{"id":878080,"date":"2026-10-11T02:02:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T02:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/878080\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T02:02:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T02:02:19","slug":"savings-challenge-want-a-high-return-on-your-savings-for-little-to-no-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/878080\/","title":{"rendered":"Savings Challenge: Want a high return on your savings for little to no risk?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:\u00a0 This story was originally featured in the Savings Challenge newsletter, which you can sign up for here<\/a>. The weekly newsletter offers readers savings tips, expert answers to your questions and weekly challenges to help boost savings.\n<\/p>\n

\n When you\u2019ve spent time amassing savings for your near- and medium-term goals, it\u2019s reasonable to want the best return on your money with little risk of losing your principal. Exactly how you can get that is the question.\n <\/p>\n

\n Douglas Boneparth, certified financial expert and cofounder of Bone Fide Wealth, offers a few good suggestions in this week\u2019s Ask the Expert for CNN\u2019s Savings Challenge.\n <\/p>\n

\n A reader from Arizona asks: \u201cHow\/Where can I get a higher return than 4% without super high risk?\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n DOUG: Let\u2019s do the good news first. You don\u2019t have to choose between earning next to nothing in a savings account or riding the volatility rollercoaster in the stock market.\n <\/p>\n

\n Here\u2019s where I\u2019d look:\n <\/p>\n

Dividend-paying stocks or ETFs of blue-chip companies: These can yield 3% to 5%-plus annually, with the potential for price appreciation on top of that. Remember, they carry market risk and their share price can drop in a bad economy, but quality dividend payers tend to be among the more stable equity holdings out there.<\/p>\n

Bond ladders: Instead of a single bond fund, a ladder<\/a> of individual Treasuries or investment-grade corporate bonds locks in yields with known maturity dates. Hold to maturity, and you\u2019re largely insulated from interest-rate swings.<\/p>\n

Balanced funds: These funds, which typically have a 60\/40 or 70\/30 stocks-to-bonds portfolio have historically returned 5% to 7% annually over long periods, with meaningfully lower volatility than going all-in on stocks. This is a classic middle ground for moderate-risk investors.<\/p>\n

\"Douglas<\/p>\n

\n Here\u2019s the thing about risk. The longer you can leave money alone without needing it, the more of it you can comfortably absorb and the higher your potential return. Be sure to match your time horizon to the right strategy so you don\u2019t end up disappointed.\n <\/p>\n

\n Have your own savings question for Doug? Please send it to savingschallenge@cnn.com. You can sign up for the weekly newsletter here.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\n You may think you shouldn\u2019t save in earnest until your debts are paid off. But you may never get out of debt that way.\n <\/p>\n

\n Try to set aside three months or more of living expenses in a high-yield savings account. That emergency fund could prevent you from incurring future debt if you lose your job or get hit with unexpected costs.\n <\/p>\n

\n If your debt is unmanageable, check with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling<\/a> to see if a debt management plan<\/a> might help. Under a DMP, the agency negotiates lower payments and lower interest rates with your creditors. You then send a single payment to NFCC every month, which then sends the agreed-upon amounts to your creditors. But a portion also can be automatically routed into an online savings account for you.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cInstead of finishing a debt payoff plan with zero cash on hand, clients walk away completely debt-free and with a dedicated emergency fund to prevent them from falling back into credit card debt,\u201d said Bruce McClary, a senior vice president at NFCC.\n <\/p>\n

\n (Note: These plans typically involve a start-up fee of about $35 on average, and then a monthly maintenance fee averaging the same amount, McClary said. You also will not be allowed to use credit cards until your debt is paid off.)\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:\u00a0 This story was originally featured in the Savings Challenge newsletter, which you can sign up for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,147,530],"class_list":["post-878080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}