Ten Month Investment Options

[John Galt]

I'm about to move back to NYC from Iowa. We have a large chunk of change from the sale of our Iowa house that we won't be using in NY since we will be renting. I'm trying to figure out the best way to invest the money in the short-term. We may be leaving NYC in as soon as 10 months and may want to sink the cash into a new house. So, there is a need for some liquidity at that time. I would appreciate any advice. These are some other considerations:

We are going to making a fair amount of money in NY, so I'm willing to be more aggressive with this cash and ignore my usually fiscally conservative nature. On the flip side, the state of the world right now has me a little scared about the short-term futures of the stock market and some investment options which is reinforcing my fiscally conservative nature.

Stocks are a bit trickier for lawyers at big NY firms. Because my firm has so many freakin' clients, it is very hard to buy and sell stocks once I start working because of insider trading fears. So, I constantly have to go through a conflicts check procedure for every transaction. This doesn't mean I won't go the stock route, but it is an impediment. It defnitely impedes any quick sell stock strategies though. However, my understanding is that this consideration does not apply to stock funds.

Thanks for any help.

[st.cronin]

Short term stock market plays are usually a terrible idea, unless you have more knowledge than the average investor.

[Philliesfan980]

Invest in commodities - Gold, Copper, etc. Not a huge risk.

[Fighter of Foo]

You're best bet is a corporate bond if you're going to need the money short-term (under one year).

http://www.investopedia.com/university/bonds/default.asp

[Bee]

My suggestion would be to go to a financial advisor and not seek investing advice from an internet forum.

[John Galt]

My suggestion would be to go to a financial advisor and not seek investing advice from an internet forum.

Bee always has the smart solution to everything. I thought you would suggest I put all my money in an HD projector company. ;)

Truthfully, the collective wisdom of FOFC is superior to that of the average financial advisor, in my experience. And I'm kind of a do-it-yourself money manager kind-of-guy (even when it's too my detriment). In the past, I've always done very well with stocks (investing mostly in technology areas), but I just don't keep as up to date on various companies the way I used to.

[Honolulu_Blue]

May I suggest one of the following companies to invest in:

http://www.enronblog.com/images/2005/06/enron_logo.jpg

or

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/images/worldcom.jpg


Or, if you're looking for a foreign investment...

http://www.parmalat.com/img/intro01.gif

[Crapshoot]

I'm about to move back to NYC from Iowa. We have a large chunk of change from the sale of our Iowa house that we won't be using in NY since we will be renting. I'm trying to figure out the best way to invest the money in the short-term. We may be leaving NYC in as soon as 10 months and may want to sink the cash into a new house. So, there is a need for some liquidity at that time. I would appreciate any advice. These are some other considerations:

We are going to making a fair amount of money in NY, so I'm willing to be more aggressive with this cash and ignore my usually fiscally conservative nature. On the flip side, the state of the world right now has me a little scared about the short-term futures of the stock market and some investment options which is reinforcing my fiscally conservative nature.

Stocks are a bit trickier for lawyers at big NY firms. Because my firm has so many freakin' clients, it is very hard to buy and sell stocks once I start working because of insider trading fears. So, I constantly have to go through a conflicts check procedure for every transaction. This doesn't mean I won't go the stock route, but it is an impediment. It defnitely impedes any quick sell stock strategies though. However, my understanding is that this consideration does not apply to stock funds.

Thanks for any help.


To echo Cronin (and given the restrictions you have with tradeability, a situation similar to mine), there really isn't much you can do short-term with stocks - being a "picker" in that period is a bet that you're smarter than the market, and required a ton of active management. The safe option is to park it in a CD obviously, but that's not neccessary. Corporate Bonds are an option I suppose, but even the spread on junk vs treasury is pretty small right now -we live currently in the era of cheap money, and people are desperately chasing return.

[KevinNU7]

I predict that 10 months from now the cost of oil will be more then it is now. You can take that to the bank.

