Best Place for Cash?
 

Looking for some suggestions based on your first-hand experience
Where have you put cash?
Why did you choose it?
What are you earning on it?

Mattress. Earning 0% interest, but a good night’s sleep. ;-)

American Express High Yield savings account. It’s an on-line bank (doesn’t have to cover the expenses of a brick and mortar bank) that credits a higher rate than a typical bank account. It is currently crediting a 1.7% rate and is FDIC insured for up to $250,000. It only allows 6 withdrawals per year, but no limit on how much each withdrawal can be.

You are in my book the #1 Financial Advisor on this thread....
Excellent Advise! :1rotfl:

True story
 

When we in the villages in Dec 18, first time, we purchased our lot, and the required deposit was $10,000. We seriously and literally had $10,000 under our mattress in MA from a safe deposit box from my mother in law, and we hadn't been able to get to the bank. We had we two checking accounts with $25,000 in them combined, one with $20K and we could not make a transfer and one with$5K which we could make a transfer.

So, we didn't sleep well that night! :ohdear::ohdear:

sportsguy

Good to know. Thanks! that's 0.2% better than I get at Capital One.

Besides this and mattresses, what else are investors doing with cash?

Great

We use Marcus by Goldman Sachs for our emergency fund. It is earning 1.70% currently. Easy to set up and transfer funds. We use Citizens for everyday type savings.

You probably meant to say "per month", but here it is from AmEx site: Personal Savings customers may make a maximum of six (6) Reg. D-covered transfers or withdrawals per statement cycle*. There is no limit on the number of deposits that can be made. *A statement cycle is the calendar period during which one banking statement is generated. A statement cycle usually begins on the day of the month the account is opened. :icon_wink:

unless you have a fire:ho:

Cookie jar
No one will look there
0% interest - just like the banks

Go to Bankrate.com (Bankrate: Master Life's Financial Journey). They have an excellent listing of option and rates for savings, MMAs, and CDs as well as other financial products.

I've jumped on some high dividend yield, blue chip stocks that were really depressed in industries that you know will come back over the past couple of weeks...but I've left the bulk of the idle cash on the side

We have some hefty CD's coming due, I'll most likely leave them on the side for awhile too

after we recovered from the 2008 crash we took a bag of money and put it into annuities so that we never had to worry if we had enough money coming in

ya get to our age and hit a bump in the market like this and ya may not have enough run way to recover

life is too short to have to drink cheap wine

In the freezer....”cold” cash

I can't tell if some of these people a complaining or bragging.

For those of you who keep your money under the mattress, in the freezer or other places in the house PLEASE be considerate and post your address, when you will be out for exercise and as does Motel 6, leave the light on.
Thanks, much appreciated!

cash is 'green' & that's always in the safe,,, discretionary/investment funds are different,,, look at AAA's cd's ( the auto club )

We have CD's with CFR (Christian Financial Resources). We have invested with them for about 5 years. They have a 15 month promotional CD at 3% APR as of yesterday. Minimum investment is $25,000. They are in the business of financing/refinancing Church buildings and remodel projects. They have been in business since the 1980's. They also have a ready cash account that pays 1.8% and you have access to the funds at any time as well as CD's up to 10 year term. They are not FDIC insured.

AmeEx HY Savings is down to 1.6%.

This is the time to invest in the stock market. It may still go lower in the next month or two, but the potential for profit is great over the next several years when thinks return to normal. Put you have to leave it in the market for these several years. This is not for the faint of heart. Do not invest if you need the cash to survive.

Excellent reference resource!

Small PA local bank...
 

It gives 2% on checking accounts up to 25,000.00. No limits on # of checks or deposits.

Triple A rated, tax free Municipals; if it is for IRA (which cannot have tax free
 

Triple A rated tax free Municipals; if, it is for IRA, which cannot have tax free items, high rated Corporate Bonds, with early termination dates.

Ohiobuckeye
 

I worry more about every bodies money that’s in bank. Will the govt. step in & start taking money from the banks? Will somebody warn us if the govt. steps in & starts using our Sav.? I always thought if the govt. had their fingers in banks anyway shape or form, they could take it or keep you from getting any of our own money. This is just a thought, but I really don’t think it’ll get that bad. Does anybody have any thoughts about that?

Discover ONLINE 2% compounded monthly.

Then it’s in the bra with the girls

I looked for that but didn't find it. I found only a Discover Online Savings Account, 1.5%, compounded daily, paid monthly.

You are correct, I got an e-mail yesterday from AMEx that they dropped the rate on my account by 10 basis points. Still attractive relative to comparable alternatives.

The Vanguard Money Market Fund is yielding 1.05 percent. Even if you can get an extra 0.5 percent more than that, you would only get an extra $42 per month on $100K. And, then you have to pay income tax on it. Doesn't seem worth moving money around unless there is a substantial gain. Do the math first.

