How much liquid cash do you keep available?

[audreyh1]

A money market fund can be just as liquid as a checking account. Many brokerages allow ATM withdrawal and checking directly from their core MM funds.

 

[RobbieB]

My wallet cash has doubled since the covid. I still have my 2-300 in twenties, but I have it backed up with 2-3 Benjamins.

Doesn't add much bulk -

 

[audreyh1]

Just ran a query on our checking account for 2022.....

We visited the ATM 5 times and withdrew $860. So that is my "total liquid" currency for the year.

I think it’s been well over 3 years since we visited an ATM. Just use very little cash, and the Costco VISA rewards/rebates piled up so much we even ended up depositing some of it. At least this year I’ll be able to direct deposit the Costco cash back rewards. One year I made Costco issue a check, and had to wait a while for it too.

Costco no longer cashes the executive rebate at the customer service desk. You have to use it for payment at a register, then you can get any remaining cash back.

 

[street]

My wallet cash has doubled since the covid. I still have my 2-300 in twenties, but I have it backed up with 2-3 Benjamins.

Doesn't add much bulk -

I broke a Bennie today. Before I get it used up, I get another one in my money clip never without one or two in my pocket.

 

[RobbieB]

Yeah, I don't lay out a Franklin on a bill less than 55. Don't want to make the checker cash poor.

And they are real handy at a fancy place when the bill is over a hun and you don't want to card it.

 

[swakyaby]

Some of the terminology in this thread is confusing. What is this "liquid cash" you refer to?

I think the OP clarified what he meant by liquid cash in post #27 by saying it’s cash or funds held in accounts that aren’t time deposit accounts like CDs.

 

[youbet]

I think the OP clarified what he meant by liquid cash in post #27 by saying it’s cash or funds held in accounts that aren’t time deposit accounts like CDs.

I saw that but just wondered why the term “liquid cash.” Is there non-liquid cash? I suppose OP meant “liquid assets.”

 

[Time2]

Since retiring, I generally start the year with a Dec deposit into checking that will last me through the next year. This year I got a little messed up with a large Roth Conversion and didn't make my checking deposit. I'm down to $3,485 in checking that is left over from last year. (That's good, already 2.5 months into the new year) I planned to do a Vanguard to Bank transfer from my wife's IRA to the Bank, but found I have never setup the bank with her account. We always put money in, never took money out! Vanguard said they needed paperwork to do that, so I printed it, filled it out, had it notarized, and mailed it. I'm hoping Vanguard gets it and processed, so I have time for a transfer and have settling time before I run out of money! I could transfer from my account which is setup for bank transfer, but I have converted enough of my tax deferred, I've started Roth Converting and spending hers, she's several years younger, I figured I had more time for hers before RMDs.
Yes, my wife has zero interest in hers or my accounts. I think she expects the kids to help her when I die.

 

[1242Vintage]

We keep around $1k or so at home and a balance of around $25k in the checking account.

 

[Dash man]

I begin each month by topping off our checking account to $30,000. We keep about $100,000 in HYSA or money market. We get about $30k/qtr in dividends on top of SS and a small pension to keep cash coming in.

 

[Sunset]

in March 2020 as things were shutting down I withdrew $300 from the ATM. I don't know what I was thinking. Places really didn't want cash back then unless it had been sterilized in a nuclear reactor. I still have a little over $200 left.

Actual cash is really valuable in certain situations. We were caught in the great blackout of 2003.

With no electricity, the few grocery stores that were open could only take cash. Credit cards were useless. Banks were closed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003

 

[Sunset]

Funny how this differs with people. I would never have $500 in cash on me. I would feel uncomfortable. The most I ever have on me is $20 - $50, and it's usually only just a few $5 bills for tips. CC for everything I need to purchase.

I feel uncomfortable carrying too much cash.

I keep ~$200 on me , as here if you can pay the speeding ticket immediately, they don't take the license to force you to come pay the fine later.
I did it once, so I know it's true.

Since I use a CC for all purchases, I have not withdrawn money from the bank in a year or two...

 

[scrabbler1]

Actual cash is really valuable in certain situations. We were caught in the great blackout of 2003.

With no electricity, the few grocery stores that were open could only take cash. Credit cards were useless. Banks were closed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003

I was thinking about that blackout, too. I had some candles but no way to light them, not having any matches. My stove runs on gas but uses electric for its lighter. My local mini-mart, just down the street, remained open but took cash only. I bought a cigarette lighter for 75 cents. I was lucky in that my power was restored only 7 hours after it went out, a lot more quickly than most areas here on Long Island.

