HYSA

Newbiewhitekicks

5-7 years is too short of a time period to be invested in equities. For this time period you’ll want SGOV, treasuries/bonds, CD, or HYSA.

Admirable-Royal-7553

Well, your money doesn’t disappear when you invest into a stock. If I bought at $90, I can sell it 2 minutes later at around $90. Every stock is different, but a broad ETF investor is probably looking to make 8%/year on growth of the market. Sometimes that comes from dividends, sometimes it comes from overall cost of stocks going up (you bought it cheaper). There is always the possibility of losing money, but higher risk can have higher rewards. I have my investments between ETFs (including retirement) and spare HYSA I can use in case of emergency. My investments are up 13% this year that would have only been like 1-2% sitting in my bank account. I have no use for the money right now as I am not ready to settle down and would rather have it doing something positive than falling behind inflation. I am in here for the long run and am trying to set myself up for retirement even with a less than median wage job with compounding growth. Most jobs in the US (where I am at) don’t provide pension so I need to work now to get a cushion of money to be able to retire without.

BarryMannnilow

Just ran my calculations actually at I had no real idea. 401k with match, match on bonus, HYSA, HSA, I'm at about 34% savings rate of my total W2. I also invest more from my side business usually just max ROTH IRA so a tad more

Frequent-Hat-5260

Cash gang counting down the hours for that 3% interest to hit their HYSA account

btdawson

I pay myself, but take all of the money and stick into HYSA. I pay like $5k quarterly. Then pay a lump sum at the end and collect interest in the meantime

justaheartsurgeon

24.5 401k, 24.5 457, 403a 50k, \~8k HSA, additional 6-7k per month HYSA

Spectre75a

“Hardly any different than an HYSA”, except SGOV’s yield is higher than most non-promotional HYSAs and the tax treatment is better (if your state allows, which most do).

cheezweiner

You’re forgetting that many states don’t consider distributions from treasuries/funds taxable. HYSA: interest gained = taxed fed and state Treasury fund: distributions gained = taxed at fed, not state

kirlandwater

Not if they need the income immediately. They do need growth, but not at the expense of actively drawing down or giving up income producing holdings. I don’t want to suggest yield chasing, but they definitely want to be looking into something more aggressive of a fixed income product than HYSA/CD’s. Some junk bonds, IG corporates, buy-write funds, etc. And a bit in a broad market index fund to try to outpace the drawdowns as long as possible.

Low_Plastic363

So it acts like a HYSA basically to park money.

proverbialbunny

500k is plenty to retire off of with social security. When you're retired or near retired you're supposed to move more towards fixed income assets. You can make sure the HYSA / CDs are a high enough interest rate. I'd suggest they switch to 2 year bonds, which will probably pay better than a NYSA / CD, and the high interest rates will be fixed through a recession. It's a really bad time to suggest people who are nearly retired buy stocks. Like 2006 bad. I have a TON of evidence for this, I'm not just saying that. I'd only suggest they buy stocks after S&P starts falling and then it's been 1.5 years from the top of S&P. This is because most recessions last 1-2 years, so 1.5 is a sweet spot. Furthermore, because they're pretty much retired only a fraction of their savings should be in S&P. Something like 80% at the bottom of a recession, and then a gradual redistribution over the next 5 years to anywhere from 80-100% HYSA / CDs or bonds.

zer1223

SGOV is hardly any different than a HYSA. People who are "investing" in bonds aren't using SGOV. The bond market is extremely complex and I can't speak to it, to be honest. It may be better to buy raw bonds than bond ETFs, it may not be, idk

SecondBaseIsAnal

Just give me my money back and I promise I will put it all into a HYSA

daygo449

I’d do 6 months emergency fund and leave it in your HYSA to gain interest off it. You can take that interest and reinvest it or use it if you need to. Once you fully fund that, I’d switch to full investment mode. You said the kids have some money in a 529, and their grand parents have money for them. You could always fund more into that, but I will say this. They can take out loans for school, which is an acceptable use of debt (done wisely), but in retirement, there is no equivalent. I’d fully fund 401K match, then Roth IRA, back to 401K, and if you have something leftover, then put it in 529’s.

