HYSA

Terron1965

They should be in HYSA then. You don't get higher yields without higher volatility unless you run the business yourself.

konjecture

Yes, you need to keep at least 6 months of your spending and some emergency funds that are readily available in either HYSA or buy SGOV ETFs which will save you on state taxes. After that keep investing whatever you can in the entire US market ETFs and may be the entire foreign market ETFs (so SCHB 80% and SCHF 20%), but make sure to understand that if the market doesn't do well, then you could "lose" a lot of money if not all. Always remember, you haven't made or lost any money unless you sell your shares.

DocBrown_MD

At what point is it time to start investing? Like after 6 months of spending in HYSA?

AICHEngineer

Ive used PNC, Chase, and SoFi, I like sofi for the convenience and HYSA. Chase is nice to have but checking at chase has no yield. With SoFi you can keep all your money in the hysa and instant transfer some to checking whenever you need, and can auto pay bills out of the hysa.

DABOSSROSS9

Real talk to everyone on this sub. Your safety net is not your investments. A safety net is cash, hopefully in a HYSA.  Second, if you have enough in investments for a down payment in a home that you plan on using, sell it so its cash! If you are jot sure when you are going to buy a home just stick the money in safer etfs. 

Initial-Culture2445

Bro is about to stress test his marriage. I'd stick to HYSA next time, maybe money markets.

No-Improvement3164

I say raise rates. Even at these levels HYSA outperforming RSP SCHD IWM.

Johndough99999

Shoulda left it in the HYSA

pigglesthepup

This really depends on your time horizon for this money. SGOV has already been recommended. Know that it's super short duration (0-3 months), making very similar to a HYSA. You could go for some longer duration but still short-term ETFs: SPTS: Short-term treauries, average duration 2 years BSV: 75% treauries, 25% corporates, avg duration 3 years VTIP: short-term TIPS (inflation-linked Treauries), avg duration 2.5 years If you know both exactly how much you need in the future and when, individual bonds or a CD are fine. I strongly recommend individual investors stick to government (treasury, agency, muni) when buying individual bonds. Anything else requires extra research and the disclosed financials aren't always truthful (see: 2008).

DNosnibor

I generally assume when people say they're holding cash they mean it's in a HYSA or bonds, not literally just sitting in a checking account or something.

ExcellentStudent8697

Dial down risk near retirement: lock in cash flows and let a smaller equity sleeve work. Keep 2–3 years in HYSA/T-bills, a 3–7 year Treasury/CD ladder, 30–50% stocks, rebalance yearly. I’ve used Vanguard LifeStrategy Income and Schwab’s CD ladder; for a fixed multi-year rate slice I bought a small MYGA via Gainbridge. Secure near-term spending so markets don’t choose your retirement.

Icy-Nefariousness424

IMO. Rip the check up. If you're standing on your own and she wants to do something with the money to help the family, see if she will put it in a HYSA for your kids or open her own Roth IRA to grow while she's alive with your guidance. My dad keeps trying to spend his excess retirement on me and my family. I understand the desire to give to your loved ones. I do it myself. My view is that that is his money and he can set up his descendants in better ways than buying material things now. If he's dead set spending that money on the family, I'd rather he do it for the long term health of the family fortune instead of smiles today. That's my view and everyone has to make their choices but also, they have to own those choices.

Naive_Stretch_7445

Yea… I’m kicking myself for not taking my short term gains about a week and a half ago. This money used to be in my HYSA, I’m wondering if it might be worth it to just put it back in there and delete robinhood and never have to think about it again haha.

panna__cotta

You’re missing the part where confidence in the dollar and faith in the government is waning. The market is the hedge against that. I really don’t know what else to tell you. Feel free to stay parked in a HYSA. HYSA isn’t bulletproof either. Plenty of wealthy have low faith in FDIC in the event of bank runs and QE inflates the dollar away. Trump’s been very open about wanting a weak dollar. There’s never a true safe bet, only diversification.

lOo_ol

Keep in mind, people on here will advise as they invest their own money, despite being in a different situation. They'll tell you "bearish, great, SPY and chill" which makes absolutely no sense, but will be upvoted, because they all do it. A financial advisor will be no better because they're incentivized to take your money and invest within their scope of work. If you are truly bearish, and let's assume American, there's no risk-free avenue. Heading towards retirement, the safest way to go is a HYSA. You may lose some on inflation if they lower rates, but the return is guaranteed by contract. Anything else is runs the risk of losing value when you need the money. Your biggest risk would be rapid inflation (devaluation of the currency, debt crisis, government still prints, etc...). If you think that's on the table, you may invest some of that money in gold, which grow fast during inflationary periods.

