How much cash do you have right now?

Actual cash maybe $150.

I am not sure if it make sense to sit on 85k of cash, I have a couple of chairs for that.

I'm sitting on about $60k, my partner has about $200k.

I think we're gonna try to start a dispensary for now.

When the US economy crashes, we'll be there to clean up during the fire sales.

A lot more than $85k, but I try to keep about 5 years worth of cash on hand to live off of.

Bask Bank is paying 3.6% on savings accounts.

Most big banks are pushing 13 month CDs for 4%.

I-bonds are 6.89% but can only buy $10k per year. Buy $10k now and $10k in January.

Good luck...

When you say you have $85,000 in cash, do you mean it’s stuffed under your mattress?

It's like that episode of SpongeBob where Mr. Krabs has all his money in his mattress and it accidentally gets thrown away

cash? why in the bloody hell would you be holding cash, like, ever? is cash making you any money? you should be answering no.

I want you to put ALL of that into a total stock market index fund, or, if you’re into fancier investing, 70% total stock/30% total international stock. What you “feel” is completely irrelevant. It is a fact that stocks are the most effective way to build wealth, and the best way to own stocks is through low cost index funds. oh, and you can’t time the market. What, are you waiting for stocks to go UP before putting that money to work? Rejoice in down days and bad weeks and months - you’re putting new money to work at a discount, and your current money that’s invested will be reinvesting it’s dividends to buy those lower priced shares. But not if you’re in cash, wringing your hands, worrying.

Market downturns don’t provide a “discount” unless you have cash available to buy in with. Not quite sure how this obvious point escapes the market fanboys.

I have about $15,000 in cash which covers about 6 months of expenses. I'll probably pad it more over the next decade.

Yes, $150k. I know I should do something with it but not sure what. I am going to buy a new car in the next few months and one of my kids will start college in fall 2024 so will use some for that.

May put a chunk of it in a CD which are at around 4%.

Is the term for I bonds 5 years?

In my wallet.....37 bucks. Change in a piggy bank....4.36. Probably a buck in my trucks ash tray. Bet my wife has a few bucks, hmmmm? Would say around....45ish bucks or so,,,,,,,,why?

No, I think it's only about 12 month.

I think the thing about 5 years is that if you withdraw the contribution in less than five years, you lose the last three months of interest that it would have otherwise earned, which is not such a big deal, really.

Working from memory here, but that's about the general idea.

I’ll explain it so even you can understand.

Your biweekly 401k contributions don’t come from a cash horde that COULD have been invested all along. Neither should your Roth IRA contributions. Nor should your regular contributions to your investments in a taxable account. These should all be considered BILLS. Except that they’re the most important bills - pay YOURSELF first. You don’t take the money that should be going into these three investment areas and keep it in cash, waiting for the “right” time to get into the market. You max out your Roth IRA, 6,000/year (500/month), your 401k goes in every pay period to the absolute MOST you can do, and then anything left into the taxable account at monthly intervals.

Money goes in like clockwork, at regular intervals, without interruption, with no market timing, with no “well, I just dunno, I mean covid, and like inflation” and on and on. You do this month in and month out, year after year, decade after decade, and you will be fabulously wealthy. Or, don’t, and be less wealthy.

I got five bucks in my wallet. Maybe twenty or so bucks in quarters in the car.

We're actually in very much your same boat. Autocontributions to retirement accounts are continuing apace, but we're also accumulating a bunch of cash (primarily because we don't want to have the college funds drop any further). The smart move would be to see this as a buying opportunity, but the better half is a little gun shy, so we're just sitting on the money.

Not as much as I'd like, but enough to feel not too worried.

I have some cash in checking accounts for liquidity, like 1-2 months worth of expenses, maybe $50k. But I have liquidity through undrawn home equity lines of credit (heloc) and securities lending lines. See, you can borrow against your investments if you really get into a cash pinch. But responsible use of debt, the interest which can be deducted on taxes, means your borrowing costs are far less than the negative arbitrage in holding cash vs inflation. Unless you just got paid a bonus and haven’t yet invested that cash, you’re a fool.

Disclaimer: Talk to a financial advisor. I'm not one. They said, make sure not to front load your 401k too much if your employer matches a percentage. If you get to the maximum in July and have to stop contributing and your employer matches in such a way that you need to contribute with each paycheck to get a match, you could miss out on free matching money. Ok, carry on my LetsRun financial gurus.

Tell that to the folks who invested in the Nikkei in 1989. They're still looking for a return 30 years later. If they dollar cost averaged since then they might have about what they put in. We've been very fortunate but prior performance is no guarantee of future success. The fact that long-term stagnant equity returns can happen in an advanced economy is real. Buffett also points to protracted periods of practically zero growth (1900-21. 1929-48, 1966-82) so it also depends on what the individual's time horizon is.