SGOV

JohnnySack45

I sold in February and I’m still up roughly $350K YTD (not counting distributions from SGOV and my HYSA). Still on the sidelines though. Maybe if a few more stocks breakout above the 200 SMA I’ll consider jumping back in.

Jackle935

I just watched a video on SGOV Seems alright

Im_Still_Here12

The YTD returns are basically the [same](https://totalrealreturns.com/n/SGOV,USFR?start=2025-01-01) for both SGOV and USFR. The [two year return](https://totalrealreturns.com/n/SGOV,USFR?start=2024-01-01) is less than a $20 difference for a $10k investment. If you look at the inflation adjusted [return](https://totalrealreturns.com/s/SGOV,USFR?start=2024-01-01) for both of them, then you are basically treading water and staying even with inflation for both of them. Like growing at maybe a few tenths of a percent a year over inflation.

HelenaWolf94eo

Hey there! With 160k in SGOV and an emergency fund, consider diversifying your investments in this market. Look into low-cost index funds or real estate for potential growth. Keep an eye on opportunities and stay positive!

us1549

I'm in roughly your same situation. Why is some of your money in SGOV and some in cash. Why not have it all in SGOV?

AlwaysnextyearCLE

Outside of the 160k in SGOV. I’ve got about 29k in cash, and about 90k in a dividend paying bond fund that is managed by a guy that I was with before I stopped contributing years ago. Not much at all for my age.

ManonMarkovic23qf

I'd recommend keeping an eye on market trends for SGOV. Timing is key!

AlwaysnextyearCLE

All or most of it? Could’ve been in VOO when it was in the $470s/share. Just threw about half of my SGOV balance in today, and I think it said I wouldn’t be able to sell it until May 6th for some reason. Maybe it’s because I transferred the cash from a HYSA to my brokerage account yesterday

AlwaysnextyearCLE

Out of curiosity, how much of the SGOV investment would you feel comfortable throwing at VOO or something similar right now? Bummed I didn’t get it when it was much lower

chinaski73

Agree. SGOV and chill until Mango Mussolini backs down. Uncle Warren doing the same, has $200B in T-Bills now. Smart money sees more risk to be long this market than in cash. How do you think the market will react to empty store shelves very soon?

Fhyzikz

Feels great sitting in 90% SGOV 10% VOO. Think i'll buy more VOO when SPY under 500 and then again under 400 in a few months

ddttox

I would use 2008 as a model for this. We are experiencing long term structural damage and any money you put in now will be a loss for years. SGOV currently has a yield around 5%. Leave it there.

Fhyzikz

I think I'm finally done. Lost like $500 over the last week when I was still bearish expecting dumps but dumps never came. Then last night I finally say "ok I guess we're completely disconnected from reality in the market, guess I'll go long" only to lose more money overnight. I'm just tired of it. I put everything in SGOV and will continue my weekly DCA into VOO and will only open the app once a week. Trading is impossible and way too risky in the tweet economy where algos run the system and we do regarded economic policy for no reason. I'm over it. See you guys in 4 years

AgentK-BB

If you don't have any money left to fund your Roth IRA by April next year, you should put your emergency fund into the Roth IRA as a contribution for this year. Then don't buy any stocks. Either do nothing or buy something super safe like SGOV. You can always withdraw your Roth IRA principal without penalties. You are better off keeping your emergency fund in your Roth IRA if you don't otherwise have money to put into the Roth IRA. As your career progresses, you will have more cash in your regular bank accounts to use as an emergency fund, and you will no longer need to treat the money in your Roth IRA as emergency fund. By storing your emergency fund in your Roth IRA now, you will have tens of thousands of tax-advantaged dollars waiting to be invested a few years from now.

Capable_Penalty_9436

Try buying SGOV instead. Yield is 4+%, short term treasuries

RoomAdministrative84

SGOV

Fhyzikz

I hate stocks. The answer is always the opposite of whatever I do? I'm short? We rally like a regard for no reason 1 million days in a row. I finally go long? We tank. Boutta just park my shit in SGOV and be done with it while DCA like a boomer regard and not open the app for 10 years

Weikoko

I don’t park my cash in 0.01% saving account. I park it mostly in SGOV or HYSA.