After some research, I found this to be very interesting.

I would check out the Vanguard municipal bond and corporate bond funds. Both types have lost money year-to-date. They are good investments, but not really a substitute for cash, especially during a volatile financial time period.

Could you give the name of the bank?

I just got notification today that Am Ex Bank is now paying 1.6%. Just downgraded.

The question was where to keep cash so advice about where to invest in non-cash investments like bonds or stocks is off-topic.

Have you ever listened to podcasts or read books by Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman? They are my favorite financial advisors, besides my Dear Old Dad. Both give very practical, common sense advice for average people in plain language.

I believe both of them would advise that you consider separating your cash into two accounts, if you have enough.

Please don’t make yourself a target for crime by hoarding cash in your home! Natural disasters like fires, hurricanes & tornadoes can make your mattress a very bad choice, too. If you had to go to the hospital or long-term care your mattress would be the first place any thief would look (and some thieves are those you love & trust)

Account # (1) “emergency” account kept accessible to you in a local physical building (Brick-and-mortar). You will sleep better if you have 3 to 6 months of living expenses in a local brick-and-mortar institution. You can use the BankRate website to locate one if you don’t have one you like. Citizens Bank in TV might be a good choice for this. I also like Credit Unions. Insured balance (FDIC or others) only.

Account # (2) an FDIC insured account for the remainder of your cash nest egg. This account could be in the same institution as the emergency account but a separate account which might be a CD, Savings account, or a Money Market Interest bearing checking account. Whatever you choose with some interest. BankRate is a good resource to guide you to “higher” interest (nothing is really earning high interest these days but remember higher returns usually come with higher risk)

Why have the second account? Because it serves as your reserved “nest egg” It is not as likely that both accounts would be hacked. And you are less likely to carelessly spend the reserved funds. #2 may not be quite as readily available for you to use in case of an emergency—especially if it’s invested in a Certificate of Deposit (CD) which could have penalties for early withdrawal. The account may or may not be local
but I would set up electronic transfers from account #2 to #1 just in case you ever need to do that.

Oh and a bit of fantastic advice from my Wise Old Dad...when opening any new individually-owned accounts, always name a beneficiary (some financial institutions allow up to 3) on each new account. If you don’t have any beneficiaries already named on a pre-existing account, be sure to add them. That way when you die, (& we are all going to die) each account’s beneficiary(s) are entitled to get their portion of the remaining balance of your account by simply presenting your death certificate and their drivers license & SSN. Easy-peasy, no red tape, no waiting, free of taxes & without IRS reporting requirements. (For surviving spouses who had joint accounts, the survivor is the beneficiary who gets the balance.)

One last point: if you have signed up for electronic statements from your banks, IRAs, 401Ks, 403Bs or other investment accounts please keep at least one recently printed paper statement in your important belongings & make sure it is accessible to your heirs. Many people are unaware that electronic statements for online accounts are password-protected so they can be VERY difficult for your heirs to locate and/or claim. Most heirs only know about your affairs based on the paper trail you leave behind. I suspect that unclaimed accounts due to electronic-only statements will be a huge issue in the future. Grief & depression can make it exceptionally difficult for heirs to follow the breadcrumbs anyway.

Stay safe Villagers! I pray that very soon we will be enjoying “the lifestyle” again with a fresh burst of gratitude!

Please see my earlier post. I am sorry you feel so anxious and vulnerable. My parents were children of the depression so I get it but your banking fears are not well-founded in today’s reality. The US is literally the world’s “bank.” Our currency is like gold compared to most others We had been the top-performing economy In the world for quite awhile before this virus hit just a few weeks ago. The US banking system will be the last one to go bust. Think of it this way: if you keep your cash “stuffed in your mattress” it is far more vulnerable to loss than it would be in any FDIC or other insured institution (credit unions & some others have their own insurance) Our Federal Reserve Bank’s function is to back-stop our banking system.

As I posted earlier, I strongly recommend having more than one account at one bank—just in case of a local disaster/emergency or a hacker or account breach. “Don’t put all your eggs 🥚 in one basket” 🧺 (See my other post above) I hope you take some actions to gain some sense of control over your money to reduce your fears.

It is my understanding that the Chinese are working hard to change that. It is our one great advantage at the moment. I hope the Chinese currency doesn't replace our currency to have them as the world's Bank.

I deleted this because it somehow was only a draft that went to print. My intended post is below. I keep getting caught in the quirks of the new version of TOTV.

Hello, ALadysMom, your post is excellent. Thank you for taking the time to write it.

Your advice on the POD/TOD/Totten Trust is an important reminder of the availability of that option with bank accounts.

Also good — your advice on the issues that can happen with passwords and the simple idea of keeping a hard copy in a file.

The whole thing was good. :)

Boomer