s/o How much cash on hand do you keep?

[Anonymous]

The post on where to get the cash for a backyard project made me think about how much cash we have in our checking/savings account. We keep about $125k. We do not have a separate emergency fund but have a couple million in nonliquid assets (in addition to our house). My financial advisor says this is too much. But what if we need to get a new car and a new roof in one year? Curious what others keep as cash on hand. Obviously our savings account is making nothing.

[Anonymous]

We have a HHI a bit under $100k and we have about $2k in bank accounts that we can draw on. I'd like to have more but there are a lot of things that I would like.

[Anonymous]

How would a new roof and a new car cost $125K?

It is too much to keep in a checking account. Ladder some CDs you always have some cash available or soon to be available, but your money is earning a little interest.

[Anonymous]

I usually keep $40 in my wallet. I keep about $4000 in my checking that i use for projects. (i am obviously not in the same world as you.)

[Anonymous]

$40 in wallet, $200 at home, $6k at local checking, $100k online money market..

[Anonymous]

We have more than you, probably around $250k, although it varies depending on expenses. Just in the next 2 months I need $60k for April estimated taxes, $50k for a retirement plan contribution, and $40k for a new car we've ordered. So come April 15 it will be much lower. We also have college tuition but the next payment ($28k twice a year) isn't due until summer.

I think you just need to budget for the year and figure out what you might need for planned expenses plus some emergency expenses.

[Anonymous]

OP, how do you pay taxes? We need $125k for estimated taxes each quarter. So we average about $250k cash at any one point.

[Anonymous]

Too much. We have $300k, largely because we aren't sure how to invest it (have about another 300k invested). Don't trust investment advisers.

[Anonymous]

140K, bank savings account.

[Anonymous]

225k and our advisor says it's way too much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, how do you pay taxes? We need $125k for estimated taxes each quarter. So we average about $250k cash at any one point.

You pay 600k/yr in estimated tax? Are you exclusively 1099 (and making a boatload??)

[Anonymous]

It seems to me if you have millions in net worth and $100k+ in your checking account that you aren't really scraping for nickels. Having ALL of your wealth in cash is probably nuts but having a healthy fraction of it in cash is merely irrational.

Yes, you are not optimizing the value of assets. Yes, you are leaving money on the table because you have more cash than you "should". OK. Maybe $60k (half) of the OP's cash could be in safe investments earning, what, 5% per year after taxes? That would be an extra $3000 per year or about $250/month with a bit of risk.

The OP is paying $250 a month for piece of mind. For my situation, $250/month would bust my budget. For the OP, it may be fine. It sounds like the OP has given this matter sufficient thought and can forget about it until things change.

[Anonymous]

HHI = $185k. Bank account varies from $2k-$10k depending on life events. Amex Savings only had $1k in it right now. We like to keep $15k in that but DH's car died last year at the same time we decided to trade mine in for a mini-van. We will replenish that in a couple of months. $110k in a Fidelitt account.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a HHI a bit under $100k and we have about $2k in bank accounts that we can draw on. I'd like to have more but there are a lot of things that I would like.

We are this almost exactly, and are about to draw on all of it to pay taxes we ended up owing. Such is life.

[Anonymous]

As a poor who lives *nearly* pay check to pay check, I keep about 2500 on hand. Hope to bring that up in the coming months.