VBIL
Vanguard 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF
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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.
I’m a 26M and I want to start saving for a down payment for a house. I max out my 401k, HSA, and Roth IRA each year and historically have put the rest of my savings in a taxable brokerage account investing ETFS. I already have an emergency fund sitting in SGOV and VBIL. I’m my time horizon is 10 years, should I just put my cash for a down payment fully into SGOV:VBIL or split it between the treasury bill etfs and a total market index fund such as VTI? Thank you!
> Super helpful info! MMFs yielding less than SWVXX, isn’t SWVXX already a MMF? Yes SWVXX is a MMF. Different MMF's have different yields. > It’s specifically a 7 day yield fund. I don't know what you mean by this. '7 day yield' is how the yield is reported on MMFs. Its what annualized return of the fund over the previous 7 days. You don't get that yield every 7 days. >When you say 0-3 month, does that mean it matures in 3 months or expires in 3 months? When I looked up SGOV, it had no maturity from my understanding, but I could totally be wrong! SGOV doesn't mature. That Treasuries it holds matures and the proceeds are then invested in new Treasuries. Its essentially a bond ladder with an effective duration of 0.1 years. >What the difference between Floating Rate Treasuries and Government bonds? A floating rate treasury is a type of Government Bond. Its a longer term bond but the interest rate floats so it doesn't have the same interest rate risk as longer term treasuries. USFR's effective duration is 0.2 years. >I also, tried looking up where to find a list of short term government bonds on Shwab but couldn’t find a list? Their customer service didn’t know either so i’m wondering how do we find the different options out there other than SGOV that does something similar to keep funds liquid with a return. Not sure I follow, are you looking for other short term bond ETFs? How many variations of Vanilla ice cream do you need? Here are some I'm aware of: SGOV, BIL, VBIL, TBIL, JPST, ICSH, VUSB, USFR, TFLO. The only ones I have any first hand experience with is SGOV, USFR and TFLO Here is an oldie but goodie: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/11prp0b/hysa\_mmf\_cds\_tbills\_searching\_for\_the\_best\_return/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/11prp0b/hysa_mmf_cds_tbills_searching_for_the_best_return/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
>When that account gets to $100k can I just take it out and use it? Yes >Should I be putting my money for a house in a different account? I have a HYSA but the returns on it are only like 3.5% (Amex) so I try not to use that one, thanks. You can use a brokerage account as a savings account, it depends on what you invest the money into. You could invest it into a money market fund or some ultra short bond fund (VBIL/SGOV) and those will effectively act like a HYSA, meaning no real losses and some lower but somewhat guaranteed return Or you could invest in some high risk investment that could gain 100% but could also lose everything So saving in a brokerage account isn't good or bad, its entirely what you buy in that brokerage account. For anything under 5 years I would simply do something like VBIL or SGOV
It does not matter how much you "love" or "trust" your adviser. The relevant question is, how much value do they add? How does the performance and risk profile of your adviser-managed portfolio compare to something simple like: 60% broad stock ETF (VOO, VTI etc) 40% t-bill ETF (SGOV, VBIL etc) --- OR --- 60% broad stock ETF 20% t-bill ETF 20% gold ETF (SGOL, IAU, IAUM etc) PS: I outgrew my adviser five minutes after I read one thin little book twenty years ago: "Fail Safe Investing" by Harry Browne.
The main purpose of a box spread is to create a synthetic loan or bond. Investopedia has a good article on it. [https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/boxspread.asp](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/boxspread.asp) I have some of my "liquid" or "cash" invested in BOXX. So far, it's working out great. BOXX goes up in value rather than disburse interest from bonds such as SGOV or VBIL. I am patiently waiting for the fallout from any tax issues.
