<prompt> Human: So PF, I could use some advice. Some quick background. Im married barely under 30, with two young children and have approximately 50k in my emergency fun. I understand that is more than is necessary as my monthly required payments combine to 1800mo mortgage car wifes IBR loan payments which we wont pay off early due to PSLF, but with two kids, I would rather be extremely safe and be able to survive a year or longer without income. I also have approximately 40k in available credit across 3 credit cards never carry a balance more than a few days.Currently were only putting the maximum of one Roth IRA account into retirement savings as I am a full time student post 911 GI Bill so I am getting income from going to school instead of incurring debt We also will both be getting a pension military for me education related for her upon retirement. I would like to maintain the 50k somewhat liquid with 15k kept in regular savings. I was recently reading on PF about Allys 60 day interest penalty on their 5yr CDs. Aside from that, are there any other options I should consider with a higher return than 1.5 for the remaining 35k?  <response>: You could do a CD ladder.. basically youd take your 35K and divide it by 12. So roughly 2,900. Youd then buy a 1 year 2,900 CD each month for 12 months. When its all set up, you have 2,900 available every month penalty free and at CD rates. If you dont need the 2,900, it just renews and the cycle continues. Now finding a 1.5 interest rate on a 1 year CD is the hard part. 