Our plan once I receive the next check is to eliminate her student loans and then put a lump sum into my 401(k) to supplement the ongoing contributions I’m making to ensure I max it out for the year. That should still leave us about $15k in reserves. We’ll probably keep that because we are very behind on retirement savings and don’t have much we could access if we needed to.

I think there’s no harm in trying… and then if it doesn’t work out or you feel too troubled at night, change it back. I’ve identified about $10k because that’s what I *think* I’ll feel ok with. But who knows, if I can’t sleep at night ahve have anxiety every day, I’ll go back to cash.

As for putting 5k at a time, I personally think the lump sum approach is better. But you have to decide for yourself :). Good luck and congrats on the stocked up brokerage account!

I am having more trouble psychologically with the cash emergency fund though. From a pure mathematical standpoint, I know I am losing out, but it still feels like a safety net/security blanket. What do you think a good strategy is to move this to stocks? I was thinking maybe to move the cash to stocks $5K at a time until I get to $10K and then maintain that moving forward. Thoughts?

A little bit! Some of it deviated from VTSAX and went to more speculative stuff, which has cut into those gains haha. But long term, it should prove very fruitful!

Keeping a little to cover cashflow issues is smart… I’ll admit the “$0.00” is just a dramatic statement – in reality there will always be a few bucks in there to keep minimum balances.

I like the idea of calling the bank and negotiating account fees!

Given the recent bull run, it sounds like you’ve already made money on your emergency fund? I agree, the 5-10k might be the best balance for me too.

I think 48 hours is very doable. It might be a very stressful 48 hours, but doable nonetheless. To each their own :)

It helped me to run though all my ‘access to cash’ options. I found out I had more than i realized.

Awesome. That’s the beauty of being in a good financial situation… You can focus more on peace of mind and freedom, vs. squeezing every single cent out of investments. My wife and I are still trying to find the sweet spot where we can sleep well, and also make the most of our assets. Cheers Fern!

That’s my thinking also. Actually, my margin line of credit from TD allows for same day WIRE transfers. So technically I think I could get a huge pile of cash within 24 hours if needed.