VBIL
Vanguard 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF
Mentions (24Hr)
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Can anyone tell me which place is the best to put short-term cash waiting to be invested?
Mentions
I mean before I jump in and start basting your advisor like everyone else; when you sat down with your investment advisor you usually talk about things like goals and risk tolerance Like sure if you sat down and said "I have a high risk tolerance , this is just excess money I do not really need so my goal is just to maximize my returns over 20 years in hopes to retire early " Thats one thing If you said "Well this is some excess money and I want to earn a bit more than a bank, my goal is maybe a down payment for a house in 5 years, maybe a cushion if the economy turns down and I lose my job, I know I will probably need a car in the next 5 years as well" Well that is something entirely different. With scenario #2 you basically told your FA you want an emergency fund. Also maybe if you live in some higher tax state or depending on your income maybe he has it split between some money market funds or ETFs like VBIL/SGOV or even some municipal bond funds that will have a lower but tax free return Also you might be simply looking at price appreciation not total return. Or your FA might be placing you in high free , under performing funds with some 5% front load . However either way managing your assets is not that hard, especially if you are just some w-2 employee and want to save for retirement . You can check out the bogleheads forms , if you want a very hands off; simple automatic approach .
I keep 20k in VBIL, 20k in SPAXX
They can also do Treasury ETFs like VBIL for much higher yield and better tax efficiency.
Something to consider. Usually VBIL or Treasury ETFs have much better yields then savings accounts. SoFi is only 4% as a promotion but currently it sits at 3.1% for direct deposit. Treasuries are also far better because they are exempt from state and local taxes. The advantage of something like SoFi though is that it allows convenience and integration with checking. It seems like they allow you to spend out of your savings with a debit card while earning interest. With ETFs you have to make an active decision to sell for liquidity and wait a day for funds to settle.
Is VUSB or VBIL available to you.
Trading is short-term and has a bad history crippling financial losses. Most people who do are legitimate gamblers, infrequent strategic traders, or work at a hedge fund. They rarely beat long-term investing in 5+ years. For investing (5+ years of buy & hold), get with Charles Schwab. They are an excellent investing broker with tons of educational material and have well informed customer service. The order of investing operations for full-time working adults are: - Contribute your pre-tax income to your company 401k/403B plan up the employer match. Usually between 3-6% if they offer it at all. Easy way to double your money. - Build up 3-6 months of emergency savings in a high yield savings account (HYSA) or Treasury fund with after tax dollars and after your survival monthly spending. Make sure you are getting 3% or higher interest rate currently. This will keep you from touching your investments if you lose a job or something you own breaks. HYSA examples: Marcus, Amex, Capital One, or Ally. Treasury fund examples: SNSXX, SGOV, or VBIL. Treasury funds are tax protected from city and state taxes, but you cannot access the money on the weekends. - Once your emergency saving have been built up, start investing into a Roth Individual Retirement Account (Roth IRA) if eligible. You need to have a legal tax filing job and earn less than $153k as a single tax filer. Less than $242k as a jointly married tax filer. Great for the middle class because the gains are tax free at 59.5 years old! Max annual contribution to the account is $7,500 according to the IRS for 2026. Invest into SWTSX at 80% and SWISX at 20%. Setup auto invest and focus on staying employed. - Anything extra, throw into a taxable brokerage account. Work bonus, tax return, credit card cash back, or lawsuit winnings. Invest into exchange traded funds (ETFs). Basically a group of stocks that trade like an individual stock together, and are tax efficient. SPYM or SCHB are great long-term choices. Pick one of those not both of them.
That’s super interesting And I actually am in a similar boat. I put 40k in VBIL recently earning above $100 in monthly interest It sucks because I really want to buy HOOD, AMZN and other stocks but know that this can also be an impulse buy event though I like their theses But I am also hedging just like you, because I know I must temper expectations
Money market and short term bonds funds are a good place to put part of emergency funds for needs past one week after a need event to earn some additional yield. VMFXX is government bonds, but not strictly Treasury bonds. VUSXX is all Treasury bond. SGOV and VBIL are short term Treasury bond fund ETFs. Selling them to get cash will take one extra business day. If you are going to use any of these get ACH transfers to your bank set up so it is ready if you need it. Getting them set up initially can take several business days. You need to do this to get the money somewhere you can spend it. You can't spend it directly from a Vanguard account. Fidelity is a much better broker for personal finance.