Rib-I

12 months is my thinking. Most of it in diversified cash equivalents (SGOV, IGOV, FXF, IBIT, HYSA). If I’m wrong and the market rips then my 401k will benefit - I have made no change there. Taxable accounts are completely defensive right not. My only “play” currently is EUAD. Otherwise I’m out of equities entirely outside of retirement accounts.

ShellfishJelloFarts

!p SGOV

SnS2500

\> I'm lost Put your money in SGOV or some money market fund, collect 4%+, and do nothing else with it until you feel "un-lost" about what to do. We are in unstable times. There is no shame in taking the best, safe return available... until you are sure you want to do something else.

Vivid-Lynx4880

You're not eligible yet Based on your investor profile, you're not eligible for margin investing. Please reach out to Robinhood Support if you'd like to review. My portfolio: $2,100.78 of SGOV $5.37 of AMZN

MutaliskGluon

NVDA and PLTR both in 1 day and 1h resistances so I just added to both short positions. still only combined 9% of port and 91% cash. Gonna buy back SGOV after ex dividend since my dividends on US stocks gets taxed 15% in my account.

MutaliskGluon

Trimmed 5% of my SGOV to open a PLTD (pltr short) position. It's right on resistance, nice risk reward here

ThinkingOfTheOldDays

long SGOV, long ex US etfs, short us tech

strongbase703

Comparing recent SEC yields: * VUSXX 4.23% default Vanguard Money Market Fund * SPAXX 3.96% default Fidelity Money Market Fund * SGOV 4.17% iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF * PULS 4.59% PGIM Ultra Short Bond ETF ETF providers list the latest yields. Fidelity only updates them monthly but does provide daily NAV charts--note differences in early April for impacts of market uncertainty. https://digital.fidelity.com/prgw/digital/research/quote/dashboard/summary?symbol=SGOV https://digital.fidelity.com/prgw/digital/research/quote/dashboard/summary?symbol=PULS

NothingButACasual

I'm seeing an SEC yield for PULS at 4.61%, vs 4.17% for SGOV. For those of us in an income tax state, SGOV does hold a tax advantage.

i-love-freesias

I keep my cash in PULS.  It is an ETF that holds investor grade ultrashort corporate bonds.  It has monthly dividend, and the price only changes by a few cents, depending on when the dividend is paid.  It functions the same way SGOV does, but has a higher return, and very slightly higher risk. SGOV beta (risk) is 0. PULS beta is 0.03 It’s actively managed, holds over 100 bonds, as I recall. Expense ratio is 0.15 Dividend yield is around 5.4% https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/PULS/

Automatic-Unit-8307

I missed out on this huge rally. All cash, SGOV, market keeps going up for some reason

hv876

If you’re really going to buy AMZN at below, $160, do you really need a hedge? I am sure you can get a rate of return by parking in MMF or SGOV or t-bill, for level of risk you’re taking.

adminsarecommienazis

A mix of treasuries, corporate bonds, and/or something like BOXX or SGOV. Fixed income will of course depend on interest rates, which I assume will be going down over the years, but might not. Just keep in mind that the notational value of longer term bonds can still go up or down over time due to changes in interest rates.

MutaliskGluon

my account keeps going down even though its 99.6% SGOV because its like 80% USD and USDCAD just goes down so fast. Hopefully that 0.4% (so far!!) in NVDA Put Leaps can help

Alone-Experience9869

If you are really tied to fdic limits, you can buy more insurance.... I'm not uber wealthy or super wealth... but I don't know how to "fit" within fdic or even sipc. So, I just ignore it... From my point of view (not tehcnical), if you invest your money its no longer covered. So, if you use a brokerage account, the cash position will provide the market interest rate of \~4%. sipc limits are higher. From there, there are cash alternatives like SGOV which is just a fund of US treasuries and you get a slightly better rate, like 4.5%. Municipal bonds are nice since they are fed tax free. If in the matching state they are also state tax free. Yeah, there is a price risk. But, there are national funds around 5% and 7%... So, this is all VERY conservative (approach to investing). Which is fine if that's al you need or want. But as you said, "...we don't want to just hold on to excess money when it could be bringing in returns." So, not sure where to go from here... Don't forget the private markets as well --- or does that make it more confusing... :)

