You have been able to earn solid returns by parking your money in fairly safe places, our columnist says. But that won’t last much longer.

While stocks and bonds have zigged and zagged, often painfully, over the last few years, one area of the markets has been blissfully steady: money market funds.

For more than a year, with minimal risk, investors have been able to get more than 5 percent annually — and substantially beat inflation — by just parking their cash in fairly reliable places.

This wonderful refuge from the market storms isn’t disappearing. But with short-term interest rates likely to fall soon, the shelter will become less comfortable, and it’s time to get ready.

It may be wise to start looking beyond money market funds, locking in the relatively high rates now for at least some of your money, and re-evaluating your needs.

Can you afford to move some of the cash that

Keep reading this article on The New York Times Your Money.