Long story short I received 27K as part of an inheritance. I am a grad student (27 years old) and want to make sure that I’m saving this money properly. I have no debt and my grad stipend is enough to pay my expenses but not save too much.
I have any HYSA with a yield right now of 3.25% and have two months expenses in there. I also have a Fidelity brokerage and Roth with some investments, mostly ETFs. I can’t max out my Roth because my grad stipend is not enough.
How should I split this money? I was thinking of putting 25 to 50% in the HYSA and the remainder in FDLXX? I have not considered investing (VTI, VXUS, etc.) because of the market right now, but maybe you guys have a different opinion on that?
Looking for any advice because this is a lot of money for me.
In need of financial advice for receiving 27k. HYSA and Fidelity FDLXX? Invest in ETF?
byu/ScienceNerd771 inpersonalfinance
Posted by ScienceNerd771
1 Comment
First off, you’re in a really solid spot for 27 — no debt + already investing is huge.
If it were me, I’d keep it simple and not overthink the market timing part. People have been saying “the market is weird right now” forever, and it usually ends up not mattering long term.
I’d probably break it down like this:
Build your emergency fund up to at least 4–6 months (especially since grad stipends can be a bit fragile)
Keep some cash in HYSA for near-term flexibility (moving, random life stuff, etc.)
Then slowly invest the rest into broad ETFs (like VTI / VXUS) over time instead of all at once
FDLXX is fine for parking cash, but it’s basically just a slightly better cash position — it’s not really “growth.”
Since you’re not earning a ton right now, another underrated move is just keeping optionality. Having cash while you’re in grad school can make your life way less stressful.
You don’t need to perfectly optimize this. Avoiding big mistakes > squeezing out an extra 1–2% return.