HYSA

InvestingNerd2020

Since you are living with your parents, focus on these things: \- Getting an education or trade skills. \- Build up emergency savings for your routine monthly spending (groceries/restaurants, car gas, car insurance, and cellphone bill). Put it in a high yield savings account (HYSA) or Treasury fund at Fidelity or Charles Schwab. You will need a taxable brokerage account for the Treasury fund. FDLXX with Fidelity or SNSXX with Charles Schwab. HYSA examples are Capital One, Amex, Marcus, and Wealthfront. Make sure it has 3% interest or more. \- After building up your emergency savings fund, start to invest into a Roth IRA. Again, either Fidelity or Charles Schwab. Within the Roth IRA, invest into a Total USA index mutual fund and set to auto invest after the initial investment. For Fidelity, FZROX. For Charles Schwab, SWTSX. The gains will be tax free in retirement. You just cannot pull them out until you are 59.5 years old. If you liquidate the funds and pull the money out before 59.5 years old, you will get hit with a 10% fee to the IRS.

SheriffBartholomew

Idk why people are downvoting you for a question that people here usually love answering. At a minimum put it in a HYSA. Realistically the safest hands-off plan is to put like 20% of your earnings into an index fund and leave it there. VOO, VTI, or whatever. Good luck!

poHATEoes

Short term - HYSA (High Yield Savings Account) (Currently around 3.6%) 3 Years: $62,604.77 ($3,404.77 Interest) (Based on My Current HYSA with no change in interest) My Personal Opinion: $22,500 Roth IRA $24,825 HYSA You will 100% Thank Yourself 47-44 Years from now for putting $22.5k into your IRA now. Does your employer offer stock purchasing plans? 401(k)? Match on a HSA? Take advantage of literally every dollar they are offering you!

ga2500ev

Yes do this. For now a high yield savings account (HYSA) is the vehicle that you need to do for this right now. Several pay over 3% so the cash makes money just sitting in the account. ga2500ev

SimonThePug

5 years is still short term. Keep what you will need in that short term in an accessible but interest earning account (HYSA for withdraws when you need, CD for slightly better interest but unable to access money for a specific amount of time, usually a year) Everything else, throw into your retirement fund immediately. It won't feel like it's doing much at all for you over the next several years but if you keep contributing there will hit a point where it starts to skyrocket. I'm 32 now and if I had started putting away your kind of money into my retirement fund at 18 I would be able to retire right now. I got a fairly normal-early start at 27 years old. 18 will do wonders for you when it starts to compound. Short term money is important for: \- General fun/health \- Emergencies \- Rent/mortgages Make a budget and stick to it and you will be on an insanely good path.

namrock23

HYSA, dividend stocks, sports betting :)

neverfakemaplesyrup

I am low income and just met my HYSA goals Do i A. Max out my roth IRA B. Balance between IRA and a DRIP on an individual so i can contijue to save towards goals while retaining liquidity C. Put it all on WEN

RedditMapz

Yes, and how many people asking for advice like this actually know how to verify FDIC insurance? Do you know? Personally I'd be skeptical of most trendy HYSA "banks" that are exclusively online and popped over the last 5 years.

RedditMapz

I would personally advise for a money market fund through an established broker. The Yatta Bank fiasco should really give pause to anyone putting money on an HYSA offered through a fin-tech bank (Which are the popular HYSAs).

JoeRidesBikes

100% into an HYSA until you have $5000 saved up as an emergency fund. What are your plans for the money in 3 years? If it's for a big purchase, don't invest any of it, just put all your money into your HYSA. If you are investing for retirement (40 years out), then keep it really simple, one ETF, $VT would by a great choice.

abeBroham-Linkin

Compare and find a really good HYSA. Set that up as an 'emergency' fund.

Pop_Magoot

My mistake, I was referring to the 3% HYSA. The credit card slipped my mind

Paul_Robert_

Why doesn't Buffet put everything into a HYSA? Is he stupid?

ImpossibleEbb6862

I just use it to buy VOO, manage my IRA, and invest in an HYSA. I don’t care about front running.