Not equivalent but relevant: VFQY ( quality factor) VTV ( value US ) then a lot of VBIL and bingo
Treasury Bill ETFs. Stable as fuck, good dividend, doesn't grow much though. My recommendations: BIL VBIL XONE SCHO WEEK USFR UTEN
For the responses saying to start an IRA or Roth IRA for an 18 year old that doesn’t even have a standard individual brokerage account yet is just not right. He won’t be able to access any of that til what.. 67 i think it is now?? Ridiculous Start him off with a regular brokerage account, contribute a set amount a week (say $50-$200) into $VT or $VOO (total US stock market, S&P500, respectively - very similar). This is for mid-long term outlook (5-20 years, leaning more into the latter) where it really starts to balance out and compound. For just collecting the interest in the same account (cash equivalent +about 3.8% / year as of today), $VBIL. This would be for strictly cash savings that you don’t want any risk of short term depriciation. Other than that i would set aside about 10% of the account actual cash - In the end, say 80% $VT 10% $VBIL 10% cash. Certainly open to adjustments based on risk tolerances
interesting, thanks so much for this. Will probably go SGOV until VBIL becomes a little more established
I tried an experiment for the last two months of SGOV vs VBIL. I decide to try VBIL and moved 1/3 of my SGOV holding to VBIL. I have now waited for two complete months of dividends and below is dividend payout summary from my account this month. The first column is dist-yield and the second column is SEC-yield. SGOV 12/1/25 (payout 12/4) 4.15% 3.85% VBIL 12/1/25 (payout 12/3) 2.81% 3.89% Since the dist-yield is what is deposited to my account each month, between the two, I'd prefer SGOV. The surprise is the that SEC-yield is actually higher on VBIL... YMMV.
I use both. Chase has mine and my hubby’s Roth IRAs since they allow auto-investing for mutual funds, as well as our emergency fund in SGOV and VBIL (still waffling on which I like more) so I can have it close in case we need it. However, hubby’s 401k is through Fidelity as is our taxable brokerage investing. I’m also planning to start an HSA account through Fidelity next year and transfer my HSA money over to take advantage of lower fees vs my job’s company. A couple tips: you’ll need to link the accounts both ways and sometimes it’s a bit confusing to get it done since Fidelity isn’t a bank listed on the Chase site. Money that you push from Chase (vs pull through Fidelity) will clear/settle faster although there’ll be a day or two delay.
First, congratulations on preparing for your future at a young age. Compounding will work well for you if you don’t panic when the market drops. As far as picks go, I suggest an S&P 500 ETF as your first investment. My personal choice is VOO from Vanguard. If you have earned income, you can start a Roth IRA or a traditional IRA. Both have tax advantages over a normal brokerage account, but you cannot withdraw money until you are 59.5 years old. You should investigate the differences between these accounts and pick the one that meets your goals. Do not put money into an IRA if you will need it to pay for college, housing, or something else in the short term because the penalties for early withdrawal are stiff (10% plus tax on earnings). I also use ETFs that invest in short term Treasuries instead of cash. Good for money you may need in the next couple of years because the market can drop at any time and put you in a bad position if you have to take a loss. I use SGOV and VBIL for this purpose.
There really won't be all that much meaningful difference between them, they essentially all hold ultra short term debt so most will pretty much yield the same . The difference maybe one that only holds treasuries what will yield slightly less but be exampt from state taxes, vs ones that may hold corporate debt or repo agreements, will yield slightly more but be subject to state tax Depending on your income and state one may be better then the other. If you are higher income and live in a state with higher state taxes the treasury MM may be better If you live in a state with no state income taxes or very low ones the higher yielding fund that holds corporate debt may be better. Personally I just buy something like VBIL/SGOV what are 0-3 month treasury ETFs that basically acts like a money market fund
SGOV and VBIL ETFs are short term treasury bond funds that hold their value. Very small changes due to the interest payment. Pull them up on a chart.
5 yr: VBIL 10yr: VT (still possible to lose money but low probability) 20yr: VT
SGOV and VBIL ETFs don’t lose capital.
I pretty much use Fidelity to hold cash in its core position which is a money market fund - which holds short term government debt. I do use other money market funds (like VBIL or PMMF) to earmark funds needed for lump sum payments like property tax and insurance.
When VBIL becomes more popular maybe the premium will come down. But right now VBIL has been selling at a 0.11% premium to its NAV according to [ETF.com](http://ETF.com) while SGOV's premium stayed at 0.02% for the first half of the year and then fell to 0.01%. So the net-net of it is that the 2 basis points saved on annualized expenses is negated by the 9 basis points paid in extra premium. So for me it's SGOV for tbills.
