BROADCASTS.com

b'With\\xa0Greg McBride, Chief Financial Analyst, BankRate.com



Greg McBride gives us BankRate.com\\u2019s 2016 Financial Outlook. He starts with the Federal Reserve and says he doubts that the Fed will actually go through with raising interest rates changes four times in 2016, as they\\u2019ve indicated. Greg sees them raising rates twice in 2016, or perhaps three times at the most\\u2026 and that\\u2019s going to increase the price of money across the U.S. economy and the world.

The dynamic this time around is also different \\u2013 banks are sitting on huge sums of investor deposits and are in no rush to raise interest rates on savings and CDs to attract deposits\\u2026 so investors will likely have to work harder to earn a decent return on capital \\u2013 perhaps looking at credit unions, online banks or smaller banks for slightly higher rates. The post-2008 regulation on banking has also restricted lending \\u2013 so they\\u2019ve raised the cost of borrowing but are going to hold down rates paid on deposits. But borrowers beware of adjustable rate loans, because in a rising interest rate environment, higher rates could really throw your finances off balance. So this is still a great time to switch to an appropriate fixed-rate mortgage to avoid higher monthly payments and insulate yourself from rising rates.

Greg also warns against early cashing out of your CDs because early withdrawal penalties could cost you more than the interest you\\u2019ve earned on that deposit. So if you have some CDs, just bide your time, let that money stay in the CD till it matures, and only then cash it out.'