Ohhmama11

I have about 3-6 month safety net in HYSA. What rate you get in CD?

therealjerseytom

If you want immediate liquidity to either transfer externally or buy some dramatic market downturn, I think a brokerage money market position is ideal, and should be at least as good as any HYSA rate. Personally I keep my emergency fund "cash" as a ladder of rolling T-bills, and my discretionary cash in money market. Owning T-bills directly squeezes out all the yield you can.

No-Improvement3164

I never thought my HYSA would outperform HD and META YTD. I’m so tired of all this winning 🏆 😂🇺🇸

Rugaru985

I borrowed from my 401(k) to buy my house. Best decision I ever made. If I would have saved that money in a HYSA, I would have immediately lost 22% per year compounding. Also, Mr money mustache, I think, or one of the FI guys, did an analysis years ago - it’s still wayyy better to max the 401(k) and take the 10% penalty pulling out than to put that money in a brokerage. Although, the best bang for your buck is to take a year without income to pull out the money, but then you lose the income if you don’t have a way to take delayed income, or can’t control your income through a business you own.

garnersgoats

Just sell everything and buy sgov, if that's your outlook.. really, the markets continued to rally to ATHs until trump tweeted something stupid about china... his tweets impact the markets more than anything happening in congress, and honestly, you never know what he's going to say.. honestly, sgov is about the safest place to put your money to avoid volatility and the dividends are slightly better than a HYSA.

modder9

If you bought NVDA 6 months ago - you would have made more in a HYSA LMAO

MattieShoes

Open a brokerage at the same time/place as the Roth IRA. No, you can't roll IRA money into your 401k. You wouldn't want to anyway. You'll just have both. Start by opening those accounts and depositing a little bit of money into both. Platform doesn't matter so much, but Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard are the big three. Lots of other options are fine too, but I'd stick with those. Probably the real place to start is setting up an emergency fund in a HYSA, though a money fund in your brokerage would be fine too. Beyond that, I'd start with something stupid-easy like, just throw some money into an S&P 500 fund or a total market type fund.

Adventurous-Goal478

This is what you should do. I experimented with a "managed account" of $5k on RH and it grew literally 1.1% from May through September. I set everything to high risk and high growth and I still would've made more just leaving it in my HYSA.

FRNAP13

0.7% on a $2M+ portfolio AUM is normal market practice for top wealth management companies like UBS, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch. I get full management and financial planning. I have 6 portfolios, 1 direct indexing S&P500, 1 direct indexing Russell 1000 growth, 1 back door roth IRA, multiple Private Equity funds, 1 custom core portfolio for growth, 1 portfolio for stability, 1 cash account with HYSA, T-bill, Muni Bonds. The wealth management firm is taking care of everything, investment of my RSU, rebalancing, cash transfer to my family, tax advices, advisory free for my 401K and more.

Mysterious-Entry-357

House - 325k (when we bought it) Equities - 700k Pension - 620k Bonds/Gold/Treasuries - 115k HYSA - 12k Debt - 0 Been kinda uneasy the last year but luckily I've got some baseball cards in the basement that my parents assured me would be worth a fortune one day. Still a big deal right?...right?...ah crap.

1burritoPOprn-hunger

>bonds pay over 4% Awesome? HYSA pays 3.5%. It's pointless. > If you sat in bonds for 5 years, making nothing, 2015-2020 you got paid huge during COVID and could simply rotate in at the bottom. You would have made way more if you just continued to buy equities during COVID. It isn't even close. > stocks are expensive as hell and something will always come that makes a monster dip, it's just a matter of waiting Okay so you're a bear who wants to time the market, good luck. You do you, but it's historically the wrong decision. > like Apple is just pure trash. paying 0.38% yield? 7% growth? Again, ??? Apple is up 20% in the last year and 129% in the last five years. 25 year olds shouldn't be worrying about dips or short term corrections. They should be piling money into the market as much as possible.