To be blunt, .02 on 100k is $20. I'm not saying not to be money conscious but that kind of money really doesn't count. Smaller newer funds can have more NAV variance, which both causes weird capital gain issues and can theoretically result in you losing money. That said VBILs been pretty stable for some time now so maybe it's fine. It's not simple to measure because VBIL started a month late, but SGOV yield YTD is 3.68% vs 3.09% for VBIL, so don't be sure you're making more money
I was always worried with VBIL volume but it seems to have picked up. Both are safe bets.
It depends on the current yield curve and where you may want to be on that yield curve. The short-term curve is inverted at the present so if you think that ultra-short term rates (the one month is a little over 4%) is going to fall more than the current 1 year of 3.6% plus the interest for 1 year - then an interest rate trader may choose a longer duration. You can also do things like take on a little more credit risk with investment grade bond funds. Or use ultra-short duration active investment grade funds. Or even target maturity funds in a ladder depending on your tax situation and timeframe. Tldr - you can make cash management as complicated as you want - but if you dont' want to time the interest rate markets or the effort to actively manage cash to eek out a few more basis points - than just keep it simple and use any ultra-short duration product. I personally think that too many people over-analyze the differences between funds like VBIL and SGOV.
"Better" is subjective. It will depend on your timeframe and any thesis that you may have on interest rate markets. Also depends on things like your tax situation and if you are willing to take on some credit risk. For example - if you are saving to buy a house in 3 years and you think that shorter term interest rates will go down - then SGOV and VBIL are poor choices. And a better choice would be longer duration treasury funds that are at least 1 year duration.
SGOV expense ratio is 0.09 while VBIL is 0.07 They basically hold the same thing so in theory VBIL should return 0.02% more what probably is not worth worrying about
VBIL has decent volume now so it is just slightly better
A ultra short term treasury fund like VBIL/SGOV
You're over thinking it. A Treasury ETF like VBIL, SGOV, USFR or Treasury Money Market like VUSXX are functionally equivalent. Just pick whatever is most convenient for you.
>I’m curious how others evaluate where to keep their emergency fund or idle cash while still balancing safety and liquidity. Thats the issue with banks, HYSA will mostly follow the short term interest rates , however they can vary . If a bank has excess cash they may yield less , if they need cash they may have a promo to yield slightly more . A great HYSA pretty much matching short term rates can become one that lags behind it . So you can chase yield and open new accounts and move money to the highest paying accounts Or you can simply use a money market fund or a ultra short bond ETF like VBIL/SGOV and you are always guaranteed to pretty much get the short term rate Some banks may offer some promotional rate but honestly chasing yields may net you like .1% more then VBIL/SGOV what is like $50 on a 50k emergency fund.
Savings- 6 months emergency in HYSA, rest in money market, buy some TBILLS or CDs and create a ladder.(if you have state tax TBILLs can be a better optiony, as they are not subject to state taxes. You can also just use SGOV or VBIL ETF for TBILLS or buy CDs through your bank.) Retirement- max out ROTH IRA, contribute to 401k and HSA (you can invest excess $$$ HSA after you've hit your cap.) Visit r/bogleheads for tried and true ETF's Personal Brokerage- create a dividend portfolio. I use QQQI and SPYI ETFS currently. It pays for my monthly spending. I also have a little gold just to hedge and put spare change towards BTC. And if i get excited about a up and company company ill bet on that if I have extra cash to toss around. DRIP- Enable reinvestment for your Retirement and savings positions!!! Set it and forget it. Also use DRIP methodology until you get your dividend portfolio where you would like it to be. LIVE BELOW YOUR MEANS and budget EVERYTHING (including tine) ! - No matter what stay humble and live far below your means. Don't pay above 25 percent of your income for rent, keep your grocery budget reasonable. Instead of eating out shitty every week go to one nice restaurant a month etc.. No one knows what tommorow holds. Dont piss away your hard work buy making your day to day bills eat up your whole paycheck. All it takes is a lost job and now you have lost everything.
