Investment Liquidity Question

[zenyata]

Hello All –

New to the forum but have been lurking about reading up on all things MMM and trying to grow my own facial hair – is coming along nicely but always good to get fresh perspectives on certain aspects of The Grand Plan...

Apologies if this question or type of question has been covered in detail previously (I’m sure it has) – I’ve skimmed back through much of the forum material but not as thoroughly as I wish I had the time for (I’m working on it…).

So I was looking for opinions regarding what the optimum investment account type / vehicle would be for money that you would want to keep at least somewhat liquid or could have available without having to go through some ridiculous procedure to get access to, yet still might produce a return that makes it worth the trouble to put it in at all.
 
This would be for money that I was designating as the “if all goes well this is going toward bridging the gap” between some not-too-distant future (hopefully  a couple three years down the road) and being able to access funds from my 401(k) and/or funds converted from 401(k) to IRA etc.  BUT that I would also rather not have locked up in some other kind of multi-year obligation in case plans / time horizons / life circumstances change, as they so often do.

Many thanks for any information / suggestion anyone can provide !

[matchewed]

So short term liquidity for a non-specific goal... Roth IRA IMO depending on current assets and what sort of accounts they are in. If you're three years from FIRE then a Roth IRA helps you with the Roth Pipeline method, your contributions can be withdrawn penalty free, and it increases your flexibility. But to be honest there isn't enough information to give good advice. If you think you're three years from FIRE it is time to buckle down and do some research. Forget which accounts you want, you need to be focusing on how to execute a FIRE plan with the accounts you have and fill in any gaps you see from there.

[Eric]

Your standard brokerage account can be accessed immediately without penalty.  Most of us would recommend Vanguard (or Fidelity).  The only caveat is that you'll pay standard income tax rates instead of capital gains rates if your holding time is less than a year.