\>IMO all treasury based bond funds are about the same. All the funds contain the same Treasury products Not exactly. Treasury bonds exist in a range of maturities between four weeks and 30 years. There are Treasury bond funds that target various maturity ranges. SGOV and VBIL are 0-3 month treasury bond funds with an average duration of 0.1 years. VUSTX is a long term bond fund with an average duration of 13.7 years. The duration effects how the fund NAV will react to prevailing interest rate changes. The effect is about the duration times the interest rate change. VUSTX will change 137 times as much as SGOV/VBIL. Because of rising interest rates this year VUSTX has lost 2.58% of total return even after dividend yield YTD. Since interest rate changes don't effect SGOV/VBIL as much VBIL has gained 2.4% in total return YTD with the dividend yield. Longer term bonds have a place in investing. An emergency fund is not the place.
When looking at returns be sure to take into account state income taxes. T bills are exempt from state income tax. SGOV and VBIL T bill ETFs are mostly exempt from state income tax. So the post tax returns are higher than an HYSA with the same interest rate if you are in a state with income tax. I
Well, you are not too far off from Warren Buffett's choice for his wife's inheritance: 90% S&P 500 and 10% cash, bonds. I'd put 10% at least in SGOV or VBIL which are short term treasury funds and the earnings are state tax exempt in states with income tax which is important in your brokerage account. But we use those treasury ETFs in the Rollover IRA, also. We added VTV which is a large value fund (lower p/e ratio) that lost much less in 2022 and 2018 than the S&P 500 did just to have a little cushion if there is a tech decline, for example. We are retired now but made it through the 2000-2010 years just fine by not touching the retirement accounts, and my husband was 45-55 during those years.
VBIL/SGOV are not 3 month bond funds. They are 0-3 month bond funds. The average duration is 0.1years - slightly more than one month. The 0.25% rate hike will cause the NAV to decrease by about 0.025% for a short while, while the old bonds they hold mature. They will be replaced by bonds that yield \~0.25% more. The yield will creep up to that over a short while. You don't have to do anything. You will get the new yield as it goes up.
VBIL expense ratio is 0.06% and is 100% state tax exempt, so marginally better than SGOV I think
Pay off car loans ASAP. Have you talked to a financial planner about retirement budget, including risk of cuts to SS? Inflation will severely reduce the value of uninvested cash over time. Short-term Treasuries have functionally zero risk—put as much of your emergency fund into that as you can. I'd recommend an ETF like SGOV or VBIL for simplicity.
VBIL is also about about half volume
Take 6 months of expenses and put it into VBIL or SGOV. > There's no way it would drop by 75% lol
VBIL ETF is paying more interest than your car loan takes, so as a minimum put it in something safe like that. Given how relatively expensive stocks are right now, I'd put at least half in something like VBIL, and the rest in equities.
In your 401k with pre-taxed money, one Target date fund with an expense ratio of 0.30% or lower. Hopefully, a 2065 fund. After employee benefits and taxes, try to put some money away into a high yield savings account (HYSA) for emergency savings. Make sure it has 3% or higher interest rate. Try to shoot for 3 months of your routine monthly expenses. This will keep you from touching your investments during hard times. Examples: Marcus, Amex, Ally, or Capital One to name a few. An Alternative emergency savings option is a Treasury bond fund that protects you from State and city taxes on interest earned. The only downside is the money isn't available on weekends. Popular options are SGOV and VBIL. After building up emergency savings, start investing into your Roth IRA. Assuming it is with Fidelity, invest into two index mutual funds. - FZROX with 80% allocation. - FZILX with 20% allocation. These two funds offer zero expense ratio and a good track record since inception.
So my new trading strategy is to win small amounts betting on baseball, stick the winnings in VBIL, sleep well at night.