1burritoPOprn-hunger

This "deranged viewpoint" is the most consistent performer over a very long period of time, man. > boglehead advice is 100% useless unless you are already rich/wealthy. in the real world, people get laid off or wiped out regularly. there are people who were out of tech job for months with no income. Yes, which is why you don't invest money that you need for living. Low risk bonds pay a pittance over a HYSA, bonds are a method for wealth preservation, not wealth generation. You shouldn't be putting a red cent into any market until you have emergency savings built up. > stocks are very stretched and pay virtually nothing for the risk ??? We have been living through the most epic bull market in generations. Pay nothing for the risk? Stocks are up massively and anybody who wasn't in them lost money to inflation. You are clearly a bear, which means you've been wrong for basically ever. Telling a 25 year old to put money into bonds is just completely trash advice.

mrtrentsd

High yield savings accounts (HYSA). SOFI is currently paying 4.3%.   A $300,000 deposit in a high-yield savings account with a 4.3% APY would yield approximately $1,075.00 a month in interest.

Kooky_Hippo2688

Pausing the 401k max to build a house fund is reasonable if you keep the match and keep saving in Roth/taxable. At 34 with $450k already in retirement, your constraint is liquidity. Do match-only in the 401k, then max the Roth (contributions are withdrawable anytime, so it doubles as backup), and funnel the rest to a dedicated house fund. You’ll likely add roughly $800–1,200/month to take‑home by throttling back, which is the difference you need for a down payment. Set a target: 20% down + 5% closing + 6–12 months of PITI reserves. Park the money in a HYSA and 6–12 month T‑Bills; if your timeline is >12 months, mix in I Bonds. The 4% rule is a rough guide decades out-don’t let it stop you from improving flexibility now. If Roth IRA income phases you out, use a backdoor. A 401k loan is a last‑resort bridge, not a plan. For 2–5 year funds, I’ve used TreasuryDirect T‑Bills and Ally/Marcus for cash; a small MYGA via Gainbridge helped lock a fixed rate without market risk. So no, you’re not wrong-keep the match, keep the Roth, and redirect the rest to a liquid house fund until you’re ready.

JawnZ

No it doesn't: at the bottom it asks if you have a more immediate goal to save towards (after maxing: employer match on 401k, IRA, HSA, etc). 401k beyond your employer match CAN have some downsides compared to IRA and HSA, so you should max those first (after employer match- which is generally the best free money you can get). As someone else mentioned to you already: anything not in a tax advantaged account means you'll pay more in taxes. If you have a goal and realistic target to hit it (including the taxes hit) then some kind of HYSA or other liquid account may be worth it.

Firm-Raspberry9181

Yes you should have 8 months of living expenses available in a liquid form (HYSA for example) if you anticipate being unemployed for the next 8 months. Also consider if you’ll need cash for a downpayment on an apartment or other big expenses when you move. If the job market weakens, will you still be okay? I’d set aside 8 months minimum, probably 12 months of living expenses to be sure.

Spinlock72

Would having an HYSA count? I often use it to fund my brokerage account. Idk get why people mention lump sum. Doesn't LS imply that people invest a largr amount one time and forget? I prefer to DCA weekly even if it seema like I'm leaving money aside, which is not how I see it.

bzboy

This is actually INSANE. I get to 1 mill trading, I'm closing the account and putting that in a HYSA

DaemonTargaryen2024

>why can’t some of that allocation be HYSA or CDs? Then if you see a significant correction >10% you move some of that bucket into equities. Because that's market timing which, statistically, underperforms "buy-and-hold" >Which may also be looked at as a rebalancing, given the drop in equities, to your preferred asset allocation. Then why weren't you in that asset allocation to begin with? Also if you are closing in on retirement Of course. That's adjusting your asset allocation based on your time horizon and risk tolerance. It's not timing the market. >not everyone is 100% equities always hence there is “dry powder” available. Is it timing the market? I don’t think it is in these scenarios No. "Time in the market" doesn't mean "be 100% equities". It means buy-and-hold according to your asset allocation, *irrespective of* market conditions or market perceptions.

MagicJuggler

Welp, today sucked less. Bought puts on TLT near the beginning of the day, sold them, and put the money into more shares. Only 73 more to go before I have a solid 300, and I can turn this into a "second HYSA".