Tylorian_delorean

HYSA & the UI when I feel like gambling.

InvestingNerd2020

The best short-term gains at your age is emergency savings from either a High Yield Savings Account (HYSA) or Treasury funds (MMF or Treasury ETF). A) Stay with Fidelity and look into SGOV (Treasury ETF) or FDLXX. The Federal reserve is keeping the money supply tight for banks, so interest rates will be high for the remaining 2026 year. B) Semi-conductor industry is doing great and expected to stay that way until 2028. SMH ETF is an excellent choice after building up 3 months of emergency savings with SGOV or FDLXX.

PraetorianFury

https://www.google.com/finance/beta/quote/VOO:NYSEARCA The cheapest and safest ETF possible. Pretty much equivalent to "the US economy". Much better returns than a HYSA of you're willing to tolerate ups and downs.

jgortner

I never get these posts and strategies. Please open a HYSA and safely collect 4% especially if your live savings is 10k and you can’t afford to lose it. Investing in the stock market is gambling no matter how you slice it.

SalamanderJones18

You’d have 110k if you just left it in a HYSA

hatsunemilku

wait, we can post here even if we just do safe HYSA? I though there was a requirement of doing either something brilliant or really dumb while investing to earn the right.

CovTaude588

bonds reduce volatility, which is their actual job. the years they underperform HYSA are also often the years equities do well, so the comparison feels worse than it is in isolation. duration and credit quality matter more than fund choice once you've decided you want some fixed income in the mix.

yayaya888

Been taking all the advice to heart will diversify between divvy stocks, T bills, HYSA, probably not gold/silver rn, def not 🌽 lol property someday I don’t feel there yet

KittyLover-7

NVDA 2% YTD You are fucking trash bro, outperformed by a HYSA whilst you delivery 80-100% YOY quarters

ItzChiips

My 3.25% HYSA absolutely crushing your MSFT savings account lmao. Maybe I'll buy when they stop shoveling money into their doshit AI copilot nonsense

BradBrady

I want to buy a house by next summer but man with the market down like this it’s such a great buying opportunity for stocks deciding how to split investing versus HYSA

DatRedStang

Just sell and save for taxes in a HYSA.

Poat540

Pull few k out of the HYSA

HeftyBox3580

I’m doing the opposite and putting my check back into my HYSA since I depleted half of it this month on shitcorns 🌽

Whole-Reserve-4773

HYSA don’t lose nav

pryan256

I guess my HYSA APY will soon be beating inflation again 🤔

taplar

A hedge is not guaranteed to work in your favor. If you put it in a HYSA and then the bonds out performed it, would you then complain about why do HYSA exist?

No-Improvement3164

At least my HYSA is out preforming the BAG7 this year

GaylrdFocker

>The markets are currently expected to drop, not go up. By who? People have been saying this for years. Could it drop, yes. Will it drop, nobody knows. Could it drop 30% after it goes up 40%, yes You are all over the place with crypto, oil, shorting stocks, etc. Just put it in a diversified index fund unless you will need the money in the next 4-5 years, then put it in a HYSA.

jvaritek33c

yes, i have an entirely walled-off Sandbox account with 36k in it so that I have a space to play around without worrying about losses the rest of the money is in HYSA or Roth IRA

idgafbroski

Shares of WEN replacing my HYSA

xoirh4-u238

I’m not trying to beat it. I’m trying to conserve what I have. If I have to just take investments into bonds and HYSA I will do that, but I just want to know if there’s other things I’m missing before I do that. I am willing to lose out on the potential of more money from this day on. The risk isn’t worth it to me regardless if the market doesn’t crash within the next year