smartfon

How much do you spend per month? Open an Excel sheet and write down how much you spend on rent, food, leisure, transportation, everything. Multiply the sum by 10x. This will be your emergency reserve. You will not invest this money in the stock market under any circumstances. If you don't create this emergency reserve and instead put all your money in the stock market, imagine if something happens and you need money and you're forced to sell stocks to get money, and that period coincides with the market being down. You'll be forced to sell at a loss. This is how people lose money. To avoid losing money, you need that separate emergency reserve. But you don't want to keep that reserve in your bank account either because your bank doesn't pay an interest so your money gradually loses its value to inflation. Instead, you can move this reserve into another institution that provides a High Yield Savings Account (HYSA). Right now you can earn 4% just by keeping your money there. An alternative to HYSA would be purchasing a stock called SGOV that's not really a stock but more like a stable bond that guarantees you won't lose money. You will get the same 4% with SGOV. So why choose SGOV instead of HYSA? The interest you earn from SGOV will not be taxed by your state; you only pay federal tax. That was about your emergency reserve. The rest of the money can be invested in the stock market, specifically in ETFs. The fewer ETFs you buy, the less money you pay to companies that run those ETFs. You only need two ETFs: VTI and VXUS. VTI is the total U.S. stock market and already includes big tech and S&P 500. You do not need to buy SPY or VOO separately. Only VTI. VXUS is the rest of the world. If you lookup the past performance from the last 10 years it may seem like VXUS is a waste of resources because of lower returns but that's a trap. It's important to be diversified. You can go with the lump sum approach and spend all the money (minus the emergency reserve) to buy stocks now, or you can Dollar Cost Average (DCA) by scheduling regular purchases of small amounts. I do the latter for psychological reasons. If you're impulsive or hot headed or an emotional type of person, go with the DCA approach. Everything I told you is something that I personally do and it's not financial advice coming from a professional advisor. I am not an expert. Right now, due to market volatility, most of my money is parked in HYSA/SGOV. My portfolio is 60% cash (HYSA/SGOV), 30% VTI and 10% VXUS. I plan to buy more stocks toward the end of the year. Do not buy stocks of individual companies like Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, or some random company. There is a higher risk of losing money. Only buy ETFs. Do not buy gold. It's highly speculative and the price can dramatically crash at any moment. Do not buy cryptocurrency. Do not buy and sell stocks, you will waste time and in the end lose money. Only buy and hold. You are not day trading, you are investing long-term. Do not waste your time on YouTube videos or websites where smart-looking people show you complex charts with green and red lines and predict that this or that company's stock will go up or down. Ignore it all. You do not even need to read the news. You do not need to check your account every day. Open a Robinhood Gold account and move the funds there. Keep some cash in your regular bank account for day to day expenses. Keep the emergency reserve parked in Robinhood Gold and do not invest it in the stock market (but buying SGOV is okay). The non-reserve money you have just moved to Robinhood Gold can be used to purchase VTI and VXUS. At this point you'll choose your approach: lump sum (spend all at once, not recommended) or schedule an automatic small transaction every Tuesday (what I do). Your $200,000 is not enough to earn a regular passive income high enough to cover your rent and monthly expenses. It will earn you $9,000 per year at most. This is why people invest their money in the stock market. While a stable HYSA can give you an annual 4% return split into monthly installments, a stock market is usually double or triple that amount. But with stocks you don't get that money in monthly installments so it's more like a buy-and-hold retirement thing. Do not bother with "dividend" stocks, don't even Google it. I recommend doing more research. Again, I am not a licensed financial advisor. I recommend Robinhood Gold because of its simplicity. Only their Gold service pays 4% interest on parked cash. Good luck.

India_ofcw8BG

Interesting thought here. Perhaps he should dump it in SGOV for now and invest into VT when and if shit hits the fan?

