Where's everyone parking their cash now?

[mowiss]

With inflation nearing 10% (if not actually more), as a noob I could use some advice here.

[Deleted]

ING DIRECT

[yclept]

Investment funds I just leave with the broker money market fund until such time as indicators take it long or short again.
Miscellaneous savings are with local banks and (like Archie) with ING -- none of which are paying much of anything. But one has to have some funds that are quickly available without having to liquidate investment positions. Liquidating positions to raise "emergency" money or to replace a vehicle or major appliance is (in my opinion) a sign that one's asset allocation is seriously out-of-whack.

[Bluerobin]

I am mostly in dividend stocks, but do maintain some cash in a local bank. I also have a few triple tax frees and some corporate bonds. Right now, tax frees are "on sale" since their prices have been beaten up.

[Driftr]

I'm currently letting dividends accumulate in our brokerage and IRA accounts and they're getting invested at some sub-0.5% MM rate in anticipation of a possible 10-20% correction to markets between now and end of July. After the correction they'll go into more large cap dividend payers. If QE3 gets announced, I may just plunk them in SLV or GLD for a few months.
Current 401(k) contributions are getting split about 33/33/33 between S&P500/Dow/MM funds. If I was more convinced there would be no QE3 I'd move it all to MM until end of Julyish.
Current after tax savings and quarterly Treasury interest each month are being used to buy 10 year Treasuries. These will be replaced as they mature with either more 10 years or 30's if rates move up the way everyone seems to think they will by then.
3 months expenses sitting in a local savings account. This is the same account we fund our T-note purchases from. Also a bunch of other balances accumulating in that account for maint/repair items that will come up on the house over time (carpet/water heater/new HVAC/etc.) plus we put aside money each month for the next vacation we're gonna take or the next car we're gonna buy.

[princessleia]

I parked some of it in a high yield rewards checking a/c (2.75%) and another lot in precious metals itself.

[rovo]

I just deposited all my cash with the IRS.

[commentator]

The phrase "parking cash" suggests a temporary or relatively short term investment made with idle cash until a better investment opportunity comes along. Buying marketable equity securities or making deposits in retirement accounts or (certainly) buying real estate seem to be something other than "parking cash," at least in my mind.

Also, I am kind of curious where the OP gets his/her 10% inflation rate number.

[uncle23]

.....

i like your comment mr commentator....so...where do you park your cash.. ?

[commentator]

Apr 17, 2011 12:18:06 GMT -5 uncle23 said:

.....

i like your comment mr commentator....so...where do you park your cash.. ?

Short term, federally insured debt instruments, aka bank accounts.

[yclept]

Ha!

"I just deposited all my cash with the IRS."

And just what interest rate do they pay?

[rovo]

Apr 17, 2011 16:24:30 GMT -5 @yclept said:

Ha!

"I just deposited all my cash with the IRS."

And just what interest rate do they pay?

They don't pay an interest rate. I suspect, or at least hope, I'll get some of it back when I'm eligible for Social Security. But they did let me keep some of the money from last years gains. ;D

[IPAfan]

My money is mostly "parked" in 5 stocks. A tad more than 50% is in Terra Nova Royalty Corporation (which is a small conglomerate with diversified holdings...the main assets are an iron ore royalty, a commodities trading business, and a huge pile of EUR/CAD), 14% in ENH (a specialty insurance/reinsurance company), 9% in FRFHF.PK (an insurance conglomerate that's run more like a hedge fund), 7% PM, and 5% MO.

I see several other attractive investments for short term money, but this portfolio is more of a long term stock portfolio. Obviously I will continue to evaluate the portfolio performance and consider reallocation. My strong inclination is to try to diversify over time by adding large positions in attractive candidates at good or great prices.

[uncle23]

..........

to me parked money should be instantly available no matter how much....so it would be in my trading core acct.

[yclept]

But they did let me keep some of the money from last years gains.

That was nice of 'em.

[Value Buy]

Apr 18, 2011 19:51:32 GMT -5 @toughtimes said:

Cash, what is that? You might go with one of our esteemed posters and try, "Guns and Ammo."

I do believe that esteemed poster, has retired, due to mod issues, and for getting in trouble on another board about that phrase......

[mowiss]

Apr 19, 2011 2:40:58 GMT -5 @di said:

Why does it matter ? according to most here and most running their yaps on T.V. and in the Print media,, we should all just use Cash for toilet paper..

I need to keep some liquidity and keep losses to a minimum.

[tyfighter3]

If you have good investments, why sell them to get cash to find somewhere else to park it in a correction. I'm using my spare cash to buy the dips.

