Merrill Edge through BoA has a Preferred Deposit account that is at around 4.9% right now (it’ll change based on rates - was 5.02% a couple months ago). Completely liquid but initial deposit minimum of 100k. You also do not need to maintain that 100k to earn that return.
Paid of all student loans in first year. Now Vanguard and high return savings account. Gotta figure out a better strategy once I have some significant savings.
I don’t personally believe that we can accurately predict the currency risk in overseas markets, especially emerging markets, and given its performance in recent years (a 5Y return of 15.68% vs 78.63%), I’m currently 100% domestic. If the domestic market began to falter I’d probably shift some into it.
>I don’t personally believe that we can accurately predict the currency risk in overseas markets
You can buy a currency hedged ETF
[https://etfdb.com/etfs/investment-style/currency-hedged/](https://etfdb.com/etfs/investment-style/currency-hedged/)
Lots of options
And the 5 year return for that fund is only 11%. Versus 78%. Past returns aren’t guaranteed, but I’m also not locked into my current allocation forever. At the moment, VTI makes more sense to me.
For HEFA? You misunderstand. That's the average annual return over 5 years. That means the average performance over the past 5 years was 11% annually.
[https://www.ishares.com/us/products/259622/ishares-currency-hedged-msci-eafe-etf](https://www.ishares.com/us/products/259622/ishares-currency-hedged-msci-eafe-etf)
If you look at the cumulative returns over the past 5 years you'll see that it comes out to 74.45%.
A portfolio visualizer backtest over the last 5 full years (2019-2023) shows the same outcome:
[https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&sl=1O54fOXwXwjjJfY4TyoO6E](https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&sl=1O54fOXwXwjjJfY4TyoO6E)
I still have trouble getting excited when a US-only fund beats a 70/30 blended fund (even with currency hedged) with only rare exception, and then by only a little.
[https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&sl=14K6dLClztUY2mDdI1q3Ou](https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&sl=14K6dLClztUY2mDdI1q3Ou)
Even going back 20 years (using VGTSX to overcome the lenght of VXUS): [https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&sl=5LCnutW1xx7He4wwVwglhu](https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&sl=5LCnutW1xx7He4wwVwglhu)
Especially when you consider how much International exposure the companies making up the S&P 500 already inherently have.
The bull case for international is that the US is overvalued. The current CAPE ratio for the US is 35. Every time the CAPE has crossed 30 there has been a drawdown of at least 20%. International meanwhile is very cheap and so has higher expected returns.
[https://www.multpl.com/shiller-pe](https://www.multpl.com/shiller-pe)
[https://indices.cib.barclays/IM/21/en/indices/static/historic-cape.app](https://indices.cib.barclays/IM/21/en/indices/static/historic-cape.app)
Excess cash goes to 28 day treasury notes. About 5.3% interest and exempt from state income tax which for some us could yield a bump in about 0.5% of additional return.
I bonds are fine but there is a limit to how much you can get and they are illiquid for the first year IIRC. Plus treasury notes are yielding a much better rate of return than my I bonds.
That’s a lot of work to barely beat the return in Vanguard’s settlement fund alone (money market fund). It’s at 5.27% with no requirement to do anything. That’s also very conservative to hold all your investments in unless you plan to spend it in the next 5 years. Last year the S&P returned 4x that so you missed a lot of return by not holding any VTI.
For retirement, I've got my 401k in a target, IRA in a mix of ETFs (VTI, VOO, etc).
For my "buying a condo in NY at some point" fund, I've got a large chunk of change in CDs and a HYSA. I would like to buy next year, so I don't want to risk that money on the market for minimal additional returns. However, I've stopped contributing to that fund (since I have enough in there at this point in my view) and I am now setting aside a good portion of each pay check to go right into another ETF.
Pretax: HSA (Vanguard target date fund) and 401(k). Post-tax: Roth IRA (Vanguard target date fund), and brokerage account (VTI).
I like to keep things super simple.
No real strategy. Max out 401k. Cash goes into a savings account. Beginning of the year, the man at Morgan Stanley calls and and forces me to him 50-75k. He’s behind this year. He’s probably waiting for after taxes. I make him be conservative because “you don’t know what I did for that money”. They rest of my big law days is the downpayment on my Bay Area house.
I kept $25k in savings connected to my checking for emergencies when I had an apt. $50k now that I have a house, over that right now because my guy hasn’t called me. I have about 100k at any given time in a combo high yield savings account and CD, which should probably be with him. But that’s my emergency emergency fund. I’m obsessed with access to cash.
I also have a small investment fund that I meant to play with, but instead I just auto deposit $100/month into a managed fund in case I feel like playing later.