Short-term bonds are paying 4% right now, and inflation is 3% so they're making a real-dollar yield on their cash. Not a lot, but they're not seeing it depreciate. They'd make over 4% just dropping it in VBIL. [https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/etfs/profile/vbil](https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/etfs/profile/vbil)
I have the same concern as you and im not sure the solution. Does any broker let you pick fractional limit prices? Does any broker give better execution than Fidelity? One alternative is VBIL, lower volume but higher price so it helps with the spread
My Savings account is a brokerage where I buy something like VBIL and ultra short term treasury ETF I prefer this because an ETF like VBIL will always basically give you the short term rate. Banks HYSA usually return a bit less and can be somewhat inconsistent, for example a HYSA may start off matching the short term rate but if rates rise lag behind it, or if rates drop , drop more and end up in 6 months paying much less then the short term rate Ultra short term treasuries you will always get the short term rate, you cannot say that with a HYSA . The added benefit is the interest is exempt from state taxes
Its fine its exactly the same as VBIL/SGOV
What about them ? Fidelity offers a money market that probably yields around 4% and I think RH probably pays 4% And guess what VBIL pays around 4%
Just buy VBIL/SGOV and you will always get the short term rate and won't need to shop around Sure you may be able to find some CD or HYSA that offers 0.1% more interest for a short period of time
Equivilant to VBIL if youre on vanguard which prioritizes its own offerings
Look at Boglehead investment philosophy. For equity look into VT ETF for all US (60%)and all international (40%) VTI + VXUS if you want to adjust those allocations. VBIL for cash equivalent.
Well retirement is what 20+ years away, here is how risk works Equity Index funds like VOO/VTI , if you buy into them over time and hold for 20 years are low risk in the long term, 20+ years However short term they are risky , they could lose 50% plus in a few months, longer term (20+) if you DCA into them they are a safe bet. Cash or cash equivalents like short term bonds or money market accounts is safe in the short term , risky due to inflation in the long term. Longer term bonds are somewhat more risky than cash and get riskier the longer the term they are but are still less risky vs stocks So you do not have to pick , you can allocate a portion to something like VTI for longer term goals and allocate something to like a money market account or a ETF like VBIL what is effectively a HYSA very safe but long term risky due to inflation
Look at expense ratios for VTI, VXUS, BND, VBIL. These ETFs are basically what you have.
If you need short term money put it in a cash equivalent. SGOV or VBIL.
By the nature that SGOV holds almost all short term Treasury bonds its share price does not change much during a day, but it is not the same minute by minute. SGOV does not pay profit. SGOV distributes dividends from the interest paid by the Treasury bonds it holds. Since the dividends are from Treasury bond interest they are exempt from state and local income tax to the extent that the dividends are strictly from Treasury bonds. This is typically almost all of the dividends, but not 100%. There is a special procedure to claim the state tax exemption for dividends from federal obligations for state tax filing. All of the info you need is not on your broker 1099. It's a minor PITA. [https://thefinancebuff.com/state-tax-exempt-treasury-fund-etf.html](https://thefinancebuff.com/state-tax-exempt-treasury-fund-etf.html) Vanguard's VBIL is almost identical to SGOV.
1. No , its price can fluctuate during the day usually by a very small amount but the price can increase or decrease during the day. Looking at the chart it usually fluctuates about 1 cent through out the day 2. The distribution are exempt from state taxes 3. Technically I think VBIL has a slightly lower expense ratio but 2 basis points will be pretty unnoticeable
No $3k minimum, lower expense ratio. VBIL is even better on that front though.
Money that I keep set aside for short term taxes is invested into VBIL. Pays a nice yield and is pretty secure from volatility.