[Wolverine]

John - As a financial advisor, I would strongly urge you to talk to a financial advisor about your situation. Every person's situation is so unique that soliciting investment advice from a group of people (no matter how intelligent they are) will likely lead to disaster for you. If you need help finding an advisor in NYC let me know - I can help you with some criteria for selecting one.

Also - with the capital gains you will have to pay from the sale of your house, you may want to look at contributing to a traditional IRA to offset some of the tax burden. You can also look at a Roth IRA, should your household income be below $160,000 - but you won't be able to deduct the contributions from your taxes.

One last piece of advice - take your 401ks and roll them over to a rollover IRA. You will have more control over your money, more investment options, and although it seems just the oppsoite - you will save on investment costs. (Very few people understand just how costly 401k plans are to individual participants.)

[QuikSand]

soliciting investment advice from a group of people (no matter how intelligent they are) will likely lead to disaster for you

Disaster? Really?

[Wolverine]

Invest in commodities - Gold, Copper, etc. Not a huge risk.

Not true my firiend, not true!

[Bee]

Bee always has the smart solution to everything. I thought you would suggest I put all my money in an HD projector company. ;)

Truthfully, the collective wisdom of FOFC is superior to that of the average financial advisor, in my experience. And I'm kind of a do-it-yourself money manager kind-of-guy (even when it's too my detriment). In the past, I've always done very well with stocks (investing mostly in technology areas), but I just don't keep as up to date on various companies the way I used to.

HB's post following this one made me want to really highlights this. :D

If it's a relatively small amount I would invest on my own, but I'm assuming you're talking about hundreds of thousands here (from the sale of a house) so I would use my financial advisor for larger sums like that.

Also it's funny you mention the HD projector...when I sold part ownership of an engineering company about 5 years ago, I took about $50K of it and built my home theater. :D Of course, the rest went to my financial advisor who invested it for me.

[Crapshoot]

John - As a financial advisor, I would strongly urge you to talk to a financial advisor about your situation. Every person's situation is so unique that soliciting investment advice from a group of people (no matter how intelligent they are) will likely lead to disaster for you. If you need help finding an advisor in NYC let me know - I can help you with some criteria for selecting one.

Also - with the capital gains you will have to pay from the sale of your house, you may want to look at contributing to a traditional IRA to offset some of the tax burden. You can also look at a Roth IRA, should your household income be below $160,000 - but you won't be able to deduct the contributions from your taxes.

One last piece of advice - take your 401ks and roll them over to a rollover IRA. You will have more control over your money, more investment options, and although it seems just the oppsoite - you will save on investment costs. (Very few people understand just how costly 401k plans are to individual participants.)

Ugh - I disagree. Most of the financial advisors (most, not all) I've found or been solicited by have a lesser understanding of the economics and finance than I do - they appear to be more about marketing, having learn't the blurb about "diversifying assets" - but having little genuine background knowledge or understanding. No offense Wolverine.

[st.cronin]

John - As a financial advisor, I would strongly urge you to talk to a financial advisor about your situation. Every person's situation is so unique that soliciting investment advice from a group of people (no matter how intelligent they are) will likely lead to disaster for you. If you need help finding an advisor in NYC let me know - I can help you with some criteria for selecting one.

Also - with the capital gains you will have to pay from the sale of your house, you may want to look at contributing to a traditional IRA to offset some of the tax burden. You can also look at a Roth IRA, should your household income be below $160,000 - but you won't be able to deduct the contributions from your taxes.

One last piece of advice - take your 401ks and roll them over to a rollover IRA. You will have more control over your money, more investment options, and although it seems just the oppsoite - you will save on investment costs. (Very few people understand just how costly 401k plans are to individual participants.)


This was actually my first thought, put it in IRA.

