NOWADAYS MORE and more NOWADAYS MORE and more people are showing a growing interest in economic activities such as stock trading, funds, and other financial investments to accumulate wealth. Such activities have become especially popular among university students. One of the popular economic products is the CMA (Cash Management Account). If you are looking for a safe and reliable way to increase your fortune effectively, the CMA is a good choice. *The Yonsei Annals* will guide you through the specifics of the CMA.

What is the CMA?
   The CMA is a financial product that financial and bond business companies provide to customers. These companies invest in loan bonds such as Call Loans, Commercial Papers (CP) and Certificate of Deposit (CD) with the money customers deposit. Then, they pay back the profit to the customers in interest, which is between 3.5 ~ 5.5 % on the principal per year. In general, there are two kinds of CMAs from bond companies: CMA, and CMA-RP (Repurchase Agreement). The differences between the two are the interest rates and the feasibility of depositor protection. The interest of CMA is lower than that of the RP at first. However after three months, the interest of CMA will exceed that of RP. Therefore, if you want to deposit the money for a short term, RP is better. In contrast, CMA is recommended for long term investments and more secure depositor protection. This does not mean that RP has a high risk of losing money, since your money will be safe unless the company goes bankrupt, which hardly happens.

CMA vs. Bank accounts
   You can open a CMA account by visiting the financial and bond companies that provide CMAs, in the same way as opening a normal bank account. The CMA is similar to commercial bank accounts in that the customers can deposit and withdraw the money from their own accounts, and use cards as well as the Internet banking service. In spite of these similar characteristics, the CMA has high interest rates. Moreover, you can get the interest corresponding to the days of depositing the money even for a single day. The interest of CMA can be up to about 5.5 % per year. This figure is very high compared to that of a personal bank account, as shown in <Table 1>.

Make good use of CMA
   There are many ways you can utilize the CMA. One of them is a check card. Most companies provide check cards in cooperation with card companies like Samsung, Hyundai, and Lotte Card. With these cards, you can get benefits such as discounts from amusement parks, gas stations, movie theaters, and more. Additionally, the bond companies provide virtual accounts connected with other banks such as Shinhan and Woori Bank. In essence, the CMA provides the basic services of a bank and the card company in addition to higher interest rates of a bond company.

   So far, we have looked at what the CMA is definitely. The *Annals* hope that many Yonseians get in touch with financial economy, broaden their own knowledge, and put it into actions by participating in economic activities. The CMA can be your first step to managing your money.