Compound interest at higher than 3% interest; WHERE ARE THEY?!?....?

Question

Yeah so great, I've been reading about the magic of, the power of, the whatever of compound interest in personal finance books, even the wachovia mainpage; I mean all over. Sounds great. Charts look good, I can do math well so I buy into the numbers, cool; good sell on me. And i'm 20 so I want to start early and so on. Compound interest on high yield savings account. I'm all for starting it and being disciplined and maybe even automating the process if it's free. Yipee.

My question is this. Where the h**l are these d**n accounts they keep referring to?! I've seen charts and examples and so on trying to sell me on the idea at like 8-10%interest annually which is compounded quarterly from a LOT of different sources, but I can't FIND THESE ACCOUNTS. Not every example comes from a book that the author is hoping you'll buy it cause you get excited over inflated rate estimates, so are they all just ******* acting like finding a place w/8% is nothing? Or is this just a job for.. yahoo!..?

Answer 1

go to www.bankrate.com which will show you all the interest rates available in different high yield savings.

8% is not a risk-free type return.  No savings account will pay you 8%.

As a very general statement, people have believed over time you will earn 8% to 10% in the stock market over time.  Obviously with the market down 15% this year, that is being challenged.  That's probably where your books are getting those numbers from.