Make a stop allocation, invest it. Simple. www.bogleheads.org is a super resource for this stuff.

Anonymous wrote:real estate

This is what we plan to do with the next hundred grand we accumulate, allowing for emergency savings of course.

real estate

I would calculate how much is needed in the event you have a sustained job loss or disability for 6 - 12 months. I put that amount in a Vanguard Money Market Fund.

I would then sprinkle the rest in other Vanguard Funds - I am not an expert, but believe you should be cautious about mutual funds comprised of bonds right now - if rates rise, which they almost certainly will, the prices of those funds will go down.

I like the total stock market index funds. You can also do energy, etc. I think its a good idea to do several sectors, so you are diversified; if one industry is tanking, hopefully they all aren't.

Anonymous wrote:OP again. Thanks to those who responded. I guess my real question is whether I should buy funds now or leave the cash where it is for now and buy in after a major correction. I've always heard buy low and sell high, and right now, it seems that the market is high. On the other hand, I've also heard that non-experts shouldn't try to time the market.

Maybe I'll try buying into stock funds a little bit each month, to hedge my bets. I just don't know a thing about other investments that are supposed to be good for small investors in an over-inflated market.

Don't try to time the market, and espeically if you're in it for the long haul (i.e. you don't need the money in the next 5 years).

Here's the simplest solution: They have mutual funds that are based on when you plan to retire. Lots of companies have these, and they even have some as ETFs.

http://us.ishares.com/product_info/fund/overview/TZI.htm

That's an ETF with target retirement date 2025, and they have other funds with different dates.

The benefit of these is they rebalance the funds as the date approaches, as the risk profile will change over time.

OP, we deliberately hold $100K in cash - it's our emergency savings to tide us over for 8 months or so. How much of the 100K do you need to keep in cash for your emergency fund?

We did something similar with money that had accidentally accumulated in regular savings rather than being put into investment accounts (ie, we bought into stock funds over the course of 6 months or so).

OP again. Thanks to those who responded. I guess my real question is whether I should buy funds now or leave the cash where it is for now and buy in after a major correction. I've always heard buy low and sell high, and right now, it seems that the market is high. On the other hand, I've also heard that non-experts shouldn't try to time the market.

Maybe I'll try buying into stock funds a little bit each month, to hedge my bets. I just don't know a thing about other investments that are supposed to be good for small investors in an over-inflated market.

Anonymous wrote:Someone JUST posted about almost this exact problem- are you that person? Could you please bump your own thread instead of starting new ones every time you feel like it?

Sorry, but I don't know what you are talking about. I have not previously posted about this.

Someone JUST posted about almost this exact problem- are you that person? Could you please bump your own thread instead of starting new ones every time you feel like it?

You could invest 5k per month or some such.i would also be leery of bond funds at this juncture given where rates ar going.
Maybe put most of it in a cd for a year or so?

I think the standard advice would be to put it into fidelity or vanguard funds: 60% total market index funds; 40% bond index funds.

I've been preoccupied with a few major life events in the past few years and allowed about 100K to accumulate in a checking account. This is a lot of money relative to my earnings and net worth. I know leaving it there was irresponsible, especially given the stock market performance recently, but I'm not sure it makes sense to correct that mistake now given how overinflated the market seems to be. Any tips? In the past, I've shifted savings to a variety of mutual funds but I'm open to alternatives. I'm 43, so still have enough years to retirement that I know I should be able to handle some risk of loss. On the other hand, I'd be sick over losing a huge chunk of this in a market correction later this year.