Krasmaniandevil

Personally, I wouldn't prioritize the mortgage if I were in your shoes. I would probably make a few intergenerational wealth moves, keep a cash cushion, and invest any remainder in whatever your portfolio needs more exposure to (e.g., healthcare equities, TIPS, Ibonds, etc.) Bear in mind that part of 529 can be rolled over into IRA if unused, and can also be reassigned to someone else if you have a second kid. Current administration created a new account named after POTUS that essentially acts as an IRA for children without requiring them to have any earned income. This might be a better vehicle for setting your newborn up depending on the returns on a college education in 18 or so years. A bit of a seed in a UGMA will provide your child with some flexibility in case they want to sell assets without incurring IRA penalties. You might want to look into the gift tax rules and benefits of the account to see if you can get away with just using the annual gift tax limit. Childcare is ridiculously expensive, so factor that into your budget if you haven't already. Depending on your healthcare situation, unexpected medical expenses related to childbirth or aggressively responding to your child's disability/disorder/etc. can be significant, so I would suggest keeping most of the windfall in something safe and relatively liquid (HYSA, Money market fund, short term bonds, etc.). Also, consider whether your business can benefit from a capital injection, as those returns might dwarf anything you could get from the stock market if you're ready to expand or invest in efficiencies. Relatedly, consider whether you have any deferred maintenance for your home that you can get out of the way early. Best of luck!

SuspiciousSpyderman

HYSA

Snlxdd

Right after the tech and housing bubbles burst. I’ve been warned of these bubbles since 2019, so I’ve smartly kept all my money in cash and in a HYSA since then. Once the bubbles finally pop and the market goes down by 30-40% I’ll be ready to capitalize while all you fools will have lost your investments

FrenchBulldozer

Plummeting and crash are hyperbole. If you’re happy when it’s green one day and panic when it’s red the next day, you’re an emotional investor. You’re better off keeping your money in a HYSA if you’re that risk adverse.

wandererarkhamknight

If you think this is a crash, then equities are probably not the best place to be for your investment. Try HYSA.

Dalewyn

Your flaw actually isn't anything to do with SpaceX, it's that you tried being a day trading gambler and you're paying the Stupid Tax(tm). If you buy equities the general idea is: * To hold it for at least a year so any taxes incurred in the future are long-term capital gains, not short-term. The switchover happens after 1 year of holding. Yes, the tax laws literally discourage day trading. * To ideally hold for at least 3 to 5 years and even better until the day you retire and start needing to sell some assets for an income stream. Timing the market is a fool's errand and equities are far too volatile in the short to mid term. If you want more money literally tomorrow, stick your money in an HYSA or money market fund and get a better paying job.

j_cambar

Hi there, glad you found the comment helpful! The advice you're getting now would have been more valid a few years ago. Right now we're late in the cycle, valuations are ridiculously high, and any position you take is seriously at risk in the next recession. That doesn't mean don't invest anything. It does mean that since you're not invested today, you should keep most of your position in cash for now. You're not "doing nothing" or "doing it wrong" by being in a HYSA. You're getting 4-5% with zero risk at a time when risk is unusually high, which you have already identified. Don't let people pressure you into doing something you're not comfortable with for good reason. I wouldn't think about this in terms of "this week vs. next week." The problem isn't going to play out next week, and even if it started today, we wouldn't be anywhere near a buy zone by then. Think more like 6 to 12 months. The rest of this year is an important watch window, especially around what narrative plays out with AI capex. If we start to see that spending translate into real margin expansion over the next few quarters, it can potentially delay a recession. If it doesn't, that disappointment could be the catalyst that causes one, along with rate hikes and sticky inflation. The markets are stretched by most key indicators, and not just a little. We're at levels that have historically preceded major downturns. The more important question, though, is where would any new upside actually come from at these prices? The bulls have an answer for that, but in my opinion it's not a compelling one. If you absolutely need to get some exposure, keep it small. Something like 3% in VOO (or SPY if you prefer) and 4-6% in IAU as a hedge. On the VOO side, watch for a particularly weak day and pick up a small position. On the IAU side, build it in three tranches: a small starter now with gold near $4,150 (IAU \~$78-79), a larger add when gold is around $4,000 (IAU \~$76), and the rest if gold flushes into the high $3,000s (IAU \~$74-75, or a little lower on volatility). The $4,000 level is the key one to make sure you participate in, since it's a major psychological and technical support. That's it. Keep the rest in cash. TLDR; be patient. Your money is already working for you. Let this cycle play out, buy into the trough, and you won't have to watch your current cash get cut in half. That kind of drawdown is psychologically shocking and tends to drive poor decisions at the bottom, especially for newer investors.

