I just turned 40 and wife is 37 and we have 2 kids in elementary school. No debt other than our house which is worth close to $800k, owe $209k on it. Kids' college and our retirement funds are well underway. Right now we have about $175k in total cash on hand which I know is too much, and it's worth less every day. Obviously a chunk of that needs to be retained for household operations and emergency fund but what should I do with the rest of it and how much should I use? Should I take $30-40k and reduce mortgage balance or what?

https://texags.com/forums/57/topics/3288534

Create trading account and start getting your feet wet. Its buying season. Early buying season, i still think bottom is in late 2022 or next year, but you can find 2020 prices on stocks already.

LeftyAg89 said:

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For starters, $10k each, per year, in Series I savings bonds.

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…why? Why not throw into an index fund instead?

Dude still has many years left to work.

Ghost of Bizbee said:

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LeftyAg89 said:

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For starters, $10k each, per year, in Series I savings bonds.

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…why? Why not throw into an index fund instead?

Dude still has many years left to work.

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Because you're still setting aside $20K in TIPS which return 9.5% based on current inflation rates. Basically cash but getting decent interest on it. If it was just cash he'd be getting 0.60% interest with any bank savings account.

Your question is something we are all dealing with on some level right now. Cash versus investing and the timing of such? I am a long-time investor and struggling with that decision right now. Even things that should be doing well right now (ag, fertilizers, natural gas) are getting whacked. The market sentiment and volatility is really bad at the current moment.

Yea that's a lot of what I'm feeling right now. I love the freedom and options that a large cash cushion brings and my mortgage rate is 3% so I guess there's no huge rush to pay it down as long as it's done before retirement.

9% guaranteed is a deal I'd make anyday right now and twice on Sundays

Tumble Weed said:

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Bonds are down, stocks are down, crypto is down but at least my wife won’t go down on me

— Dr. Parik Patel, BA, CFA, ACCA Esq. (drpatel.eth) (@ParikPatelCFA) May 18, 2022

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Not sure this guy understands things...

9 years ago I cleared about $200k on a house sale, after a month or so of cogitating I bought 5-6 blue chip stocks with decent dividends and let them ride. 1 was flat, the rest all but doubled. The market may not be finished going down at the moment but it for darn sure is cheaper than I ever expected it to be, you literally can toss a dart and in 3 years will be way ahead of your I-Bond buds.

How about one year?

I'm sitting on seven figures of cash and have been for months…. No real plans for it either in the short term. I'm not happy about getting it thrashed but inflation but I also don't think we have seen the worst of it…

OldArmyCT said:

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9 years ago I cleared about $200k on a house sale, after a month or so of cogitating I bought 5-6 blue chip stocks with decent dividends and let them ride. 1 was flat, the rest all but doubled. The market may not be finished going down at the moment but it for darn sure is cheaper than I ever expected it to be, you literally can toss a dart and in 3 years will be way ahead of your I-Bond buds.

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I have no intention of letting my I bonds ride that long. I will only hold them so long as we are in this high inflation recession we are about to have.

Plus it's also only $30k and is part of my cash allocation that would have sat in cash if not in an I Bond. My investment monies are still available for equities.

Hanrahan said:

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I'm sitting on seven figures of cash and have been for months…. No real plans for it either in the short term. I'm not happy about getting it thrashed but inflation but I also don't think we have seen the worst of it…

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Wow, you really do have money for nothing.