The Mineral Portfolio of funds and shares has been doing very well the past three to four years. The only cash has been in the local bank account. It takes a measure of emotional detachment to tolerate the wild swings that happen, but as long as things on the whole are moving in the right direction I can stomach it.
On the other hand, Senior Mineral absolutely cannot tolerate the idea of a decline in value. Therefore he sticks with CDs and complains about the microscopic returns. Maternal Mineral is the same way. I tell them to junk the CDs, but they will not listen.
If the return on the CD is a couple of tenths of a percent, and inflation is at 3% ..... then the CD's are losing money at a pretty good clip.
That being said, I have CD's, too. But they're for short-term emergencies, not long term investments.