Should I hold more cash vs invested in our IRA?

[Leo]

We are almost at 250k. I think we can be “quarter millionaire” by the end of this year. Thank you guys for sharing your knowledge and wisdom. Anyway, 1/2 of our net worth is basically our IRA and my 401k, while we are saving for a house down payment. Not 100% is invested in stock market or any mutual funds (33% still in cash, and 66% invested) I have that configuration because I worry about the market going down or any recession coming but if I don’t have a lot of worry in the market, I’ll do 100% invested 0% cash in our IRA and my 401k. My investing strategy is simple, basically, invest in any good mutual fund or S&P500 or NASDAQ100 and leave it there long term. DOW, S&P500, NASDAQ100 are basically in all time high right now. Pendulum swing will happen but nobody knows when, so my question is, should I sell some of the invested value and hold more cash at the moment?

[rennigade]

How much of a down payment do you want? What price range are you looking for in a home? You'll need to know this in order to determine what amount of cash you should have. You'll also want an emergency fund after you spend your cash on a down payment...need to factor that in too.

[bjl584]

if you are in it for long term, then there is no need to worry about a market crash. As stated above, we'll need more details about your situation to provide advice

[Jluke]

Why are you holding cash in your IRA- are you planning to use that for a down payment? I wouldn’t touch retirement money for a house. But maybe you would.

[Petunia 100]

How many years until you need to begin drawing retirement money? If more than 5, I would not hold any cash in retirement accounts. Cash is guaranteed to lose ground to inflation; exactly the opposite of what you want your long-term money to do.

[Leo]

I think something is wrong in the forum at the moment and I can't make paragraph spaces but anyway. Here's our current breakdown Cash for house/condo downpayment - 60k, would like to increase this as much as possible before buying. Emergency fund - 15k Roth IRA: 33k 401k: 25k Rollover IRA from previous job: 54k Wife IRA: 25k Currently maxing my Roth and 401k. Wife does not have 401k but maxing out her traditional IRA. To expand on all our retirement account, Roth IRA: 33k (All cash at the moment, just sold all my mutual funds) 401k: 25k (100% invested of course so no cash) Rollover IRA from previous job: 54k (Almost 100% invested) Wife IRA: 25k (50% invested in mutual funds, 50% cash value)

[Leo]

condo/house here in SoCal is expensive so we are just saving as much as possible and buy when we can do 20% downpayment. As for age, I am turning 30 years old so long way to retirement. I am not planning to withdraw from any of our retirement accounts. Maybe from my Roth in case I need more for a house DP but that would be last resort.

[Leo]

Oh and I forgot to mentioned, then when the market is down, then use all that cash inside the retirement account and buy mutual funds

[Jluke]

If your wife is contributing to Traditional IRA are you able to deduct that when you do your taxes? If so, ok. If not, consider a Roth for her. Good luck market timing. How much did you put in market late December 2018? If nothing then you probably won’t be a good timer. If you did capitalize on that drop you may be a good market timer (or just lucky) You’re 30. Invest it all now and never sell it. You’ll be ok.

[Petunia 100]

How much does the market need to go down before you put your money back in? How will you know when it has gone down as far as it is going? What if you decide you will wait until the market goes down 20%, and before the next time that happens it goes up 30% first? If you are going to try to time the market, you need to think about these kinds of things.

[~bs]

if you're looking to buy a house in the foreseeable future, and waiting for the market to correct, you should start accumulating cash in money market. Also, just because it's high now doesn't mean that it can't go higher over the next decade or so... If youre able to max IRA & 401k, then dump the rest of your savings in cash, that might be a good choice. I'm accumulating cash in addition to investing as well.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

but it won't necessarily correct the market the housing.