How to Get Paid While Supporting Local Businesses

In two weeks, you should be receiving a check for $1,000.

At least that's the word from Washington.

In an effort to stave off a 20% increase in unemployment and to ensure that folks can eat and pay some of their bills, the government is coming to our rescue.

Or at least that's how they're framing it.

But the truth is, that money isn't a gift.

It was yours to begin with!

Anytime the government says its "giving" you something, it means that it's using the money it stole from you - via taxation - and giving you a little back.

Hardly an altruistic effort, particularly when you consider that the government failed to properly prepare for this outbreak and even trivialized it while there was still time to fortify our supply chains and help folks adapt to a "new normal" before panic broke out.

Now, markets are crashing, jobs are being lost at a record pace, businesses are failing, and investors like us are trying to figure out how to navigate this nightmare.

Of course, it's because of scenarios like these that I've always recommended making sure you have a stockpile of cash on the ready. Because when the smoke clears, you want to be able to take full advantage of this fire sale.

The question, of course, is where's the best place to hoard your cash until then?

Better Than a Useless Savings Account

There are any number of "safe" places you can put your cash but few that offer both easy access to it and the ability to make that money grow.

In times like these, both are paramount.

I personally have plenty of cash ready to be deployed, and I'm eager to deploy it now that the broader market has been completely gutted.

Make no mistake: When this is over, I'm going on a buying spree. And you should, too.

Opportunities to load up the boat after massive sell-offs don't come often. But when they do, you have to be ready to strike. And this is why I'm so insistent upon having plenty of cash on the ready - but not having it sitting in a useless savings account that won't even pay you 1% on your cash.

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I've actually made a point of spreading it around a bit, too. Although my favorite spot to park cash is CNote.

CNote is what's considered an alternative savings product that pays significantly more interest than a traditional savings account. Essentially, it marries the return of a longer-term investment like a bond, with the liquidity and accessibility of a more traditional bank deposit. And it pays an estimated 2.5% to account holders - so more than double what most savings accounts deliver.

Certainly this won't make you rich, but if you need the low-risk benefit of a savings account with the benefit of liquidity, 2.5% beats the hell out of less than 1%, especially in times of market uncertainty.

Now the one thing I really like about CNote is that instead of using your money to fund credit cards and mortgages, your money goes to work for local community businesses through CNote's CDFI (Community Development Financial Institutions) partners.

At times like these, I certainly prefer to support local businesses that don't have a direct line to the White House or Congress. After all, they're going to suffer the most. They always do.

Of course, it's not completely an altruistic pick for me, either.

The bottom line is that with CNote, I get some level of liquidity and an interest rate that offers me more than double what I'd make from a conventional savings account.

But I won't lie. Knowing that my money is sitting safely in an institution that seeks to empower local economies is very appealing, especially now, when small and local businesses are going to need all the help the can get.

To a new way of life and a new generation of wealth...

Jeff Siegel@JeffSiegel on Twitter

Jeff is the founder and managing editor of Green Chip Stocks, a private investment community that capitalizes on opportunities in alternative energy, organic food markets, legal cannabis, and socially responsible investing. He has been a featured guest on Fox, CNBC, and Bloomberg Asia, and is the author of the best-selling book, Investing in Renewable Energy: Making Money on Green Chip Stocks. For more on Jeff, go to his editor's page.