John_Gabbana_08

I've only dabbled a bit in options and lost 15k on OPEN puts out of 110k I had for investing. Thought I could time the dump. I sat back for a while and reconsidered my entire life. I don't know why people would continue gambling after taking such huge losses. Blows my mind. The only thing that saved me was investing 10k in Advantest in April...if it wasn't for that, I would've just sworn off equities altogether and put everything in an HYSA. This sub is like a group-think for gamblers too, people seeing all the gain porn makes them think "just one more play bro next time I got this." smh

WontonJons

You had better chances with BYND shares. Take your $7k and just open a HYSA bro.

rokoruk

Broadly agree but if you can be in a different asset allocation than 100% equities, why can’t some of that allocation be HYSA or CDs? Then if you see a significant correction >10% you move some of that bucket into equities. Which may also be looked at as a rebalancing, given the drop in equities, to your preferred asset allocation. Also if you are closing in on retirement then holding cash is a good hedge for SORR, if a correction happens it’s potentially a good time to move some cash as to some extent you’ve experienced some SORR. Maybe a long way of saying that not everyone is 100% equities always hence there is “dry powder” available. Is it timing the market? I don’t think it is in these scenarios.

_Clives_Wife_

I haven't done a poll or anything but I would bet most people keep their emergency fund in a HYSA

db_deuce

It's a fixed income option and you toggle between when the principle is repaid (Call date), coupon interest rate and the ability to get the principle back with interest (ratings). Most bonds, A rated corporate bonds pays 5.75%, way better than HYSA. A CA muni bonds pays 4.85% tax free or more than 10.5% tax effected for me, way way way more than HYSA. Of course you don't want to hold long call date bonds when interest rates and inflation is out of control as was the case in 2022 to 2024

redracer67

Idk if this is smart or not, but I essentially do both. I'm DCA and DRIP and I have 1 years worth of emergency funds in a HYSA ready to use if there is a market downturn. I increased my emergency fund because of the likelihood I will be laid off. If the market decreases, I also use it as an opportunity to tax loss harvest gains and reinvest into the market. So, when covid happened and liberation day, I lump summed into the market. And in parallel, I continue to DCA. As long as the math works out, I don't worry about if it's an ATL or whatever, if I think it will eventually work out, I'll go for it.

plasticbug

They might be just using part of their "safe" portfolio like bonds... Or dip into their emergency savings. I peronally like to keep around one year's expense in HYSA and will dip into it to buy the dip, and refill by delaying regular purchases.

siamonsez

Bonds are debt, you're loaning out money to some entity and getting paid back with intrest so there's no volatility and little risk of loss as long as the bond issuer has a good credit rating. Funds will generally have a mix of types of issuers with the federal government making up the biggest portion. Because there's essentially no risk of default, but there's also other stuff like businesses and mortgages with higher yields but higher risk of default. Saying bonds are superior is a strange way to put it. Having little to no volatility is important if you're within a few years of wanting to spend the money you're saving. If you're planning on spending 100k in a couple years, like a down payment, investing in equities would mean it could be worth anywhere between 70k and 150k at that time but investing in fixed income assets means it's a much narrower range, maybe 99k to 110k. Cash equivalents like a hysa are also fixed income with debt as the underlying asset. The difference is the duration. Cash equivalents are pretty much all based on 0-3 month treasuries so the yield can change relatively quickly. Longer duration bonds locks in the yield for a longer period. On average longer duration bonds will have a slightly higher yield than short duration bonds over the same period. A few months ago you might have been getting 5.25% in a HYSA but now it's down to like 4% and at that time you could have gotten something with a 3 year duration at like 4.8%. For those few months it had a lower yield, but for the next 2 1/2 years the HYSA will most likely have a lower yield. One way to look at why fixed income is important is that it locks in the gains you've already had by reducing volatility. If you're investing 10k today it might not seem like a big deal that it could be worth 20% less next year, that only 2k. If it's been 30 years and that 10k is now worth 100k and you need that money to pay for your expenses next year losing 20k would be a big problem. Reducing the growth potential on that money is worth eliminating the risk that it loses significant value.

Technical_Formal72

Not sure if I read this correctly, but did you say 6-12 months is your time horizon for holding? If so that is extremely short and I would strongly suggest not investing in equities. Instead you should consider short-term cash savings vehicles i.e. short-term treasuries, a money market fund, or a HYSA. Feel free to correct me though, that’s just how I interpreted > I have a fairly long horizon so I’m happy to DCA and hold for 6-12ms whilst I carry on doing more research

Captian_Kenai

Ah yes it is indeed Saturday, time to say the sky is falling once again. If you’re in the market for a long term investment then this is largely irrelevant. Could the market crash on Monday? Sure. It could crash any day for a number of reasons. But it always comes back, sometimes slower other times faster but you’ll eventually break even or, more likely, come out ahead with more gains that stuffing that money in a HYSA for 20 years.

