I’ve been watching to see if the Pentagon Federal Credit Union would extend its 3% five-year CD into 2014, and indeed, it has extended it until Jan. 31. I opened a $5 savings account there in December, hoping to put my entire 2014 IRA contribution in this account.
I’ll be reporting more on this later this week. For now, check it out on http://www.penfed.org.
Update, Jan. 2: Last month, I created a PenFed savings account with $5 in it and my application was approved. My father served in the Navy and later worked in the Defense Department as an auditor, so that was my military connection. But even if you have no military connection, you can get a PenFed account by joining (for a small one-time fee) the National Military Family Association or Voices for America’s Troops. Here are details.
Once you are member, you can open an IRA account with a $25 investment (or you can fully fund it with one investment). The IRA application process is just a little daunting. You need to download the IRA information package, which includes the forms you’ll need.
I am going to fully fund my 2104 IRA with one investment in the 5-year CD, so I will send in a check with the completed form. If all goes well, the account should be created in a few days, and I will update again.
If you are considering transferring IRA assets into PenFed, the information packet also includes those forms.
Update Jan. 6: My IRA account at PenFed is open and my 2014 IRA contribution is earning 3%, tax-deferred, for the next 5 years. Very easy process, after all.
Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities 
Steve, well there you go … That’s why this is an interesting subject. I will start the application process Thursday. Thanks for the heads up.
I’m not sure you will be able to do that with the account you have established ($5 share account). When you download their IRA form they require an additional IRA share account be established with a $25 minimum. So I believe you will need to establish an additional account in order to make an IRA contribution. Also note that you can’t purchase the IRA CD online, you can only purchase it through the mail / fax using their IRA contribution form. Be sure to leave yourself enough time as PenFed no longer guarantees that the rates will stay in effect for the whole month and they reserve the right to rescind the rate any time during the month. It is a great deal right now IMHO. We just went through this IRA process with them ourselves.