Biden and the democrats did not shutdown the Keystone pipeline nor did they all of sudden enact a strong policy against domestic oil. Every oil refinery in Texas and the gulf were retrofitted to refine Russian oil because it was cheaper to ship from Russia and cheaper to refine. Texas crude oil aka sour is more difficult and harder to refine. Sweet crude from Venezuela and Russia are much cheaper and easier to refine. This isn't a blue v. red thing it's a free market thing. All of sudden oil ticks up and every Trump person in the country wants socialist policies to bring the cost of gas down. Well if we start using Texas crude that takes longer and is harder to refine we're still in the same boat.
Also the Keystone Pipeline was shut down by the supreme court in 2020. You can read about it here. Yes Joe Biden did revoke their permit it was really just low hanging fruit because it was already DOA.
But the justices stayed the rest of a federal trial judge’s ruling striking down a permit program, allowing construction of other pipelines around the nation.
You invest in short term six to twelve month CDs if you’re concerned about your $250k being eroded by inflation, although a one year CD would barely yield 1 percent but better than cash. If you’re laser focused on buying a house soon (those are two obscenely expensive counties, I grew up in Fairfield county) then I wouldn’t put any more than like 10-20 percent of that cash into stocks and if you do, invest in dividend payers/growers. Last thing you want is for you to lose a substantial part of that nest egg.
Series I savings bonds > 1 year CD and it isn’t even close.
Series I savings bonds > 1 year CD and it isn’t even close.
Isnt there a $10,000 limit on these bonds?
Yes that’s correct. I had another post a few posts up explaining that it’s 10k per family member per year, so he could theoretically buy 40k total between him and his children (plus an additional 10k between him and his wife - 5k each - from tax returns if they qualify).
Ideal scenario would have been to buy in both December 2021 and January 2022, but it’s still an unbeatable risk/reward right now. Again, assuming he doesn’t need to be fully liquid in next year.
Why at 7% with reported inflation at it's current rate you're basically owning a 0% bond that's variable every 6 months. I'm not saying a CD is better but 7% =0% in the current environment.
I was planning to buy a home for my growing family (kids ages 4 and 2) around this time, and so the past 3 years have been saving for a down payment outside of normal retirement savings. Have 250k plus saved for a down payment which I have in cash currently as I didn't want to experience a 2020 type crash that prohibits me from entering into the housing market.
Now the housing market is too heated and I'm losing bidding wars. Not sure when or if I should even enter this insane market (trying to buy in Westchester county ny or Fairfield county ct). Inflation is 7% but seems much much higher (feels like 20% honestly). Stock market is heading into bear market levels soon with the Russia sell offs.
What do I do with this cash? Bonds? Gold? Bitcoin? How do I fight inflation while also being liquid enough to enter the housing market when the time is right?
Feels like my only options are
1. Put this in the stock market and risk the market continuing to slide which limits my ability to buy a home.
2. Keep in cash and watch it devalue quickly every month
3. Buy a home right now at the absolute peak
That's a tough call given the situation. Home values related to income have never been higher. Once rates begin to rise a massive correction is likely in the housing market. I would not be a buyer right now. I would not do the stock market. A huge crash there is even more likely then housing with rising rates, so that seems very risky given your intent to use the money soon.
Inflation at 8%, agreed it is much higher more like 16-17%, makes it tough to hold cash. Do NOT do bonds. Yields are incredibly low and as rates rise bonds will get crushed, not to mention you're as exposed to inflation as cash in bonds without the liquidity.
If you do not expect to buy in the next 6 months a portion in gold is a good idea. It has had a good sized rise recently but given it is just returning to highs and inflation is only worsening that is probably the safest asset to be in.
You have a couple of options which really depend on where you see the future. I see lots of indigestion in markets, high inflations, and the potential for lots of material shortages in the near terms.
If you think that inflation is going to continue, getting into the housing market while the rates are still low is probably a good idea even if you are overpaying. It's hard to beat a 3% loan and keeping your highest necessary cost fixed in an inflation environment. This is especially if you are going to be staying in the (NYC?) area for a while. Even if this is bad market timing it's hard to see this going to far sideways as long as you don't overbuy with respect to your income.
If you are pushing the house out for a few years, I think you want to diversify with a focus on defensive companies. Just some thoughts
Stocks related to food and raw material production. Archer Daniels is one of my largest holdings, they are the largest corn processor in the world.
Someone else mentioned I-Savings bonds which sound like a decent idea, although you are probably going to be hurt by the way they calculate inflation.
Since your are earmarking the money to buy real estate, you could put it in an REIT. These would likely retain housing purchasing power + pay out a dividend. I know $O is popular on twitter, but do your own research (I ended up buying an etf of REITs)
Tobacco stocks have high dividend yields which should offset any decreases in the market. The London based companies both have yields at about 9%.
