We are retired and also recently needed to exercise a bunch of stock options for my husband's company before they expired. Consequently, we are VERY cash heavy...I would say probably about 4-5 years of expenses (and we spend a lot). We had planned to re-invest that money, but now we hesitate due to the market being up so high. The money is sitting in a money market earning about 4-5%, which isn't bad. My financial advisor is saying we should invest some (gradually) because we are going to have another injection of cash from deferred comp in a few months (about $.5M) and that would put us close to $2M in cash. Total investments right now (stocks and bonds) is around $13M. Honestly, when you put it in context, it doesn't seem so bad to me, but FA keeps saying we are dragging down our portfolio with all the cash.

It's very personal. I will never not have a job unless I get sick, but that can happen to anyone. Then I would have to completely downsize. No amount of money I have sitting is cash could fix some situations.
The only reason for me to sit in cash is to buy the dip.
If I bought stock at $40 and it has been between $300 to $350 for last 3 years, I doubt is goes under $100. I can sell it when I need money. That is liquid and as good as cash to me.

Anonymous wrote:With the government and economy up in the air, is now a good time to keep more money in cash? Especially if you have high expenses and don't want to be forced to sell stocks during a downturn? How many months in living expenses do you keep in cash?

Why are they “up in the air”? Because you don’t like the one in charge?

How about a revolving line of credit to pull from in the event of emergency?

I have ~$150k in HYSA, about $20k in a safe deposit box & $2k in a drawer at home. Plan on adding more to what I have at home.
I think about power outages due to storms, fascist govt take overs, riots, etc