What is a Money Market Account?

As I created this blog, one of my main goals was to make this a place where people can find simple and to the point answers on personal finance.  In previous posts, I have covered things such as compound interest, high yield savings account, 401k’s, and more.  The next topic I would like to talk about would be money market accounts.

Money market accounts are similar to a savings account.  The money is usually invested in  short term securities.  What makes them different from a savings account is that they usually have higher interest rates and your are limited to the transactions you can do per month.  Warning:  Money Market Accounts are different from Money Market Funds.  MMFs are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Company (FDIC).  For more info on MMFs check this article in About.com-Money Market Funds-Risks and Benefits.

Who/Why should one have a money market account?  I would recommend a money market account to those who are going to do some long term saving.  This is money that you would not be touching for a long time (3+ years).  Many people suggest using an mma for your emergency fund.

I don’t have an mma.  The interest rate that you can earn is higher than most regular savings accounts but the limited transactions is something I don’t like about them.  I prefer using a high yield savings account as a place to store your emergency fund.

If you would like to compare mma’s check out Bankrate for side by side comparisons.