On the "How much money people keep in their checkbooks" thing, I mean "what sort of balance does the checkbook have?" -- receipts from the ATM would tell me people's ending balance. Mine, not that you asked, is generally a couple of thousand dollars. It grows because I spend (way) less than I make. When it gets to 10K, I do something with the money because it is wasteful and wrong to forego interest on 10K. "Doing something" is usually loaning it out at 7%, putting it into my Roth IRA, sending it off to my brother's kids' college funds. Sometimes I put it into one of my online bank accounts (I have several, all of which are currently paying a whopping 1.10%) for later. Oh, and sometimes I spend it on stuff. Last year I bought a roof for my house. It's metal. Cost me $3800 but now the roof does not leak. (The Roth didn't get any money for 2008 b/c I bought a roof instead.)
On what to do with your piles of filthy lucre -- Oh, dear. Where to start?
Keeping more than walking-around money in a checkbook is not a very good idea. Most checking accounts do not pay enough interest to bother keeping track of it. Even ones that do pay interest pay it at shit-tastic rates these days.
CD rates are also in the shitter at the moment, cf. notes from most recent FOMC meeting: "The Fed has held its target range for its bank lending rate between zero and 0.25 percent, where it has been since December 2008. In response, commercial banks' prime lending rate, used to peg rates on certain credit cards and consumer loans, has stayed about 3.25 percent. That's its lowest point in decades." (Source (http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/personalfinance/more-upbeat-fed-pledges-to-maintain-record-low-interest-rates/1091174))
Money markets are probably the best you're going to be able to do for a cash investment right now... and they're not particularly stellar. On the plus side, they're way more liquid than CDs in the event of job evaporation.
Dumping the money into the house is not a bad idea, particularly considering the lack of exciting interest-rate options. The house is a real thing and will retain value in the face of inflation (which, given our exceedingly lax monetary policies at the moment and our willingness to print our way to solvency, remains a concern).
If it were me, I'd split the monies available to you in half, roughly. One half goes into a money market account for whatever poor interest you can get from it. Some is better than none. The other half you can dump on your mortgage and turn it into "house" which will hold value better than our dollar will over the next thirty years.
If you have money that you don't need now or in the next thirty years, you can open up a Roth IRA (You only need 5K to do that) and invest it in solid stocks with decent dividends and a history of fiscally responsible behavior. I'm partial to utilities (water, electric, gas) at the moment, but feel free to find your own path there.
no subject
On what to do with your piles of filthy lucre -- Oh, dear. Where to start?
Keeping more than walking-around money in a checkbook is not a very good idea. Most checking accounts do not pay enough interest to bother keeping track of it. Even ones that do pay interest pay it at shit-tastic rates these days.
CD rates are also in the shitter at the moment, cf. notes from most recent FOMC meeting: "The Fed has held its target range for its bank lending rate between zero and 0.25 percent, where it has been since December 2008. In response, commercial banks' prime lending rate, used to peg rates on certain credit cards and consumer loans, has stayed about 3.25 percent. That's its lowest point in decades." (Source (http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/personalfinance/more-upbeat-fed-pledges-to-maintain-record-low-interest-rates/1091174))
Money markets are probably the best you're going to be able to do for a cash investment right now... and they're not particularly stellar. On the plus side, they're way more liquid than CDs in the event of job evaporation.
Dumping the money into the house is not a bad idea, particularly considering the lack of exciting interest-rate options. The house is a real thing and will retain value in the face of inflation (which, given our exceedingly lax monetary policies at the moment and our willingness to print our way to solvency, remains a concern).
If it were me, I'd split the monies available to you in half, roughly. One half goes into a money market account for whatever poor interest you can get from it. Some is better than none. The other half you can dump on your mortgage and turn it into "house" which will hold value better than our dollar will over the next thirty years.
If you have money that you don't need now or in the next thirty years, you can open up a Roth IRA (You only need 5K to do that) and invest it in solid stocks with decent dividends and a history of fiscally responsible behavior. I'm partial to utilities (water, electric, gas) at the moment, but feel free to find your own path there.