BlockQuantCapitalLab

Makes sense, and with commission income I'd set a hard number instead of a feeling: for example 9 months of expenses in the HYSA, then every dollar above that goes to the market automatically. That way the strong paychecks do both jobs until year end without you deciding each time. At your income a direct Roth IRA is probably phased out, but a backdoor Roth still works ($7,500 per person for 2026) as long as you don't hold pre-tax IRA money, and it's worth doing before the taxable account. If you're on a high-deductible health plan, the HSA is another pre-tax bucket people often forget.

OrchidOk1472

Maxing out 401k Lots of my work is repeat business, so the *hope* is the bottom doesn’t fall out- but I also understand that’s what an emergency fund is for. So I have a bit further to go in my HYSA, before I put it all into the market

1dirtbiker

You've got 6 months of an emergency fund, which is at the bottom of where you should be for working a comission only job. I'd probably split it 50/50 toward HYSA and investments.  Are you contributing to a 401K or IRA?

Vlisa

My none finance savvy friends excited by a 3% HYSA not aware they are losing money to inflation. :sadsuit:

Ozqi

I have $12,000 in a HYSA, maxing out my ROTH IRA annually, and contributing 15% to my 401K. I also have about $5,000 in my main portfolio. I have a mortgage that’s about 30% paid off I have a 2025 Toyota almost entirely paid off. Just got a raise to put me into 6 figures. In my mid 20’s I don’t need any help just wanted to flex on you poors.

D3ATHSQUAD

ZERO. I've always said this should be dependent on how much you have but if I am sitting on six figures+ in a brokerage account why would I bother with $10-$15k sitting in an HYSA? If I need extra money for an emergency it takes two seconds to hop on your brokerage to sell a couple stock and transfer the funds to your checking account. And if you truly need it that day, charge it and two/three days later when the money from your brokerage account arrives just pay the card off.

akimus22

I aim to invest 15% of my gross income, including employer match, into Target Date Funds in my retirement accounts. Any cash I can save on top of that goes into my HYSA.

Mordeking

“- the bubble will pop, give it a year max \- the shit show after the pop will be massive” \^if you are sure of this then why not do a 1 year bond or keep it in a HYSA and then swoop in after the crash

peterpeer9

About $400,000 in a few different HYSA, treasuries, and I-Bonds. Check out sofi

nowuff

Yeah it completely depends on how fixed your monthly expenses are. If you have dependents, it’s tough to have anything less than 6-9 months. But alone, 3 months isn’t an issue. A good approach after that is to layer a bit. Example for me: \- first 3 months: straight cash, HYSA \- next 3-6 months: CDs, some short-term bonds \- everything after that: long-term investments, eg VOO, growth stocks, etc. Separately, if i know i am going to have a cash purchase coming up within a defined time horizon, eg planning to buy a house in 3 years, I will exclusively invest the cash for that in assets that match that tenor (3yr T-notes, corporate bonds, etc)

OddDescription4523

What's your investment time window? Cards on the table, I think we're in for a big drop, because AI is not going to monetize well, and the hyperscalers are going to take the hardest hit, so I predict one hell of a gut punch for Meta.... sometime between tomorrow and 2 years from now. That being said, long-term, Meta isn't going anywhere. So, if you're concerned about the next 5 years, I'd secure a good portion of your profits, maybe sell all of it that you're holding long and just keep what you're holding short, and put some of that money in ETFs and hold some back in a HYSA as dry powder for a probable crash. If your time window is 10-20+ years, I'd say it's up to you whether you want to lock in some gains now and hope to buy those shares back at a discount or just let it ride through the drop and the climb back up.

interpreterdotcourt

Should the amount in a HYSA emergency savings account be inversely proportional to the stability of a particular job? More job stability, less needed in the account, less stability, more needed in the account?

