How much LIQUID savings do you have?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A bit of a spinoff from the birthday thread…

How much do you have in liquid savings? By that I mean things you can quickly liquidate without a tax penalty. So, include traditional savings accounts, non-retirement investments, and CDs.

Do not count retirement accounts, 529s, HSAs, or home equity.

What is your HHI?

What age do you assume people are? This thread is less meaningful without knowing people’s ages. 30yos with $100k is different than 60yos with the same amount. And for some of us (not quite me), our we can withdraw from our retirement plans without penalty. We had our kids early in our late 30s / early 40s. We are more than 80% liquid.

This is true.

Current HHI is $175K because older spouse was laid off last year at 59.

Liquid cash $300K
Non retirement investments $130K

But since spouse is over 60, they can tap into their retirement account now which is $1.7mil.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The OP asks for cash but the responses include equities and total brokerage accounts (which are typically invested in not only money market accounts).

That's not what OP asked for at all: "So, include traditional savings accounts, non-retirement investments[i], and CDs."

The above includes brokerage accounts that can be liquidated without penalty, which is what OP asked for.

[Anonymous]

Ages 31 and 34
HHI $300K
$500k liquid (checking, HYSA and brokerage accounts)

[Anonymous]

$350K, HHI $200K, but we are in our mid-40s so we don't have as much as most people our age.

[Anonymous]

We have about 18 mos of expenses in liquid savings. Typically we have 12 mos but we started increasing it with the new administration. We’ll keep adding to it as we’ll roll into retirement in a few years. Then we’ll shoot for 3 years worth of liquid savings.

[Anonymous]

75k in HYSA
HHI 200k

[Anonymous]

Basically $0. Taxes are a part of life. Making bad investments just to avoid taxes is idiotic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The OP asks for cash but the responses include equities and total brokerage accounts (which are typically invested in not only money market accounts).

That's not what OP asked for at all: "So, include traditional savings accounts, non-retirement investments[i], and CDs."

The above includes brokerage accounts that can be liquidated without penalty, which is what OP asked for.

OP's question doesn't make sense. OP is drawing an imaginary line.
Investments and CDs have taxes of their own.

[Anonymous]

This thread is so ridiculously out of line with average America. More than a quarter of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings.

[Anonymous]

Right about $500k. HHI is $275k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is so ridiculously out of line with average America. More than a quarter of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings.

also people don't get liquid.

I can access my savings and hand it over. You can't do that with CDs and real estate. Same with stocks.

If that were the case $50k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is so ridiculously out of line with average America. More than a quarter of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings.

also people don't get liquid.

I can access my savings and hand it over. You can't do that with CDs and real estate. Same with stocks.

If that were the case $50k

Why can't you sell stocks on Monday then access the money on Tuesday, or Wednesday? We are not talking about retirement accounts, but an investment account can be liquidated if you want to. Sure, you might take a loss, but you can still access the funds fairly easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is so ridiculously out of line with average America. More than a quarter of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings.

also people don't get liquid.

I can access my savings and hand it over. You can't do that with CDs and real estate. Same with stocks.

If that were the case $50k

Why can't you sell stocks on Monday then access the money on Tuesday, or Wednesday? We are not talking about retirement accounts, but an investment account can be liquidated if you want to. Sure, you might take a loss, but you can still access the funds fairly easily.

Right — a liquid investment is something you can get to in a few days. Sure you can sell property but that may not happen over night. Yes you can access retirement but you’ll pay a steep penalty for early withdrawal. Of course all non-retirement investments carry tax with them on gains, but they don’t then also have a penalty.

[Anonymous]

The average American household savings is about $60k and the median is about $8k.

[Anonymous]

You need age too OP,