have a variety of beneficial features in today's unique economy – elevated returns, and protection for your principal in a way that investments fundamentally can't provide. These features come in exchange for locking your money into the account for an extended period until it matures, at which point your interest earnings will become available alongside your initial deposit.

But what you do with that money at that point is arguably just as important as what you did with it before getting started with the CD. And that's especially true in the economic terrain millions of savers find themselves navigating now with sticky, keeping borrowing costs elevated and market uncertainty making investing decisions difficult.

If you have a CD account with an August 2026 maturity date, then, you should start contemplating your next moves now, before the grace period prior to a CD rollover commences. And while there are important moves to make before your money gets locked back into a new account, it's equally important to know which mistakes to avoid to ensure continued financial success and security. Below, we'll break down three specific ones to know for those with a looming CD maturity date on the calendar.

What to avoid if your CD matures this August

A CD maturity date in today's high interest-rate climate shouldn't be viewed as the end of your interest-earning cycle and, instead, should be leveraged to continue to take advantage of big returns while still readily available. To better position themselves to do just that, savers with a CD that's set to mature this August should specifically avoid doing these three things:

Auto-renew it with the same bank

Savers will have a limited grace period after their account matures in which they can move the funds without penalty. It will then be automatically rolled over into a new account, potentially with a different rate, if savers do nothing. But they should also avoid simply auto-renewing it with the same bank without first taking the time to explore other institutions.

While a 3.95% CD rate may feel competitive and comfortable, for example, savers may be able to find one over 4% by simply shopping around online now. And that differential could prove to be substantial over time. However, they won't know what's available – or be able to earn more interest – if they simply tell their current bank to renew the account. Don't make that mistake.

Fail to explore alternative account options

A CD account may have been the right choice when you opened it, whether that was three months ago or three years ago. But there's a reasonable chance that the economy and interest rate climate have markedly changed since that point, as have your financial goals and abilities. Failure to explore alternative account options, then, could be costly.

With and offering rates competitive with the top CDs but with neither requiring the accessibility restrictions that the CD does, it would be a mistake not to review both carefully as viable homes for your maturing CD funds. And with both employing variable rates positioned to rise should rates increase later this year, some would even argue that they're the better options for savers this August.

Revisit your deposit amount

Whether you ultimately decide to keep your money with your current bank by opening a new CD, move it into another CD somewhere else or shift it into a high-yield savings or money market account, it's important to first revisit your deposit amount.

Can you afford to deposit more money and, thus, earn more interest? Or will you need to reduce how much you lock into a CD to maintain flexibility and an emergency fund? If your economic health has changed since you opened the account, even slightly, then it's worth carefully reconsidering your deposit amount to ensure that the money continues to work for you in as safe and lucrative a way.

The bottom line

A CD account with an August 2026 maturity date shouldn't be viewed as a problem to dread and more as an opportunity to revisit your savings strategy for ways to improve it even further. By not simply auto-renewing the account with your current bank, reviewing alternative account options instead and closely reviewing the comfortable amount of money you have to deposit you can improve your chances of saving success both this summer and in the months and years still to come.