in the compound frequency. Thanks in advance.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:02:40 +0000

Don’t put anything in the fields besides numbers, otherwise it gets confused.

By: Jinglebells

Jinglebells — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:41:34 +0000

Jim I still can’t get it to give me the interest erned.Message “Please enter a valid APY period value”
I put in the interest 2.00% for 11 Mo 25,000.& 365 (I also added days along w/the 365.)& still get same message what am I doing wrong?
Thanks

By: jim

jim — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:47:01 +0000

Taxes and inflation are outside the scope and purpose of this calculator. Inflation is also something that’s constantly changing, I don’t think most users of the calculator will be concerned with looking up inflation rates before making their decisions. CDs are just part of one’s investment strategy, the safe part.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:41:46 +0000

This is nice and all, but can you add some lines to the equation to factor in taxes and inflation so we get a net-net return.

4% apy CD, 12 months-taxes-inflation= negative what?

$605.96-20% for federal taxes-3% for state taxes-4% simple inflation= what number. A negative number?

By: fivecentnickel.com

fivecentnickel.com — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:12:01 +0000

Ah, good point.

By: jim

jim — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:21:58 +0000

The APY accounts for that for 12 months, but for 18 you don’t just cut the APY in half and apply it to the extra 6 months. The period still matters because you have to bring it down to APR and then calculate it across the number of months the CD is valid for.

By: fivecentnickel.com

fivecentnickel.com — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:15:32 +0000

Right, but even for longer terms, the frequency field is extraneous. If you asked for APR, then it would make sense to include the frequency field, but APY already accounts for that.