don t confuse a money market account with a money market mutual fund they re two different beasts while a money market account is a type of deposit account a money market mutual fund is a mutual fund that invests in highly liquid short term assets 
alternatives to money market accounts mmas banks and credit unions offer many types of accounts some with features that can make them competitive with or superior to money market accounts unlike money market accounts regular savings accounts typically have no initial deposit or minimum balance requirements they also pay interest although usually not as much as a money market account like money market accounts passbook savings accounts are fdic or ncua insured 9 check with your bank to see if there are any restrictions on withdrawals many banks and credit unions also offer high yield savings accounts and depending on the institution the interest rate may be better than on their money market accounts high yield savings accounts are also fdic or ncua insured 3 a potential downside compared with money market accounts is that they may have more rules such as requiring direct deposits checking accounts have one big advantage over their money market cousins unlimited transactions including checks atm withdrawals wire transfers and so forth they are also fdic or ncua insured 53 their main disadvantage is that they pay a very low often zero interest rate like high yield savings accounts these accounts offer interest rates that rival and sometimes exceed those of money market accounts they also share the high yield savings accounts principal weakness which is that they may have more complicated requirements such as a minimum number of debit transactions each month they also impose a cap for example 5 000 above which the high interest rate does not apply in other respects high yield checking is like regular checking with unlimited checks a debit card atm access and fdic or ncua insurance 53this type of checking account may offer a sign up bonus and other rewards such as high yields atm fee reimbursements airline miles or cashback the main downside is similar to high yield checking notably high fees unless the depositor satisfies all the rules which vary by the institution otherwise rewards checking functions like a regular checking account including fdic or ncua insurance 35a cd is like a savings account with a fixed duration such as three six nine or 12 months or multiple years up to 10 in exchange for locking in their money for that period of time depositors generally get a higher rate of interest than they would with a regular savings account however if they withdraw their money or part of it early they ll pay a penalty usually in the form of lost interest some cds known as liquid cds don t penalize depositors for early withdrawals but pay a lower rate of interest cds are fdic or ncua insured but typically offer no provision to write checks withdraw funds with a debit card or add to the balance after the initial purchase 53frequently asked questions faqs 