So with all the emergency fund threads in GD and people claiming anyone with XX amount of money in a checking account is an idiot. I thought maybe come here for some ideas. I know get a real financial adviser which we will probably do soon.

Here is my situation, I am self employed and have worked in my field for going on 25 years now. My wife manages a neurosurgeon practice and makes decent money. We hate California and all that it has become politically and want out.  That being said we are both 41 and 40 and possibly starting over at that age and being white could be problematic, especially for me.

We are diligent savers and for us to make this move we would like to buy a house outright, well also having additional savings so we can have time to find work, if we haven't lined something up already.


Here is the crux of my issue, we don't know when it will happen. Currently our housing market is on Fire and we could walk with about 250k after fees, right now.  So on top of equity we are saving like mad.

The money is just basically just sitting and rotting in savings accounts.  Since we don't know when we keep the money liquid currently this amount is about 100k between 2 accounts. For the remainder of the year I anticipate putting another 30-50k into savings

My question is what the hell to do with that money well at the same time having the ability to access it rather quickly if need be.  We have 401k between the both of us and those are working and invested, this is just money we have saved.

Thanks,
CC

you've been in your field since you were 15?

If you plan to liquidate and move that soon, I would leave it in checking or savings. If it may be a few years, then I would look into investing.

Yes I have been actually working since 12 and starting doing what I do now at 16.  I went to college did all that shit but it never worked out. So I already had a contractors license at 21 while in college and used that as my fallback. It worked out.

I need to move a large sum of money out of Nigeria!

For a Loan I will cut you in!

For the short-term (less than a year), keep it in a savings account or a money market account that has no or minimal load. Longer term, I'd look at some type of investment account that doesn't have withdrawal penalties.

Just leave it buddy. It's nice to have FU money in the bank and you should be sleeping great at night. Just figure out where u want to move to and when, then cash out of CA and buy where you have chosen.

1-2 year horizon is beaucoup short term; no need to get invested in anything complicated when you are looking to use your money in the near future.

Congrats to you

I would seriously consider having garage sales downsizing as much as possible before a move and maybe rent at first.  You don't talk about all that goes into moving to another state like the total life change you will experience.  There's kids, future jobs for you, how much you will pay for the next home.  How sure can you be
you will be happy in the next state?  It's nice to have cheap mobility when you try a new life.

You want to pay cash and buy immediately but there are options like not selling and renting in the next state so you can try it out too.  Get your existing place rented out doing this.


Paying down your mortgage while you consider a move will save you that interest compared to almost nothing in secure savings accounts right now.  You'll just have to sell the house or take a second mortgage out to get some money out of the house.

We have no kids so that major issue for most is not even a variable which I have to admit is nice. Mortgage is a 20 year at like 3.5 % and we are 8-10 years into it now. The wife currently breaks 1 months mortgage into 12 and adds that amount to each months payment as principal.

Bla Bla Bla, I have money Bla Bla Bla, more money then you, Bla Bla Bla, Your poor, go be poor somewhere else Bla bla Bla California is the place you wanna be!

JK OP, congrats on your wealth. Hard work -you deserve it.

Stick it in a money market account at your local credit union.

The 3.5% loan is a higher cost on the loan compared to the opportunity of secured deposits right now as far as I know provided you do sell your home to raise cash before buying the next home.  So if you still owe $200K on your house that's 7K in interest cost per year while you execute your plan to find a new home.

You're talking about using 250K from the sale of your home to pay cash for the next.  I've never done this so I don't know how that works outs.  Seems like you would sell the house and keep stuff in storage until you close on that sale and then have to wait about a month to close on and move into your new home.  I'd think two months is the fastest that would generally happen.

I'm sure you will consider the space you need for a home and contracting business.

Run the numbers on health care costs you will have in the new state.  That might be painful if your wife does not find work that has good health benefits for both of you.
The wife works in the industry so she will probably be able to cover that better than me.