lucky_oats

Thank you for this information. I'll stick to my HYSA for now, and keep an eye out on the market votality for the next few weeks/months!

lucky_oats

Not OP but came across this comment and it helped me with the math a lot! I have high 5-figures I've been keeping in a HYSA but I've recently been told that I've been doing it wrong and I need to invest it in index funds. I was just opened a brokerage(but I've been maxing out my Roth IRA for years) and I was about to invest the money into the market. However, the market seems very volatile. I'm not trying to time the market, except... maybe I am? Would you say today/this week is a good time? Should I wait until next week? Not even sure what I should be looking out for since I'm super new to this. Thanks!

j90w

Yeah OP needs to stick to a HYSA and leave the casino. He’ll lose to inflation over time but at least will have some numbers in his account balance.

delamerica93

Okay hold on. Dude you just blew my mind and I feel hella dumb. My wife and I already have a Marcus HYSA, and it never even occured to me that I could pay bills through that. Oh my god. That's fucking genius.

cherry_blossom_7471

Lmao and my friend who’s a mega Saylor lover asked me why I preferred my HYSA over $STRC for my savings

Discount_LionSafari

When I was starting out, the very first thing I did was get my expenses and debt under control. Moved to a cheaper area, stuck to a budget, and paid off mostly everything, and gradually increased my monthly DCA. Eventually could double down during market dips. Sold some long positions and parked profits and deposits into a HYSA. Saw all my doctors! Quit smoking (and other habits.

tocinoman

Brother don't trade when you're feeling like that. Park it in a HYSA and clear your head.

Various_Couple_764

Generally you want to have about 6 months of expense save up as cash. Anything more than that Recommend investing it in tax efficient dividned fund. HYSA are very similar to money market accounts that brokerages have So I would move the HYSA into a schwab government bond money market account and then anything else I would put into QQQI 13% yield. And turn off automatic dividend reinvestments. US the money market account for any unexpected expenses or emergencies. the dividends will show up as cash in the money market account. then if the money market account gets above the 6 moth level use the excess money to buy more shares of QQQI. IF you get a bonus at work or a money gift put that into QQQI. QQQI will refill your money market account slowly. But the more you add to QQQI the fast the money market account will fill. Eventually when QQQI is worth 100K it will produce 1K a month of income Every additional 100K in will add an additional 1K a month of income.

NatureStoof

5% maybe a year ago. HYSA are down to like 3.1% now

01Cloud01

I’m assuming you’re fairly healthy I would invest all of the HYSA if that option is available to you if you end up not using it it’s basically another retirement account your employer may also have options for additional contributions

Swred1100

Keep 6-12 months of expenses in HYSA, whatever makes you feel most comfortable. Rest should go in this order: 1. Max out HSA 2. Max out Roth IRA 3. Taxable brokerage

Inspiration_Bear

Figure out what your monthly expenses are. Keep 6 months of that in a HYSA. Keep anything else you know you are going to spend soon in the HYSA. Invest the rest. That’s conservative, you can likely invest a bit higher than that if you want.

mrellz

Sounds like you'll eventually need it so I suggest taking half and putting it into your HYSA and then taking the other half and investing it into an Index Fund that matches the S&P 500

DoinIt4DaShorteez

If you put it in an ETF like VOO, you can sell it when you need to and the cash would be available the next day. But you're subject to price risk of the market. Figure out how much you really need for an emergency fund and put that amount in a HYSA or money market fund, and put the rest in VOO.

GrnBlu

It's so tempting to put all my HYSA into MSFT leaps. Tell me one reason not to. I'm already holding heavy bags in msft.