I lost power for a few days during Superstorm Sandy, but didn't have to buy anything. I stayed at my ladyfriend's place a few blocks away because she had power.

 

[W2R]

Actual cash is really valuable in certain situations. We were caught in the great blackout of 2003.

With no electricity, the few grocery stores that were open could only take cash. Credit cards were useless. Banks were closed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003

Right after Katrina, we found zero grocery stores or convenience stores open. Banks were closed and ATMs were empty. Walgreens opened after a few days but almost immediately had nothing left, not even a Coke (which was what I was dying for at the time). Found my Coke (but nothing else to eat or drink) at the Dollar Store.

Eventually we found a hamburger joint with a looooooooooong line to get in, Bud's Broiler. It was serving hamburgers only. You did have a choice! You could get the hamburger with mustard or the hamburger with catsup. Not both. These were cooked dozens of miles away (where there was electricity), and then driven into the city. So, they were cold and stale. It took about an hour of standing in line to get in. The other customers were mostly exhausted, dirty, and scowling or crying.

Within a few days, a McDonalds opened! Same thing - - you could get a hamburger, period; nothing else. No quarter pounders, fish filets, or Big Macs, for example. But, it had a drive through with a line literally about 1/2 mile long down the street, so no standing in line. You just had to have enough gas to wait in the drive through line. Gas stations had no gas because they had no generators to make the pumps work.

All these places were cash only, and had little to no change. If you didn't have cash, you couldn't buy anything at all. This situation lasted a few weeks until electricity started coming back in some areas. Nobody had it back in just hours like you did in the northeast, and many found out quickly why generators don't help much. So, it's not unusual here for people to keep a few thousand in cash at home.

 

[youbet]

^^^^^^^

Did Frank have some sort of backup power to run his ham radio equipment?

 

[tango2]

I do a step ladder of cds per vanguard account. You can do 1-3-4-6-9-etc months. They are fdic insured so safe

 

[W2R]

^^^^^^^

Did Frank have some sort of backup power to run his ham radio equipment?

Good question! I suppose he was using his mobile rig. He's not here at the moment but I'll ask him about it later. I know he didn't have a generator or electricity, at first, but also he did have access to a rented trailer in Alabama where he was working off and on at a contract job. We weren't even allowed to return to this area for a while (maybe a week or two?) but we did manage to sneak past law enforcement and come home before it was allowed. So, we missed the worst of it but it was still pretty bad.

 

[street]

Too me cash is KING! I know a lot disagree and maybe someday cash will not exist, but I like it and I use it.

 

[W2R]

Too me cash is KING! I know a lot disagree and maybe someday cash will not exist, but I like it and I use it.

Same to me!!! I don't think I would have been able to buy my "Dream Home" if I had not obtained the first showing and then made a full price cash offer immediately that same afternoon. There were other buyers ready to buy it but too bad for them!

 

[RenoJay]

Currently I’ve got about a year’s worth of spending liquid. But as a % that’s not large.

 

[W2R]

Good question! I suppose he was using his mobile rig. He's not here at the moment but I'll ask him about it later. I know he didn't have a generator or electricity, at first, but also he did have access to a rented trailer in Alabama where he was working off and on at a contract job. We weren't even allowed to return to this area for a while (maybe a week or two?) but we did manage to sneak past law enforcement and come home before it was allowed. So, we missed the worst of it but it was still pretty bad.

I just asked him about how he got on the ham radio back then. He said he has the mobile rig, and a few other very low power rigs that he used on batteries. Plus, he adds "the good old standby, the Yaesu FT-817". He ran his higher powered rig in the car at low power to minimize current drain.

 

[SunGuy]

You don't need much outside of saving for down payments if you are young and healthy (under 45) with a good job. Obviously this assumes you have zero debt or mortgages.

 

[Badger]

Too me cash is KING! I know a lot disagree and maybe someday cash will not exist, but I like it and I use it.

+1 I always hear about the necessity of having an emergency fund but most always it is not in cash. I consider having an additional emergency fund in cash for situations where there are no other options for buying food and a place to get out of the elements (hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, etc.).

Cheers!

 

[audreyh1]

Do you not consider checking and savings accounts or money market funds to be cash?

 

[Badger]

I am considering "cash" to be pieces of paper or coins provided by the federal government with pictures of dead presidents or historical people that can be held in my hand and used to pay for services or items I am purchasing when checking, savings accounts, or MMF cannot be accessed or I don't want to use a CC.

'Cheers!