Siriusly_Jonie

It’s a bank that is growing like crazy and getting more customers into the product blender. How do you think I got here? You sign up for the HYSA and next thing you know you have a Roth, brokerage, student loan refinancing, mortgage, and a credit card.

UltraAware

Long term: VOO and real estate Short term: HYSA Gamble: Crypto

kidfrumcleveland

I also think having access to your money makes it easier to legitimize spending more than you probably should. I am Fed employee so I put money into G fund not because it pays any better than HYSA, but because I don't have access to it. There is also things like GOLD, which I only recently started investing in, at 3900 an ounce, which I think will NOT crash if the economy crashes. The dollar, and your HYSA might not have any value if hyper-inflation takes over.

_allycat

What hoops? For my HYSA I just had to fill out an application like any new financial account and there's nothing complicated about using or maintaining it.

v_impressivetomato

in addition to BaconJacobs answer, HYSA aren’t always giving the best / matching rate. Sometimes I rotate between SGOV and VGIT depending on what rates are doing, but the difference is minimal for the amount I have in bonds.

obidamnkenobi

If you have so much anxiety and stress from automatically, passively investing in index funds, that you don't need to check more than once a year, or less frequently, that's a you problem. I don't think that's even close to universal. My wife can get stressed. I set her 401k to max into the index a decade ago. She's maybe checked it a few times. She has $700k now, at ~middle age. Pretty sure that will make her much more comfortable than having maybe 150k that's been eaten up by inflating in a HYSA. 

Ratermelon

HYSA

Logical-Contest-4448

what company is HYSA?

obidamnkenobi

HYSA does not have zero risk. They're guaranteed 100% to loose to inflation. 

Ok-Estimate1224

You’re correct that corporate bonds can outperform a HYSA, and rates can change. But that misses the point: I recommend HYSAs because they are stress-free, liquid, and zero-risk. Corporate bonds require more attention, carry risk, and don’t give the same peace of mind. For regular people with jobs, families, and mental fatigue, simplicity matters more than squeezing out extra returns.

kidfrumcleveland

While I agree with most of what you said, I would also say it ignores certain investments like corporate bonds, that can definitely get better returns than HYSA. There is also the problem of banks constantly changing interest rates on savings. How many big banks call .01 precent interest HIGH YIELD.

BaconJacobs

I have yet to see a HYSA that doesn't have hoops to jump through SGOV you get paid monthly and the gains aren't taxed, or are hardly taxed

someguyonredd1t

Emergency fund in HYSA if not already sorted, rest in VOO or VTI and forget you have it. Not sure of your living situation, but you may also want to leave some in a HYSA to go towards a home down payment as well. I would try to get at least $100k into the market however.

Trevoc22

Probably would put 100k into something like QQQ to get the base. Then put a couple months rent in a HYSA. Then the rest into an ai, tech, or nuclear power. (NVDA NVTS OKLO)

MosDaddyda

I would put it in SGOV or a HYSA

SoulStripHer

HYSA because I need to grow bucket #1.

Traditional-Pilot955

Do I need the money in the next 1-36 months? HYSA or emergency fund. If not, I’d Roth IRA it for $7500 for the year and $2500 for the next

ArtisticFrame5790

This probably is not the place to ask for this type of advice. I had similar amounts as you in a HYSA then started putting money in the market earlier this year (stocks). Started going up and felt great so moved more in then April tariffs hit and had a large drawdown. I did add some. April hurt and I thought I messed up. But it recovered and by last month I was pumped how great I was doing. Now it’s been drawing down and I’m not doing so great. Went from up 50% on positions a month ago to up 25% today. The market goes up and down. Catching it low and riding up is nice but it sucks riding it down. Just depends on your goals. I’d be nervous about your meta on leverage though.

RedParrot94

If it were me, I would invest for a year or two, and if the market didn't tank, take it all out and put it back into a HYSA. You don't want to be in a down market and need your funds. I saw that happen to a guy where he put all of his down payment for closing in NVDA and closing came and NVDA happened to be down. He lost his shirt because he was forced to sell. If you go over to r/ETFs they can point to you pretty safe ETFs.

Adept-Grapefruit-753

I did invest in the SP500, but I had 250k in savings and was only putting 65k down. If you're not ok with losing 50% of your down payment, keep it in a HYSA. 

sonicking12

If you invested in VOO 3 years ago, you would almost double your money. With a HYSA, you may get 15% more. It's up to you.

