Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
What to do with money
Old 10-20-2009, 06:52 AM   #1
Dryer sheet wannabe
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Charlottesville
Posts: 14
What to do with money

I am retiring in 2 weeks. We have a contract on our house. We are moving. We will be going to Charlottesville, Virginia. We both always wanted to retire to a college town. However, we plan on renting for a year, or so, to make sure C-ville is the right town for us and to decide where in town or around there, we want to settle. We will have $300,000 that we will net from the sale of our house. Does anyone have any suggestions about what to do with this money, in the meantime? It would make the matress too lumpy if we put it under there, but we can't afford to lose this money by doing anything too risky.

No, I don't want any sales pitches, or invest in your personal, can't miss, business venture!
jaybones is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 10-20-2009, 07:01 AM   #2
Gone but not forgotten
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Sarasota,fl.
Posts: 11,447
We had the same problem when we sold our house in New Jersey and rented in Florida . We did not want the money tied up for too long so we put it in CD's . Of course then CD's were paying something . It worked out fine since we found the perfect house six months after we moved and it was ready to close at the twelve month time frame . Renting for a year was the best thing we did . You can visit places but until you actually reside there you can not know the best neighborhoods . Where we would have bought before we rented would have been a mistake . Good Luck with your house hunting !
Moemg is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-20-2009, 07:01 AM   #3
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,183
I assume you know about cd's for a safe option. If you think/have confidence the market will improve you might contemplate a total index fund and plop it in. Were it mine that is what I might contemplate provided that I had other assets to live off of. For me it would likely be a world wide index fund from say Vanguard.
crazy connie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-20-2009, 07:05 AM   #4
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 125
CDs are probably your best option.

Short term rates are awful, but you could put it in a long term running around 4 pct, keep it there 12-18 months, pull it out, and still net more than a short term CD even with the penalty (often 6 months worth of interest).

Alternatively to avoid the hassle just toss it in a couple of one year CDs and suffer the 1-2 pct returns.
deepc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-20-2009, 07:11 AM   #5
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,074
Are you eligible for a Roth IRA for 2009? If you are and you're under CSRS (you've posted under the Federal Soup board your pending retirement), and don't need the $300K sale proceeds for a while, then take the sale proceeds before you retire from the Feds and roll/dump the proceeds in the Voluntary Contribution program. And before you officially retire, ask for a refund and invest the after-tax part of the VC investment in a Roth IRA, where you can purchase CDs or any other low-risk instrument. (Take the interest earned on the VC and roll/invest that into a tax deferred account like TSP.) You will essentially transform $300K of taxable money into a nontaxable account.

I think, however, your timing might be a little off for these logistics, if you're planning on retiring in two weeks.
__________________
Someday this war's gonna end . . .
ChrisC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-20-2009, 07:51 AM   #6
Moderator Emeritus
W2R's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,474
We are in the same predicament, although after selling my home here in New Orleans I expect to net between 1/2 and 2/3rds of your anticipated $300,000. After I sell and move north, I want to keep that money available to use in buying the new house.

I am (reluctantly) going to put it in a bank or money market account making almost no interest, or else in 1-week CD's. I thought of longer term CD's, but want it available to dangle in front of the seller if the perfect house should happen to show up earlier than I expect. This could possibly drive the sales price down, or at least give me some room in the negotiations. Losing the interest is going to be part of the cost of moving, for me.

We do not expect to rent for a full year, though, and I doubt we will even rent for a full six months. We are already fairly familiar with our planned ER location.
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.

Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
W2R is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 10-20-2009, 10:20 AM   #7
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Gotadimple's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,605
Most folks think of banks accounts, money market accounts, and CD's as a solution for short-term money. I would suggest you look at high yield savings accounts. Often these pay more than a CD and are FDIC insured. Best bets for these are at an internet bank.

See Moneyaisle.com or Bauer Financial for best rates and safety of institutions.

-- Rita
__________________
Only got A dimple, would have preferred 2!
Gotadimple is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-20-2009, 09:08 PM   #8
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Finance Dave's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,854
Quote:
Originally Posted by deepc View Post
CDs are probably your best option.

Short term rates are awful, but you could put it in a long term running around 4 pct, keep it there 12-18 months, pull it out, and still net more than a short term CD even with the penalty (often 6 months worth of interest).

Alternatively to avoid the hassle just toss it in a couple of one year CDs and suffer the 1-2 pct returns.
Just be sure to watch the FDIC limits.
Finance Dave is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-21-2009, 06:19 AM   #9
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 127
my best cd rate link Bank Deals - Best Rates and Deals good luck Just looked at Pentagon Federal Credit Union and found this
MONEY MARKET CERTIFICATE RATES

Term APY6-Month 1.00%**1-Year 1.25%2-Year 1.75%3-Year 3.50%4-Year 3.75%5-Year 5.04%
__________________
If you think nobody cares whether you're alive or dead, try missing a couple of mortgage payments.
kowski is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-21-2009, 09:37 AM   #10
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
calmloki's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Independence
Posts: 7,281
Quote:
Originally Posted by kowski View Post
my best cd rate link Bank Deals - Best Rates and Deals good luck Just looked at Pentagon Federal Credit Union and found this
MONEY MARKET CERTIFICATE RATES

Term APY6-Month 1.00%**1-Year 1.25%2-Year 1.75%3-Year 3.50%4-Year 3.75%5-Year 5.04%
An earlier poster spoke about depositing in a higher yield longer term CD, then paying the penalty for early withdrawal and still coming out ahead. This may be the kind of thing the poster was referencing. Would need to check penalty.

Also, back a couple years when I was chasing interest I ran into a gotcha - a limit on how much could be withdrawn in a certain time - worth checking if you have a need for all your bux at once.
calmloki is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-21-2009, 04:24 PM   #11
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 18,085
I will just repeat what I apparently have tattooed on the inside of my eyelids these days: "safety and soundness."

By your own admission, you cannot afford any losses on the money. So play it safe and put it in CDs, a savings account, T bills, etc.
__________________
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

- George Orwell

Ezekiel 23:20
brewer12345 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-21-2009, 07:37 PM   #12
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 479
Check some local credit unions money market rates. You might find some around 2-3% for 50k +
JohnDoe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-22-2009, 10:02 PM   #13
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
charlie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Dallas
Posts: 1,211
Do you plan to put all $300k back into another house? It might be
a good time to consider downsizing and invest the difference in a
short term bond index fund like Vanguard's until you decide on a
longer term asset allocation.

Cheers,

charlie
charlie is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Secret Money. Do you hide money from your spouse? Enuff2Eat FIRE and Money 72 07-08-2008 03:13 AM
Money we've made versus money we have kept laurence FIRE and Money 27 07-14-2006 09:44 AM
MOVED: Anyone else looking to earn money while at home? Earn money via paypal Cut-Throat FIRE and Money 0 06-07-2006 06:45 PM
How long will money last? Money Mag earlyout FIRE and Money 21 10-29-2003 02:15 PM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:25 PM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.