How much interest can a $20,000 long-term CD account earn if opened now?

Savers should carefully calculate their interest-earnings before locking their money into a long-term CD account. Getty Images/iStockphoto In some economies, you'll want to maintain as much access to your money as possible. In some others, however, it makes more sense to lock your funds away and to protect them as long as you can. Increasingly, many Americans are unfortunately finding themselves in the latter camp. With inflation surging to its highest level in more than three years, wages softening, the potential for an interest rate hike growing and market uncertainty pronounced, protecting your money isn't just something you would like to do. It's increasingly something you'll need to do, especially for large, five-figure amounts like $20,000. This is precisely where a certificate of deposit (CD) account can help. Interest rates on this account type are high, and they're fixed , allowing savers to earn a predictable return even if the interest rate climate changes again. And, with a long-term CD, in particular, savers will be positioned to earn that rate for 18 months or longer, making it an ideal account to keep your $20,000 in until the economy shifts again. To better understand the value a long-term CD account offers savers with $20,000 to work with, it helps to start with the interest-earning potential. And that's easy to determine thanks to that account's fixed rate. Below, we'll calculate the returns to know before making a deposit. …