Is there a stock equivalent of a CD?
I want to take some of my 401k money and park it in something like a CD with a guaranteed interest rate, but within my 401k account with my brokerage.
Money market (safe but low interest rate)
Try ETFs like MINT, BIL, SHV, GSY, GBIL,
See if there is anything on offer as short term or money market fund from your 401k provider. That may give you 1-3% interest with no fluctuations in principle.
If your 401k has a self directed brokerage you can just buy tbills, bonds, cds directly
Yeah Bernie Madoff had a guaranteed return product that was wildly popular for decades
Not like that. Like an actual CD.
To respond to your actual question, CDs have a defined time period and a penalty for early withdrawal. In return, you get a slightly higher rate. There are other vehicles like this (ibonds were popular this year), but not on the stock market. On the stock market, there are various mutual funds and ETFs which may use bonds as the underlying, but you can buy/sell them at any time, so they have different characteristics. Basically, you end up paying for that liquidity. If you want a maximized guaranteed return over a certain time period, your only liquid options are likely very low-return investments like money markets. You’d be better off buying an actual CD or treasury. Regarding your brokerage, it’s possible they let you actually buy CDs or treasuries, not just funds based on them.
Why?
I can only guess.. but …
Zoom out a little
It’s called bonds