[uncle23]

i agree with ty...if i have cash its in core acct ready to buy good investments or the dips in good investments..



edit: i also would stop loss to raise cash ( hardest to do ) but necessary and imperative......

[mowiss]

Apr 19, 2011 11:29:53 GMT -5 @wxyz said:

Mowiss

If you need to keep liquidity and also keep losses to a minimum ,may I suggest that you keep your cash in..........gasp.........cash. I am not trying to be a jerk. For now I am keeping my cash in a US treasury money market account paying nothing to very little. There is no way I would be investing cash right now at these rates with the likelyhood of significant rate increases at some time in the near future. (1-3 years) I am hoping for an opportunity to lock in some 30 year treasuries at 8% or above if all the doom and gloom comes true in terms of inflation.

Keep your cash dry and close and available for the near future and you will be rewarded.

Keep my cash in cash? I hope you're not suggesting stuffing it under the mattress. It's at least insured at a bank (and usually a lot less unsanitary). But as it is, I have much of my reserves (still) in a treasury MMF, also. Last I checked, was something like 0.10%. Have a 0.75% MMA I use in conjunction with checking to pay monthly bills (no earned income in this household for over a year now).
So, what's the consensus here on this reward you speak of? June, July?

[danshirley]

online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703409904576174682276988862.html

finance.yahoo.com/q?s=VBIRX

finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=5y&s=VBIRX&l=off&z=l&q=l&c=&c=%5EDJI

[mowiss]

Oh, ok. I thought when you said "Keep your cash dry and close and available for the near future and you will be rewarded" that you might've been talkign about that 10-20% market correction I've heard tell of.
I'm keeping in cash for 2 reasons: one is because I have to live off it to a fair extent, and also because I'm thinking of buying a house for cash in the not distant future. If there's anything left....

[tyfighter3]

I can see now that you are a hopeless cause until you have enough Extra Cash to invest into the Market. When you do, come back and maybe we can Help you.

[2kids10horses]

If AAPL's earning report can be used as an indication, it would appear that "everyone" is parking their cash in iPhones, iPads, and other AAPL stuff!

I keep a very low cash balance. I keep it invested in something. I have a high risk tolerance, so I would prefer to not own cash equivalents at this time. If I have need of immediate cash, I can either sell stocks, or draw upon my equity line.

[mowiss]

Apr 20, 2011 17:13:44 GMT -5 tyfighter3 said:

I can see now that you are a hopeless cause until you have enough Extra Cash to invest into the Market. When you do, come back and maybe we can Help you.

Wow, that was presumptuous. I have way more than enough cash to buy more market shares. As it is, I'm looking to buy property with it, if possible. If I do that & have any left over, I'll still buy on dips. If I wanted advice on investing in the market, I would've asked for it.

[tyfighter3]

Mowiss, You said you have 2 REASONS to keep your CASH and they where to live on and to put a down payment on a house that you plan on buying in the future. You don't tell us if you are retired or if your not. Makes a difference in what you should do with your cash. The 2 reasons that you have gave us means that you DON"T want to lose it, so the only thing you can do is to put it into a interest bearing Account while you use it doing your 2 reasons. The 10% inflation that you are complaining about won't do you any good because of the 2 Reasons for keeping Cash. I'm sorry for coming off like a Jerk because I'm really not that way. More information on your time frame for your REASONS would help.

[mowiss]

Aw, that's ok. My post about being unemployed for over a year (the one with the grumbly face) I imagined would indicate it wasn't by choice. I have a lot in cash right now because I was hoping to buy a house outright. Sure it'd be nice to "hopefully" one day get a steady job again, and to take advantage of low rates & pay it off in inflated dollars, but I'd be hard pressed to find a lender who'll accommodate the unemployed. I've got about 20 years to retirement.

[tyfighter3]

Since you have 20 years till you retire, I personally wouldn't buy a house outright. With 20 to 30% down on a house and any kind of a job you should be able to get a loan. With interest so low their is no time better to use someone Else's money to buy a house when the average home owner only stays in a home for 7 years. Then you could put that other 70% of your cash to work like into large cap stocks that pay good dividends with pretty low risk over the next 20 years till you retire. It would also help you with the Bank knowing that you have enough investments to cover what you still owe on your house . JMO

[mowiss]

Any kind of job? Like minimum-wage stuff? What if I've only been working there a few weeks? Wouldn't a person have to have some kind of earning power - a career, a degree - to interest banks in lending?

[tyfighter3]

If you have good credit and enough stocks or cash for more collateral to back you up and a good enough job to show how you are going to pay the bills, you should be all right. How expensive of a house where you planning on buying?