[Passacaglia]

Ping: GrantDawg

[Wolverine]

Ugh - I disagree. Most of the financial advisors (most, not all) I've found or been solicited by have a lesser understanding of the economics and finance than I do - they appear to be more about marketing, having learn't the blurb about "diversifying assets" - but having little genuine background knowledge or understanding. No offense Wolverine.

Crapshoot - no offense taken, and I agree with you to a large extent. Most (not all) of the Financial Advisors I've run across where I'm from are salesmen, first and foremost, and I wouldn't trust them with one dime of my money. They don't have a background in Finance or the educational background to make me comfortable enough to recommend my worst enemy work with them.

But, there are many advisors out there who approach it as a consultant, as I do, and I think those are the guys you want to deal with. Stay away from the big Wall Street Firms (MLs, EJ, etc.) and stay away from the professional Insurance/Annuity salesmen. Look for the independent guys who are CFPs - Certified Financial Planners.

There are a lot of turds in this business, but there are some very good guys too! Which is why I offered to help him with his search criteria.

[John Galt]

John - As a financial advisor, I would strongly urge you to talk to a financial advisor about your situation.

And as a lawyer, I always tell everyone they should speak to a lawyer too. ;)

Every person's situation is so unique that soliciting investment advice from a group of people (no matter how intelligent they are) will likely lead to disaster for you. If you need help finding an advisor in NYC let me know - I can help you with some criteria for selecting one.

Also - with the capital gains you will have to pay from the sale of your house, you may want to look at contributing to a traditional IRA to offset some of the tax burden. You can also look at a Roth IRA, should your household income be below $160,000 - but you won't be able to deduct the contributions from your taxes.

One last piece of advice - take your 401ks and roll them over to a rollover IRA. You will have more control over your money, more investment options, and although it seems just the oppsoite - you will save on investment costs. (Very few people understand just how costly 401k plans are to individual participants.)

Thanks for the rest of the tips. We actually will have no capital gains to pay on the house. Unforunately, I haven't had any 401K assests from the last couple years (being a term employee for the federal government precludes the tax deferred investment options). Overall, my retirement savings are poor and that is one area I am hoping to improve upon.

[Bee]

Ugh - I disagree. Most of the financial advisors (most, not all) I've found or been solicited by have a lesser understanding of the economics and finance than I do - they appear to be more about marketing, having learn't the blurb about "diversifying assets" - but having little genuine background knowledge or understanding. No offense Wolverine.

I've been very happy with my financial advisor. He always offers various options and goes into pretty good detail on what I can expect from risk to return depending on what I want to do. He's on target most of the time since I started using him 8 years ago and I don't think I'd have made nearly the return if I had been investing alone. I guess it's all about getting someone who knows what they are doing. And yes...I picked my guy randomly out of the phone book. :D Of course, by the time I had any significant funds to invest he had already proven he knew what he was doing.

[John Galt]

If it's a relatively small amount I would invest on my own, but I'm assuming you're talking about hundreds of thousands here (from the sale of a house) so I would use my financial advisor for larger sums like that.

This may be part of the misunderstanding of people in this thread. I'm most definitely NOT talking about $100,000s of dollars. We sold a house in Iowa, not the DC area. :p We only owned the house for 2 years so we got our equity back with some gain. In all, I'm probably looking to invest around $25,000-$30,000. That is one of the reasons, I'm not particularly inclined to deal with a professional and in the grand scheme of things, it ain't too much money.

Also it's funny you mention the HD projector...when I sold part ownership of an engineering company about 5 years ago, I took about $50K of it and built my home theater. :D Of course, the rest went to my financial advisor who invested it for me.

Once we have more savings (which unfortunately for my significant other and I has been depleted because of family needs), we will end up making longer term plans and dumping most everything on a professional. Until then, I'm looking forward to playing amatuer investor again.

[John Galt]

Ugh - I disagree. Most of the financial advisors (most, not all) I've found or been solicited by have a lesser understanding of the economics and finance than I do - they appear to be more about marketing, having learn't the blurb about "diversifying assets" - but having little genuine background knowledge or understanding. No offense Wolverine.