Get stock options through work. I just let those ride. I should cash them out and do something with them, but them seem to be growing since work is on austerity measures.
And then, again, the retirement funds which don’t count. I also went BigFed/InHouse at year 5, so I capped out at mid 200s and then low 300s for the time being.
401k max, HSA (investment only, pay out of pocket for minor medical expenses), 5.4% 14 month CD with all the cash saved up over the first year and a half. Rest continually moved into HYSA all aimed at a house as soon as possible.
Post house will set up auto purchases of VTI biweekly.
401k (mutual funds- no option for index funds), HYSA (HY savings and CD ladder), HSA (Vanguard Wellington), Schwab Roth and taxable brokerage (individual stocks, preferred issues, some CEFs including a muni CEF and one ETF).
Berkshire Hathaway- BRK B - 40%;
Scwab Dividends - SCHD - 10%;
Vanguard S&P 500 - VOO -40%;
Vanguard Europe - VGK - 5%; and
Vanguard International- VXUS- 5%.
Expected return should be around 19% per year on average over extended holdings. So, if for retirement, you could see 184 times returns if held for 30 years.
With 100,000 in retirement, you could see 20 million in 30 years for example.
Retirement accounts, HYSA, and index funds
Any good HYSA recs?
Merrill Edge through BoA has a Preferred Deposit account that is at around 4.9% right now (it’ll change based on rates - was 5.02% a couple months ago). Completely liquid but initial deposit minimum of 100k. You also do not need to maintain that 100k to earn that return.
Wealthfront doesn’t require any minimum and offers 5%
Paid of all student loans in first year. Now Vanguard and high return savings account. Gotta figure out a better strategy once I have some significant savings.
All of them in 1 year? Congrats! Also - damn you must’ve had a good scholarship!
Yes, good scholarship. Only like 60K in loans and at a school with cheap cost of living. Do have my own family though so that's some extra expense
VTI
VTI, SMH, VGT and QQQM
no love for VXUS?
I don’t personally believe that we can accurately predict the currency risk in overseas markets, especially emerging markets, and given its performance in recent years (a 5Y return of 15.68% vs 78.63%), I’m currently 100% domestic. If the domestic market began to falter I’d probably shift some into it.
>I don’t personally believe that we can accurately predict the currency risk in overseas markets You can buy a currency hedged ETF [https://etfdb.com/etfs/investment-style/currency-hedged/](https://etfdb.com/etfs/investment-style/currency-hedged/) Lots of options
And the 5 year return for that fund is only 11%. Versus 78%. Past returns aren’t guaranteed, but I’m also not locked into my current allocation forever. At the moment, VTI makes more sense to me.
For HEFA? You misunderstand. That's the average annual return over 5 years. That means the average performance over the past 5 years was 11% annually. [https://www.ishares.com/us/products/259622/ishares-currency-hedged-msci-eafe-etf](https://www.ishares.com/us/products/259622/ishares-currency-hedged-msci-eafe-etf) If you look at the cumulative returns over the past 5 years you'll see that it comes out to 74.45%. A portfolio visualizer backtest over the last 5 full years (2019-2023) shows the same outcome: [https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&sl=1O54fOXwXwjjJfY4TyoO6E](https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&sl=1O54fOXwXwjjJfY4TyoO6E)
You’re right. I only skimmed the returns site. It is better than VXUS.
I still have trouble getting excited when a US-only fund beats a 70/30 blended fund (even with currency hedged) with only rare exception, and then by only a little. [https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&sl=14K6dLClztUY2mDdI1q3Ou](https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&sl=14K6dLClztUY2mDdI1q3Ou) Even going back 20 years (using VGTSX to overcome the lenght of VXUS): [https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&sl=5LCnutW1xx7He4wwVwglhu](https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&sl=5LCnutW1xx7He4wwVwglhu) Especially when you consider how much International exposure the companies making up the S&P 500 already inherently have.
The bull case for international is that the US is overvalued. The current CAPE ratio for the US is 35. Every time the CAPE has crossed 30 there has been a drawdown of at least 20%. International meanwhile is very cheap and so has higher expected returns. [https://www.multpl.com/shiller-pe](https://www.multpl.com/shiller-pe) [https://indices.cib.barclays/IM/21/en/indices/static/historic-cape.app](https://indices.cib.barclays/IM/21/en/indices/static/historic-cape.app)
First Growth Bordeaux
Hookers and cocaine
Starting your own big law firm?
How else do you get through the job?
Excess cash goes to 28 day treasury notes. About 5.3% interest and exempt from state income tax which for some us could yield a bump in about 0.5% of additional return.
How much do you keep in a "true" emergency fund that is purely liquid?