S_Jack_Frost

I am not reading all of this but hedge funds primary goal is wealth preservation not to beat the market. Beating HYSA + not losing too much in a downturn is where the magic lies. And this is not easy when portfolio sizes are hundreds of millions

RedditLeagueAccount

Income ETF's do not perform excessively better than normal etf's as a warning. SCHD is popular because it has stable companies that will likely run fine even during a recession. Most other income ETF's that do not have that defensive style will not perform especially well. There are technically funds that do **inverse** funds. So if you think QQQ is going to fail for example, there are ETF's set up to perform while its crashing. But all forms of the income funds only do well in the sideways market. They wont do amazing in the up or down. But yeah, the common options are - SCHD and CD/bond ladders. Alternatively, Keep 1-2 years of pay in some form of cash, HYSA, or a CD/bond ladder. Keep investing in normal ETF's in the mean time. I put some CC funds in a for fun account and I'm still not sure why. Normal ETF's would outperform and sell for more than the CC ETF's would pay. They will also recover better from the market down turns. It feels nice getting the cash until I realize that SPMO would have outperformed.

Negrom

It for sure still pays federal taxes as its income, but things like $SGOV *are* state tax exempt. We keep a small liquid cash pool in our HYSA, and then the bulk of our savings is in $SGOV for this reason.

_zir_

eight fucking years? dude... please just put it in an HYSA.

NeverTradeAgain

Agree it is way too complicated, and you're optimizing the wrong thing. On 75k over 9 months, the gap between your ladder and just parking it in a HYSA is maybe $200-300. Set it and forget it, and spend the energy on the actual house hunt. Negotiating 1% off the purchase price moves your net worth more than 15bp of yield ever will.

t0astter

Way too complicated. Just buy brokered treasury bills. HYSA and CD are lame, there's no tax benefits and the rates are usually equal to or lower than treasury bills. Alternatively, keep the funds in a money market fund (like SPAXX on Fidelity). Tax benefits, perfect liquidity, and simple.

Zestyclose_Cup6343

Treasuries are the stronger leg of this plan, given your timeline and the absence of state income tax. SGOV and a Treasury ladder will almost certainly outyield a CD ladder at current rates, and individual bills give you exact maturity dates to match your purchase window. Keep the HYSA for true same-day emergencies only, since the Treasury portion needs a day or two to settle. One refinement: consider staggering the ladder rungs at three, six, and nine months so a maturity lands near your earliest possible closing date.

daygo449

I would just put it all in HYSA if it were me. Sure, everyone wants to maximize the money they have, but trying to do that might end up backfiring, so I’d keep it as liquid as you can with a good HYSA. With the rates going up, you’ll get a little boost any ways

Capable-Grocery686

Reasonable answer. My Credit Union high interest checking maxes out at 15k, which I have already. I’ve got an ETrade HYSA where it could go. Part of the plan of putting it somewhere I can’t immediately get it comes from having an unstable financial past, which plays to my fears. That’s on me. 

TheDadThatGrills

Seems way too complicated for such a short time window. A HYSA is around 4.5%, how much are you missing out on but simply using that for nine months instead?

Priority_Bright

That checks out, but even so, you can almost have it in a HYSA over the past 5 years and do as well.

drytexterfinalboss

Nothing makes sense in this God forsaken shit market. I'm taking my talents to HYSA. 🤌

Which-Indication4670

Don’t touch bonds until you understand bonds. That’s my advice. HYSA yields are better than bond yields if you don’t understand bonds. They can be extremely risky unless you’re buying short term (3 month, 6 month, 1 year ) US treasuries. If you want those, google can explain quickly how to buy (directly from US treasury) and when to sell (never).

stimulants_and_yoga

So if I have money in a HYSA, should I buy bonds?

GuidetoRealGrilling

About 12 months of expenses. I know it's overkill, but feels good. Stays in HYSA.

FLATL1N3

Budget monthly expenses and multiply by 6 and put it in a HYSA

user4443337

I prefer leveraged ETFs to margin for the reason you said, high rates. Maybe if you could somehow get a decent rate though. One part of riding through leverage is holding through big drawdowns which might not be possible if you get margin called. You’d save and save until you have enough to live off of the portfolio. That’s what I and many others are planning. If you need the actual money then don’t invest it - keep it in SGOV or an HYSA or something. You invest what you can afford to lose and store away for like five years minimum.

Present_Student_1500

8% over five years is really bad. Like… you could’ve gotten more in a HYSA, or even a low yield savings account…

SeriousCricket2837

2k buffer in checking. 7k currently in a HYSA, working my way to 10k. 30k in an ESPP I’ll dump if needed ever arises.

