By Sabrina Karl

If you have cash to sock away, or surplus accumulating in your checking account, you may wonder about moving funds to a savings account or even a certificate of deposit. Your first question might be, will it earn enough to make it worth the trouble?

The answer can be a resounding yes, if you play your cards right. And in this case, playing smart simply means doing your homework with some easy rates research.

Let’s say you can shuttle $5,000 to savings. The current national average of savings account rates among all FDIC banks is 0.09 percent APY. At that paltry rate, your $5,000 in savings wouldn’t even earn $5 in a year, and over five years, you’ll earn just $23.

But that’s where high-yield savings accounts and CDs come in. Instead of 0.09 percent, it’s easy to find savings accounts paying 2 percent APY or more. That’s 22 times the national average, and over the course of a year, you’d earn about $100. Over five years, your balance would grow to $5,525.

Keep in mind that savings accounts allow you to add and withdraw from your balance whenever you like. But the rate can change at any time. In contrast, CDs offer higher rates that you can lock in for a certain number of months or years. The trade-off is that you’ll be assessed a penalty if you cash out early.

With a little research, you can find multiple 5-year CDs paying 2.75 percent APY or more. In our $5,000 example, a 2.75 percent CD will grow your balance to $5,736 at the end of five years.

Whether you go with a flexible savings account or a higher-earning, but more restricted CD, paying attention to rates can go a long way in putting more money in your pocket.