This has been my impression as well (also no offense). When we have more money, I'll definitely be happy to unload the burden of investing to a better financial advisor. Of the ones I've met before (and working for NYC law firm, you get SOOOOO many who want to talk to you), I've rarely been impressed at all.

[John Galt]

There are a lot of turds in this business, but there are some very good guys too! Which is why I offered to help him with his search criteria.

I appreciate that. But do you really think it is worth contacting a financial advisor for a 10 month investment of $25,000 to $30,000 at NYC billing rates? (I'm asking seriously even though that could easily be read sarcasticly).

[John Galt]

Disaster? Really?

Well I wasn't looking for hot stock tips. I get plenty of those in my spam folder - I'm covered there. I was more looking to see what other people are doing with their money these days to make sure I research all my options before deciding what to do. But I guess the saying about lawyers applies to financial advisors as well: when someone acts as their own financial advisor, they have a fool for a client.

[Radii]

Given such a potential short term investment, and that some of the online banks beat the crap out of B&M Bank CDs these days, maybe its best just to put it into an ING Direct Savings account? They're up to 4.35% for savings, and you can access the money in a week or two worst case, and usually just a couple of days.

Or actually, a 9 month CD with ING is at 5.1% if you're sure you won't need the money in before 10 months pass. (http://home.ingdirect.com/products/products.asp?s=OrangeCD)

[Wolverine]

I appreciate that. But do you really think it is worth contacting a financial advisor for a 10 month investment of $25,000 to $30,000 at NYC billing rates? (I'm asking seriously even though that could easily be read sarcasticly).

Depends on what you want to do with the money. You have numerous choices:

CDs - any bank or FA can help you with that. Not sexy but an option.
Money markets are another option - some banks or investment firms are offering terrific teaser rates right now and you have 100% liquidity with your funds.

If you want to explore investing a portion in equity (stock) investments - then some intelligent FAs will want to have you as a client even if it is only dealing with $25 - $30k. You are an attorney, and you know people and have a bright financial future. I'd certainly lower my account minimum to deal with someone who is a center of influence like that.

If you do want a portion of your assets to be in equities - work with someone who is fee-based in terms of compensation. You won't pay commissions, and will, in effect, only pay for the 8 - 10 months that you use their service. Fees are usually around 1 - 1.5% for the amount of money you are talking about.

Not everyone would choose to go this route, obviously. I have worked for both sides of the industry: Wall Street Firms (which I hated) and am now independent, but I think the fee-based arrangement is the fairest way to ensure that clients are getting objective advice in their best interests while fairly compensating the advisor.

[QuikSand]

Well I wasn't looking for hot stock tips. I get plenty of those in my spam folder - I'm covered there. I was more looking to see what other people are doing with their money these days to make sure I research all my options before deciding what to do. But I guess the saying about lawyers applies to financial advisors as well: when someone acts as their own financial advisor, they have a fool for a client.

No... my response was to the "anything but a professional financial advisor will be catastrophic" tone set by (surprise!) a professional financial advisor.

With this amount of money, to invest for a fairly short period, I don't see "disaster" as a serious consideration, unless you invite it. There are any number of perfectly sensible and flexible options available, and any of them make a certain degree of sense. If you choose relatively unwisely among them, then the increemntal loss is probably something akin to what a professional advisor would have taken out as his fee, anyway. So you lose out on 50 basis points over less than a year, and eat $100 of what-might-have-been money... hardly a disaster to anyone except perhaps the would-be advisor who didn't get your business.

[John Galt]

No... my response was to the "anything but a professional financial advisor will be catastrophic" tone set by (surprise!) a professional financial advisor.

With this amount of money, to invest for a fairly short period, I don't see "disaster" as a serious consideration, unless you invite it. There are any number of perfectly sensible and flexible options available, and any of them make a certain degree of sense. If you choose relatively unwisely among them, then the increemntal loss is probably something akin to what a professional advisor would have taken out as his fee, anyway. So you lose out on 50 basis points over less than a year, and eat $100 of what-might-have-been money... hardly a disaster to anyone except perhaps the would-be advisor who didn't get your business.

