Recommendations for an Emergency Fund 

High yield savings account or money market mutual funds with low or no minimum balance – and great choices for an emergency fund 

(current yields as of 2/18/26) 

• Bread* 4.0% ($100 minimum opening balance) 

• Colorado Federal* 4.0% (no minimum deposit) 

• Panacea Financial* 3.25% ($25 minimum deposit) 

• Fidelity Government Cash Reserves 3.38% ($1 minimum) 

• Schwab Prime Advantage 3.5% ($1 minimum) 

• Vanguard Federal 3.61% ($3,000 minimum) 

* These accounts are insured up to $250,000 per ownership category. You might qualify for more than one ownership category and therefore have more insurance – for instance, if you have one account that is jointly owned with your spouse and another account in your name only, you may be insured for $500k. This insurance, which dates backs to 1934, is to cover potential bank failures which have rarely occurred since the Great Depression. 

For those with more risk tolerance, “senior loan funds” which are short term loans of lower credit quality generally pay higher interest rates, but the share price may vary, which means the value of your principal can vary. If you invest $500 today, it could be worth $494 tomorrow, or $507. These generally trade in a narrow range of a few percent. When the market is volatile (like currently with the conflict in Iran), these tend to be more volatile and your risk of loss of principal may increase, so this may not be the best time to jump in. Funds in this category: 

• Fidelity Floating Rate High Income 7.2% ($1 minimum)  

• Invesco Senior Loan ETF 6.4% (exchange traded fund, so minimum depends on the brokerage holding your account)