How much will my CD be worth at maturity?

I personally do not have any money in CDs (yet), but if you are interested in calculating how much a CD will be worth at maturity, NetBank has a calculator. I haven't used it myself, but let me (and your fellow blog readers) know what you think of it.

Be forewarned, the calculator does need to know the compounding frequency (daily, monthly, quarterly, yearly), the "Interest rate" (as distinct from the APY which gets calculated), and your federal and state income tax rates.

Somebody should do a calculator that also includes the rate of inflation so that you get an idea of how your "buying power" changes over the term of the CD. After all, that's how most of us ultimately judge "worth."

-- Jack Krupansky