LanceX2

100% SGOV

llDS2ll

SGOV

MaxwellSmart07

Out of the stock market. >>> Private credit. Beats sitting in SGOV for 4.5%

noplanman_srslynone

Just hang out in IGOV or SGOV till August and see what happens! Probably more money than trading the tweet's

thejumpingsheep2

I aint buying spit. You guys go ahead. I'm very patient. Made tons last year and up 9% this year somehow... not sure about my real estate though. Probably down on that wiping out stock gains. I am anticipating economic slowdown the rest of the year. Earnings are going to start slowing in Q2. Q3 and Q4 will likely be ugly. Thats when the markets will spin down. I am looking for real estate to slow further by year end. Thats probably where I will be looking. If the markets get to better valuation, ill deploy. Till then, im stock piling SGOV. Looking to cut living costs further. I am buying solar panels, inverters and batteries while I can still get them cheap (by US standards at least...). Just picked up a pallet of panels at $0.21 a watt and decent branded batteries for about $160/kwh. Not the cheapest but I didnt want off brands.

Federal-Hearing-7270

So, if you buy SGOV you'll get 4% in return in form of dividends? I thought it was a year. Can someone take me out of my ignorance?

FreeSoftwareServers

Don't listen to this person, My guess they don't even own a home or at least aren't a landlord. I regret becoming a landlord and want out, partly because life changed and I might move. Long story short, this guy doesn't know your story nor do I, but any blanket statement like "Don't sell your home" is bad advice. For example, I might ask where you live, are you still gainfully employed and could re-enter the market if you want? Is now an okay time to sell in your market? PS: I've been wheeling MSTR pretty successfully, just had my calls assigned due to recent jump. It's hard watching them get called away when I could have probably sold for more but I've been selling calls for a few weeks since going assignment and didn't get called away till the 3rd calls sold.. Definitely came out on top! I think a mistake I've made in the past is jumping right back into selling puts, this time I'm going to maybe wait for a dip and then sell a put. Another user mentioned SGOV, and while I wait for a dip I actually am moving my funds into SGOV. I like having as much of my capital as I can in my brokerage and you can treat SGOV as collateral for margin. So if I get assigned, I might sell some SGOV to cover margin vs paying interest. I would recommend this over HYSA as long as you have the ability to "look at those stocks as HYSA".. GL, That's a big move but, sounds like you've thought it through and big moves can have big rewards!

TeeEff910

Compare terms of your high yield savings account with SGOV, and decide which is better for you. If you don't know how to analyze an earnings report, just by SCHG for high growth. Plenty of high quality names to wheel right now at a discount. You'll need 100 shares of a ticker, and can get CAT for around 30k, which leaves you 20k for another holding. Maybe ORCL or MS. All high quality companies, which steadily grow dividends, AND, they all offer weekly options, so you can wheel with more frequency.

transient_eternity

SGOV while I watch various low beta stocks to trade, primarily utilities. I'm staying far away from the tech sector and anything else correlated with the indexes or exposed heavily to international. It's going to be a real mess come summer.

Distances1

SGOV and chill until i see below SPY 450 in which I will think about starting to leg back in.

L_DUB_U

I cash out, pay 24% into taxes, reinvest into SGOV, pay taxes on those dividends, then when do I reinvest? How do I find the bottom of know when it's safe to buy back in? You going to message me when?

averysmallbeing

So use SGOV or FXF or something as collateral for trading.  Your strategy is not profitable, you have lost 23% in the last month or two compared to holding SPY.

AltruisticGate

Regular DCA'ing into VOO and VTI with a healthy amount in SGOV.

cannibal_swan

2/3rds cash, 1/3rd daytrading and/ or holding $SPY. It isn’t a perfect science and volatility is scary to handle but I came to the realization that being on the sidelines will cause you to miss out on profit, like last week. I am keeping a close eye on $SPY, $TQQQ, $TSLQ, and $SGOV. Market crashes? I got cash to buy $SPY and $TQQQ cheaper! Market rebounds? I get some profit off of what I own! Lose my job? None of this matters anymore!

