Certificate of Deposit rate calculators are useful in determining the amount of interest an investor will earn on a CD. If an investor enters information about the initial deposit amount, the number of months for the CD to mature, interest rate offered by the institution etc, he/she can calculate the amount of rate of return that can be earned on CD.

The calculator gives results relating to the detailed schedule of the Annual Percentage Yield (APY) and the ending balance of the CD on the date of maturity date. Annual Percentage Yield is the effective annual rate of interest earned for the CD without considering the frequency of compounding the interest amounts along with the starting balance of the CD. Sometimes investors have the option of reinvesting the interest amount to the opening balance of the CD in which case they will get a higher compound rate of interest.

The APY measures the actual rate of interest that an investor can earn annually. The APY is also useful for comparing the interest rates of different CDs and their compounding frequencies. Compounding is the process of reinvesting the interest amount so that investor will get interest on that particular CD’s accumulated interest.

A CD rate calculator also allows an investor to choose that particular frequency that the CD’s interest is added to his account balance. A higher frequency allows the investor to get additional compounded interest on the accumulated interest sooner.

If an investor wishes to maximize yields on CDs while maintaining liquidity simultaneously, a CD laddering calculator is useful. The working of CD laddering can be explained with the help of the following example. Suppose Mr. A has $50,000 in cash reserves. If he buys a $10,000 one-year CD, a $10,000 two-year CD and so on until his last investment is in the 5-year CD of $10,000 so that each year is a rung on the ladder, then whenever the one-year CD matures he reinvests that money in a five-year CD. By that time, his five-year CD has four years left until it matures. As each year's CD comes due, he will roll it into a five-year CD. By implementing CD laddering, his total interest income will be much higher. CD laddering calculators are very much useful for the determination of these maximum yields if the investor enters a few details about his investment amount.

Using a CD rate calculator is a great way to keep track of interest earned from CDs. A CD laddering calculator is used to keep track of complex investments made over time.