What happens when my share certificate matures?
Updated March 22, 2024 | Published September 11, 2023
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Categories:
- Banking
- Saving & Budgeting
Share Certificates are a great option for saving and investing your money. They can come in a variety of different term lengths and earn higher dividends than an average savings account. The money you put into the share certificate will be locked up, and during that time you can’t withdraw any of the money without paying an early withdrawal penalty.*
Your share certificate’s maturity date is the day that your chosen term comes to an end. You’ll be notified by the credit union when that day is approaching. When it arrives, you have a few options. Let’s take a look.
What are my options at my share certificate maturity date?
1. Take the cash
When your share certificate matures you are free to withdraw the money without penalty. You can take the money plus earned dividends and do with it what you will.
2. Roll the share certificate into a new one
If you want your investment to earn even more for you, take your initial investment plus earned dividends and put them into a new share certificate. It doesn’t have to be for the same term length.
3. Take some cash, but re-invest the rest
Cash out the dividends and re-invest your initial deposit to a new certificate – OR – cash out your initial deposit and re-invest the dividends.
What is certificate laddering?
Certificate “laddering” is a term used for the investment strategy of splitting up your money into multiple different share certificates for multiple different terms. For example: instead of depositing $10,000 in one 5-year share certificate, you split it up into five different certificates with $2000 each – a 1-year, 2-year, 3-year, 4-year, and 5-year. When the 1-year matures, you invest it into a new 5-year share certificate, and when the 2-year matures, you do the same thing.
Continue every year that a share certificate matures. This way you have one maturing at the end of each year. Eventually, they will all become 5-year certificates with one still maturing at the end of each 1-year period. You will be able to take advantage of the highest APY, while still having the opportunity to take some money back each year if you ever needed to.
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*Dividends credited during the term may be withdrawn without penalty, however, the certificate will not reach the full anticipated return. You can find more details about this in the Truth in Savings section of our Terms and Conditions document.