Living_Relation8245

SGOV is one of the best ETF for this purpose.

bobdevnul

That depends on the short term bonds or bond fund and the particular MMF. SGOV and Vanguard's VUSXX MMF are very close in performance. SGOV and VUSXX are all or nearly all state tax exempt. Vanguard's most typical VMFXX MMF is not fully state tax exempt. If you are at Fidelity with their high expense ratios MMFs SGOV has about a 0.2% higher yield. SGOV as an ETF can be bought at any broker. MMFs available are specific to each broker. If you don't have much money in them the 0.2% difference doesn't make much difference.

Jack_Riley555

Just realize that there will be wild swings because this is uncharted territory and you will experience big ups and downs. If you’re ok with that then ok. If not, hunker down into conservative funds. I use VWINX, SGOV and TRRIX.

stockpreacher

TLT (unless the bond market continues to be dog shit). SGOV Any XLP or aristocrat dividend stocks are worth looking at. Shorts and puts.

mat025

I like $SGOV.

Pony-boystonks

SGOV and retire.

Clever_droidd

That wasn’t TSLA’s fault dude. You could be making $100k a year in SGOV at a bare minimum.

i-love-freesias

I have mine in PULS.  I can sell some immediately in my Schwab account whenever the market is open, including extended hours. https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/PULS/ Works the same as SGOV but holds high rated corporate bonds instead of tbills.

i-love-freesias

I think PULS is better, corporate bonds instead of tbills. https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/PULS/ Functions the same as SGOV, higher yield.

i-love-freesias

I’m not comfortable with the treasury department right now, so I have my cash/bond allocation in PULS, which holds high rated ultra short corporate bonds. 5.4%, monthly dividend, functions the same as SGOV with nearly zero risk. I think buying gold, especially so overpriced, is a bad idea. My dad lost his shirt in the late 70’s or so in a similar market.

ZookeepergameFew8332

I have another question regarding this. I currently hold my cash in either SGOV and Schwab’s HYSA for various reasons. What if Powell does the projected 2-4 rate cuts this year? Would it be a wise strategy to put a big chunk in a one year CD at 4.x% to lock in that rate if I anticipate cuts coming? Anyone else looking at this? I live in a state with no state income tax as additional context.

ZenMasterPDX

You will give your money to the market spend 10% on option trading rest in SGOV if you lose the 10% walk away

bow390

It’s funny I was just thinking about this works. I ended up going SGOV for all my cash.

OurNewestMember

I think OP means to buy about $270k SGOV and then trade options against that deposit. u/_MichaelHawk \-- any underlying in mind you'd like to trade? index ETFs like SPY/QQQ/IWM, single names, etc? I think delta 0.10 weeklies will take some effort no matter which underlying

Early-Ad-5814

SGOV is pretty low volatility right? I mean every month or so it shoots down to like $100.35 and the saw tooth pattern kinda tops out at like .65- .70 before resetting back to the low. I don’t know if you will be getting a lot of worth from the covered calls. The 4% apy is great but idk how much you will be getting, esp with .1 delta

Singularity-42

Yahoo shows SGOV at 4.89% and BILS at 4.82%

Automatic-Unit-8307

Why is market up? I am stupid and don’t understand. 100 percent SGOV and losing bigly

AICHEngineer

https://testfol.io/?s=cjc9xiX5XBD Go to rolling metrics and set it to 12 month rolling return. BILS is exposed to short term risks that SGOV is not. The dropping value of bonds despite higher yield results in a lower net wealth creation.

Socks797

SGOV is good for cash equivalent. It doesn’t fluctuate. As you move up in maturity you see a lot more ups and downs in coupon rates