High yield savings, brokerage money market fund, short term bond fund. $8K at 4% for two months will make $53. High yield savings would be easiest. They are currently \~3.5%. If you are ready to start investing aside from this savings a broker can do it all. Fidelity Cash Management account has the best features for personal finance and broker investments. The money parked in the settlement holding is currently yielding \~3.9%. You could buy a short term bond fund like SGOV or VBIL that are currently yielding \~4.2%. If you go the broker route make sure to get ACH transfers set up so you can transfer the money to somewhere you can use it to pay your loan. ACH transfers take several days to set up initially. Fidelity Cash Management will allow you to have paper checks, online bill pay, and a debit card. Those can be used to pay things directly from the settlement fund. Beware that a new Fidelity account will hold initial deposits for something like two weeks before they can be withdrawn. Once the account is started get your funding source (bank, etc.) set up to do push ACH transfers initiated from the funding source. Push ACH transfers do not have a hold time before they can be withdrawn. Fidelity is not unique about this. The others also do it to some extent.
You get $1k in free margin so invest that in VBIL and you’re golden.
SGOV primarily holds Treasury bonds. The fund receives or accrues interest from the bonds. This causes the net asset value share price to increase daily until the ex-dividend date. If you own shares on the day before the ex-div date you get the entire dividend for the preceding month - even if you only owned it on just the one day before the ex-div date. Since the dividend is derived from Treasury bond interest it is exempt from state income tax. To claim the state tax exemption you have to get the year end statement from the fund that shows the percent of dividends from (Treasury bonds) federal obligations. You will have to do a manual calculation of state tax exempt dividends and make an extra entry in tax software to reduce dividend income reported to the state. This info is not on broker's 1099. Here's how to do it: [https://thefinancebuff.com/state-tax-exempt-treasury-fund-etf.html](https://thefinancebuff.com/state-tax-exempt-treasury-fund-etf.html) If you sell shares In between the ex-div date and two days before next ex-div date you get capital gain from the share price increase and not the dividend on the sold shares. Cap gains are not state tax exempt. They are taxed the same as ordinary income. SGOV current yield is \~4.2%, not 5%. FDIC does not cover SGOV or any other stock or mutual fund. SGOV holds Treasury bonds. That is just as safe, or safer, than FDIC. You might be more comfortable with a Treasury only money market fund. The yield is about the same as short term bond funds, like SGOV and VBIL. MMFs accrue dividend for every day you own them. You get the dividend you accrue even if you don't own them on the day before the ex-div date. MMFs share price is held at exactly $1 all of the time so there are no cap gains or losses from buying or selling shares. You generally need to buy MMFs only at the broker that sponsors them. There may be some exceptions. Ally Invest and eTrade may allow buying Vanguard's VUSXX MMF.
First, I'd drop it in $VBIL immediately, so you can earn something while you figure it out. Second, I'd consider how much you really need in the next few years. Money you won't need within 5ish years should be invested in the market to earn the largest return. Contribute that to your 401k (or Roth 401k, Roth IRA, Trad IRA) depending on your tax situation. With 100k total income filing jointly, you probably will want post-tax contributions unless you plan to retire early quite frugally. Definitely do some research on pre-tax vs. post-tax contributions, since your income is low enough to consider going full Roth 401k, Roth IRA. By contributing your income to retirement and using this cash to cover expenses, you'll be securing some tax benefits later on.
Stick it in $VBIL and then start your careful consideration. If you want it available at any time for a different investment, keep it in $VBIL. If you have 5 years before you will likely use the money, consider a mix of stocks and bonds, like 75% $VBIL + 25% $VT. If rates come crashing down, you will be better off with intermediate duration bonds ($BIV). If inflation remains sticky and difficult, then you'll be better off with $VBIL due to their short duration. If you have over 15 years or more before needing the money, just go 100% $VT.
A brokerage interest on cash doesn't matter you can always buy something like a money market fund or a short term bond fund like VBILL or SGOV what will pay the short term rate. So I really wouldn't get hung up on their interest rates on cash, if you want to get basically the short term interest rate just buy VBIL / SGOV what hold short term treasuries so you will always get basically the short term interest rate Also yes a Roth IRA is a good idea. Pick what ever brokerage you like best
Too many times people think you have to be 100% invested in equities or 100% cash. There is an in-between, and you can choose how aggressive or conservative you want to be. Tons of people say " don't invest in bonds they have horrible returns" Well cash has horrible returns too. It's fine investing in a more conservative way, and bonds can earn their return by keeping you invested or keeping you from panic selling, or waiting on the side lines for years because you are afraid to pull the trigger. Keep it simple, you can do a boglehead type portfolio maybe even do a 4 fund portfolio by adding something like VBILfor extra safety. Something like 35% VTI 15% VXUs 30% BND 20% VBIL Obviously allocate according to your own risk tolerance, high % of bonds (VBIL and BND) will add safety.
