Best place to park cash for intermediate periods?

Discussion in 'Trading' started by HuggieBear, May 22, 2010.

  1. you can lose your money overnight in any type of deposit/application/etc.

    there's no such thing as a safe place to park cash.

    welcome to the jungle.

    here's what i do.

    i put my idle cash into three different 1st tier bank accounts which pay about inflation interest and have government backing in case of a bank default, but obviously I am very far from being safe.

    just forget about the whole ETF idea, you're increasing your risk many times over in exchange for a couple of basis points on your money.

    bonds? they're are safe as drunk driving.
     
    #11     May 23, 2010
  2. thanks


    i am afraid you are probably right...during the last collapse everything seemed correlated. The only exception was probably the dollar and treasury bonds, which were correlated but inversely so.

    The problem with moving into those is by the time i do they will already be inflated (as they are at the current moment).
     
    #12     May 23, 2010
  3. iprph90

    iprph90

    ok huggiebear,

    sorry for being cheeky. in my 401k, 35% of my holdings are in a pimco bond fund PTRAX. it has a solid track record. hopefully this helps!

    https://ibd.morningstar.com/quickta...CN=JPM321&view=snapshot&valid=NO&ticker=PTRAX
     
    #13     May 23, 2010
  4. Daal

    Daal

    FDIC guaranteed bank CDs. Everbank pays something like 2% annualized for new checking accounts, the CDs might be even better
     
    #14     May 24, 2010
  5. Retief

    Retief

    It's certainly possible to time the market. Your accuracy may not be so great, but you can time it.
     
    #15     May 24, 2010
  6. mayhem28

    mayhem28

    Sorry to hijack your thread.. but it kinda relates..

    I'm thinking of opening an account with Schwab and heard (will confirm with them) that they have decent interest rates.. I will be depositing a sizeable (albeit no huge) amount. Does anyone have an account with Schwab at all? They are a safe place to park cash, but there are probably better alternatives, but most likely no available to me since I live in Australia and will be opening an account through their international service.. I need atm/card withdrawals and check (not essential but a bonus) which they offer.. card is no fee aswell which is nice!

    Cheers!
     
    #16     May 24, 2010
  7. Bob111

    Bob111

    there is a plenty of small,local banks FDIC insured with money markets @ 2%. i have some money in MM @ beneficial savings(PA) on my son's name. 2%,first $900 will be exempt(child earned income)
    everything else is way too dangerous\unpredictable(corp.bonds)
    govt bonds pays nothing with much less flexibility compared to MM.
    evantage,america net banks paying 2% on MM
     
    #17     May 24, 2010
  8. Daal

    Daal

    There is also Build America Bonds in large municipalities that are unlikely to fail but I'm not sure they are liquid or how to buy them
     
    #18     May 24, 2010
  9. The best place to park cash is in cash. The whole point of cash is to be zero volatility, very low-risk, liquid funds available immediately. Putting it into risky volatile assets like corporate bonds, or even money market funds, makes no sense at all - for a bit of extra yield you go from near zero risk to much higher risk.
     
    #19     May 24, 2010
  10. J.P.

    J.P.

    But only for those with small balances.
     
    #20     May 24, 2010