If I have money in a new 5 year fdic bank at 5.5%... is this not a good thing?? Sometimes I think it was easier when I had nothing as I did not have to worry about it...

Mdug - yeah, 5.5% is a great rate but the question is whether you are willing to forego spending that money for 5 years. If the amount is small, perhaps it's really not worth it but if you are investing $10,000 for example, you'll earn over $3000 back at the end of the term.

Decisions, decisions, my friend. Maybe you can do a 1 year CD. Check out Bankrate.com and see what kind of rates are out there. You could consider a high yield savings account which nowadays pays around 3.5%, and you are allowed to make withdrawals from these accounts without penalty, unlike a CD.