This is an example of what are called "Retail Notes". They're frequently offered by large, recognizable, primarily financial institutions.
Fidelity calls its program for selling these Corporate Notes℠. It has a good description of these bonds:
https://www.fidelity.com/fixed-income-bonds/individual-bonds/corporate-bonds/corporate-notes-program
Unlike ordinary corporate notes, these are sliced into manageable $1K pieces and sold "without commission" (the underwriting costs are baked into the rates). Another difference is that these are typically junior (subordinated) notes, meaning that in the case of default, you stand in line behind holders of other notes. The GS note here is rated BBB+ by S&P.
I did a look on Fidelity's site for secondary issue GS notes and found that I could buy $2K or more (in $1K increments) of a note maturing 2/15/18, yielding 2.54% including fees. So the rate isn't anything special.
Here's that bond's listing on TDA. Note that the pricing there vs. Fidelity is waaay worse. The min offered at TDA is $5K (vs. $2K) and the best yield is under 2.1%. Same bond, different broker. At least with new issue retail notes, you're getting the same price ($1K, par) wherever it is sold. Still, different brokers will offer different bonds.
Recognize that because of the call option in the retail bond, buying it is somewhat of a heads GS wins, tails you lose. If interest rates don't go up much, GS will call the bond and you'll have a ½ - 1 year bond at 2.5%. if interest rates go up more than 1%, you'll be locked into 3.5% for another year.
IMHO retail bonds are designed as simple easy to use investments for people who don't want to deal with commissions, accrued interest, amortization, tax complexities, market discounts and premiums, OID, etc. that come with "real" bonds. Retail bonds are more like savings bonds issued by corporations. They tend to have respectable but not the best rates. They can be a good way to get your toes in the water.

FYI: A new survey finds that large-cap value managers solidly beat their benchmarks over the past decade, despite lackluster results over shorter time frames.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b179hj65ghy7n6/these-active-managers-actually-beat-the-market,-over-time

TD Ameritrade is participating in the following The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Callable Step up Note.
Coupon:
2.50% to 03/29/2019; 3.50% to 03/29/2020; 4.00% to 03/29/2021
Payment Frequency: Semi-Annually
Maturity: 03/29/2021
Call Status:
Callable 09/29/2018 @100 Quarterly-Thereafter
Price: 100
What do you think?

I have held this fund for over 5 years (institutional version CMTFX) and have been very happy. Its a bit less volatile than my other tech fund PRGTX , and the fact that the Price fund was very concentrated, warranted having two tech funds.

FYI: Columbia Global Technology Growth holds companies with big moats to reach the top 10% of tech funds.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.cetusnews.com/business/Big-Tech--Big-Themes.ryW7NysUYG.html
M* Snapshot CTCAX:
http://www.morningstar.com/funds/XNAS/CTCAX/quote.html
Lipper Snapshot CTCAX:
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/fund/ctcax
CTCAX Is Ranked #5 In The (T) Fund Category By U.S. News & World Report:
http://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/technology/columbia-global-technology-growth-fund/ctcax

USAUX is out performing the S&P 500 TR Index as well as the Large Growth Category Average over the last year...good job. That said, this managed approach to Large Growth stills struggles to outperform other in house Large Growth funds like NASDAQ Index, USNQX or another USAA managed fund, USSCX.
USSCX is Tech fund that reaches deeper into Fin-Tech and Industrial-Tech and with a fair amount of Healthcare. USSCX might be a more interesting.
Performance speaks for itself:

AMZN and NFLX are two out performers for VCR YTD. Results seem bifurcated with 12 of the top 25 holding with negative returns YTD.
VCR covers this space with 371 holding (Top 10 holdings = 41% of fund), with a mere 6% turnover.
FSRPX covers this space with a mere 44 holdings (Top 10 holdings = 71% of fund) and a 17% turnover. It also has large YTD returns from AMZN, NFLX, BKNG, AAP, and Prada, but again only half of the top 25 are positive for the year.
Performance Comparison:

I was looking for funds that have a high stake in BAC (Bank of America) and one that tops this list is Ken Heeber's CGMFX with a 20% stake in BAC.
I also noticed a lot of short positions in the fund. @davidmoran, @VintageFreak, and others have all commented on this fund.
MFO discussion search for CMGFX
AMZN, SNAP and NFLX shorts have gone against the fund. Not sure how shorting the Treasury position works.
The manager as usual looks to be doing interesting things. Here's its top 25 holdings (note: negative % = short positions):

FYI: Ryan Dobratz and Jason Wolf of The Third Avenue Real Estate Value Fund have bought lumber companies, home-improvement retailers and a land developer to produce returns that have far exceeded the S&P 500 real estate sector.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/these-real-estate-fund-managers-show-theres-money-to-be-made-as-rates-rise-2018-03-13/print
M* Snapshot TVRVX:
http://www.morningstar.com/funds/XNAS/TVRVX/quote.html
Lipper Snapshot TVRVX:
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/fund/tvrvx
TVRVX Is Unranked In The (RE) Fund Category By U.S. News & World Report:
https://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/global-real-estate/third-avenue-real-estate-value-fund/tvrvx

This is not a suggestion or recommendation to @Junkster, but I'll just point out the obvious. As of Friday's close, a ladder of individually held to maturity Treasuries were yielding, not adjusting for state income tax exemptions, with little or no compounding of capital, and with zero worries of the "wiggles and squiggles of the markets"...
1 year... 2.03%
2 years... 2.27%
3 years... 2.45%
5 years... 2.65%
10 years... 2.90%

I was going to mention CDs and Treasuries. They are enticing. Just not sure I am ready to tie my money up to that extent quite yet. Maybe if rates continue their ascent or maybe a portion of my capital.

@Ted It's not quite as simple as that:
philly.com/philly/columnists/erin_arvedlund/vanguard-partnership-profits-up-15-over-2016-20170619.html

Late last week I sold parts of my holdings in SFGIX and DSENX as well as my remaining tiny chunk of FAAFX. With that, I brought equities down to 70% of my portfolio from 80%.
Some of that is for personal reasons. I've been pretty much all in the market for the 15 years, it's been a great ride, and I now want to raise cash to buy a house in a year or so. The money I'm taking out of the market is money I expect to need soon.
I also think that, despite the fabulous economic fundamentals, the US now faces political risk: there's a chance IMHO that Trump will do something phenomonally stupid, or that Mueller will find a smoking gun and that (in the latter case) Trump doesn't go quietly.
I hope I'm wrong on both counts, but I'm sleeping better now that I've got enough in cash and conservative bond funds to meet my near-term financial goals.

FYI: In 2018, the richest fundster in the U.S. continues to be Abby
Johnson.
This week Forbes unveiled the 2018 edition of its famous list of
the world's billionaires, now 2,208 people long and 32 years
running. Here are the billionaire fundsters (and fundsteradjacent
billionaires) who made the 2018 list.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.mfwire.com/common/artprint2007.asp?storyID=57743&wireid=2

I believe history shows gold is not a good investment. That said, I believe my robo-portfolio holds 4-5% as a diversifier. Somewhere in their portfolio algorithm Schwab believes it has a place. So-be-it. I personally do not think it's needed, so I don't use it in my self managed.
Emergency plan? Right or wrong, I'm not going to plan for a doomsday scenario. Always enjoyed watching the Mad-Max movies though. Remember Barter Town?