AskPatient1281

1) Find a broker where it is easy to open several accounts. Fidelity comes to mind. 1) Create your emergency fund. Open a brokerage account for this. Deposit 3 to 6 months expenses - build it little by little and revisit every year. Some people have 12 months of required living expenses in their emergency fund. I have 6 months. The more you have, the better you can sleep at night. Only you can decide. Invest in something with little to no risk - you can't lose this money. I use SGOV. 2) Do you have a job with 401k? Do they offer a match? Max it out or - at least, contribute to the match level You're young. I would go full SP500 in your 401k. I use VOO. VTI/SPY, they are also great options. Do they offer HSA? Max it out and IF POSSIBLE do not use to pay medical expenses. Instead, treat it as just another 401k. Use it to save for your retirement. 3) Open an Roth IRA/IRA account Max it out. Still 100% in SP500. 4) Open a second regular brokerage account for the remainder of your investments Here I would be more careful. If you plan to buy anything major in the next 5 years, for example, down payment on a house. be more conservative. Maybe 50% SP500 and 50% bonds or treasury. The closer your get to the date you will need the money, the more you need to "de-risk" your portfolio. Move more to treasury etc. Only invest here if your emergency fund is fully funded. This is what I would do.

Shdwrptr

I’d be saving money for a house if I were in your position, not investing it into a fund where you may not actually see a return anytime over the next few years. Maybe throw it into SGOV or another money market fund to gain an ok return while you decide what to do.

smartfon

As I understand VBIL and SGOV are almost identical with SGOV having the advantage of being more liquid: SGOV's 8,619,519 volume vs. VBIL's 448,476. Is there a practical difference between those two if I try to sell $50,000 of VBIL? Could my sale price go down even for a "small" sale like that?

BenInEden

The source you got your numbers from must be looking at past distributions prior to \~September 2024. You need to look forward and with current data. SGOV Yield to maturity is 4.27% Weighted average maturity 0.11 yrs. [https://www.ishares.com/us/products/314116/ishares-0-3-month-treasury-bond-etf](https://www.ishares.com/us/products/314116/ishares-0-3-month-treasury-bond-etf) BILS Yield to maturity is 4.24% Weighted average maturity 0.34 [https://www.ssga.com/us/en/intermediary/etfs/spdr-bloomberg-3-12-month-t-bill-etf-bils](https://www.ssga.com/us/en/intermediary/etfs/spdr-bloomberg-3-12-month-t-bill-etf-bils) Unless you're playing with a whole lot of money these two are functionally equivalent though SGOV is slightly better due to it's lower expense ratio.

StatisticalMan

Also the apples to apples forward looking metric is "30 day SEC yield" * BILS - 4.11% * SGOV - 4.17% So BILS is not higher. Also BILS is subject to more interest rate risk. If rates go up you will end up with a greater loss of principal.

greytoc

They are different products with different duration. SGOV = 0-3 months BILS = 3-12 months Because of BILS longer duration, you are exposed more the interest rate risk. It depends on what investing use-case you have.

gorinwelster

I am happy with SGOV. It is like a HYSA. May be Bils can have short term fluctiations because maturity left too much. And I can cash SGOV anytime. It should be the same with Bils - but due to fluctiation you can get less returns.

Own_Grapefruit8839

The price of SGOV moves throughout the month to compensate for this, you don’t have to hold through the dividend payment date.

bang_ding_ow

Currently SGOV and VUSXX return a little over 4% while the Amex HYSA returns 3.7%. Amex doesn't charge you a fee for credit cards.

bang_ding_ow

You can open a brokerage account at Chase and invest in VUSXX or SGOV which is similar to a HYSA. This is what I do. I also have a HYSA with Amex because I have credit cards with them and it's just convenient.

Jguy2698

I would not go with bonds under 40 unless they are a bond fund like SGOV specifically to be used like a savings account.

nolaz

Yep and if I had to sell my SGOV today, the price per share is less than what I paid. I’d still come out ahead because of the interest payments I’ve gotten already but on a shorter time frame a person can lose with bond funds.

sol_beach

SGOV buys US TREASURY 3-month notes. They are as safe a the US dollar.

vijay_the_messanger

VBIL/SGOV ... reinvest the monthly dividends. Short term treasuries, not subject to state income tax (if you live in a State that collects income tax).

eastewart

This deserves so many more upvotes votes. Either DCA or put everything in SGOV and check back in 4.

