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View Poll Results: Poll: % Cash in Portfolio- Read First
2% or less 37 25.69%
3%-5% 25 17.36%
6%-10% 34 23.61%
11-20% 37 25.69%
One year living expenses or other 11 7.64%
Voters: 144. You may not vote on this poll

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Poll: % Cash in Portfolio- Read first
Old 10-20-2017, 01:24 PM   #1
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Poll: % Cash in Portfolio- Read first

I am curious what percentage of cash most keep in their portfolios.
Please EXCLUDE any cash you may have that supports expenditures for the current year.

For purposes of this poll, cash is defined as money in checking, savings, money market, CD's, plain old cash, either IN or OUT of tax deferred plans.
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Old 10-20-2017, 01:33 PM   #2
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FWIW, here is a similar poll done last November.

http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...ash-84288.html
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Old 10-20-2017, 01:45 PM   #3
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In my 401K, IRA, Roth, and HSA, I have very minimal. Less than .1%.

In my after tax, bank accounts, safe etc, It's a bit higher percentage, but about 2% of the total.
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Old 10-20-2017, 01:52 PM   #4
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Normally around 2%. It has been as high as 10%, but rarely over 5%.

I'm very flexible about this.
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Old 10-20-2017, 03:11 PM   #5
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The poll groupings do not go high enough. need 25%
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Poll: % Cash in Portfolio- Read first
Old 10-20-2017, 03:48 PM   #6
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Poll: % Cash in Portfolio- Read first

About 3%
1% in 12 month CD at 1.3%, 1% in checking that earns 2.25%, 1% in physical cash.

I have a farm business and cash is used for purchases such as equipment, hay, & livestock . So I have more readily available than is typical
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Old 10-20-2017, 03:48 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bizlady View Post
I am curious what percentage of cash most keep in their portfolios.
Please EXCLUDE any cash you may have that supports expenditures for the current year.

For purposes of this poll, cash is defined as money in checking, savings, money market, CD's, plain old cash, either IN or OUT of tax deferred plans.
My spending for 2018 (next year?) is basically in VFSUX short term investment grade. So should I say zero % cash?

My logic is that money is moved from the stock/bond portfolio towards cash as it is needed. The steps might be intermediate bonds -> short term bonds -> checking. CD's are not cash IMO, especially longer dated CD's.
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Old 10-20-2017, 04:14 PM   #8
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A surging market, accumulating dividends and a cheap attitude has resulted in my cash pile growing to big. Currently sitting at 12% I hope (sorta) for some bargains to purchase in the New Year. Of course, it isn't actually in cash but sitting in a money market fund at 1.0% but on an after tax basis that might as well be cash... (
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Old 10-20-2017, 04:57 PM   #9
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The poll groupings do not go high enough. need 25%
+1. Since I use a CD ladder to replace a total bond or treasury fund my cash allocation by the poll criteria is skewed.
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Old 10-20-2017, 05:02 PM   #10
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My cash target is 3%, but I’ve let cash drift up to 7% as other non-equity asset classes aren’t very attractive now either. I already have almost 40% in bonds.
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Old 10-20-2017, 05:05 PM   #11
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Not ER yet, also need a selection > 20. Just had a business payout this year.
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Old 10-20-2017, 05:29 PM   #12
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15%
Waiting for a market correction!
Love buying things on sale!
Whatever happened to the Trump slump?
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Old 10-20-2017, 05:53 PM   #13
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We've now had two property loans payoff in the last two weeks. That puts us at 19.8% cash (which includes gold but not cars or other stuff) as a percentage of our total net worth (which includes home and properties true cash value per the tax man but not cars or stuff). If I include the amount held in California double tax free bonds we are at 25.5% cash. oops.
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Old 10-20-2017, 05:58 PM   #14
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"Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful"
Thus, a larger cash position works for me. Plus, studies on portfolio construction and longevity do show some rational for keeping higher percentages in cash (CDs, MM, and ST treasuries). Worked real well in 2008 and 2009. Rewarded me and enabled me to ER. Wish I totally backed up the truck but did enough to pull the plug much earlier then planned.
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Old 10-20-2017, 06:01 PM   #15
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The cash portion of my AA is 5.5%.

However, at the moment the cash I actually have is 6.56%. I have not sold anything but got some nice dividends last month, which I take in cash. I won't spend my dividends until I withdraw on January 1st for my 2018 spending money.

Not only that, but due to this thread I checked, and I really should rebalance because my equity percentage is high enough to have met my rebalancing triggers. I'll wait few days before doing this, to see if it remains "over the line". Thanks for the thread, which caused me to check this.
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Old 10-20-2017, 06:06 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bizlady View Post
I am curious what percentage of cash most keep in their portfolios.

Please EXCLUDE any cash you may have that supports expenditures for the current year.



For purposes of this poll, cash is defined as money in checking, savings, money market, CD's, plain old cash, either IN or OUT of tax deferred plans.


I have a feeling your intent was to measure desired cash allocation but several responses indicate temporary conditions that have caused members to have higher than normal percentage in cash. Ten% for me but I am down around 7.
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Old 10-20-2017, 06:21 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Koogie View Post
A surging market, accumulating dividends and a cheap attitude has resulted in my cash pile growing to big. Currently sitting at 12% I hope (sorta) for some bargains to purchase in the New Year. Of course, it isn't actually in cash but sitting in a money market fund at 1.0% but on an after tax basis that might as well be cash... (
Damnit... you said read the conditions and I did and I still missed CDs (GICs) as being a criteria..

90% of my fixed income is in CDs. And fixed income is 60% of my portfolio !

Therefore I need a poll option for over 65% cash !!

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Old 10-20-2017, 06:22 PM   #18
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The poll groupings do not go high enough. need 25%
Need a LOT higher than that. At least for one of us. For the last few weeks I've been at 100%
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Old 10-20-2017, 06:25 PM   #19
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Originally Posted by bizlady View Post
Please EXCLUDE any cash you may have that supports expenditures for the current year.
I wasn't sure if you intended to mean only expenses through 12/31, or if you meant to say one year's worth of living expenses. I responded by deducting the one year of living expenses and came up with 14%.
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Old 10-20-2017, 06:37 PM   #20
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The poll groupings do not go high enough. need 25%
That's our amount.
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