ThouMayest69

Feels like you could put it in a money market like SPAXX etc if you are comfortable with comparatively slower annual growth. It's still like 3.5% though. It would essentially be an HYSA and you could pull money quicker than from an EFT if that really matters. 

brooklynschino

HYSA + ROTH ($VT, $SCHD) … is all you need. Thank me later.

indomike14

Your still young so keep investing. Little bits at a time and only what you can afford. Your entire life savings shouldn't be in stocks/ETFs. It's smart to have an emergency fund in a low risk bonds and HYSA and your growth fund to be in stocks and EFTs. No one knows what's going to happen but the stock market is a long-term play to longterm gains. The plus here is that you have time to make it up.

myviewfromoutside

Yes I am in Fidelity Money market which has sometimes outperformed HYSA

Weary_Boat

I just cashed out my personal account (not my retirement accounts) and put it into a HYSA, but I only had 3 different stocks and the ride was wild. I would have put the money into an index fund but I'm hoping to make a big purchase fairly soon, and I'm in my 60s and don't want to wait. Like your dad, I feel pretty sure there's going to be a crash, but like everyone else here I think your best bet is get back into spy and ride the ups and downs and don't try to time it

pandahustler

Hi everyone, I am 32y/o, live in the United States. I am employed, 62k pre-tax/annually My goals are for retirement, but taxable brokerage account for retirement + possible home/car purchases in the future. No strict time horizon, maybe 5-15 years for taxable brokerage account. Risk tolerance is med-high for taxable brokerage account, low-med for roth IRA. Plan to invest max roth IRA annually, plan to invest 10-20k into taxable brokerage account (at the beginning and will do small deposits throughout the year, I don't make much right now). No debt. Brand new to investing, currently no stock holdings. \------------------------------------------------------- I am aiming for a few things through fidelity: \- Roth IRA \- Taxable brokerage account For Roth IRA: I will max annually. Have narrowed down to FSKAX, and currently debating the weighting. Open to 100% FSKAX, but also 80-90% FSKAX and 10-20% FTIHX. I was wondering if you guys recommend doing a lumpsum of $7,500 for this year, and then monthly deposits from next year on? For 401k: Starting a new medical residency this fall, don't remember the 401k details right now but I think they match between 2-10%. For HYSA: Still shopping for one, but also considering CD due to fluctuations of APYs. Emergency fund will likely remain in my bank's MMA (\~2.0%). \*\*For taxable brokerage account\*\*: This is where I could really use some advice. I am aiming for a breakdown of -> 35% VOO/30% SCHD/20% QQQM/10% SMH/5% VXUS. I am open to a lot of advice, I haven't bit the bullet in any element of this plan yet, aside from opening a roth IRA account. Apologies if there are silly plans above, I am completely new to everything as I mentioned earlier. Super grateful in advance for any advice/guidance. Thank you!

paragonx29

Why don't you keep 25% in a HYSA and put the rest back into the market in broad-market index funds. My favorite combo is VTI 60 / AVNM 25 / QQQM 15. We keep hearing: "we're at ATH'S and it can't possible go up any more. But here we are...

CelticCladdagh

If you are seriously considering a house soon, I would keep enough out of the market in a HYSA to cover your down payment. That should make investing the remaining a bit more tolerable for you.

D0nk3yD0ngD0ug

If the market isn’t substantially higher 30 years from now, it would likely mean the end of civilization and we all will have bigger problems to worry about. Put your money in now and forget about it until you are in your 50s. Keep only the money you need in the next 10 years in a HYSA or safer assets.

BluesFlute

If you feel uncomfortable buying into stocks at this time, don’t. But you can take time to learn the basics, like reading a book, taking a course, subscribing to a reputable financial news product. Put your $ in a HYSA and collect some interest and see how you like it. Learn about DCA into an ETF. Don’t know which one? That’s a good place to start learning. Roth IRA?. But of course! Learn some basic technical analysis too. Reflect on the 20 year chart of SPY. FWIW, MSFT is setting up nicely right now.