I’m using VBIL as a savings account. I think there is a bit of difference between VBIL and SGOV but they both just buy short term term treasury.
don't do savings account, throw it into VBIL or others for tax exemption. retirement account contributions increase for older individuals, max those out. my auntie was 45 with only 50k in the bank and she sold a lot of her stuff to have the cash to put to work, then took up a side hustle selling embroidery on etsy to generate more money. idk how well it would've worked out bc she remarried with a rich man just last year so she's set now. best of luck anyway
Roth IRA is looking great. The taxable brokerage account you just need VOO and VXUS. Maybe add VBIL for emergency savings with tax protection perks (no city nor state taxes). Only downside is you can't access the savings on the weekends once the stock market closes.
VBIL and chill unless you are top tier on the marry go round email list for the circle ⭕️ jerk trade.
VBIL for the ultimate V
sold house. SCHD and VBIL. watching the market gone wild
CDs are fine but I don't like the lock in. Much more ergonomic to by a US treasuries ETF like sgov or VBIL. Or short term gov bond ETF like SCHO if you can stomach slightly longer duration. The ETFs continually have old bonds mature and new bonds rolling in, so the rate is always changing, you're riding the average of short term rates whatever they are. Overall rates should be in the same ballpark as a short term CD. But no early sell penalty.
That's why I prefer SGOV or VBIL over MMF's anyway.
What are your goals for the money you're wanting to park? If it's just "cash" you want to keep safe and out of the markets, then put it in SGOV, VBIL, or a good money market fund at your broker. No need to tie money up, even for 3-6 months.
>\- an emergency fund needs instant access. No it doesn't? You just made that up. >If you need the money immediately at an unexpected time, youre cooked. There may be some nuance on emergency funds, If you emergency fund is 5k sure have it instanly available If your emergency fund is 90k I cannot imagine a scenario where you need it instantly available >\-HYSAs are FDIC insured. MMFs and ETFs have coverage for brokerage failure, but the assets itself aren't protected. The two I mentioned VBIL/SGOV invest in the full faith and credit of the USA. There is no way the treasury defaults but then is able to bail out the banks that are insolvent due to its own default through FDIC/NCUA
I would go one step further ; ditch a HYSA and just hold your emergency fund or long term savings on a money market mutual fund or something like vbil/sgov even hysa banks play games, in theory a "good" HYSA will pay somewhere around the fed funds rate or short term interest rate. However banks play games, they will offer an introductory rate that then falls under the fed funds rates Or maybe they will have their HYSA match the fed funds rate today, but in 1 year it will start to diverge. If the fed fund rate goes up they may not raise their rates Just use a money market mutual fund or something like VBIL/SGOV , you will always get basically the short term interest rate. No games , no offering good rates then dropping them. They will essentially always track the fed funds rate minus a small expense ratio And added benefit VBIL/SGOV is state tax exempt, a treasury money market fund will be as well but not all money market funds only hold treasuries
I have a brokerage account in Fidelity specifically for my emergency fund and it's all invested in VBIL
The one that stands out to me most was when I first got Public about a month or 2 ago, I noticed that it was either VBIL or SGOV after market closed it claimed the stock jumped .10 to .15 cents a share which would be astronomical. It increased my total unrealized P/L to match, but checking another brokerage it was still at the same price as close. The next day, it dropped back down to the previous day price. Also, just clicking right now on the S&P 500 Index there is no "daily recap" regarding what the price movement was about and that's what I was mentioning that about. SPY as of right now also doesn't have it either, but I see it on various other stocks/ETFs.
Put most of it, $300k, into an S&P 500 ETF. SPYM is a good choice with the lowest expense ratio of 0.02%. Keep $100k in emergency savings. A) A Treasury ETF. They are exempt from state income taxes on your interest earned. Either SGOV or VBIL. B) A high yield savings account with 3% or higher interest. Wealthfront, SoFi, Capital One, American Express, Barclay, or Marcus. More liquid than a Treasury ETF, but not state tax income protection. A better choice if you live in the 9 states without state income taxes.
For emergency savings, use a Treasury money market or Treasury ETF since you live in NY city. This removes your state and city taxes on interest earned. - Treasury ETFs: VBIL or SGOV. Pick only one. Available at all brokers. - Treasury money market funds: VUSXX, SNSXX, or FDLXX. Only available at the big 3 brokers (Vanguard, Schwab, and Fidelity). Pick one.