Yeah, I'm not so bright sometimes - I totally missed to what you were referring.

[Wolverine]

No... my response was to the "anything but a professional financial advisor will be catastrophic" tone set by (surprise!) a professional financial advisor.

With this amount of money, to invest for a fairly short period, I don't see "disaster" as a serious consideration, unless you invite it. There are any number of perfectly sensible and flexible options available, and any of them make a certain degree of sense. If you choose relatively unwisely among them, then the increemntal loss is probably something akin to what a professional advisor would have taken out as his fee, anyway. So you lose out on 50 basis points over less than a year, and eat $100 of what-might-have-been money... hardly a disaster to anyone except perhaps the would-be advisor who didn't get your business.

You sound bitter Quicksand. :D I can honestly say that I've dealt with intelligent people who have encountered financial disaster from listening to the advice of other intelligent people. But I think you blew what I wrote a little out of proportion and lest we forget, he hadn't indicated what amount of money he was dealing with when I wrote that. Maybe losing 25% of his $30,000 is a financial disaster for him.

[QuikSand]

I can honestly say that I've dealt with intelligent people who have encountered financial disaster from listening to the advice of other intelligent people. But I think you blew what I wrote a little out of proportion and lest we forget, he hadn't indicated what amount of money he was dealing with when I wrote that. Maybe losing 25% of his $30,000 is a financial disaster for him.

Any my point is that given he's a reasonably smart guy and is thinking about this a bit (I think that's evident from the original post) he's not prone to making an absurd and rash decision. He tossed this out to get some "collective wisdom" so I don't really think that doing so is at all likely to send him in the direction of "hey, invest in my brother's new franchise" or something of that sort (that might indeed send him toward a disaster). This sounded to me like an opportunity to talk about money markets, equities, mutual funds, and the like -- and over a nine month period, I just don't see any rational outcome from this yielding a "disaster" due to the lack of professional guidance. The fact that it's $30k rather than $300 makes me even more confident about this, but I think the point remains the same. I don't think a 25% loss of principal is meaningfully on the table as a specific result of not seeking professional assistance, which is the plain implication you leave above.

[Wolverine]

Any my point is that given he's a reasonably smart guy and is thinking about this a bit (I think that's evident from the original post) he's not prone to making an absurd and rash decision. He tossed this out to get some "collective wisdom" so I don't really think that doing so is at all likely to send him in the direction of "hey, invest in my brother's new franchise" or something of that sort (that might indeed send him toward a disaster). This sounded to me like an opportunity to talk about money markets, equities, mutual funds, and the like -- and over a nine month period, I just don't see any rational outcome from this yielding a "disaster" due to the lack of professional guidance. The fact that it's $30k rather than $300 makes me even more confident about this, but I think the point remains the same. I don't think a 25% loss of principal is meaningfully on the table as a specific result of not seeking professional assistance, which is the plain implication you leave above.

Any implication of a specific loss amount was not intentional, so I apologize if anyone took what I said to be the Gospel. I'm just trying to help a fellow FOFCer out and wanted to point out that it is possible to lose money with investing, even in investments considered 'safe' for what is considered a 'short' period of time.

[Desnudo]

My suggestion would be to go to a financial advisor and not seek investing advice from an internet forum.

My suggestion would be to not waste your money on a financial advisor on how to invest your money for one year. :p The options aren't hard to figure out.

[Desnudo]

Any implication of a specific loss amount was not intentional, so I apologize if anyone took what I said to be the Gospel. I'm just trying to help a fellow FOFCer out and wanted to point out that it is possible to lose money with investing, even in investments considered 'safe' for what is considered a 'short' period of time.