ChairmanMeow1986

It really depends on your situation, for most (disregarding the current fuckery) I'd say 6 months emergency fund in cash (HYSA/SPAXX/etc) Than something like diversified 50% US, 20% international, 20% fixed income (bonds are traditional, but I'd be light on them besides MUNIS), and 10% discretionary/reactive. However it's actually really personal, I keep about a year and a half in liquid like cash as I'm all equities for now which has a lot of risk to net worth if you need to draw on your investments at a bad time. I think this is honestly the easiest way to look at it, have your emergency fund of 6 months expenses, but than judge how likely you'll need to draw on your investments. Job at risk? House planing? You move more into cash or fixed income depending.

Docist

Thanks for the AI rundown on why you should have an emergency fund. Again if you lump summed your emergency fund 2 years ago you would be up tremendously. You can assess your own risk tolerance. Personally I’m fine keeping all my money in an index fund l, not too worried about an event that’s only happens a literal handful of times in the last 100 years. Even in the scenario of those events happening chances are higher that my money that would have been in an emergency fund is still worth more in the “drawdown” than keeping it in a HYSA for 10 years.

v_x_n_

It depends on your age. If you are more than 10 years from retirement I would keep 6 months worth of fixed expenses in HYSA or T bills

LazarusRiley

Did no one ever teach you people about the concept of risk? Money that you absolutely need for survival should be in the least risky investment like a HYSA. Only make risky investments with extra money that you can afford to lose and regain multiple times throughout your life.

nupper84

Take your profit. Pay your taxes. Put the rest into something you're more confident in like a broad market etf. Put whatever you need soon for life stuff in something like SGOV/USFR or a HYSA. Then live without stressing over the stock.

Dmoan

Wow sorry to hear. Yea focus on saving 40% of take home income atleast and save and put in index funds and HYSA. You can make it back in no time.

tenderheart35

“Again”? My dude, it’s time to close up shop and put your money away in a HYSA.

gopoohgo

1 yr Treasury is yielding more than a comparable CD. With no state or local income tax on the interest. Bought 102k @ 4.64%. $1640 more than sitting in our Amex HYSA

ObamasTanSuite

HYSA eating good

Salty_Feed_4316

I have just got to the point of having an e fund! I did 6 months very comfortable and keep it in a HYSA. I could bare bones stretch this to be 11 months. I personally feel so much comfort in having this cushion that it outweighs any anxiety I have about missed gains. I’d rather miss out on some gains than have to try to sell of some of my brokerage in a pinch that just gives me all sorts of anxiety

Latter-Possibility

Currently building up the emergency fund to cover the cost of a New Car or equivalent life expense. Most of this money will sit in HYSA or SGOV

Rjcca

This is offset by the fact that the invested emergency fund will outgrow a HYSA. Even if you must sell while stocks are down, they will very likely still have outpaced the HYSA, or at least brake even. I would much rather have all savings growing in investments than sit in cash just in case

dope-a-meanie

I use SGOV and a HYSA for emergency funds. A years net salary across both.

Swred1100

I have an emergency fund (HYSA) with about 6 months of expenses, and another fund (also HYSA) for short/medium term big buys (wedding ring, travel fund)

theblindness

While checking accounts lose about 3% of spending power per year from inflation, a HYSA or CMA earn just barely enough interest to keep pace with inflation. The CMA functions similar to the brokerage account with a debit card and some additional checking features, similar to what you’d get from an online bank like Ally or Capital One. Unlike the normal brokerage which can only select between a couple money market funds as the core position, you can choose whether your core position in a CMA is swept into FDIC-insured accounts at partner banks like a Fintech, or a money market fund like your normal brokerage, insured by SIPC. You can also manually purchase into other funds eligible for auto liquidation like FDLXX, in case you live in a state with state income tax and prefer a 100% treasuries fund. Debits will draw from cash balance, followed by core position, followed by other funds eligible for auto liquidation, like FDLXX. Pros are online banking like a checking account with funds automatically sweeping to an interest-bearing core position like a brokerage account. The CMA is technically a type of cash-only (no margin) brokerage account with checking features, so it can hold the same stuff as your brokerage account. They have early direct deposit, so if you deposit payroll to it, it should be available about the same as any other bank checking account, with early direct deposit, about 1-2 biz days early compared to a checking account without early direct deposit. Also unlimited ATM fee reimbursement, even international ATMs. Cons are the mostly same as the brokerage account. If you pull from another bank via ACH Debit, there’s a 10 biz day settlement times, but funds still sweep to your core position the next trading day to start earning interest right away. You should probably keep a local bank account for teller services, but the CMA can cover just about all of your online banking, using a single account for checking and savings.

