Most of my money is invested in s&p500 funds or investment real estate. I also have a chunk of emergency cash. Where should I put that cash so that it does not lose value but I can also get to it in case I need it fast? I have zero intention of touching the other investment money especially during a recession. Or is it really better to just hold on to the cash and add to it and accept the loss to inflation?

Money market fund. Earning over 5% now. May be coming down this year, but nice for parked, liquid funds

This

I keep my extra cash in a Fidelty Money Market.  

Incredibly easy to transfer back to bank account if needed.

Earning close to 5 percent lately.

Straightforward advice. Thanks.

Mine is in amex high interest savings. this is just my liquid "emergency fund"

Fidelity Brokerage account in the core Money Market Fund, such as SPAXX (or Vanguard's VMFXX).   (Currently paying 5% - 5.27%)

Linked to your bank account, you can have it transferred in 1-3 days.

If that is not fast enough, then you can add checkwriting to any non-retirement brokerage account at Fidelity and write checks directly from your brokerage account with money market funds in it.

I currently have a fidelity account. I will look into this. Thanks

A nice feature at Fidelity is you can open as many brokerage accounts as you want in minutes, and you can rename them for whatever their purpose is.

I have 3 non-retirement brokerage accounts.  One for ESPP/Stock awards connected to my company, one for long term taxable investing, and one to hold cash and act as a savings account.  There is no requirement to keep these separate, I just find it simpler to segregate for me.  The only
downside is, more 1099's at tax time instead of one big one.  But I prefer it that way.

It was thanks to this forum and its members that I learned about doing my own research and investing.

I had money just sitting in checking doing nothing and from this forum and reading I learned about opening my own Fidelity account and I started by parking my cash in SPAXX and earning some interest.

More and more reading and I moved it to FDLXX Money Market for some tax advantages.  

Just wanted to say thanks to this forum and its members.  It truly is the best place on the internet.

In what scenario would you need to have this CASH available?

I can't come up with any so keep very little CASH around un-invested.

Any emergency expense can be paid with a credit card. Funds moved around, investments sold ASAP to pay off when the bill comes.

I think big emergency funds/savings accounts are stupid. Change my mind.

Cash at home is for emergencies that minute or day.  Like grab your stuff and get out of town.  Also helpful when I get low on cash in the wallet, just go get some without having to make a trip.  Also for helping family in an emergency.  We had that happen once.  The crazy scenario is all credit card machines are down/major power outage.    It is rare, and not something we ever expect to need, but that’s why it’s an emergency plan.  

Cash in the bank is an emergency fund for job loss protection.  My industry has layoffs every year.  Several of my friends got laid off in July last year and in my area of specialty I am one of the only ones left.  The cash will be used to pay bills and expenses while I am seeking a job.  In my industry, it is common to take six months to find a comparable position.

Additionally, that same emergency fund could be used to purchase a vehicle if needed, if one of ours was totaled or had a major life ending issue. We don’t finance vehicles.  We don’t use credit cards as a means of emergency if we cannot pay the balance in full at the end of the month. Period.

Lastly, our cash is not uninvested as you say.  Our cash is invested in a money market fund that currently pays 5% guaranteed.

I keep an emergency fund in a well protected spot:  not a bank, credit union or any other like institution.  That when the power goes out or the SHTF I can retrieve it ASAP.  Other then that I keep my investments in accounts mentioned in prior posts in this message.


ModelABob

"To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth" - J. Cooper

"Freedom is not just another dirty word" - MAB

You can do CD's at your local bank.   If you need cash, you can have it as soon as you get there during business hours.

Comment above in color.
I guess 5% is decent but is pretty recent. Why not let it ride in an S&P fund making 11%?

If you S&P made 11% every year like clockwork, you'd be right.  But I'd never want to be forced to sell an index fund when it was in a bear market.  Additionally, if I sell an investment with gains, I now have additional taxes to deal with.

6 months of expenses is such a small part of an overall net worth, not having this invested in equities is just not a big deal.

But it's fine to invest it in a taxable account and plan to use that as your emergency fund.  I just recall the last big layoffs that impacted my friends and family were all in 2001-2002, and 2009-2010, when markets were cut almost in half.  Long term, I think you could make a solid argument either way.  At my age, I already have a fairly large percentage of my asset allocation in bond funds and fixed income assets (like cash since it is earning 5% at the moment) so this is a non-issue.  For a much younger person, with a much smaller net worth, I could see your argument.  As long as you are prepared to lock in some losses, as the most likely time you'd need it is in a very bad market.

Good points. I appreciate the comments. Ive been pretty aggressive investing and it's worked out OK. Im eligible to retire next year so may have to rethink this a bit.
Thanks

As a guy just starting to read and educate myself, this thread is exactly what I was about to post.
I'm 59, plan to work till 65 or 67.
I was considering cd's and roth at my local bank for excess monthly cash.
401k is covered, cash on hand and in savings is covered.

Depending on how the month goes, I have anywhere from $200-600 left over that I want fairly quick acess to should something major come up.
Tossing it in the safe or savings is ok but looking to make some interest ??

I just received a large bonus for 2023. I parked it in FDRXX at Fidelity. We are planning a yard "transformation" over the next year so a lot of it will go to that.

But I am tempted to put it in FXAIX as the returns have been pretty good but who knows what this year will entail.

Short term cash needs generally should not be invested in equities, especially not an S&P500 index fund, because you could easily be forced to lock in losses in the short term.  That's speculation, not investing.