_Most_ people park liquid money in mainstream bank's checking accounts. This money is FDIC insured(upto 250K). The job of this bank is to is money is used by banks to make loans (duh!). There are three "modes" (in increasing yield_ order offered by these banks to account holders:

1. [FDIC] Put it in a Chase, BofA account. < 1% typically. Abysmal returns.

2. [FDIC] A higher yield checking/saving account(Ally at ~3.1 is a good example): But more hoops[1] to get more than 3.5%(today). Here https://www.wsj.com/buyside/personal-finance/banking/best-hi... the list.

3. [Not FDIC but pretty good**] A higher yield Money market mutual fund. You still need to place a buy order[2]. Something you have to do manually can give you around 3.86% today(See SNAXX)

This last case is more _interesting_ because its easy for agents. But consider what happens when a lot of people use muse to enmasse do this. There can be a run on the banks because[3] its not the same "money" in the balance sheet of the bank. Money leaving checking/savings and entering a MMF is not on the balance sheet of the bank(even though it can be coincidentally the same institution e.g. schwab checkig and schwab brokerage). Agents are a BIG threat to regular banks. I don't even see how it can be prevented, local agents are ubiquitous now.

[1] Exceptions are HY checkings but its hard to chase yield logistically: more hoops to jump like minimum balance or max ceiling, minimum transactions etc.

[2] See this from schwab's site: ``` For uninvested cash you do not plan to spend soon, you can consider investing in a money market fund such as the Schwab Prime Advantage Money Fund (SWVXX), which currently yields 3.71%, (7-day yield as of 2026-10-21), and can be purchased in a single trade with no minimum* and no transaction fee. Visit the Schwab Money Funds page to view all available funds and their current yields. ```

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPkJH6BT7dM

** MM funds are banks lending to each other to park overnight cash and borrow temporarily for actitivities, think of its like a bank's bank. In 2008 when the GFC was happening the fed had to step in and "ensure" this supply because a lot of banks were teetering and if one bank could not access its money or borrow for daily activities, no more cash would come from an atm.

> But consider what happens when a lot of people use muse to enmasse do this. There can be a run on the banks because it's not the same "money" in the balance sheet of the bank.

But isn't this self-correcting? If everybody starts moving money from checking/savings accounts to money market funds to get better rates, then the bank will start offering better interest rates in their checking/savings accounts so people won't do that.

I typically park my cash in SGOV since the interest is mostly state tax free. It also tracks treasury rates in nearly real time.

CDs are another, you're locking up your money for 3-12 months but you can get over 4% in some cases.