VTI is too boring and safe.

Go to MGM Grand and put it all on black. Then if you win invest all your winnings in altcoins.

You could have millions by the time you're ready to buy your house!

I sold a condo end of 2019 and put ca $100k into Tesla and growth stocks. Then I sold another property in early 2023 and put that money into Bitcoin, Solana, and few other stocks. I retired in 2025. Now I simply manage my money.
The 2022 downturn was a great teacher. I will no sleep on the next one. I expect it in 2027, specially for the crypto and stocks I hold.
I lost the wish to own a home completely until I retire abroad. My NW gives a warm and fuzzy feeling.
Those properties, plus one more, were pain in my neck even though there was nothing too wrong with them.
'10% is my net worth and 90% is what I have learned'.
Buying a home any time soon is stupid.

Heck no

Anonymous wrote:I sold my home and netted $140k. I want to buy another house but I need more down payment.

Should I dump the $140k into VTI? I plan to buy in 2 years. I'll sell VTI then.

Would you gamble your proceeds this way?

VTI. No. Another ETF maybe. I mean ultimately in 20 years VTI, based on market history, will most likely be up.

However, we are in an era where gold is skyrocketing because of fear of dollar devaluation and global instability, tariffs, and layoffs. Sure, will we see a rate cut that booms the market soon? Yeah? But then what? Job numbers are still to keep coming out and getting revised down. Wages won’t keep pace with the cost of goods. Basically we are going to a recession sooner than later. The market is completely irrational.

I’m buying gold ETFs for a while. If you want to gamble buy GDE, URNJ, or OPEN stock and hold for a few weeks or whatever and then sell. I wouldn’t sink $200k or whatever into the VTI right now and expect it would that high in 2 years. It’s so high now. You should buy IAUM and wait for a crash then buy VTI or better yet VXUS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Primary residence? If so, no.

What is the price of the new house you want? If you do an 80-10-10 putting down 10% that 140k can buy you a lot. Then you’ll have mortgage, not waste on rent and (hopefully) will start building equity.

$600k. I want to have low mortgage so I want to put as much as possible for down payment

Putting that money in the market with 2 yr horizon is the last thing you want to do. It’s beyond stupid if you are fixed on your timeline.

OP here. I agree with you I think it's indeed stupid. How about $70k in HYSA and $70k in VTI?

I think you need to consider the possibilities with real numbers. Let's say you can get 4% in safe returns or (a super ambitious) 10-15% over the next 24 months.

$140K --> $151K with safe returns, $179K with 12.5% market returns, or $165K with a 50/50 mix.

Of course the $151K comes with no meaningful chance of losing money while the higher return options could mean being down 30-40% in two years. So would you rather have a shot at an extra $28K if it means the potential for being down $50K when you want to buy? or the boring guarantee of having $151K?

If your timeline is set at two years and you want to stick to that nobody can suggest investing in equities in good faith.

I'm facing a similar situation.

I think it comes down to two questions: how much do you need to have for a down payment in two years? and how firm is that two year timeline?

If you the need is close to or at the $140K then just put it in a CD or money market fund and get ~4% to keep up with inflation. If you only need $100K and you can stretch that two years if the market is down then you can up the risk.

And there's no reason you have to go 100% one way or another - you could lock in 3.8-4% returns with $70K and invest the balance

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Primary residence? If so, no.

What is the price of the new house you want? If you do an 80-10-10 putting down 10% that 140k can buy you a lot. Then you’ll have mortgage, not waste on rent and (hopefully) will start building equity.

$600k. I want to have low mortgage so I want to put as much as possible for down payment

Putting that money in the market with 2 yr horizon is the last thing you want to do. It’s beyond stupid if you are fixed on your timeline.

OP here. I agree with you I think it's indeed stupid. How about $70k in HYSA and $70k in VTI?

I think I’d hold money in HYSA until after I bought. Conventional thought is to keep money out of house so I’d put down the 10% to not pay PMI. With the remainder I would spread it over emergency funds, savings and investments (like VTI).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Primary residence? If so, no.

What is the price of the new house you want? If you do an 80-10-10 putting down 10% that 140k can buy you a lot. Then you’ll have mortgage, not waste on rent and (hopefully) will start building equity.

$600k. I want to have low mortgage so I want to put as much as possible for down payment

Putting that money in the market with 2 yr horizon is the last thing you want to do. It’s beyond stupid if you are fixed on your timeline.

OP here. I agree with you I think it's indeed stupid. How about $70k in HYSA and $70k in VTI?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Primary residence? If so, no.

What is the price of the new house you want? If you do an 80-10-10 putting down 10% that 140k can buy you a lot. Then you’ll have mortgage, not waste on rent and (hopefully) will start building equity.

$600k. I want to have low mortgage so I want to put as much as possible for down payment

Putting that money in the market with 2 yr horizon is the last thing you want to do. It’s beyond stupid if you are fixed on your timeline.

Anonymous wrote:Primary residence? If so, no.

What is the price of the new house you want? If you do an 80-10-10 putting down 10% that 140k can buy you a lot. Then you’ll have mortgage, not waste on rent and (hopefully) will start building equity.

$600k. I want to have low mortgage so I want to put as much as possible for down payment

Primary residence? If so, no.

What is the price of the new house you want? If you do an 80-10-10 putting down 10% that 140k can buy you a lot. Then you’ll have mortgage, not waste on rent and (hopefully) will start building equity.

Yes. Worst case scenario to you lose 40% and end up renting forever. Not the end of the world.

That money in HYSA will barely grow.

I sold my home and netted $140k. I want to buy another house but I need more down payment.

Should I dump the $140k into VTI? I plan to buy in 2 years. I'll sell VTI then.

Would you gamble your proceeds this way?