The order of operations for investing are: - Emergency saving up to 3 months of your routine expenses. Use a HYSA with 3% interest or higher currently. Alternative option in states with high taxes (California and NY state) are treasury Money market funds or Treasury ETFs (SGOV or VBIL). - Try to max out a Roth IRA if you are working and earn less than $153k in 2026. The max contribution is $7,500 for 2026 according to the IRS. Within in the Roth IRA, invest into ETFs. For ETFs only use SoFI, Fidelity, or Vanguard. With those brokers, you can invest into VTI and VGT. VTI is your core fund that covers the Total USA stock market. Make this 70% of your allocation. VGT is a sector fund covering information technology area. VGT has great returns over the past 10 years, but is limited to a sector. 30% allocation is fine. - Anything extra, put it into a taxable brokerage account. Buy the same ETFs. This is also the type of account to buy Treasury ETFs like SGOV or VBIL.
VBIL. It is functionally equivalent to SGOV. They are both 0-3 month Treasury bond funds. The share price is different. The yields are the same within a couple of bps. Another option is one of the Schwab money market funds.
Emergency funds first. You can put it into Treasury ETFs (SGOV or VBIL) or Treasury money market funds (FZFXX). Something always happens and it is nice to have that buffer zone, so you don't have to sell your investments.
VBIL is a better alternative, it's 100% exempt and it has a slightly lower expense ratio. Pretty much same percentage as SGOV also.
Add some $BOXX or $VBIL, these stocks generate income just shy of the risk free return (~4%).
I like SGOV, but the state tax rate in Georgia is so low it is hardly felt. I think 5% if I am not mistaken (too lazy to look it up). SPAXX is fine for now. Worst case scenario the OP can always switch to SGOV or VBIL later.
Most efficient would be a bond ladder of short term t bills. You can do the duration as whatever you want. For example buy $25k worth of 4 week bills every week for four weeks, set it on autoroll, none of that money will ever be more than 4 weeks away. The further out you go you will theoretically have slightly higher returns because a 3 month T bill is slightly riskier than a 1 month. Or you can just dump 100k into SGOV or VBIL. You pay a tiny fee (0.06% for VBIL) but can always get the money as quickly as you can sell a stock, so like a couple days.
+1 for VBIL as its state-tax exempt. VTEB (Munis) is Fed tax exempt, but more volatile
Treasure money market funds or Treasury ETFs. Both have interest exemption from state taxes. TMMF: SNSXX or FZFXX. T ETFs: SGOV or VBIL.
VBIL is a treasury bill ETF, meaning it is exempt from state taxes but not exempt from federal.
VBIL (cheaper version of SGOV) it's not worth risking anything to eek out a 1% additional yield, that's money you want to be there when you need it
1) If you are working and earn less than $153k per year, I highly advice opening a Roth IRA and invest a small amount ($50 per month) into a Total USA fund. Do this with one of the big 3 brokers. Those are: Fidelity, Charles Schwab, or Vanguard. Fidelity: FZROX. A Zero expense ratio index mutual fund. Mutual funds (Active or Index) are only good for retirement accounts. Schwab: SWTSX. An Index mutual fund. Vanguard: VTI. It is an index Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). A lot more flexible and transferable than an Index mutual fund, and more tax efficient outside retirement accounts. 2) Build up emergency savings with a high yield savings account online or Treasury Money market fund. Fidelity has FZFXX, Schwab has SNSXX, and Vanguard has the ETF version VBIL. For a high yield savings online, look into Capital One or a local credit Union. Currently around 3%. After building up 3 months of your routine expensives, then go harder into investing in your Roth IRA. The 2026 contribution limit is $7,500 ($625 per month). The IRS sets the limit every November for the next year.
SPAXX, SPRXX, SGOV, VBIL, BOXX, etc are all equivalent holdings to a HYSA. I use 3 as different breakdowns of emergency fund, sinking fund, next year's IRA contribution.
I went with VBIL over SGOV. It has a slightly lower expense ratio, but that doesn’t really matter at levels you should be keeping in an emergency fund. Been doing OK with it, better than my old checking account interest.