Thanks for the article @Ted,
I'll ask the question in a different way to MFO members. How have your gold holdings impacted your portfolio over different time frames and different market conditions or events? If it serves as a hedge to certain risks what were those risks? Did gold get converted during those "golden day" and into what?
The article's 4% allocation make me think of the 4% rule. Another way to think of it is have one years income allocated to a hard asset. but maybe more importantly have that hard asset fungible. I recall @rono suggesting having some gold or silver in the form of currency so that it serves two purposes. It represent the value of the metal, but also as a coin it is portable as a medium of exchange...a silver dime or quarter...a gold eagle. Each has a face value and a metal weight value. Numismatic value seems less important during time where you might consider trading the coin for a loaf of bread or passage on the next train.
I was in Hawaii in January when we were told to take shelter. I was on vacation and had neglected to pack my dimes and quarters (sorry @rono) so in that moment I realized I had a whole in my emergency plan pocket.
A few years ago I experience 10 days without electricity in a house that depends on the grid like most homes. Again, a teachable moment. I made some changes at the house. I purchased a 500 gallon propane tank and switch my appliances (stove, dyer, fireplace insert, hot water tank) to use the propane for everyday appliances. The propane also now doubles as a fuel that seamlessly integrates an electric generator into my electrical panel.
When it comes to holding gold and silver as part of a portfolio or emergency plan, I obviously need some coaching, especially away from home. I'd like to hear from others on your "emergency plans" and whether a hard currency plays a part in it.

FYI: The asset class with the worst performance over the past 10 years is collateralized commodity futures (CCFs). For example, from 2008 through 2017, PIMCO’s Commodity Real Return Strategy Fund (PCRIX) not only underperformed the Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFIAX) by 13.7 percentage points, it lost 5.2% a year.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.etf.com/sections/index-investor-corner/swedroe-dont-count-out-commodities?nopaging=1

@Ted, daylight savings may have impacted this link...its one year old.
Consuelo didn't do an interview this weekend, but has a reading assignment for us all:
Thornburg Capital's 2018 Outlook-Riding Disruptive Innovations Return Curve

Here's the Marcus bank website. Saving Account pays 1.5%:
https://marcus.com/us/en

FYI: Investors seeking to hedge against higher interest rates and increased volatility have other options besides traditional retail banks. Financial services companies, like State Street and BlackRock, which issue exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, tend to also do well when rates rise, says Michael Venuto, chief investment officer of Toroso Asset Management.
He says Toroso's ETF Industry Exposure & Financial Services exchange-traded fund, or ETF, is a good play for investors when interest rates and market volatility rise. The ETF, ticker symbol TETF, is up 8 percent this year, while the S&P 500 is up 1.8 percent. Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/Fund-manager-Q-A-Betting-on-funds-that-thrive-as-12738423.php
M* Snapshot TETF:
http://www.morningstar.com/etfs/ARCX/TETF/quote.html

Yes they exist This is just another name for equity indexed annuities. You've seen my post in the "pension reform" thread
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/99053/#Comment_99053
From Dummies:

Since 2006, EIAs [equity indexed annuities] have undergone several changes, including a name change. Insurers began calling these products FIAs (fixed–indexed annuities) instead of EIAs, in order to avoid suggestions (and avert any accusations) that EIA contract owners were investing their money in stocks (also known as equities). Many investment professionals simply called them “index annuities.”

The cost is embedded wtihin the annuity parameters like payout rate, guaranteed minimum return, etc. So there's no explicit cost stated. These are not low cost vehicles, but it's difficult to figure out how much they are costing you.
Also, it seems that most of these annuities are capped. The good news, if you can call it that, is that the caps I'm seeing are straightforward. There can be caps where, if the market does better than the cap, you don't get anything!
Equity indexed annuities are called "fixed" because all annuities are either fixed or variable. Fixed annuities are general promises by the insurer issuing the annuity to pay a fixed amount. Here, the amount to be paid is "fixed" by the return of the index followed. The promise you get is only as good as the insurer.
Variable annuities have no particular return that is promised. Also, rather than relying upon the financial soundness of the issuer (as with an ETN), your money is segregated from the issuer and invested in a mutual fund. So your investment is arguably more secure - it's backed by the underlying assets of the fund, not by the insurer.