BarryMannnilow

I pulled out 60k cash cash during COVID when everyone was panicking around toilet paper. It's still sitting in my safe. HYSA about 50k plus revolving checking accounts. The rest is invested. About 5% or so of my investments

Seref15

No kids no wife, ~$35k, enough to pay property tax, homeowners insurance, and car insurance for the year -- plus enough for general expenditures for like 8 months without too much tightening. Thats just emergency money. Never looked at or touched for any reason, have never withdrawn from it, hopefully never will, sits in an HYSA. Then I have other spendable cash. About 2 weeks ago sold ~15% of my portfolio plus reducing my DCA purchasing by ~30%; sitting on that cash in another HYSA for a little bit.

JRshoe1997

Agreed that financial choices will change based on a person and their own situations. However that doesn’t change the fact that choosing to pay off a 3% mortgage versus putting it in the market and getting a 73% return over the last 5 years is a bad decision unless you’re absolutely drowning in debt and need to deleverage. Choosing to have a higher amount of money in a HYSA because you have kids versus someone who doesn’t have kids is a “personal finance” choice. Choosing to not invest in something because you prefer whole shares versus partial is not “personal finance” choice and is just someone making bad choices.

dogs_gt_cats

My budget is broken up like this: 1 month of bills in a HYSA. I also have a HYSA account that accumulates cash for our non-monthly bills (things like insurance premiums, yearly memberships, quarterly bills, etc). I also keep 6 months worth of bills in a position in SGOV in my brokerage. The rest gets invested.

abeBroham-Linkin

Accessible: $500 + a credit card (low limit). This is meant for immediate emergency; car related mostly. Everything else goes to emergency fund, would be in SGOV or HYSA, which I can transfer the same day and have access the next. My emergency also funds my Roth.

Gloomy_Locksmith_362

Amazon is the easiest and safest 2x from here, HYSA type of safe

D3AtHpAcIt0

friend full ported TTWO calls so hard they not do "HYSA only"

pr1onedad

Fidelity Cash Management is good. I don't think HYSA necessarily lack the cash management features mentioned since it's purpose is savings that should not be accessed regularly. Definitely keep checking and savings as separate money management tools. For HYSA I have used Marcus, E-Trade, SmartyPig, PNC Bank.

Optionsmfd

I would have 3 years spending in short term treasuries or HYSA Then rest in my golden triangle SP500 NAQ100 Charles Schwab 300 equally Roth would be the best I think eventually government will raise taxes and reduce spending once they can’t afford the interest payments

Informal-Lime6396

> My only problem is that brokerage is taxed How is that a problem? Everyone gets taxed in their taxable brokerage account. The alternative is to let inflation eat it away in a savings account or barely keep up in a HYSA.

