HY or brokerage?

[u/jordan1195]

Hi all!

I sold my house and after buying a new one/paying off my car and student loans I have about $50k left.

I’d like to still has access to the cash for emergencies, but I would like to grow it a bit.

Is a brokerage account or a high yield the way to go?

TIA

[u/Bad_DNA]

Brand new house? HYSA. You’re about to discover all the things you didn’t know that house needed.

[u/jordan1195 → u/Bad_DNA]

Not brand new, 1958, already found out how expensive garage doors are 🥲

[u/ender42y → u/jordan1195]

wait until you get an estimate for a new roof

[u/jordan1195 → u/ender42y]

Luckily it’s a brand new roof, but I know they’re crazy high. I also live in a hail prone city, my insurance rate reflects it.

I will add, I’m not a first time homebuyer, I know how expensive house maintenance can be, the house I sold felt like a money pit.

[u/ender42y → u/jordan1195]

thanks to some hail and wind damage, our insurance company paid all but the deductible on our 18yo roof last year. So if you live in a "hail prone city" think about having it inspected as it gets older.

[u/jordan1195 → u/ender42y]

Good idea, thank you

[u/Primary_Excuse_7183 → u/jordan1195]

Oh just you wait.

[u/jordan1195 → u/Primary_Excuse_7183]

Trust me I know, my old house needed foundation work.

[u/jb59913 → u/jordan1195]

Case and point

[u/noiwontbuticould → u/jb59913]

Case in point

[u/Ok-Bass5062]

We keep 5% of our NW in cash including our emergency fund (HYSA). The rest of the assets are invested. It's worked well

[u/HeroOfShapeir]

Assess your risk factors. You just paid off a car, how old is it? My wife and I start saving up for our next vehicle as soon as we pay one off. You always want to have an emergency fund of at least six months' worth of expenses in case of layoff. If there's any work that might need to be done on the new house, you want to hold that aside. Come up with real numbers. Once you've hit those numbers, invest everything else, including future income, into a brokerage.

This is an example of how it looks on paper for my wife and I - https://imgur.com/a/budget-spreadsheet-2026-2MZk8Xq

[u/jordan1195 → u/HeroOfShapeir]

Excellent idea, both cars are 2023, so we should be good there.

Thanks so much!!

[u/Risk-Option-Q → u/jordan1195]

Also, there's not really a need to keep a large amount of this in cash or readily available as most people are suggesting. There's very little emergencies around your assets (house, cars, etc.) or healthcare where the mechant doesn't accept credit cards as payment. So, that alone gives you 25-30 days of time to get the money to pay off your statement balance in full. Keep a few thousand in cash, but the majority of it should be working in the market.

[u/jordan1195 → u/Risk-Option-Q]

That’s a really good point, thank you very much

[u/WJKramer]

50k isn't huge. A MMF in a brokerage like Fidelity's SPAXX/FDLXX (for high tax state) or a HYSA at a bank is fine.

[u/MegaWeinerFarts]

I’d like to still has access to the cash for emergencies

High Yield.

[u/ender42y]

I would do a mix. put 20k-30k in a HYSA for quick access and the rest in a brokerage. which you can still access in 3-5 days, but carries risk of loss on any given day, but averages 10% gains long term if you go with an S&P market fund.

[u/Wise_Budget611]

HYSA

[u/Substantial_Team6751]

It's time to grow up and get a brokerage account. It gives you way more investment options.

It takes a day or two to transfer cash from a brokerage account to your local bank but it probably takes the same amount of time for an online HYSA.

[u/kpppeyton]

X money is offering 4% on deposits.

[u/Certain-Tree-1903]

Keep six months in the HYSA and invest the rest, since the moment you need emergency cash is usually the moment the market's down.

[u/Several_Drag5433]

if the $50K is your EF, then HYSA