God_Dammit_Dave

What do your additional savings / investment plans look like from today until 4 yrs out? S&P is not "safe." Index funds certainly mitigate risk. Look back to 2020-21. S&P took \~two years to recover. Depending on your future savings plans, how safe your jobs are, you could hedge a bet. Invest some in the S&P while aggressively rebuilding the HYSA. Make sure you are OK if the market takes a protracted dive. Make a plan. Stick to it.

KittyLover-7

In one of the biggest bull runs ever, meta is 3% YTD HYSA outperforming zuck is insane work

everySmell9000

Fed lowered interest rate by 0.25%. every bank followed suit. To only lower the HYSA rate by 0.2% when the Fed lowered more than that is a win for the consumer.

Nosemyfart

I have approximately 1.5-2 years of living expenses across HYSA and money market funds. I plan on using that

Random_Name532890

move it to a HYSA. the end.

Seref15

I mean, you pay tax on any interest-bearing account too. So dummies would rather make 3.5% from a HYSA and pay tax on that than make 8%+ from a brokerage and pay tax.

Alt_For_Whatever

26 year old, starting new job that pays 100k/yr, has 3% 401(k) match, and contributes $700 to HSA. Lucky to be living at home with family so I just pay all the utilities. About 2k of expenses per month including food/clothes/gas/insurance/etc. Here's my currently planned strategy: 7% 401(k) contribution + 3% employer match Max out Roth IRA Max out HSA $500 into a HYSA every month $1500 into stock market a month (prolly gonna put it into S&P or VOO) Is there anything I'm missing/should adjust? Probably only gonna be able to maintain this for a year or two before I move out but I figure it gets me a good start

No_South_9912

Taxable investment account possibly at long term capital gains rates vs ordinary income on a HYSA. Long term capital gains rates are ZERO for most couples earning under $130k 💵

FuzzyDynamics

Also money flows based on risk and return. I think most of these companies are solid investments, same as I think government bonds are or an HYSA. But why put money there when I see relatively low risk and huge return potential elsewhere.

skrrtouttamia

> but when you're just using a brokerage account as a savings account that doesn't really matter as much. this sounds like an oversimplification. I take it that you have a fully funded emergency fund sitting in a HYSA, as well as contributing the max to your 401k and IRA?

Over-Computer-6464

How set are you on buying a house in ~18 months. If it is a firm plan, then you need to put the downpayment is safe assets like HYSA, or money market fund, or 3 month treasury bills (or SGOV which is an ETF that holds 3 months T bills). The advantage of treasuries is that you do not owe state income tax in the interest. Only if your timing of house buying is uncertain or flexible should you leave the money invested in the stock market. OTOH, if your house purchase is some indeterminate point in the future, then I would lean to staying invested in S&P500 or total US market ETF. You would be accepting the risk of a market downturn around the time you want to buy forcing you to delay the house purchase.

hoodieguy18

If you need the money soon, then put the money into something safe like HYSA, or T bills Otherwise make sure you have enough savings for X amount of months so you don’t have to sell stocks if you get laid off and wait. For me I invest in total market USA and also International, not just SPY like a lot of people which could reduce volatility during some AI pop. But supposedly thats the correct thing to do AI bubble or not.

DoinIt4DaShorteez

I think at 30, after setting aside an emergency fund in something safe like HYSA or a goverment money market fund or ETF, putting the rest in equities is OK if you're diversified. You could allocate some of it to dividend payers, that'll provide you with a little dry powder for a dip if you're really itchy to catch one.

bank_truth

I would go with a HYSA in your case. The timeline's a bit too tight right now to risk anything in the market. Rates can always rise or fall depending on the Fed, so don't just lock something in and forget about it. We update our website regularly, and banks adjust all the time. So if you're curious about the rates, you can take a look. A 0.5 or even 1% difference adds up when you're parking that much for about 18 months.

MolassesMysterious65

I'd say enjoy your "boring" 3.4% in the HYSA, especially if it's money you're going to be using in the next 12 months. Nobody ever went broke on a short profit. Don't gamble with your down payment for a home.

19mambo85

Over the long run, commodities can be a useful hedge, but not a place to park *all* your cash. HYSA = safety and liquidity; commodities = volatility but protection against inflation and currency decline. For a long-term mix, keep enough in your HYSA for emergencies and short-term needs, then gradually move some into diversified, real-asset ETFs if you want inflation protection and don’t need that money soon.