4thshift

I'm not great at investing, but had I simply put my money into an S&P 500 index fund (SPY, VOO, IVV or similar) and reinvested the dividends, I would probably have a lot more money today than I do from chasing 3x leveraged funds or trying to guess which healthcare or technology companies are going to be the winners. Those winners certainly exist, but they can fall just as dramatically. Nobody can tell you whether today is the best day to invest. There will be dips, crashes and periods where the market goes nowhere. But an S&P 500 index fund gives you ownership in 500 large U.S. companies rather than requiring you to guess which individual company is going to succeed. Dollar-cost averaging is one way to deal with the "is the market too high right now?" problem. Instead of trying to time the market, you invest a set amount at regular intervals. Sometimes you'll buy high and sometimes low, but you're not relying on yourself to predict the next dip. Most people aren't very good at doing that consistently. I'd also keep an emergency fund in a HYSA rather than putting every dollar into investments. An ETF is an investment, not cash. You can sell it during market hours, but the sale has to settle before the money is available to withdraw, and the market could also be down substantially at the exact moment you need the money. A HYSA is much more appropriate for money you may need in the short term. If you're in the U.S., I'd also look at retirement accounts before putting everything into a regular brokerage account. A Roth IRA lets you contribute after-tax money, and qualified withdrawals in retirement can be tax-free, including the investment growth. Traditional retirement accounts generally give you a tax deduction up front and you pay income tax when you withdraw the money later. There are contribution limits and rules for both, and retirement accounts aren't quite as flexible as a regular brokerage account. So if you're building money that you may need before retirement, a regular brokerage account can make sense too. And don't overlook taxes. In a regular brokerage account, selling investments can create taxable capital gains. How long you held the investment can make a substantial difference to the tax treatment, so constantly buying and selling is not necessarily your friend. In a regular brokerage account, holding an investment for more than one year can substantially change how the profit is taxed. And you need to keep track of your activities for tax reporting, which is a pain. I am not going to tell you what company to use, and there are many, but an well-known example like Schwab, offers retirement and simple brokerage accounts. You open it like any other internet bank account, basically. Send in the funds and then it just sits there, until you go in and select a Ticker symbol, hit the \[Buy\] button and decide how many shares and how you'd like it to go through ... LIMIT to a certain value, or just accept the MARKET of that moment, for example. Someone accepts your offer, mostly within a couple of seconds and then you are a stock/ETF owner. When you want to sell, you go back in and hit the SELL button and say how many shares you want to sell. If you want to get into the more high-stakes stuff like OPTIONS, that's beyond me. Do your homework. Consult with a professional at some point: Internet opinions are not very believable.

octopus_serenader

Check with your current bank or credit union. My credit union offered to switch my regular savings account to a HYSA and it was that easy.

2pearsofjeans

Don’t be messaging people out here, you gonna get scammed lol That said, I’m looking for a good HYSA too. But Robinhood has been good for my Roth IRA. That’s my main retirement/investment vehicle for stocks and EFTs.

Scotinho_do_Para

For HYSA? I'm assuming you're from US, if that's correct then just shop around. You should have several options.

Indescribled

I opened one up with SOFI recently because you can have a regular checking account and a HYSA with 4% per year. Easy to transfer between and I just decided to use them as my main bank, but there are a ton of options and you can also just use it for the HYSA Wouldn't put anything into the stock market until you have a few months of expenses saved up

mattronimus007

I'm aware the S&P rises and falls like every market but it's what I hear most in personal conversations. Along with HYSA ( which is an acronym I just learned) When I say I know nothing I mean it.

Scotinho_do_Para

Build up an emergency account. HYSA.

Lucifers-Reprieve

Every investing reddit or any size has some wikis.  Your country is going to have a sizable impact on some of your options.  Government bonds, CDs are also good options if an HYSA itself isn't.  Fidelity money management account is around the same range as some HYSA if that's a possibility for you.   Day trading....don't. Avoid individual stocks if you are new and don't have a long time to let it ride.  I like vflo lvhi vymi for less volatile etf options with some respectable gains.  Just don't invest it regardless if you need it soon (under 3 years).

Beginning-Pangolin63

Since HYSA in my country isn't really a thing, that's out of the question. Putting it into a savings account is also another option I'm almost certain I'll do, but since I plan on investing money into the stock market in the future, when i have a steady income I think I'll go with this. Do you recommend good sources I can learn about stocks and all of that before I invest?

_FierceLink

As it's a sum of money you will need in the next couple of months or a year or two at max, put it in a High-Yield Savings Account (HYSA).

