Hey so I couldn't help but look at your numbers (fucking impressive man, I hope to be like you some day). Out of curiosity why do you keep so much of your net worth in liquid assets? ($161,365.71) like I see that you have over $98,000 in a CD
Thank you sir. Few years ago this would have appeared impossible, but due to careful budgeting, help from the community, we managed to get here. I wish you all the best, I am sure you too will be able to achieve your goals if you focus on them.
As to why I have so much in liquid assets, its because of ignorance on investing when I started my journey towards building wealth. Let me elaborate.
My wealth building journey started in March 2011 when I my first job out of college (I still work for the same company). I did not have any knowledge of investing. I contributed minimum to my 401k, and for a while in between, I contributed 0% (if there was one thing I would change, it would be this).
I soon started learning about investing, and I realized that there is a lot of tax benefit to be had in contributing to 401k, and Roth IRA. Ever since then, I started contributing aggressively to my 401k, which currently stands at 22%, and I also maximize my Roth IRA contributions at the beginning of the year.
The CD I have, pays me 2.3%, which as CDs go, is not terrible, but there are bond funds out there that do better than this. So I would not recommend going this route at all. In fact, looking at the latest offerings for CDs from Bankrate.com, Snychrony Bank stands at the top with a miserable 1.85%.
I would recommend saving enough money in a savings account to cover 3-6 months of living expenses (or income if you want to be very conservative about it), and then investing the rest.
Good luck to you. Feel free to ask any questions you have.