FreshDiamond

Yeah OP dad doesn’t have a fucking clue what he’s doing. Pulling money out of index funds in your 20s is just flat out ignorant. You can get back in. The market might take a shit anyways, and the math says it doesn’t matter. You are you just keeping buying. Now if this money is your plan for buying a house that makes a little more sense but that’s not a plan. That’s a hope, if that’s the case you may not want to reenter. I would assume that it’s a legit amount, just put it in a HYSA if that’s the case. It’s not gonna generate a ton but it’s way better than thinking you’re gonna time the market. As for lifestyle spend amongst your peers, that doesn’t mean anything at all. People are just irresponsible with their money. Some make the conscious choice to enjoy every dollar and then some because they don’t believe the dream is attainable. Some are just complete fools and some are deeply indebted. Some don’t care at all I’m in my 30s I know people with great high paying jobs living at home for free, that just can’t seem to put a dent in their student loans. That doesn’t really add up.

hoenndex

You should only invest money you do not need in the short term, that way the ups and downs of the market will not freak you out. If you need the money now or think you will really soon, it is better to park it in a HYSA than investing it.  Also, your mistake was trying to time the market. Start thinking long term with your investment, don't pull it out just because it goes down a few percentage points. You are young enough that by the time you are in your 50s and 60s (perhaps even sooner) a few red days, even red months, should have no effect on your investment growth. 

RevolutionaryWeird33

Sell that gun and stop thinking like that. Yes, say goodbye to this thread and personal investing (more like betting) and once you get some capital, start with a HYSA and then hire a pro once you’ve arrived at an amount. You can’t invest money you need. You’re 30 and young. Dumb decisions are what your teens and twenties are for, now it’s time for responsibility and accountability bc no one is gonna get you there but you. It takes discipline and controlling your impulses. Start with not buying items by the register in stores and build up from there. You’ve got this. Of course it’s shitty but hopefully you’ve learned an expensive yet invaluable number of lessons in your journey. Time to step away from the table and focus on things you can control. I wish you the very best.

Ohlele

Which makes putting it in HYSA a better investment 

AssociationFit3009

I grew up poor. There was a point in time I would have literally killed for a few thousand dollars. I’m not rich $18k would be devastating but now that’s a quarterly bonus for me. The shit that seems life ruining now will be a funny story later if you learn from it. You have a gambling problem and you need to stay away from “investing.” Put your savings in a HYSA from now on and close your brokerage accounts.

GroovyYaYa

What is your source of income? Before investing in something that might make it difficult to get it out in cash, I would make sure that you have any credit cards paid off and at least six months worth of your monthly income available (so in a HYSA or other "can get the cash to pay bills today without taking a hit financially" ie - sell stocks at a loss) If you have credit card debt, it would be foolish to not get rid of that first.

Krusty_Double_Deluxe

an HYSA until things blow over

Ok-Barracuda39

If I had a million, I'd just chill with the HYSA interest.

Delicious_Fox3878

HYSA is fine for cash, but bonds mainly reduce portfolio volatility

RagingWillyz

Dumb advice. Bonds are barely beating inflation. Just keep in HYSA then if you want stability lol.

riceandrepeat

There’s honestly no guarantee in the stock market…so I would caution that mentality You’re asking for a 60% gain in less than a year, which is honestly absurd if you’re just value investing. Either your stock picks have to be perfect or you trade options, no other way. If I were you, I would just invest the money in a HYSA, and try to pick up some extra hours at work. That should cover your remaining 3K

InvestingNerd2020

Apps: Either Fidelity or Charles Schwab. Investing recommendations for "set it and for get it": An S&P 500 fund. Fidelity: FXAIX or SPYM (ETF) Charles Schwab: SWPPX or SPYM (ETF). If you are not working, open a taxable brokerage account and invest into ETF SPYM. ETFs are better for taxable brokerage accounts due to tax efficienct nature of their setup. Invest about $2,000 of the $7,000. Keep the other $5k in a HYSA of 3% or higher. If you are working, even part time, put $2000 in a Roth IRA instead. With Fidelity, invest into FXAIX. With Charles Schwab invest into SWPPX. Do the same with the $5k remaining (into a HYSA). Typical order of investing operation: 401k/403B company plan match > 3 moths worth emergency fund in a HYSA with 3% or higher yield > Roth IRA if you have a job > taxable brokerage last with ETFs.

