Page 1 of 1

Cash ETF round up

Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 9:54 pm
by captain3d
Hi All

Just checking out the latest choices (and old ones)

SHY
TUZ
SCHO
All seem good 1 - 3 year treasury ETFs

SHV is one year

BIL is a new one for me and says it is 1 - 3 months T bills (0.14% expenses)

As I am forced to use less than perfect bond options in my 401k for cash I want something as conservative as possible outside teh 401k for the balance of my cash portion. Was going to go for SHV until I saw BIL. Anyone using it?

phil

Re: Cash ETF round up

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 7:02 pm
by Pkg Man
Why not just buy T-bills from TreasuryDirect since outside the 401k?

Re: Cash ETF round up

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 9:51 am
by captain3d
Thanks All

I ended up mixing a few of them, including BIL and SHV, as I have an account at www.foliofn.com which has unlimited trades ($270 a year) and allows fractional share buying etc.

I have never actually bought treasuries directly but sometimes the obvious answer is overlooked - thanks. Maybe I will go and open an account there.

phil

Re: Cash ETF round up

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 8:52 pm
by Pkg Man
captain3d wrote: Thanks All

I ended up mixing a few of them, including BIL and SHV, as I have an account at www.foliofn.com which has unlimited trades ($270 a year) and allows fractional share buying etc.

I have never actually bought treasuries directly but sometimes the obvious answer is overlooked - thanks. Maybe I will go and open an account there.

phil
Once you are up and running buying Tbills is pretty simple.  You can buy a mix of Tbills (one-year, six-months, 30-days) to create your own preferred average maturity, and have them automatically reinvest if you wish.  I can't speak for how easy or hard it is to sell them though.  I think a blend of cash assets is best for convenience.

Re: Cash ETF round up

Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 12:30 am
by AdamA
Pkg Man wrote: Once you are up and running buying Tbills is pretty simple.  You can buy a mix of Tbills (one-year, six-months, 30-days) to create your own preferred average maturity, and have them automatically reinvest if you wish.  I can't speak for how easy or hard it is to sell them though.  I think a blend of cash assets is best for convenience.
You have to go through a broker to sell them now, but if you just let them mature without renewing, the money is deposited back into your bank account. 

Re: Cash ETF round up

Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 4:28 pm
by Pkg Man
Adam1226 wrote:
Pkg Man wrote: Once you are up and running buying Tbills is pretty simple.  You can buy a mix of Tbills (one-year, six-months, 30-days) to create your own preferred average maturity, and have them automatically reinvest if you wish.  I can't speak for how easy or hard it is to sell them though.  I think a blend of cash assets is best for convenience.
You have to go through a broker to sell them now, but if you just let them mature without renewing, the money is deposited back into your bank account. 
Thanks.  I think that is a good reason to hold a mix -- some pure Tbills, I/EE bonds for the cash you are unlikely to need for rebalancing, and some in SHY/SHY for ease of sale.