Foreign-Put1361

For long term - I track the 200 day SMA and buy within 5% of it or ideally below it for strong entries and otherwise just keep in a HYSA or USDC before entry

InvestingNerd2020

Trading is short-term and has a bad history crippling financial losses. Most people who do are legitimate gamblers, infrequent strategic traders, or work at a hedge fund. They rarely beat long-term investing in 5+ years. For investing (5+ years of buy & hold), get with Charles Schwab. They are an excellent investing broker with tons of educational material and have well informed customer service. The order of investing operations for full-time working adults are: - Contribute your pre-tax income to your company 401k/403B plan up the employer match. Usually between 3-6% if they offer it at all. Easy way to double your money. - Build up 3-6 months of emergency savings in a high yield savings account (HYSA) or Treasury fund with after tax dollars and after your survival monthly spending. Make sure you are getting 3% or higher interest rate currently. This will keep you from touching your investments if you lose a job or something you own breaks. HYSA examples: Marcus, Amex, Capital One, or Ally. Treasury fund examples: SNSXX, SGOV, or VBIL. Treasury funds are tax protected from city and state taxes, but you cannot access the money on the weekends. - Once your emergency saving have been built up, start investing into a Roth Individual Retirement Account (Roth IRA) if eligible. You need to have a legal tax filing job and earn less than $153k as a single tax filer. Less than $242k as a jointly married tax filer. Great for the middle class because the gains are tax free at 59.5 years old! Max annual contribution to the account is $7,500 according to the IRS for 2026. Invest into SWTSX at 80% and SWISX at 20%. Setup auto invest and focus on staying employed. - Anything extra, throw into a taxable brokerage account. Work bonus, tax return, credit card cash back, or lawsuit winnings. Invest into exchange traded funds (ETFs). Basically a group of stocks that trade like an individual stock together, and are tax efficient. SPYM or SCHB are great long-term choices. Pick one of those not both of them.

myspamaccount007

I apologize. I was only looking at your chart so didn't realize you've been at this for a while. Honestly, a million in a year is still very high risk and most people lose it all again with options. I would say set aside 30% for taxes and with the rest, have a different strategy. With the other 70% ($140k) you have multiple options. Invest $138k in a diversified portfolio, more aggressive since you sound younger. Put $40k in a HYSA. Do options with the rest which is just a couple thousand, should be enough to scratch the itch. I have a plan B. It would be a wise investment strategy but you'd have to hear me out first. DM me if you're interested.

gizmole

6 months' expenses in HYSA or something like SGOV. The rest, if for retirement, put in VT, VTI, or VOO. Depends on how much you want to divesify, and your investing beliefs. VT will give you world exposure, including the US. VTI/VOO is just the US. You can always change things up the more you learn. You may want to dabble in individual stocks (more risk/more reward), but learn how the market works and how to evaluate single companies first. Otherwise, you're just gambling. Don't trade. The majority lose. If you still want to consider it at some point, make sure to paper trade first for a while to learn what system works for you. Then, when you start with real money, risk management is the most important factor. Start with very small trades you can stomach losing until you can see if it's something you can even be good at. Psychology will be your biggest barrier to overcome.

OrdinaryLatter

Yeah those HYSA rates always offer a temporary high before returning to actual return, it’s meant to draw you in in hopes you forget about it when apy drops dramatically. Remember that everyone trying to sell you a HYSA is getting paid. No one is getting paid for money market funds.

OrdinaryLatter

Chasing HYSA bonuses is a lot of risk for not a lot of reward. I used to do it too, money markets are better options.

OrdinaryLatter

With HYSA’s your usually investing through a 3rd party into a bank that you’ve never heard of that is putting everyones money into a single account and relying on the original service to keep a ledger, because your not directly banking with that bank you’re not FDIC insured. Even Wealthfront uses GreenDot. At that point in this multiparty scheme it’s less risk and more consistent/better apy to use money market funds.

AdGuilty7139

Ça se comprend d'être perdu à 28 ans. Mais doubler 5000 balles en un an c'est pas un plan, c'est un pari, et le day trading est exactement ce qui te fera perdre le reste. Comme tu as un Roth et un HYSA je suppose que t'es aux US, donc PEA oublie, mais un simple ETF S&P 500 ou World dans ton compte taxable fait le job, à 7% par an tu doubles en dix ans environ sans rien surveiller.