For the aggressive, honestly i just put in VOO and MGK (vanguard mega cap etf). The rest is my emergency fund with SGOV and VBIL. Set and forget.
You simply transfer money back into your bank account. You are probably waiting on [settlement](https://www.schwab.com/learn/story/7-things-to-know-about-t1-settlement) before the funds are available to transfer. >I want to liquify my investments by April 2026, so wanted to preplan.. :) https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/wiki/index/gettingstarted/#wiki_i_have_some_money_i_want_to_invest.2C_but_i_need_it_back_within_a_short_period_of_time_.28less_than_a_few_years.29.__how_should_i_invest_it.3F That money should probably just stay in a savings account. Or if you're ok dealing with the brokerage, a fund like VBIL.
SPAXX and FDLXX are both better than HYSA. FDLXX dividends are exempt from state income tax which increases its taxable equivalent yield. SGOV or VBIL short term treasury bond funds are another option currently yielding \~4.22%, with dividends also state tax free. On $12K for six months the dollar difference in income would only be about $40.
VBIL and live on the interest + social security + selling however much you need to cover the rest of your expenses each year (perhaps 5%?).
You could achieve a very similar interest rate using either a high yield savings account or using an investment account and buying into a money market account or a short term bond fund. If you use a bond fund that invest only in treasury bills then you would get the added benefit of that interest being exempt from state income tax (if that applies to you). VBIL is one ETF you could use, SGOV is another. All the big brokers offer money market funds. All these option should give you easy liquidity, and control of the asset while generating interest.
It’s definitely done well long term for decades and easy to follow. You could use something like VBIL or VGIT or even the new VTG for treasuries.
I use it , the benefit is schwab is actually a bank on the banking side . It may sound like a minor difference but I have had trouble in the past trying to do ACH pushes or pulls to a brokerage account never had an issue with a bank Like to pay my mortgage their shit website wouldn't recognize my brokerage routing and account number for automatic payment, I suspect this was a design flaw on their part but I have never had issues linking the schwab checking account to anything because I suspect its an actual bank account As far as cash you just need to buy a money market fund or something like VBIL/SGOV so its a minor annoyance and I really don't care about fractional shares You can buy fractional shares of index funds however, schwab offers S&P500 , a broad market , growth and value and foreign index funds organized as mutual funds with pretty competitive expense ratios , so having $15 left over is inconsequential to me Is it better then fidelity that is subjective but lots of people fractional shares are not a deal breaker .
The key is not to \*use\* the credit. So for example, if you have 10k in available credit, but you're putting things on the cards for say rewards points, that may not cover the whole of your emergency fund if something really big happened that you needed to pay for immediately (like the upfront cost of a doctor visit where you broke your foot or a tow bill at 2 am in the middle of nowhere). So it sounds to me like you could do some kind of split safely (like maybe 6-7k in a HYSA and float the other 3-4k in SGOV). Some emergency items (like furnace repairs, ER visits, or sewer repairs) offer SUBSTANTIAL savings for paying on the spot, so that's the key there for an emergency fund (or a sufficiently large credit card). Has any of your money come from a job? If so you can put that money in an IRA. I would say that your thinking is incorrect about an IRA - you should have one now if you have \*any\* earned income in 2025 and here's why: 1.) You can put 10k towards a first time home purchase. 2.) You can withdraw contributions at any time - so for example, if you put 7k in today, you can take out 7k even 5 years from now, and since it's matched to a contribution you wont pay a penalty. You can even put the money back in, in 60 days and not have it count against you. So say you withdraw 15k in contributions to buy a car, but talk the dealership down to 12.5k you can put the rest of the money back without any hassle. 3.) You wont pay taxes on the earnings and should you ever want to sell it doesn't create a taxable event. Also dividends are tax free (unless they're foreign companies). The advantages are too large to simply ignore them for no good reason. For my personal set up: 10% of all of my paychecks go into a ROTH IRA, and once that's maxed out for the year, I switch to my HSA through work. I don't make enough money to max both with just 10% lol. 10% of my paycheck goes towards "goals" - cars, house renovations, etc. I have a 401k at work that I put 6% into and they match me 4% to get me an additional 10% - so I'm actually saving 16% of my income in tax advantaged accounts and my company matches me to get to 20% so that 10% saved for "me" items is guilt free lol. In summary: I would put some money in a ROTH \*today\* as long as you have earnings to cover it. I would buy stocks with that money as you've outlined in your post. The rest, outside of a decent cash retainer for emergencies, would be in a taxable brokerage account in VBIL or SGOV (honestly for me the main use case for USFR, SGOV, or VBIL is how much money I have since they're different denominations). Any money you anticipate needing in the next 5 years I absolutely would not put into the stock market.