VBIL is the exact same as SGOV with lower expenses. If you can handle a slight bit more volatility, DUSB should provide even more returns
What ? You can buy billions of treasuries if you want? I mean even if you only have $100 extra a month , you could invest into something like VBIL or a money market fund.
I will probably go SGOV or VBIL
I am leaning VBIL because of the lower expense ratio
I see SGOV mentioned here a lot and am switching to this or VBIL from money market currently. Is there any reason SGOV is preferred over VBIL? They seem almost identical, with VBIL having a slightly smaller expense ratio.
Those are some good shouts on the ETFs, I’ll definitely look into SGOV and VBIL, thanks for the heads up. As for the tariff and war periods, honestly, the biggest thing was just not panicking. When everyone is screaming about the news, I just look at the price and wait for the institutional footprints to show up. I stayed mostly in high-conviction leaders and made sure I didn't overtrade when things got volatile. It’s usually more about what you don't do during those times that keeps you in the game. I’ll try to put together a post with more details on how I handled those specific environments when I have a bit more time
I partially sold some of my stocks to cash on some profit but will remain invested. I put my cash into VBIL approx 10% of my portfolio. Will wait for some opportunity and continue to pile up some cash through my contributions
Ironically, schwab allows automatically reinvesting dividends into ETFs but not buying fractional ETFs. Fidelity is so much better when it comes to fractional shares but I still stick with Schwab for checkings and emergency fund (VBIL treasury ETF) because I’ve found Fidelity CMA doesn’t work well with third-party connections and doesn’t support Zelle.
It’s not uncommon — many have a local brick-and-mortar bank they deal with, 401(k) or similar at employer’s custodian of choice, personal investment accounts like IRAs and/or taxable brokerage at another institution, etc. Generally, it just adds complexity. There’s an argument for security e.g. having some money in a second place should you lose access to the first. For actual bank accounts, using multiple institutions may be warranted if you exceed FDIC or NCUA coverage. I’m personally not quite as concerned about SIPC coverage for brokerage accounts. Since joining an employer who uses Fidelity as custodian for their 401(k), HSA, ESOP and RSU plans, I’ve also consolidated my own taxable brokerage and IRA accounts there as well. As it is, I currently have ten accounts at Fidelity, including my main savings/emergency fund invested in VBIL… I do still keep some money (<$10k) at my local credit union and run my every day expenses through there.
SGOV is a teensy bit less expensive for many people. Trading spreads between SGOV & VBIL are close but VBIL carries a higher premium paid on each trade. previous reply to someone else: [https://www.reddit.com/r/ETFs/comments/1rqz6ml/comment/o9vx5hc/?context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/ETFs/comments/1rqz6ml/comment/o9vx5hc/?context=3)
Your worry about Blackrock is inconsequential. SGOV is an ETF and all ETFs are structured so that if the investment manager fails - it doesn't impact the fund investment. As for the differences - you have to look at the duration of the fund. All three of the funds that you mentioned as effectively the same as ultra-short duration treasury funds. Usually, someone investing in cash and the interest rate markets is going to look at the duration based on their interest rate thesis. Regarding your comment about liquidity - while a mmf is required to have liquidity requirements - both SGOV and VBIL are open-ended ETFs and they have the exact same liquidity profile. Re: cap - gains - one advantage of a MMF is that there are no cap gains and wash sale rules don't apply. One advantage of ETF's is that there is no 30 day restriction on marginability.
My VBIL is the only one in the green lolz
I keep 80% in either VOO/ICPY or VBIL/CLOA depending on the overall market’s valuation, RSI, SMA crossovers, etc. (your standard run-of-the-mill market risk/reward technical indicators). The other 20% is for individual high-conviction stock picks, usually with deep OOTM LEAPS over shares if I’m feeling particularly gutsy.
