do you have so little of life's necessities around that you NEED cash during the 2-3 day window that this may present? i think its an overly conservative waste of money letting it sit idle in a safe or low interest baring account.
That's fine. You're not making my investment decisions. My wife and I are happy with the decision, and that's what counts here.
"risky" investments. really? you see the stock market as a "risky" investment.
I see the stock market as reliably going up as long as growth continues. I see that we've hit some interesting limits to indefinite growth (mostly energy related), and I don't have particularly great faith in America making it through to the other end uninterrupted.
the entire premise for FIRE for 90% of this forum that dont do RE investing is that its infact overtime NOT a risky investment. its stable. yes on a year to year basis it could be unstable but if you apply the concept of invest every dollar i have extra you will come out far ahead assuming the entire markets dont collapse completely destroying any premise that fire is based on.
Well, you see, I view the possibility of a market collapse as something likely enough in my lifespan that it's worth spending a bit of effort on that path - hence my interest in "investing" into productive assets on my property over index funds, given the option. Solar, water storage, gardens, chicken coops, aquaponics greenhouse, etc.
1. paying down a mortgage
I'll break your brain here, then. I paid cash for a house because nobody was willing to give me a mortgage. I bought a manufactured home ("trailer house" by mortgage standards), and I dared to take a few months off work, with a new job contract signed, so I could work on getting the house set up, the property improved, an office for myself online, etc.
both of these are primarily emotional decisions that rarely make sense mathematically under current market/interest rate conditions.
Betterment has been a nice way to lose money slowly for me. Lending Club gets worse as time goes on. And I did sell off my assorted index funds to buy the house, so... *shrug*
If one believes that the markets and future are fully predictable based on a spreadsheet and assumptions about the last 50 years (which is, historically speaking, the blink of an eye), great. Go for it. Have fun!
the 5k on hand for a drive way replacement to save 350 bucks is laughable as that 5k invested over 30 years would make you 61k...
In dollars, sure. In actual purchasing value? A lot less than you imply.
Anyway, you obviously disagree with my views on investing, and I clearly disagree with yours. We'll see how it works. If I'm right, I'll be a good bit better off than you. If I'm wrong, I'll have worked an extra year or two, have absurdly low retirement spending, and eat a lot of tasty food for which I know the chain of inputs.