For some investors, cash is king - but don’t expect to live like royalty on the returns

■ Online savings accounts. The most reliable option for money you need swift access to. Rates top out at about 1 percent. But these accounts are convenient, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. guarantees money deposited in savings and checking accounts and CDs up to $250,000. An online account is ideal for your emergency fund or for any money you may need on short notice.

■ CDs. If you won’t need the money for a while or can afford to park it for six months or longer, consider a CD. Top-yielding CDs with a one-year term pay up to about 1.25 percent. Longer maturities offer higher yields, but not by much. Buying a five-year CD won’t even get you 2.5 percent. The highest current rate is 2.4 percent, at First Internet Bank of Indiana. And if climbing rates in the years ahead tempt you to take your money out early, remember that you will pay for it. The withdrawal penalty for CDs will typically dock you six months’ interest.

■ High-yield checking accounts. Sometimes called rewards accounts, these provide greater benefits under certain conditions. With most, if you make at least one automatic deposit or payment and at least 10 debit transactions a month, the annual percentage yield is 2.5 percent to 3 percent. The money is liquid - you can get to it when you need it.

The downside? You have to meet those requirements every month to get the top yield. And there’s usually a cap, most commonly $25,000, on how much you can park in an account to earn the maximum return. If you fall short of reaching the required thresholds - say, if you make only nine debit-card transactions - your yield plummets to around 0.1 percent.

Less appealing options ■ Money-market deposit accounts. Low yields of no more than about 1 percent make this a less attractive option. But safety is high and you will have easy access through checks and ATMs.

■ Money-market mutual funds. These invest in short-term debt such as Treasury bills or corporate bonds. They generally offer slightly higher returns than money-market accounts. But you shouldn’t let your cash pile up there; money funds are not FDIC-insured. And yields are a full percentage point or more less than those of online savings accounts.

■ Short-term bond funds. It’s possible to lose money in a bond fund.

Dave Carpenter writes for the Associated Press.