AICHEngineer

HYSA is like second best. The best would be to put your money in a brokerage account and buy a nice easy tbill ETF like CLIP or SGOV. These provide the same risk free rate exposure as a HYSA, but almost universally have higher yields (since HYSAs are getting their yield from risk free FED instruments like tbills and reverse repo and short duration bonds, etc), but you dont have banker middlemen taking a cut off the top. Also, holding a tbill ETF means the yield is exempt from state and local taxes on the income. The downside is "liquidity". When you sell shares of the ETF, it takes a day for the cash to settle in the brokerage, and then it takes another day to send it to your bank account. For something like home savings, this is no issue. Youll know well in advance when you need the money

MutaliskGluon

i sold my penny battery stock before a disastrous earnings. Its up 28% from where I sold on march 4. I bought a shitload of TSLQ on liberation day, then went into a meeting and came out down 7% because the Elon leaving DOGE news came out. I then covered and missed a crapload of money on post liveration day stuff. I sold all my gold at 55 to go into TLT and sold the TLT bottom. It happens man. Dont beat yourself up. And you know what. After all those fuck ups up above and switching 100% to SGOV and taking a break from any sort of trading... im still up 183% since May 31st 2024

Heyhayheigh

Put that in SGOV and find a trusted pro to make an actual plan. There are TONS of other factors. Income level. Spending level. Plans for retirement. Type of job. There is no one size fits all. Anyone who has that kind of money should have at least two trusted financial pros to work against each other.

New-Gas3080

Good info. So what would you recommend? I'm considering SGOV as well

papakong88

It depends on your account type and approval level.  Assuming we are approved to sell CSP only, not a naked put. First we have a cash account. At Schwab, we can use cash only as collateral. Cash earns very little in interest. (Maybe we can use money market fund.) At Fidelity, we can use our core money market fund. Collateral is put aside but still earns interest. Next for a margin account. At Schwab, we can use cash or a cash equivalent. Cash equivalent is money market fund and T-bills. (SGOV is not.) Collateral continues to earn interest. At Fidelity, we can use cash equivalents as in Schwab. However, when the money market fund is used as collateral, it is put aside in “margin credit balance” and will not earn interest.

Background-Type-8696

I thought SGOV rate is not locked in.  It goes up and down base on market rate....

redhill_qik

You can buy SGOV through Schwab or the SWVXX money market fund that is at 4.16% right now.

SuperRedHulk1

SGOV but you can also pull your funds out whenever you want

redhill_qik

If you have a Vanguard account then either SGOV or VMFXX federal money market funds will get you around 4% that are essentially risk free. You are looking at buying a house in 2 years, so you don't want to put it in the market but you need to get it out of a standard bank savings account so you stop the losses to inflation.

Mission_Dot2613

SGOV been a buy for a while

helikophis

SGOV should do fine

Automatic-Unit-8307

I sold out completely and went into SGOV, so that means market will go up 20 percent now

MohJeex

SGOV

therealjerseytom

Money market or short duration bonds. Could be taxable like SGOV or muni like JMST depending on your tax rate.

FreeEnergy001

SGOV is where I have short term funds.

toupeInAFanFactory

I have answers! A few chats w/ the generally knowledgable folks you land through the webpage chat, and I know what's going on. \- yes, SWVXX does 'count' as cash to support CSPs \- yes, it does count 1:1 as collateral towards margin, so the margin req for that holding is 0. But only for funds that have been in there for at least 30 days. Same for other money mkts like SGOV \- I was immediately able to move the cash into SWVXX. When attempting the buy, the web interface suggested 0$ available to invest. But I told it 109k anyway and it went through. If it hadn't, customer svc said they could do it for me. \- most importantly... the margin req for short SPX box spreads is not what I was expecting. a 4000/6000 Dec '26 box spread has a margin req of 250k. Despite the fact that there are no outcomes where, 2.5 years from now, that holding requires anything other than exactly 200k to buy back and if it was worth 250k now that would imply an interest rate of like -10%. SO I think this is essentially an issue that the webpage is less correct about margin than ToS, but you can force it to do the right thing, and of regT vs PM. I do not actually want to increase my leverage. So I haven't felt motivated to move to PM, and tbh I don't feel 100% comfy with how it impacts the guardrails on the account. But given the way the short box spread is being handled, it's possible that I really should just do that.

ShellfishJelloFarts

!p SGOV