Jive_Sloth

Yes, it's too late. Market is no longer accepting new bidders. You'll be relegated to CDs and HYSA for the rest of your life. It's the only option now.

kewli

Honestly… whenever I have this issue i do the following… what do I need for the next 6 month’s savings? Then subtract that and place in liquid HYSA. Then I determine my risk level. If low, invest 25% in market, 75% in stable bonds or tbills. If medium, 50/50 allocation. If high, then 100% to the stock market. Anything in the market is always an index, can’t beat S&P.

DesktopSurfer

Honestly not 100% sure. I'd like to take 100k and set it aside in an HYSA to cover the tax bill later on, and with the rest I'll pay off my student loan, get a new car (nothing too fancy), and with the rest I'll probably chuck 100k into safe long term diversified ETF/dividend stuffs and continue day trading/ options trading with a small fraction. I'd also like to buy a condo. Maybe I'll finance a condo, rent it out, and let the rest of my cash just compound up in the markets and such. I've come too far to screw it all up now.

Pat_Curring

Leave your UPS alone. The UPS and S&P gives you ample cushion to make mistakes, gamble, and withstand misfortune. If your HYSA is better than UPS dividend, then you could sell and move it over there, but you'll pay some amount of taxes for whatever profit might be made. To answer your actual question; split the 35k up. Set aside 1/3rd of it ($11.6k) on the things that give you FOMO so you can get it out of your system. Dont pick just one thing. Recognize you have 38k in pretty conservative areas already. Keep doing research like you have been. I dont know if you're ready for a house; on account of your original post. I think you deep down want to play the stocks lotto and see if you win. The house quest is a lifestyle admission of "I'm going to be slow and steady with several 100,000s of dollars".

PHL1365

At a minimum, get the cash into a HYSA until you decide how to invest it.

No_Feeling920

T-bill ETF, HYSA or CD. Everything else will likely sell off during a crash. Even the most defensive stuff will still see some price correction (just less than the tech sector).

Zrocker04

Take it, even if you sustained or even grew income it would take forever to catch up. Don’t invest tin AI bs, it’s a bubble. Keep an emergency fund HYSA, most into index fund (SPY, VOO), and maybe 10% to play around with if you really wanna pick AI stocks.

No-Pea-1711

Gold is a good historical safe haven but it’s just so expensive right now. You could also buy bonds. Anywhere from 1 month to 30 years. Guaranteed return and if interest rates fall relative to the rate you got then you can sell for a premium. High yield savings accounts also give you variable interest rates if you don’t want to lock the money up completely. One strategy to hedge against interest rate fluctuation is 50/50 between HYSA and bonds. But if you’re looking at multi-decade investing, I wouldn’t worry about trying to time a crash. S&P 500 ETFs and just let the money recover with the economy. The saying is that time in the market beats timing the market.

Ohhmama11

Cash/HYSA, Short term treasuries, gold and energy

ErikDHaag

What is your timeline to retirement? Is your core retirement funding already covered? Hard to answer your question without basic information. Given current valuations, what I'm doing with my recent windfall (and I'm early retired so feeling conservative) is a.mix of HYSA, ultra short term Treasury funds, cd ladder, high yield bonds, high dividend funds, REITS... More stable in a correction but averaging 6%, And every month moving some into a growth portfolio, and some into a lazy portfolio ETF basket.

adiabatic_storm

I've always thought it interesting that risk adverse people are willing to accept a guaranteed bad outcome, instead of taking some low to moderate risk on something else that at least has a historical track record of success with an expected value much higher than the "safe" alternative. Like, yeah I get it, volatility is hard to stomach at times, especially in crashes or prolonged bear markets, but the irony is that if you stay committed to the higher volatility yet also higher expected value strategy long term, the strategy still significantly outperforms the "safe" one even after adjusting for a significant crash or correction. I mean look, if all you have to your name is $5K then there's a good argument for stashing that in an emergency fund / HYSA, but the idea of committing any real amount to money to guaranteed demise (via slow but insidious and continuous devaluation resulting from inflation) is clinically insane. You want time on your side, not the other way around. $10K invested in BND on April 10, 2007 is now worth $17,700 today. $10K invested in VTI in April 10, 2007 is now worth $71,622 today. (And that's after riding out the 2008 crash and everything else that has happened since.) The stock market could crash 70% tomorrow and you'd still have more money from the original investment in VTI than BND. Which begs the question: What's really more risky, anyways? I think we have to measure risk not just as potential for sudden downside corrections, but also in terms of opportunity cost on the way up. Those losses are just as real, you just don't see them like you do a direct loss, so it's easier to miss.