Sweetycherryx

this is a perfect stage to start diversifying. you already know how to save, so now it’s just about allocating better. maybe: 10k–15k in a HYSA for emergencies, keep the CDs for short-term goals, and put more into retirement or index funds. I keep my HYSA rate in check using BankTruth they post updated APYs and it helps me move my savings when a better deal shows up.

Sweetycherryx

if you’re not sure when you’ll invest, just mix it up: some in VUSXX, some in a high-yield account. the rates are almost neck and neck lately. I found my HYSA through BankTruth, they track which banks are actually keeping their APY stable instead of dropping it after a month.

RoughThat5778

Agree with what everyone saying about S&P being too risky for a 2-3 year timeframe. I’m saving up for some renovations and using SGOV ETF instead. It currently gets higher yield than my HYSA (I have one for easy liquidity but there’s less money than my SGOV investment).

Heyhayheigh

Open a Fidelity account. Use SGOV instead of savings accounts/HYSA. Invest auto and weekly. Whatever you can afford. Yes Roth is awesome. But the important thing is to automate and prioritize auto investing. Only sell when you have something urgent to pay for. You will learn as you go. Rome wasn’t built in a day. You will have setbacks. You will make common rookie mistakes: seduced by dividends. You will panic sell. You will buy individual stocks that require constant research. In my opinion the most important concept of investing is to understand to have auto weekly investment. Getting off the fence. Making it a non negotiable. Either hire a pro to make a balanced plan, or just buy VOO or QQQM. Set to auto. Work to increase. Spend less, invest more. Best of luck.

AskAskim

Thanks for the advice. I currently put like 70% of my RIRA into SPY & about 30% into QQQM. My individual stocks are just NDVA, GLD, & BTC. My HYSA is about 30% of my total investments/savings which is also pretty much all of my net worth. I would like to not only save money for when I am 65, but also maybe have a couple lucky trades and end up in the green at the end of it all.

MartiniLAPD

Do half and half. Usually time in market beat timing market. But hey, these are unpredictable time. You can keep the other half in a HYSA account and just wire it automatically every week a certain amount toward Investing Account

lOo_ol

If by "sure", you mean risk-free, then you need contractual obligations, like HYSA. Nothing else is guaranteed. Keeping cash under the mattress is the worst thing you can do at the dawn of a debt crisis, when severe devaluation of currency is on the table. I know it sounds crazy to most on here, who angrily downvote immediately, but many foreign investments would be unimpacted by a US debt crisis. Americans on here like to think that a crash for the US means near-death for everyone else, but that's just another absurd statement that keeps getting upvoted. During the 2008 crisis in the US, Germany for instance saw a drop in unemployment to a historical low. Most people who lived outside the US then know that if it wasn't for hearing it in the news, they wouldn't know there was a financial crisis. Investors will always want to make money, so they'll move it where expected profits are higher, and they have. Many foreign stocks have performed quite well lately. Real estate in regions of the world with net immigration is also a good idea. *"then they never followup"* You don't need confirmation with a portfolio statement from strangers to confirm whether something makes sense or not. You're reaching for ad hominem. You're also making shit up because no one here is showing proof of trade, so we don't know what anyone's doing. And those who suggest anything outisde of the S&P500 are usually downvoted, so we rarely see those posts.

bobdevnul

A guideline for how much to invest for a comfortable retirement at about 65 with a lifestyle comparable to your working years is 20% of your gross (before tax) income. $200 a week is enough for a $52K a year gross income. If you make more you need to invest more. The 401K is usually the best place to do this. Any employer match counts toward the 20%. If you want to retire before \~65 you need to invest more. HYSA/CDs for long term investing is not considered a good way to do it. You can't even get 4.25% now and the rates are expected to decrease in the coming year. Long term investing is generally done with stocks, preferably in the form of diversified stock funds. Long term yield on diversified stocks has been more like 10% on average over decades of holding. That makes a big difference in your compound gains. You have decades to go. The recommended general order of saving and investing is: Emergency fund of at least three months of critical expenses in liquid cash equivalent savings. The $70K you have saved may be that. Contribute to employer 401K to get the full employer match if there is one. Contribute to a Roth IRA up to the $7K a year limit. If you have more to contribute after the Roth, contribute to 401K. Read this and all of the links to become an informed investor: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/1l6j6tj/new\_to\_rbogleheads\_read\_this\_first/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/1l6j6tj/new_to_rbogleheads_read_this_first/) You are looking at accumulating several million in investments over 30+ years. It is worth spending some time learning about it.

pythonidler

38, making 154k USD gross annually, have 180k in cash and no major liabilities besides a credit card. I'm looking to buy a house or condo in the next year or two - nothing expensive, would probably contribute \~150k as down payment. Given all of this, what's a relatively safe investment over this period of time that would beat HYSA rates?