Utilities are a decent defensive play which should pay cash and maintain purchasing power.
Microsoft and Google are still the best money printers in America.
The blue chip cryptocurrencies ($eth and $btc) are designed to be inflation resistant, but those markets have more indigestion than most.
Also I am a random unsuccessful person on the internet
I was planning to buy a home for my growing family (kids ages 4 and 2) around this time, and so the past 3 years have been saving for a down payment outside of normal retirement savings. Have 250k plus saved for a down payment which I have in cash currently as I didn't want to experience a 2020 type crash that prohibits me from entering into the housing market.
Now the housing market is too heated and I'm losing bidding wars. Not sure when or if I should even enter this insane market (trying to buy in Westchester county ny or Fairfield county ct). Inflation is 7% but seems much much higher (feels like 20% honestly). Stock market is heading into bear market levels soon with the Russia sell offs.
What do I do with this cash? Bonds? Gold? Bitcoin? How do I fight inflation while also being liquid enough to enter the housing market when the time is right?
Feels like my only options are
1. Put this in the stock market and risk the market continuing to slide which limits my ability to buy a home.
2. Keep in cash and watch it devalue quickly every month
3. Buy a home right now at the absolute peak
It's going to sound very, very counter-intuitive, but you should go into debt. That's the absolute best way to fight inflation. Also, are you sure we are at the peak?
Why at 7% with reported inflation at it's current rate you're basically owning a 0% bond that's variable every 6 months. I'm not saying a CD is better but 7% =0% in the current environment.
Strikes me as obviously true, but if you've got cash laying around, that 7% is higher than the market, higher than a CD, and higher than savings. If you're risk-averse, 7% is close to what my investments have annualized over the last couple years, which starts to look pretty good.
Take some of that money and buy a well cushioned chair. There are many materials out there that are far more comfortable to sit on than money.. Then take the rest of that money and invest it.
You should go ahead and buy the house. You don't want to but at the peak. I get that but nobody knows where the peak is. A house is somewhere to live primarily. If it will make your lifestyle better go ahead and buy. Most people spend too much time worrying about whether a house is a good investment. Its a home. Separate your investments from your home.
I was planning to buy a home for my growing family (kids ages 4 and 2) around this time, and so the past 3 years have been saving for a down payment outside of normal retirement savings. Have 250k plus saved for a down payment which I have in cash currently as I didn't want to experience a 2020 type crash that prohibits me from entering into the housing market.
Now the housing market is too heated and I'm losing bidding wars. Not sure when or if I should even enter this insane market (trying to buy in Westchester county ny or Fairfield county ct). Inflation is 7% but seems much much higher (feels like 20% honestly). Stock market is heading into bear market levels soon with the Russia sell offs.
What do I do with this cash? Bonds? Gold? Bitcoin? How do I fight inflation while also being liquid enough to enter the housing market when the time is right?
Feels like my only options are
1. Put this in the stock market and risk the market continuing to slide which limits my ability to buy a home.
2. Keep in cash and watch it devalue quickly every month
3. Buy a home right now at the absolute peak
That's a tough call given the situation. Home values related to income have never been higher. Once rates begin to rise a massive correction is likely in the housing market. I would not be a buyer right now. I would not do the stock market. A huge crash there is even more likely then housing with rising rates, so that seems very risky given your intent to use the money soon.
Inflation at 8%, agreed it is much higher more like 16-17%, makes it tough to hold cash. Do NOT do bonds. Yields are incredibly low and as rates rise bonds will get crushed, not to mention you're as exposed to inflation as cash in bonds without the liquidity.
If you do not expect to buy in the next 6 months a portion in gold is a good idea. It has had a good sized rise recently but given it is just returning to highs and inflation is only worsening that is probably the safest asset to be in.
wow, I love living under a presidential administration where the only real smart options to place cash is gold.
No one knows if the housing market is at the peak or not. No one knows if the stock market is at the bottom or not. No one knows because it's the future. I tell my clients, "We can measure the risk of any investment, but we can never know the risk." Measuring risk is hindsight; knowing risk is the future.
If you were my client and you needed the money in 2 years or less, suck up the low interest rates and put it in CDs (50% 6 month and 50% 12 month). I hate saying this to clients in a high inflation environment, but you don't want to risk any of it, period.
If this is really investment money, get with an advisor to create an appropriate portfolio for your risk tolerance. Put 60% in now and 5% each month over the next 8 months. If your portfolio drops, your buying 40% at a discount from today over the next 8 months. If your portfolio increases, you have 60% already in your portfolio taking full advantage of the bottom of the market.