Windfall from settlement - Where to put it?

[Petunia 100]

Community America Credit Union

https://www.communityamerica.com/

Thank you!

[Boogaloo]

Petunia's pro-tip is astute, although $10,000 max per year. I would max today with that $10,000. The remaining $90,000 any of the other above recommendations are solid. But if you are like me, I might take another $10,000 and get some bitcoin which is cheap right now about $24,000, but don't blame me if it falls more. I might do another $10,000 in precious metals. At any rate it's a nice problem to have, good luck.

Thank you to everyone for your thoughtful replies!

QuarterMillionMan; I am already diversified into crypto and precious metals, I have been in Bitcoin since 2018 @ the 3K/coin mark, so all good there. Believe me, I thought seriously about dumping a bunch more into it when it hit $17K here last month, but thought I would stand my ground. I am not convinced the bottom is in on this downtrend in crypto.

crazyliblady; yeah that interest rate is attractive, but with a $1500.00 cap on the high interest savings, it is way too much work for very little reward like disneysteve said... Boy do I miss the days of 5% interest savings accounts, which ironically, is how I actually found this forum in the first place.... I chased the highest interest rate banks around for a couple years until that whole thing went away.

Petunia; thank you for the ibond link. I am looking into that right now, and in fact, will probably take your advice on maxing out now, then again after Jan 23, and then do some brokered CD ladders with some of the rest of it, and then keep 20 or 30 grand aside to DCA into more bitcoin if the trend starts to reverse or go even lower...

So, to summarize, it seems like ibonds and cd ladders are the general consensus? The bonds part is where I need to educate myself a little bit. I've not really looked into them at all.

[crazyliblady]

That is way too much trouble for very little reward. That’s under $59/yr interest on $1,500.

Well, I guess that's you disneysteve. If I had it in a regular savings at the same institution, it would only earn .03%, which comes out to 45 cents for the whole year. So, let's think about this for a second. Would I rather have an extra $58 per year and just have to transfer about $5 each month to a separate account to maintain the balance requirement? Or would I rather have an extra 45 cents? So, if you find an account earning higher than that, go for it.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Well, I guess that's you disneysteve. If I had it in a regular savings at the same institution, it would only earn .03%, which comes out to 45 cents for the whole year. So, let's think about this for a second. Would I rather have an extra $58 per year and just have to transfer about $5 each month to a separate account to maintain the balance requirement? Or would I rather have an extra 45 cents? So, if you find an account earning higher than that, go for it.

Good point. I think it's hard to see it for savings but Disneysteve is an avid reseller and probably thinks he's better off reselling something he finds and makes that in 1 day of reselling. Something if you want $59/year you can make that potentially in a day!

[disneysteve]

Good point. I think it's hard to see it for savings but Disneysteve is an avid reseller and probably thinks he's better off reselling something he finds and makes that in 1 day of reselling. Something if you want $59/year you can make that potentially in a day!

No, I wasn't thinking that. It's more that as we've gotten older and closer to retirement, I've done a lot to consolidate and simplify our banking and investments. I no longer want to jump through hoops to make a few extra dollars from an account or promotion. I just don't feel that it's a good use of my time at this point.

There's nothing wrong with it and I certainly did a lot of stuff like that years ago. Especially when you're younger and just getting started, those extra dollars have more of an impact. When you're older and more established, not so much.