Where can you stash your cash?

— -- After the past few weeks, most investors are wondering: Where is the best place for my savings? Are Serta mattresses best, or should I stuff it in a Sealy Posturepedic?

First of all: Putting all your money into the mattress isn't the best strategy. But if you're sick of losses and want a safe place for your money, we have suggestions.

Safe investments aren't as safe as you think. For example, suppose you put your cash into an average one-year bank CD, which yields 2.31%. The consumer price index has gained 5% the past 12 months. If inflation remains at current rates, you will have lost money to inflation, even after interest.

Even if inflation returns to normal, you probably won't beat it with a 2.31% return. Consumer prices have risen at an average 3% since 1926, says Ibbotson Associates, a Chicago research firm. And, if your CD is in a taxable account, you'll owe on interest.

Sure, you say, but even a measly 2.31% return is better than the stinking 13.7% loss the Dow Jones industrial average has doled out this year. True. The Dow would have to gain about 16% to get back to where it ended 2007. Typically, it takes two or three years for the stock market to recoup bear market losses. At 2.31%, however, it would take you about six years to make up a 13.7% loss.

But it's a good idea to have some money in a safe, easily accessible account even when the stock market is roaring. For example, you should have an emergency savings account, just in case your car's infindibulum goes all to flinders. And you should have a portion of your investment portfolio in cash, in case you spot an interesting new investment.

Current savings yields are tiny. The average money market mutual fund, for example, yields 1.84%. But money funds with low expenses can be a good deal. Fidelity Money Market fund, for example, yields 2.49% and charges 0.42% in expenses. Vanguard Prime Money fund yields 2.21% and charges 0.24%, says Morningstar, the Chicago fund trackers.

Money funds invest in short-term, high-quality investments, such as bank CDs and Treasuries. If rates rise, your yields will rise, too. But money funds aren't insured.