While it's always "possible" to lose money in a low risk investment instrument like a money market account or CD, the odds are much lower than junk bonds.

Of course he could always stick his money under a mattress. Really, if he was looking at investing for longer than a year, sure hire someone to do the math for you if you aren't comfortable with it. But you could seriously open an account at a place like Fidelity, tell them what your objectives are (protect the money for a year and earn a little interest) over the phone and be done in 30 minutes.

[Eaglesfan27]

This has been my impression as well (also no offense). When we have more money, I'll definitely be happy to unload the burden of investing to a better financial advisor. Of the ones I've met before (and working for NYC law firm, you get SOOOOO many who want to talk to you), I've rarely been impressed at all.

In my line of work, I meet a lot of financial advisors who want to manage my money, and I haven't met one yet that I trust or have been impressed with well enough to do so. I'm not nearly as bright about economic matters as some of the people on here, but I know enough to know when someone doesn't know enough to manage my money.

[Desnudo]

Fritz would be a good guy to ask about this

[Bee]

This may be part of the misunderstanding of people in this thread. I'm most definitely NOT talking about $100,000s of dollars. We sold a house in Iowa, not the DC area. :p We only owned the house for 2 years so we got our equity back with some gain. In all, I'm probably looking to invest around $25,000-$30,000. That is one of the reasons, I'm not particularly inclined to deal with a professional and in the grand scheme of things, it ain't too much money.


Oh, sorry for my misunderstanding. I wouldn't bother consulting a professional for that amount. What to do with it I think depends on how much risk you're really willing to take though. From the original post, it looks like you are looking for something more aggressive than the CDs/IRAs/etc that have been suggested so far.

[stevew]

Bet on college football this season?

[ZXTT]

Well I wasn't looking for hot stock tips. I get plenty of those in my spam folder - I'm covered there. I was more looking to see what other people are doing with their money these days to make sure I research all my options before deciding what to do. But I guess the saying about lawyers applies to financial advisors as well: when someone acts as their own financial advisor, they have a fool for a client.

It may apply, although some humility, like recognizing that you can't pick stocks (and neither can anyone else, for all practical purposes), can't predict interest rates, etc. will go a long way. BTW, I'm not talking about you here, just in general.

So, I'm selling my house and committing to buy one that will be completed about 4 1/2 months later. Even though I'm committing to spend a fixed amount, my situation isn't much different from yours, if you plan on using this money on a new house.

My "savings" go into a the Vanguard Treasury Money Market fund. Note that this is state income tax free, so it would be even better for you in NY than me in OR, where I about break even compared to Vanguard's fully taxable money market fund, the Prime Money Market Fund. I'll probably put all the proceeds of the house sale there, until I need to close on the new house.

Currently the Prime is yielding 5.04%, the Treasury 4.60%. Considering inflation and taxes, this is probably a little better than retaining the value of my money. I can do free electronic transfers over the internet between my credit union checking and the money market or transfer between other Vanguard funds in my account.

You can get a hair more going to short term bonds funds, and a little more again to intermediates. Vanguard's investment grade intermediate is yielding 5.68%. But you're starting to assume interest rate risk as you lengthen the term. More aggressive than this over your time period, and you're essentially gambling, in my view.

One note about money markets. It's my understanding that while the funds themselves have on rare occasions lost money, the sponsors have always made up the difference, so the investors did not lose anything.

[SunDevil]

My suggestion would be to go to a financial advisor and not seek investing advice from an internet forum.

This is not just any internet forum, this is the FOFC. If you can not ask personal and life altering questions on this forum, we might as well call this sportsdigs.com :)

[digamma]

It may apply, although some humility, like recognizing that you can't pick stocks (and neither can anyone else, for all practical purposes), can't predict interest rates, etc. will go a long way. BTW, I'm not talking about you here, just in general.

So, I'm selling my house and committing to buy one that will be completed about 4 1/2 months later. Even though I'm committing to spend a fixed amount, my situation isn't much different from yours, if you plan on using this money on a new house.