I'll be upfront with you, I've been rethinking VTIP after the latest ppi numbers don't match cpi. Had it in there because it beat the HYSA but I'm moving to VGSH/VBIL (VBIL Is close enough to SGOV with lower expense ratio because i'm in vanguard in a taxable for this) after the next dividend payout, so 2 weeks-ish. husband's in tech so his job isn't guaranteed and kid is 3 years out from college with an okay-but-not-great 529 (i didn't want to park everything in the 529 in case they didn't go to college) so job loss and college expenses could be major factors in the road ahead, and I have planned accordingly. You need to look at your 5 years ahead and see what bond fund could make sense for you or if it makes sense to have anything at all aside from an efund, for most folks it might not, aside from maybe a house fund, and then be willing to shift as factors shift :) stagflation is going to be about riding the waves, and by asking these questions and keeping your ears open, you'll be okay.
You can just do VT as a conservative bet, which is basically 60/40 VTI/VXUS. I like 70/30 VTI/VXUS personally, but all-in VT is fine too. You are very diversified with this. If you want to be even more conservative toss in 10% BND or VBIL or SGOV.
I like the money market funds in Fidelity. The benefit to them, is that they are treated as cash in the account. If you have $1000 SPAXX, and $4000 FDLXX, and you transfer $5000 out, it will automatically liquidate the FDLXX and move the money. So no downtime, waiting to sell an ETF, etc. I keep some VBIL in my savings as well, just to eek out a bit more yield. If you have a 6 month E-fund, having a month or to in a readily liquid MM is not a bad idea for emergencies. You live in CA, so it might be worth it to keep the funds in FDLXX, as it is typically in the ballpark of 98% exempt from CA state tax. FDRXX did not maintain a minimum of 50% treasury notes/bills each quarter of 2025, so you cannot deduct any of the interest from your state taxes. As a Fidelity user, the gist of the advice you were given is good.
Best strategy is TIME IN the market not TIMING the market. Just hold. If you have any strategies that are not under you could pull that out and put into VBIL or a high yield or some bond etf , but I’d just hold. If you want to feel better about future volatility (swings) then you could allocate some into less volatile equities like the ones above or even real estate or consumer staples which tend to be less volatile to the general market
VBIL is a slightly lower expense ration than SGOV, but I read that you are more state income tax exempt (97% of the dividends) with SGOV. I forgot what it was for VBIL, but it was much lower. So any cost savings would be negligible.
Can get almost same liquidity with money market (SPAXX*), short term Treasuries (VBIL)... can compare rates. Another option is a municipal bond fund (e.g. VTEB). If in a brokerage account (taxable) the yields are tax free. Can get 3.5% tax free return approximately currently
tbh at age 20 that is way too defensive. i'm retired and i could see that as my portfolio, and i'm pretty defensive now, but not even as defensive at that. if you are putting in new money, corrections are going to be your friend if you get more growth oriented. if i was 20, i'd set aside a cushion for expenses and keep that in VBIL or any of the other short-term treasury ETFs, but the rest of the money, I would buy equal shares of VOO or SPY, and QQQ. Or add in an Ex-US ETF if you want. If money comes out of AI and chips, it's going to go somewhere else and if you have a broad index fund, that somewhere else is going to be in the index.
I really appreciate this advice. In terms of an emergency fund, I don't want to hold cash - is VBIL or another safe fixed rate ETF fine?
Might keep pace with inflation but not preferable to SGOV or VBIL or just investing in the broad market.
Not really. Don't get cute, VBIL is fine.
I would keep the cash in a short term treasury fund, like VBIL if you plan to buy a house in the next 36 months.
I'm considering relocating in the future and I'm building up cash reserves for a down payment on a new home. Are there any options right now for stashing cash on a 12 - 60 month time frame that beat something like VBIL? I'm willing to take some risk, but I'd rather avoid going full equities.
They recently dropped the expense of VBIL by 1 bps
Just a heads up, VBIL is just like SGOV but 7 bps cheaper.
I'd go with VBIL (lower fee version of SGOV) for short duration. Cheap and flexible. IBIE is also a decent option, October 2028 TIPS (inflation linked bonds).
>At Schwab one first one must move the funds to cash and then trade You can buy the stock, then sell the MF, since they both settle in t+1 . Its a trade off, fidelity has a sweep but the schwab Money Market funds usually pay slightly more, not that it will really matter. However I just prefer to use something like VBIL, again if I need cash just sell VBIL then buy what ever. I do not do too many trades so its not really a big deal.
