When the markets become volatile, as we have seen them do over the last couple of months and even more so with recent tariff announcements I am often asked about safe places to park cash and earn a reasonable interest rate. Recently, a new ETF was launched that provides an interesting alternative to money market mutual funds.

According to NerdWallet, the average bank savings account yields just 0.41%. You can shop around, as different banks will offer high yields, but often for a limited time, which requires you to shop again when the promotional period ends.

Money market mutual funds are often a more accessible choice for investors with brokerage accounts. Money market funds invest in short-term, commercial, or government interest-paying debt. Share prices remain stable at $1.00, and interest is paid monthly, which can be reinvested or deposited into the cash balance of your brokerage accounts.

Money market fund yields will closely track yields of U.S. Treasury Bills. T-bills are short-term government debt with maturities of up to one year. Here are the current yields of a couple of money market funds offered by Charles Schwab:

• Schwab Value Advantage Money Fund. This fund holds commercial paper and has a current seven-day yield of 4.17%.
• Schwab Treasury Obligations Money Fund offers the 100% safety of U.S. Treasury bills and currently yields 4.08%.

As I often say, money market mutual funds are the go-to investment for parking cash. They are very convenient and pay competitive yields. However, a newly launched ETF caught my attention as a potential substitute for a money market fund.

On March 6, Roundhill Investments launched the Roundhill Weekly T-Bill ETF (WEEK). The primary appeal of WEEK will be its weekly dividends from a highly stable investment.

WEEK owns a laddered portfolio of Treasury Bills with weekly maturities ranging from one week to 13 weeks (approximately three months).

Treasury Bills do not pay regular interest. They are sold at a discount to the face value. The difference between the price paid and the maturity value is the interest to be earned. With a 13-week ladder of T-bills, WEEK will have bills maturing every week at face value. The difference between that value and a new discounted 13-week T-bill represents earnings to be paid to investors as weekly dividends.

WEEK has expenses of 0.19% so that the current yield will be very close to the 13-week yield, minus those 19 basis points. The 13-week Treasury currently yields 4.33%, so WEEK pay rates will be very close to money market funds.

I see two potential benefits for investing in WEEK.

• Weekly dividends for investors who want or need weekly payments from their cash holdings.
• ETF shares are easier and faster to trade compared to money market funds. The latter takes a day to settle, meaning that if you sell shares today, the cash will be in your account the next day. If you sell ETF shares, the cash shows up immediately.

As an ETF, the WEEK share price will vary slightly from the $100 par value. T-bill values can change slightly in response to changes in interest rates, and there will be an ex-dividend effect. However, overall, investors can expect WEEK to pay returns very close to those of money market mutual funds.