My "savings" go into a the Vanguard Treasury Money Market fund. Note that this is state income tax free, so it would be even better for you in NY than me in OR, where I about break even compared to Vanguard's fully taxable money market fund, the Prime Money Market Fund. I'll probably put all the proceeds of the house sale there, until I need to close on the new house.

Currently the Prime is yielding 5.04%, the Treasury 4.60%. Considering inflation and taxes, this is probably a little better than retaining the value of my money. I can do free electronic transfers over the internet between my credit union checking and the money market or transfer between other Vanguard funds in my account.

You can get a hair more going to short term bonds funds, and a little more again to intermediates. Vanguard's investment grade intermediate is yielding 5.68%. But you're starting to assume interest rate risk as you lengthen the term. More aggressive than this over your time period, and you're essentially gambling, in my view.

One note about money markets. It's my understanding that while the funds themselves have on rare occasions lost money, the sponsors have always made up the difference, so the investors did not lose anything.

What he said.

I'd think that basically, you're looking to minimize your costs here while maximizing as much alpha (performance) as possible in 9-12 months. Vanguard is a great option because their fees are so low (no load funds, plus relatively lower management fees). They are also easy to get in and out of online.

[digamma]

In my line of work, I meet a lot of financial advisors who want to manage my money, and I haven't met one yet that I trust or have been impressed with well enough to do so. I'm not nearly as bright about economic matters as some of the people on here, but I know enough to know when someone doesn't know enough to manage my money.

I'd look for a financial advisor who is fee based, rather than a commission based sales person. Though, I agree with Bee that you have to have a threshold level of assets for it to be worth your while to begin with...

[I. J. Reilly]

This is the obligatory "the Washington Generals are due" post.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'd look for a financial advisor who is fee based, rather than a commission based sales person. Though, I agree with Bee that you have to have a threshold level of assets for it to be worth your while to begin with...

This is what my uncle, who is a lawyer, has told me as well. It's really becoming time to find someone. Any of my fellow Louisiana residents know of anyone reputable and skilled in the New Orleans or Baton Rouge area?

[jamesUMD]

I would 2nd the ING 9 month CD. You definitely shouldn't go with Vanguard :p. Just kidding (I work for a competitor).

I personally think that the shorter amount of time over which you are investing, the more labor intensive it is to manage it. I work on the record keeping side of 401k plans and the market has been pretty volatile across the board. My company takes a less risky approach than many of our competitor's and I see the ING account as a good way to make some gains without the hassle involved with managing the money over that period of time.

If you go the mutual funds and or stock route just be sure that you spread your investments across a broad scope. Too many people are looking for the get rich quick scheme. You might as well take the $$ to Vegas (tongue in cheek).

[Logan]

Not going to lie, only skimmed this thread...but if you're talking about $30k, the difference in the 5.15% (and rising) you can get in an Emigrant savings account, and the (maybe) 8% you could earn through solid investments (minus fees/commission) over a 10 month period is not even $1,000. Figure out if that best-case scenario is worth the potential risk of actually losing some of your cash, plus losing the liquidity.

[QuikSand]

You might as well take the $$ to Vegas (tongue in cheek).

I know some BALLERZ who could give that cash a sweet ride out in Vegas, babe.

[Bee]

I know some BALLERZ who could give that cash a sweet ride out in Vegas, babe.

Did you just call jamesUMD.. babe?

[QuikSand]

Actually, I guess it was more directed at John Galt. So, have at it, babe.

[John Galt]

Actually, I guess it was more directed at John Galt. So, have at it, babe.

Recent eyewitness accounts and photographs may have proven that you are not, in fact, a big blue computer. However, this new "evidence" has done nothing to diminish the strength of the android theory. And androids do not say "babe."

[QuikSand]

And prior to recent patches androids did not say "babe."

Fixed.

[digamma]

Upgrade after WSOP cash? Nice.