I have about $5k I want to invest (on top of 6 months of living expenses in my savings account).
I am not super literate about investing so I just want to put it in an account and not think about it, ideally–I want the value to not depreciate/match inflation, everything else is extra. I am *not* looking for something risky. I already have some money in I-bonds, I could add to that but I don't want to unless I don't have other options.
The problem is I'm not planning to stay in the US long-term, so an IRA is probably not right for me. I've looked into index funds, but a lot of them seem to require more money than I am willing to invest right now. Any advice would be appreciated, but also, is it worth it to talk to a financial advisor about this?
Investing a small amount
byu/BadAtCoding123 inpersonalfinance
Posted by BadAtCoding123
6 Comments
> not depreciate/match inflation
I bonds. Or if you’re in the military/federal government, G fund in the TSP.
Regular bank accounts won’t lose principal, but may not match inflation.
TIPS will match inflation, but principal is not guaranteed in real terms.
Anything else still risks losing value.
I would say it depends on how long you are in the US for, but you could easily open a brokerage account and through some of it into SWTSX or another fund like it FZROX.
Just a thought.
What’s your age OP? I assume you are on the younger side.
The wiki of the sub has a pretty solid starting point which helps before getting more specific with your questions -> [https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/young_adult/](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/young_adult/)
Also you mentioned
> I’ve looked into index funds, but a lot of them seem to require more money than I am willing to invest right now
You can always invest in an ETF version
What country are you going to be a tax resident of after leaving the US? What does not long-term mean?
People here have mentioned various US-domiciled ETFs. There are *different treaties* with *different countries* on how those are taxed. If you are going to leave next year and go back to say, Greece, then you might want an Irish domiciled ETF and not a US one if you are invested in US stocks.
This is all somewhat nonconsequential on $5k. The bigger issue is if you make a specific investment choice and continue investing in it over many years after moving to a country where you are taxed poorly for holding that specific fund. The tax consequences might not be obvious at first.
tbh if your sole purpose is “do not get beaten by inflation,” then yes, HYSA or a treasury fund will do just fine. 5k is actually not something that needs an advisor’s expertise to be invested. I mean, it doesn’t take much to pay just for receiving some fundamental advice on that. If you can bear a little risk, go for a broadly based ETF like VTI/VOO
Making ongoing recurring weekly or bi-weekly contributions (and to savings as well) can help mitigate the impact of inflation. Conceptually if you want lower risk and not-complicated, best framework generally is a mutual fund or ETF that tracks a major stock index like the S&P. Bonds generally have lower risk than stocks but also substantially lower returns (with exceptions of course, and in the context of a long 10+ year investment horizon…).