VBIL is a great fund, nice to see fee cuts there. I suspect AUM gap between SGOV and VBIL will slowly close over next 3-5 years thus allowing more fee cuts for Vanguard!
Anyone switching to VBIL or putting additional savings there, due to the similar performance and lower expense ratio? It's small; but $2 savings on every $10k, per year.
If I wanted to earn interest on cash I would just invest in VBIL or SGOV
I mean if you simple lump sum contribute and invest at the beginning of every year you are somewhat DCAing just yearly However considering lump sum investing beats DCAing about 2/3rd of the time; and its almost impossible to tell if today its better to DCA vs Lump sum, if you simply invest at the beginning of every year for 30 years you will almost certainly come out ahead vs DCAing through out the year However you could just buy some money market fund or something like SGOV or VBIL if you wanted to earn some interest
> Or just use short term bond ETFs. For those interested, good examples of those are VBIL and SGOV.
\--First, don't tell anyone about it. Your friends, family, co-workers will be coming out of the woodwork with requests for money and idiotic investment ideas. At the very least, they can grow resentful and it can interfere with your relationships. \--Get the money into a brokerage: Schwab, Fidelity, or Vanguard. Open an account with only your name on it. \--Make sure the cash is invested in safe funds that pay a decent return -- a money market fund, or a treasury bill fund such as SGOV or VBIL \--Do not commingle this money by putting it into an account with anyone else on it. \--Pay off any high interest debt (probably your solar loan and car loan) \--If you haven't maxed out your Roth IRA for 2025 and 2026 for you and your wife, go ahead and do that \--For the rest, wait a year before changing or spending. Take some time to plan and learn. Don't YOLO into expensive new cars, home remodels, round the world trips, etc. I think you should seriously consider just investing most of it in passively managed, low cost ETFs and considering it part of your retirement savings. Looking at the financials you posted, you are a bit behind on retirement. Once you get any high interest debt paid down, you might find a way to increase 401k contributions. And make sure that whatever else you do with this money, you keep 6 months of expenses in an emergency fund. OP, I'm sorry for the loss of your family member.
As long as they are FDIC insured and to be a bank in the USA you have to be, there really isn't a risk of losing money. Just make sure it's a bank and not a fin tech middle man. However hysa follow short term rates when rates drop hysa interest drops. Sometimes you can get some into rate that will be higher for 3-6 months but it may be limited to like 20k or something. Personally I don't use a hysa , just open a brokerage and use a money market funds or something like VBIL or SGOV. You will always get the short term rate.
I have a CMA. I set my default core position to Fidelity's SPAXX, which is a money market fund. Treated like cash. Every Thursday, I buy a set amount of FDLXX, a treasury only Money Market. It is 97% treasuries and thus mostly state tax free. It will automatically liquidate when I pay bills or transfer. Interest is a smidge lower than something like VBIL or SGOV, but the function is better. I do keep a portion of my savings in SGOV, which I can liquidate in a day or two if needed. I can buy it right in my CMA account.
I have a Fidelity Brokerage Account that I treat as my savings account. I can't access by ATM (as far as I know), but I can transfer funds from Fidelity to my Wells Fargo checking account and access the next day. My cash in the brokerage account automatically goes into SPAXX, but I chose to hold it in the VBIL short term treasury fund, which currently pays 3.67%. Mainly I like the convenience of having my cash immediately available to invest in the market. I used to jump around between various HYSAs, yield chasing for that extra .1%, but now I rest easy knowing that my Fidelity yield is competitive with HYSA market rates.
Are you saying that you have a 10 year horizon before buying a house? I wouldn't use SGOV or VBIL. Those are short duration funds. If you want to just have the risk free rate - you may want to look at a longer duration treasury fund. It also depends on whether you believe if interest rates will go down or not. Alternatively - with a 10 year horizon - you probably could put some portion into higher credit risk products if you want the relative lower risk of bond investments vs equity investments. You could look at corporate debt. Something like target-maturity corporate bond funds from SSgA, Invesco or Blackrock may generate higher yield - depends also on the state that you live treasuries are state tax exempt.