QuirkyGlove3326

Put it in a HYSA while you DCA weekly.

1967C10

Do you have any debt? If so I'd recommend to pay all of it off first (other than the mortgage) then put 50% of what's left into a low cost index fund that tracks the S&P500 (FXAIX etc) , 25% in a HYSA, and 25% or less into a fun/lifestyle account for home/car/vacation or single/fun stocks you're passionate about (10% max)

Great-Guidance-6371

Look at your debt. Are you paying 6-8% or more? Pay it off. 2.5-4%? Probably better to keep the debt. I don’t know how old you are but it sounds like you’re relatively young. Put all in HYSA now. DCA up to 30% in SPY. 20% in bonds. Maybe buy some gold if you’re worried about gov debt and inflation and a crash. You need cash for a down payment or anything in next few years? Could keep rest in the HYSA. If now, put into SPY or other comparable vehicle.

crunchwrapsupreme4

you don't need a financial advisor, just stick it in a HYSA and then spend a few months doing some research and thinking about what you should do with it. You'll probably come to the conclusion that you should put it in a broad market index fund, but that isn't always the right answer.

Soberishhh

Robinhood offers a 3% roth match, 3% cash back all around credit card, 4.25% HYSA, free wire transfers, and much more i have millions in RH and never dealt with the same issues you described aside from delayed orders if the market is closed over the weekend.

FitContrarian

I found I have the opposite problem. I struggle to hold onto cash, even in a HYSA. Drives me crazy knowing that $ could be getting me 10% +. Im actively making an effort to hold on to more cash but get the itch everyday to dump it into an etf.

StegersaurusMark

I know another top comment was Roth. But I’ll say it. Roth. Roth. Roth. (Assuming you are in the US. Similar analogs exist elsewhere) Everything is always conditional. If you have a goal of buying a house within a few years, you should save the down payment in a HYSA. If you are already in a very high tax bracket, then probably traditional retirement. But since you are young, I’d strongly encourage Roth To first order, investing a dollar in Roth is equivalent to investing that dollar in traditional, ASSUMING you are in the same tax bracket today as when you withdraw. If you are in a higher bracket today than you expect to be in retirement, then better to use traditional. If you are in a low bracket today, then it’s good to use Roth Roth has a huge benefit once you are retired because it won’t contribute to your taxable income. Therefore, it’s great to have a mix of Roth and traditional so you can keep the gross taxable income low. Or use Roth for years of high withdrawal. Likely, you will be in a higher bracket in your later 30s and 40s. Therefore it makes sense to start contributing to Roth earlier, and let it grow I wish I understood that better when I got my first 401k at age 30. Instead I contributed a piddling split 50-50 between traditional and Roth. I’m doing OK retirement wise now, but that is probably my biggest financial regret

ToastSpangler

wym, broad moneymarket is 100% safe, i was talking ETFs/stocks but MM is just a better HYSA really I think only one MM fund has ever gone below $1 per share, and that was a real estate backed one in 2008. if something like SPAXX collapses the entire economy is fucked anyway and the government has to print huge amounts of money to bail everything out, so your dollar will be worthless anyway and you won't have a job

Asbelsp

That is relatively short term and no guarantee what happens in that time. Do your own due diligence. Don't just grab a list from anywhere for such a short period. Last year any firm had thought msft was safe. Honestly, even VOO is not safe for that time period and no good advice would tell you to invest there if you need that money in that time period. That is put it in a HYSA time period.