1. Make sure this "long term" money is in a tax protected vehicle like an IRA, which I assume it is? 2. There's a lot of advice about what to do with emergency savings. Mine is pretty different: a.) The ideal amount of money you need in an emergency fund is the full replacement value of your car (if you're American and don't live in a select few cities). Most people only really fall into big financial trouble if they can't handle credit cards, or their vehicle dies/has big problems, and they have to take out a usurious auto-loan. If you become wealthy enough to where that amount of money no longer \*also\* represents 6 months of spending, then proceed to save more. b.) Have your emergency fund in a high yield savings account like Capital One, Ally, Sofi, or the many other online banks that offer better interest rates. You never know when you will need that cash instantly \*until\* you have a credit card that you don't use that has a higher credit limit than your emergency fund. Say, for example, 12k represents 6 months of living expenses and you paid 10k for your car. You have a credit card that \*always\* has 12k available credit. You can then move your emergency savings out of a high yield savings account/or a taxable brokerage that is \*only\* in money market funds, and into a taxable brokerage account. c.) Once you have sufficient credit, you can move your emergency savings into things like SGOV, VBIL, or USFR. These will have a settlement period of 3 days or so - that's why I don't like using them in a scenario where you don't have sufficient credit.
Just buy $SGOV or $VBIL. Owning a covered call strategy ETF still has a pretty substantial risk of loss if the market tanks. If the market rockets, your upside is severely limited since the calls will be exercised. Ownership only makes sense if you wanted to bet on no big moves up or down. But, from your post, capital preservation seems most important, so that why you'd want treasuries, since there's pretty much zero risk of loss in nominal terms.
VBIL from Vanguard has less fees than SGOV
I really do not get the whole bitcoin treasury . If I want exposure to bitcoin I would buy bitcoin If I wanted to generate money off of cash, I would just buy SGOV/VBIL or short term treasuries It seems weird to go through a middle man to get exposure to short term treasuries or bitcoin when you can simply buy either directly
The HYSA is probably your best bet. Other options: If you invest it in a treasuries money market like VBIL, the interest will be free from state income taxes. Otherwise it's very similar to your HYSA. If you're ok with some flexibility in your sabbatical, you could shift some of the money into something like VT. You need to be prepared for the possibility of it losing, say, 30% of its value, but it may also grow enough to give you another couple of months. Good luck! I'm wrapping up one of these now, and while it's been very different than what I expected, it's been a really healthy time for me. I hope this will be similarly for you.
VBIL is the Vanguard 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF. The current yield is 4.21%. 0.51% more over the savings account on $200K is $1020 a year more in income without even calculating the $3K a month to be added. SGOV is a very similar 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF. Either is fine. The dividends on both are all or nearly all exempt from state income tax if you have that. The raises the taxable equivalent yield to be even better. If you use Vanguard as a broker their VUSXX Treasury money market fund is currently 4.18%. That would be another good choice. The ETFs can be bought at any discount broker for no fee. The ETFs and VUSXX are one business day liquid to cash out and transfer to your bank to use it. I would not leave the money in high yield savings and lose out on $1020+ a year. It's basically free money. Baby on the way? You're gonna need that $1020. Children are worth it, but expensive.
