I would like to put a few bucks aside for the next couple of months....lets say 90-180 days. CD's are going to be under 1% for that kind of time frame. I could throw the money into one of my mutual funds...and the sector-based stuff has been very stable with nice returns....but being funds (based in stocks....very little of the composition is in bonds) they are subject to market fluctuation, and I cant risk this side cash. (it has a purpose, just don't need it right now....but cant lose any of the capital)

Is there anything earning better rates than a CD but with minimal downside?
I'd rather keep the money out of my stock and fund portfolio, yet I'm not seeing any other options that will yield a meaningful return.

I briefly looked at money market accounts but that doesn't seem any more fruitful.
Is there something I am missing or is this basically it?

As a side note, as a kid I would getting around 4% on my passbook savings and IIRC around 7% on CD's.....I'd sell my nuts to get that kind of return from a bank again

yeah the 80's are gone.   You get paid for risk.  It's the law of investing.  I hope someone has a good idea........I don't.  My best return is rental property.

Anything that will really make you money in the short term or long term is going to be subject to market volatility whether it's up or down. IMO, investing for 90-180 days is not an appropriate time frame unless you are comfortable day trading or perhaps playing with options (expensive short-term). It just doesn't give you enough time to realistically recover in the event of a downward tumble.

You're right in that your government backed and insured products blow right now. The best I've seen recently for a "sure thing" is a savings/money market with a 1.05% APY. Better return than a CD and you have liquidity. I won't shill for any bank, but bankrate.com is a good place to start shopping.

6% savings accounts?
Can you share a little more info?
All I am seeing is 1%....which isn't really worth it. 

Not thinking about Bitcoin....nothing risky....just a safe place to park some cash for a few months...maybe up to a year. Somewhere in the low 5-figure range. 

FWIW, this isn't part of any long term plan, and isn't part of my primary investment portfolio....just  needed to put some cash together for an upcoming expense...and now I have that cash in hand...but I don't plan to need to tap into it for a while. Rather than have it sit in checking earning nothing, I want to park it somewhere with a yield. I suppose even 1% beats nothing....but it's nominal and after income taxes next year it's almost break even. 

You are wasting your time even thinking about trying to find a place to invest this money given your time frame and risk tolerance within that time frame.

That was kinda what I figured....but I don't know what I don't know. Thought it would be worth floating the question. More than likely I'll just park it in some generic low yield account....better to get a few dollars out of it than nothing...but unfortunately, I'm not in a position to risk this cash in the open market...need it later and cant take the chance of losing value.

I Personally know a group of people who lost over $25m by investing money into bitcoin/bitcoin companies/wallet services and the like.

Anyone who promises to hold bitcoins that isn't more or less FDIC backed (Or some well known insurance agency) Shouldn't be ever, ever ,ever trusted.

Just buy the donkey. There are no unicorns.

ETA: wrong quote... next guy nailed it...

that time period and your risk tolerance isn't in line with investing any of it.

Buy and hold beats anything else about 90% of the time, unless you buy the exact right stock at the exact right time. Keep 3-6 months of emergency expenses. Otherwise put it in your diversified portfolio