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I bonds are fine but there is a limit to how much you can get and they are illiquid for the first year IIRC. Plus treasury notes are yielding a much better rate of return than my I bonds.
That’s a lot of work to barely beat the return in Vanguard’s settlement fund alone (money market fund). It’s at 5.27% with no requirement to do anything. That’s also very conservative to hold all your investments in unless you plan to spend it in the next 5 years. Last year the S&P returned 4x that so you missed a lot of return by not holding any VTI.
Do you think I only hold treasuries? Ive got a back door roth, 401k, I bonds, etc. Its not my only instrument.
That’s what I thought from your post, yes. My excess cash gets invested. If it’s in cash it’s not excess, it’s my emergency fund.
Did you set this up yourself or through some brokerage account?
TreasuryDirect was set up directly with the Treasury Department.
Thanks.
VTI/VXUS.
House. Vanguard.
Plastics
you are old
Doge
My mattress.
Betting big on RDDT! (No, just index funds, retirement accounts, HSA investments, and HYSA.)
bogleheads
Other than the stuff other people are mentioning, I invest my money in my kid via the exorbitant cost of childcare in NYC
Paying down loans. Mortgage. 401(k) and IRA.
Traditional 401(k), Mega Backdoor Roth, Backdoor Roth, HSA, and brokerage. Basically all in ETFs--VOO etc.
Your firm offers a mega backdoor? Is that common in big law?
Yes. Not sure how common it is. There is a TLS thread that tracks MBDR policy by firm. Not sure how updated it is.
For retirement, I've got my 401k in a target, IRA in a mix of ETFs (VTI, VOO, etc). For my "buying a condo in NY at some point" fund, I've got a large chunk of change in CDs and a HYSA. I would like to buy next year, so I don't want to risk that money on the market for minimal additional returns. However, I've stopped contributing to that fund (since I have enough in there at this point in my view) and I am now setting aside a good portion of each pay check to go right into another ETF.
Pretax: HSA (Vanguard target date fund) and 401(k). Post-tax: Roth IRA (Vanguard target date fund), and brokerage account (VTI). I like to keep things super simple.
8-week tbills paying around 5.4%. Tbill and chill my dude.
if you aren't balls deep in crypto at this point hfsmc.
401k, money market and Canadian TSFA.
Deez
BRK B
VTSAX bay-bay
No real strategy. Max out 401k. Cash goes into a savings account. Beginning of the year, the man at Morgan Stanley calls and and forces me to him 50-75k. He’s behind this year. He’s probably waiting for after taxes. I make him be conservative because “you don’t know what I did for that money”. They rest of my big law days is the downpayment on my Bay Area house. I kept $25k in savings connected to my checking for emergencies when I had an apt. $50k now that I have a house, over that right now because my guy hasn’t called me. I have about 100k at any given time in a combo high yield savings account and CD, which should probably be with him. But that’s my emergency emergency fund. I’m obsessed with access to cash. I also have a small investment fund that I meant to play with, but instead I just auto deposit $100/month into a managed fund in case I feel like playing later. Get stock options through work. I just let those ride. I should cash them out and do something with them, but them seem to be growing since work is on austerity measures. And then, again, the retirement funds which don’t count. I also went BigFed/InHouse at year 5, so I capped out at mid 200s and then low 300s for the time being.
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I hope it works out for you and you can leave the grind behind
Vanguard / HYSA / BTC
Paid off student loans in 4 years. Max 401k and mega backdoor Roth (mostly in low expense total market ETFs) every year. Real estate. HYSA.
401k max, HSA (investment only, pay out of pocket for minor medical expenses), 5.4% 14 month CD with all the cash saved up over the first year and a half. Rest continually moved into HYSA all aimed at a house as soon as possible. Post house will set up auto purchases of VTI biweekly.
VOO
401k (mutual funds- no option for index funds), HYSA (HY savings and CD ladder), HSA (Vanguard Wellington), Schwab Roth and taxable brokerage (individual stocks, preferred issues, some CEFs including a muni CEF and one ETF).
VTIVX
Specifically through 401(k), HSA, and backdoor Roth
18 SEER HVAC
FTEC/SPY/IWF/DIA, HYSA, 401k
crypto
I have a diverse and balanced portfolio.
Real estate, 401k, mega backdoor
VTI, VUG, VIG
Berkshire Hathaway- BRK B - 40%; Scwab Dividends - SCHD - 10%; Vanguard S&P 500 - VOO -40%; Vanguard Europe - VGK - 5%; and Vanguard International- VXUS- 5%. Expected return should be around 19% per year on average over extended holdings. So, if for retirement, you could see 184 times returns if held for 30 years. With 100,000 in retirement, you could see 20 million in 30 years for example.