CDs are safe but offer low taxable returns that don't beat inflation. Annuities provide the same principal protection with 1-2% higher rates and tax-deferred growth, so your money actually keeps up with rising costs.
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A certificate of deposit is a safe place to keep our money because it is guaranteed by the FDIC, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. But a certificate of deposit does not earn much interest. In fact, over the last 20 years, the rate of interest on a bank CD hasn't even kept pace with the rate of inflation, which means that the money we save in a certificate of deposit earning less than the rate of inflation, is actually losing value every year. What's more, the little interest we do get on a CD is taxable, even if we don't withdraw it. But did you know that there is an equally safe alternative to a bank CD? An alternative that guarantees and insures your money like a CD, that typically pays at least a 1% or 2% higher rate of interest than a CD. And that doesn't require you to pay tax on that interest each year as you do with a CD. This equally safe alternative to a CD—