I grew up with frugal parents, but there was no real investing in our home besides retirement/home mortgage. My father pays cash for EVERYTHING. They don't have debit cards. So while I got a great lesson in saving and living within your means, as an adult I find that I get deer-in-headlights-fear when it comes to doing anything with cash besides accruing it in a bank account.
I need some encouragement to actually invest money in something besides retirement (403b & vanguard IRAs, traditional and Roth, may get h a SEP but haven't fully explored that).
We're early 30s, living comfortably, debt free, and maxing out our retirement options. We have accumulated an "emergency fund" of well beyond what we'd need in an actual emergency: around $45k. We have decided against homeownership for the next few years. So it's time to take a big chunk of that cash and put it somewhere where it will earn more than $35/month in interest. I have all the steps of how to do this with Vanguard written down, and I've looked at their fund options, their advice, and the MMM forum advice. I just need the face punch to actually do it.
Please face punch me! Give me all the reasons why looking at the cash in a bank account is ridiculous!