Betterment Safety Net for Emergency Fund?

[bck63]

I'm just wondering if anyone has experience with using the Betterment Safety Net for an emergency fund. If so, has it worked for you?

For my emergency fund I use a separate Fidelity cash management account, and have cash/short-term treasury index fund/15% S&P 500 index fund. Does anyone do anything similar?

[KlangFool]

I'm just wondering if anyone has experience with using the Betterment Safety Net for an emergency fund. If so, has it worked for you?

For my emergency fund I use a separate Fidelity cash management account, and have cash/short-term treasury index fund/15% S&P 500 index fund. Does anyone do anything similar?

Not me. Only CASH/Checking Account/MMF qualifies for me as an emergency fund. Anything that the nominal value can drop below $1 does not work for me.

KlangFool

[puc_ytpme]

I'm just wondering if anyone has experience with using the Betterment Safety Net for an emergency fund. If so, has it worked for you?

For my emergency fund I use a separate Fidelity cash management account, and have cash/short-term treasury index fund/15% S&P 500 index fund. Does anyone do anything similar?

I do it & understand that it is apart of my overall portfolio even though I don’t view it as such(mental accounting). It is held separately at a different brokerage from my main account. Both are taxable accounts & I kept in mind not to use etfs that I would
Tax Loss Harvest with in my main account. Yet still provided diversification

I went 50/50 AA split.
Vone-35%
Efav-15%
Ief-35%
Gsy-15%

It has worked out for me. YMMV, based on one’s tolerance, perspective & emotional behavior. Experience & time will let you know if it has worked out for you. In reality, what I’ve experienced is, simplicity more often than not beats complexity. Smarter not harder!

Best regards

[puc_ytpme]

viewtopic.php?t=285783

If you get a few

Best regards

[Triple digit golfer]

It is just mental accounting. Holding a larger emergency fund but taking more risk is silly to me. See my post here:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=309472&start=50#p5133698

[bck63]

It is just mental accounting. Holding a larger emergency fund but taking more risk is silly to me. See my post here:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=309472&start=50#p5133698

I hear you. Thanks for the link. I spend hours thinking about this stuff, which is a waste of time. But at least I'm not selling stocks.

Here's my other idea. Instead of using just the Fidelity Treasury MMF at .42% ER, I can make the "cash" portion of my emergency fund half the MMF and half the short-term Treasury index fund (FUMBX, ER .03%). That make the total ER 0.225% with an average duration of only 1.33 years (FUMBX duration is 2.66 years).

Now that one might be a good idea. I hate paying .42% for a Fidelity MMF.

[anon_investor]

It is just mental accounting. Holding a larger emergency fund but taking more risk is silly to me. See my post here:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=309472&start=50#p5133698

I hear you. Thanks for the link. I spend hours thinking about this stuff, which is a waste of time. But at least I'm not selling stocks.

Here's my other idea. Instead of using just the Fidelity Treasury MMF at .42% ER, I can make the "cash" portion of my emergency fund half the MMF and half the short-term Treasury index fund (FUMBX, ER .03%). That make the total ER 0.225% with an average duration of only 1.33 years (FUMBX duration is 2.66 years).

Now that one might be a good idea. I hate paying .42% for a Fidelity MMF.

Why not use not penalty CDs? You can find them at Ally, Marcus and CIT all earning over 1% with FDIC insurance. I have been using no penalty CDs at Ally (where I also have checking and savings) for my emergency fund.

[nix4me]

The betterment safety net is 13 ETFs - for a 15/85 mix of Stocks/Bonds.

You can easily replicate it with 15/85 mix of any SP500 or total stock ETF like VOO and any short term bond/treasury fund(s).

[Cam_949]

The betterment safety net is 13 ETFs - for a 15/85 mix of Stocks/Bonds.

You can easily replicate it with 15/85 mix of any SP500 or total stock ETF like VOO and any short term bond/treasury fund(s).

Just an FYI that the new Betterment Safety Net is 15/85 but the old is a 60/40 (Bonds/Equities). The account has performed just over 5% the last few years but might suggest just using a high savings account such as Ally or Capital One. Less risk and no need to liquidate if you need the cash.