If you have savings you don't want to access immediately, a Share Certificate is one of the safest ways to earn a guaranteed rate of return. While certificates hold a higher return rate than most savings accounts, they’re not as flexible.
For example, if you opened an 18-month certificate, your money would be locked away until the term ended. If you wanted to withdraw funds before the term ended, you'd have to pay a penalty.
Luckily, there’s a strategy that gives you the best of both worlds: a great return and flexible access to your money along the way. This strategy is called laddering.
What Laddering Actually Means
Certificate laddering is a strategy that spreads your savings across multiple certificates with different maturity dates. Instead of putting all your savings into one certificate, you split it across a few certificates with different terms. As each certificate matures, you gain access to a portion of your money while the rest continues earning.
Picture a real staircase: each step is a separate certificate, and each one matures at a different time. You're never waiting on your entire balance at once, and you're never leaving all of it sitting in a lower-earning account either. Here's an example:
Let’s say you have $9,000 you'd like to put into a Share Certificate. Instead of putting all your funds in one certificate, you could open three:
- $3,000 into an 8-month certificate
- $3,000 into a 13-month certificate
- $3,000 into an 18-month certificate
Every five months, one of your certificates matures, making that portion available before your $9,000 would be tied up in a single 18-month term.
Why Ladder When the Rate Is the Same?
Longer certificates usually pay more, and laddering is a way to capture some of that higher rate while keeping partial access to your money.
Right now, our 8-, 13-, and 18-month terms all pay the same 4.50% APY1, so the reason to ladder is a little different, but still relevant:
- If rates drop before your next certificate matures, you're not locked out — you already have money coming free on a shorter timeline.
- If rates rise, you're not stuck waiting 18 months to put your whole balance toward the new rate – your soonest-maturing certificate lets you reinvest sooner.
- You get predictable windows to reassess, without having to guess which way rates will move.
In other words, laddering here is less about squeezing out extra earnings and more about avoiding the need to bet on the future. You get built-in flexibility at no cost to the rate you're currently earning.
A Few Things to Know Before You Start
- A ladder isn't one account — it's several. You'll open each certificate separately, and each has its own maturity date and terms.
- Withdrawing before a certificate matures may result in an early withdrawal penalty.
- You decide what happens at each maturity date: reinvest into a new certificate or withdraw the funds penalty-free.
- You can build a ladder with any combination of terms and amounts — three certificates are common, but it's not a rule.
Is a Certificate Ladder Right for You?
If you like the safety and guaranteed rate of a certificate but don't want your whole balance locked away at once, laddering is worth a look. It works well for savings you're setting aside, whether it’s a home down payment, a car, or simply a rainy-day fund you want to keep growing without daily access.
Ready to build your ladder? Stop by a branch or visit this page to open your 8-, 13-, and 18-month Share Certificates today.
