Short term investment strategies

[Buckwheat 1]

Forget stocks unless you love risk, find a good ETF.

I would not buy stocks right now.8 years into a bull market we are in a danger zone.A nice short ETF should make some money right up to the election.

 

[black4vcobra]

1yr and you can't tolerate more than a 5% loss?

100%, stay in cash.

EDIT- BTW, once you guys are married and it's all behind you, then use it to pay off any consumer debt and then throw it at mortgage for PMI. If she wasn't part of choosing this house, you have a pretty good chance of moving...

my retirement accounts are pretty aggressive as I'm 32 but I just don't want a serious risk of losing a significant portion of wedding money that was given to us but was hoping for a few percent gain with relatively low risk. If not possible I'll put some towards the house and keep the rest in cash. She had input on the house.

I'd talk to your mortgage lender and confirm PMI comes off automatically. They changed the rules a while back and you pay PMI for 5yrs regardless of the 80/20 rule. I think that only applies to conventional and not FHA. Paying the principal down a lot up front is always good but I'd check regarding the PMI issue.

PMI comes off at 20% if requested, conventional loan

Little backwards. FHA is the life of the loan, not only until you hit 78% LTV anymore. Granted there is some variance in their guidelines on that, but it no longer cancels automatically. Of course the obvious solution would be to refi into a conventional.

Conventional has a few different types. You can do PMI until you have 20% equity, or go no PMI and pay just under an extra percent in interest, which tends to be a few bucks less than paying PMI.

Yup

Retire debt and become financially independant from creditors. Leave six months combined salary for the unexpected (i.e. Loss of employment and medical). Continue to pay down debt by paying off the highest interest rate debt, then move on the next highest rate debt. When you get to your mortgage as the last item, make double payments until it is gone.

Working on it. Have close to a 3 month cushion, no debt besides the woman's 2016 Accord at 1.99% and the house at 4%, though with PMI. Getting enough equity to get out of PMI seems to be the most pressing financial burden at the moment

 

[jbs$]

Instead of just paying down the existing 4% loan to try to get rid of the PMI, look into a new loan, with the addition money going into the equity. This should accomplish two important things, one, a lower interest rate and, second, no PMI. Shop around for the best deals on interest and loan closing cost.

 

[allister]

I agree on throwing it on the mortgage. Enter your numbers into a mortgage payoff calculator and you'll see exactly how much you'll save in interest over time, plus how faster you'll get to pay it off, should be well worth it and might also serve as a motivational tool to keep adding on extra payments. Crazy how it all adds up and crazy how much faster you can pay off a mortgage just by adding on a little extra each month, every little bit counts!

 

[R.D.P.]

I hear Puerto Rico bonds are going for cheap these days.