NC State Employees Credit Union Bridge Account Historical Returns

January 6, 2011 by Slug · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Investing, Savings

Back in August 2010, I recommended a move into the NC State Employees Credit Union Bridge Account as a good risk compared to the low returns offered in traditional money market accounts. That has turned out to be a prescient call since it’s paid off at 3% returns for the past 2 quarters!

For those of you unfamiliar with the NC State Employees Credit Union Bridge Account, it offers a riskless opportunity to invest in the S&P 500. To quote a popular personal finance blogger (me!),

The interest rate on this account is variable and pays quarterly. It varies with the movement of the S&P 500 fund. If the S&P 500 is up for the quarter you receive that return (up to 3%). This may not seem like much, but it translates to a 12.00%APR/12.55%APY. Not bad given current money market and CD rates.
But Slug, what happens if the S&P 500 has another quarter like this last one where it fell almost 10%? Nothing happens. That’s right, your money just sits there and loses no value. You gain no interest, but in exchange you aren’t exposed to any downside in the market.

Sounds good, right? Back in August I also tried to construct a proxy for historical returns. It turns out though all I had to do was go to my local NC State Employees Credit Union, and I could have their actual returns. Let me present those here, and then we can talk through them. Read more

Tags: NC State Employees Credit Union

Quest for a Million – Net Worth – 1/2011

January 4, 2011 by Slug · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Net Worth

Money! photo © 2005 Tracy O | more info (via: Wylio)
This is my second post on net worth and the first of the new year. Now that we have 1 month’s worth of data, we can begin to look at how my net worth changes over time. And, since it’s the beginning of a new year, perhaps it’s time to set some goals as well.