OrdinaryLatter

Get a Vanguard account, start auto investing with VFIAX (VOO equivalent), do the same with VUSXX (money market fund). Figure out an amount for both, consider it part of your bills, set it and forget it. Don’t do HYSA, they can collapse and you might be SOL. See More Perfect Union’s report on HYSA. Also: influencers recommend HYSA not because they’re good but because they get referral bonuses.

kinetic_honda

Keep 6 months living expenses in the HYSA. Regularly buy index funds with your income. Keep doing this for 10 years and then watch compounding start to show it's beautiful self

Dr_Zoonotikstein

Risk tolerance varies wildly, but I'd probably put $70 in HYSA and restart with $5K for options play.

thorn960

Oops, I meant high yield savings account. I guess that's HYSA.

lean_drumming

You got the basics right, rate hike makes borrowing more expensive so companies slow down expansion and spending. That usually means less growth and stocks dip, at least short term For your savings, HYSA rates follow the fed pretty close so you'd actually see better returns there it's one of the few bright spots when rates go up Treasury yields are connected, they tend to rise with rate hikes cause investors want more return for lending money when inflation is hot

SallyShortcakes

You could easily keep monthly needs in a HYSA or SGOV

Sensitive-Exam649

People tend to think of an emetency fund as just cash. But your investments can also be your emergency fund. And using you investmnent this way can work better in in real emergency. For example instead of cash you can hold an assets like the S&P500 index funds. and must sell toff in an emergency. Now yes youmightsell it at a loss. But the same time when you don't need it is growing faster than High Yield Savings Account earning 4%. But if you compare an index fund to dividend or coperate bond funds. you will find dividned like CLOZ that stays within =/- $1 price rang and pays 7%. Yes it don't have growth but the yield is higher. So the risk selling at a big losss is quite small when compared to growth index funds. And then there are funds SPYI with has a little bitof growth and a yield of 12%. So if you sell this fund You will probably sell at a small profit. And reinvesting 12% yield is better than any savings account. But the you have 12% yield do you really need cash savings. SPYI also pays in its dividend montly. so 100K invested in it is 1K a month of income. So all you have to do is turn off dividend reinvesting and the money cash will show up in a money market account which is similar to HYSA. You could hold onto 6 moths of dividends in the money market account. And if that isn't enough you still have 1K a month comming in. If you cash build s to more than 6 moths you can reinvest it in the dividned fund. You could easily use thedividneds to growth this emergency portfolio over time until the dividned is more than 3K a month. Without adding a dime of work income. With several K a month coming in you could also start coverneidn regualrexpeneses with your dividend income which will allow you to save more work income. I have a taxable account with QQQI13% yield, SPYI 12% , KGLD 12%, EMO 8%, UTF 7%,UTG 6.8%, PFF6% Thisaccount today These funds today generate more than enough to cover my 5k a month living expenses. And it allowed me to retres about 10 years earlier than i wasorinonally expecting And I have stated some money a S&P500 fund thatI can tap for big expenses if need or if my dividned income is reduced in the future. And this is in addition Tony 401K and my roth. and age 60 instill several years away. I started out with 401K and maxing out the deposits every year and built a a small growth index fund for emergencies. And generally only had about 3 months in banks savings. Fortunately I worked 32 years at one company and never got a layoff notice. I didn't know anything about dividned until about age 45.

SeveralScorgasms

Idk man, HYSA make the most sense. Mine just increased today to 3.55 so that’s cool I guess.

DoinIt4DaShorteez

Other than checking account, I basically keep the rest of my free cash in the BIL etf in my brokerage account. If I have to sell some for an emergency, the cash is available the next day. I have Merrill accounts linked to my BoA accounts. There's advantages to me to keeping that money in Merrill vs some sort of separate HYSA, that are worth more than a few basis points of interest. Insured vs not doesn't concern me. It's not worth sweating a few basis points until you're talking $100k+

user-namepending

Sure with this rate hike and yields catapulting to the moon our HYSA and MMA will also see greater yields? R-right?

Over-Computer-6464

When looking at returns be sure to take into account state income taxes. T bills are exempt from state income tax. SGOV and VBIL T bill ETFs are mostly exempt from state income tax. So the post tax returns are higher than an HYSA with the same interest rate if you are in a state with income tax. I

InvestingNerd2020

If you are already using HYSA (assuming 3% or higher currently) and T-Bills, you are already in a great situation. Time to focus on moderate diverse growth investments. Total USA ETF: VTI, SCHB, or ITOT International ETF: VXUS, IXUS, VEA, or SCHF.