How far in the future? If within five years, maybe USFR, VBIL, or SGOV. If beyond that, VOO or VTI. But you should think of your portfolio as a whole, and have an asset allocation plan for all of it.
There are plenty of high yield accounts around. That being said, if you have access to a brokerage account already, VBIL or SGOV will likely give you more than any savings account, and the interest is free from state taxes as well. It's a very convenient way to hold short-term bonds. Or your broker's money market fund would similarly work.
Its not worth a $5 fee, as others have said you can invest in a Money Market Mutual fund or a fund like VBIL/SGOV that will give you approx 4.2% currently Paying $5 to get an extra 0.3% for 60 days is probably not worth it unless you have a million dollars
Basically short term treasuries , you can buy yourself or simply buy a fund like VBIL or SGOV
If you like treasuries (I do, too, but also live in a state with high income tax), VBIL is a newer option from Vanguard that undercuts SGOV, BIL, and the others on expense ratio and thus is normally going to produce the highest yield. TFLO and USFR come into conversation as well. They invest in floating rate notes, which are a thing the Treasury introduced about a decade ago and in fund form are essentially the same thing as the ultra short term bonds funds, but capture a small premium that allows them to produce higher yields despite higher expense ratios. A lot of people like these; personally I'm not quite sure what their liquidity will look like in times of financial stress. The difference between all of these is going to be pretty minimal though, so it doesn't really matter. This is just if you like to be an optimizer.
For a couple of years? Look at boxx. All of what would be taxable dividends go back into the etf, so you don’t pay tax on distributions (as you would with a CD, sgov/usfr/VBIL etc). Instead you’ll pay long term capital gains when you sell, which are usually a lower rate depending on your circumstances.
Almost any brokerage will have money market funds that pay 4% plus currently and you don't need to pay a $5 subscription for them Or you could simply invest in some ultra short term bond fund like VBIL or SGOV and get 4%+ as well
For the tax-advantaged account: whatever prime money market has the highest yield. For the taxable account: either a fund holding treasuries to be free from state tax or a fund holding your state's munis to be free from all tax. The muni rates [change frequently](https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/municipal-money-market-yield-volatility/) so you'll have to try and get an estimate of the average and plug it into [a calculator](https://digital.fidelity.com/prgw/digital/taxyieldcalc/) to see which is better. As far as the treasury funds, the etfs have lower expense ratios than any mutual funds I'm aware of, and thus higher yields. VBIL is probably going to be the highest of treasuries due to having the lowest ER. Then there are TFLO and USFR, which invest in floating rate notes instead and are able to capture a spread premium above t-bills; those have the same tax liability but are a slightly different thing in terms of liquidity. Here's a handy tool from another redditor that tracks the highest yielding funds: https://yieldfinder.app/money_markets Be aware that not all the ones in this list are invested in tax-exempt assets, so you'll need to check that.
There is a way to convert unused 529 funds into an IRA, but that's still restrictive and it's limited to only a certain amount, so I understand not going that route. I don't think there's any one clear answer. I would probably do something like 60% VT 40% BND as a fairly conservative but still growth oriented portfolio. Depending on how you're feeling about risk versus expected growth you could adjust the bond proportion up or down. Or stay in cash equivalents (VBIL, CDs, bonds that mature then). Or even do something fun like [a risk parity portfolio](https://portfoliocharts.com/2016/04/18/the-theory-behind-the-golden-butterfly/). One important thing to consider when you're looking at these is whether you're going to be regularly adding new funds or not. The golden butterfly, for instance, requires regular rebalancing to maintain its attributes, but in a taxable account you probably don't want to sell funds to rebalance, so that means putting all your new money into the parts that are underweight. That also might just be more work than you want to do. https://www.ishares.com/us/literature/product-brief/ishares-core-esg-allocation-brief.pdf might be interesting as another option - they're like target date funds, but rather than adjusting the ratio over time they stay static.
I mean short term treasuries or money market funds or ETFs like SGOV/VBIL are pretty much garanteed