RedParrot94

Well $1.00 today is only worth $.97 next year. The CD/HYSA stops that from happening, so $1.00 today is worth $1.00 (really $1.03) next year. So your current strategy is inflation protection. You don't really make any money. If this money is for retirement then you will want to max out your retirement accounts and buy something like VTI. As far as HYSA from internet banks, I'd be careful. Those are front ended by non-banks and you could lose your money. That happened a few years ago.

nicklebackfan_69

First - Put your cash in a HYSA so you can at least get 4% on it. I would dollar cost average so you aren’t jumping in all at once.

guitarpic69

You should’ve had it in an S&P fund this entire time and move it to a HYSA now. You’re doing it backwards brother

dritu_

Everyone is going to tell you not to put it in the market at all but the reality is you could put some of it in the market and do just fine. It doesn't have to be all stocks. I've been in a similar boat to you before and due to how long it took to find a house, my money was just rotting in the HYSA when it could have instead gained significantly with even a very defensive portfolio. Check out the 12 month inflation adjusted returns for [this portfolio](https://testfol.io/?s=dC058E4qMfh): * VTI: 30% * GLDM: 25% * TLT: 15% * KMLM: 30 All these stats are adjusted for inflation, back tested since 1992: * CAGR: 6.33% * Deepest drawdown: -15.42% 2 Worst year return: -7.5% (great financial crisis) * 25th percentile return: 1.5% * 50th percentile return: 6.4 This simple portfolio has a 12 month lump sum win rate of 77.5%. So, yes, you would be down 22.5% of the time with it. Is that a risk you're interested in taking? Only you can say.

Sweetycherryx

you can build a story for why a correction might not happen soon soft landing, earnings growth, liquidity, whatever. but your goal isn’t to predict. it’s to buy a home. match the asset to the date. HYSA plus short CDs or treasuries pays fine and keeps the principal intact. if you want one app experience, SoFi works for the cash piece. I still rate shop on BankTruth or similar sites every few months so I’m not leaving yield behind.

pseudonominom

TLDR, same as your HYSA but better interest rate. Not that 12 months is a big enough time frame to matter. People jerk themselves off too much about interest rates on short timeframes like this. They’re used to reading about compounding interest over decades and fail to realize it’s not the same thing. Pick either and move on with your life.

Various_Couple_764

You need to invest your money in ETF to get beyond savings For the 401k you should have selection of funds you can use. Many like S&P500 index ETF or total market ETF That with an international ETF and a bond fund should be a good start in your 401K. As to your HYSA and CD would gradually move money to a taxable brokerage acount. with a money market fund. Money market funds are very similar to HYSA. Now you want about 6mnoth of living expense in Money market fund. But anything above that should be invested. For a taxable brokerage I would use a high yield dividend ETF. QQQI is my choice with its 13% yield and it is tax efficient. Reinvest the dividned back into the fund an gradually add money to it. Eventually it will be as big or bigger than your money market fund. 70K in QQQI would generate $9000 per year or about $753 a month. At this point if you want you can stop reinvesting the dividend and use them to pay bills or other expense. And if you want you could reinvest the dividend into a Roth retirement account. Or start adding other ETF to the taxable account. Eventually you could get enough dividend income to cover all of your bills, mortgage payments, food , car, and medical insurance. I retired at 55 with 5K a month of dividned income. Enough to cover all of my living expense with about 1K of extra at the end of the month, which I reinvest.

lashazior

No one has asked this yet, but how much of a home are you buying, what's your monthly income, and what's the prospects for holding the house long term? That can be very indicative of what you should be doing with your money. I only ask because if you're asking about investing into the market for a short term play, it begs the question if you're going to have a housing expense fund post down payment/purchase in relation to your monthly mortgage requirements in your HYSA after.

Ok_Problem6740

uh, Totally get that fear! If you're risk-averse, maybe just stick wth the HYSA for now. Safer bet.