u/scoberly

I keep emergency fund in taxable brokerage. SGOV. My allocation is <= 10% of my brokerage portfolio (not overall portfolio) with a do-not-exceed fixed value amount. It's currently at that amount.

It's ~7 months of unchanged living expenses.

Other notes:
- stable employment and good income
- consistent savings rate above 50%
- 20ish working years remaining
- good health insurance
- no known cash need ie house down payment etc
- family backstop in a true catastrophe

Maybe none of that really matters re EF?

I like the idea of rebalancing with it in a downturn.

Where do other people land? I know this is a very subjective question.

I oftentimes feel like it's too much cash.

My parents recently came to me and said, wow we're paying our investment manager a lot of money. We want to give you some of it to invest on our behalf. Do your "passive investing thing." I was floored.

They're in their early 70's and still working and earning (they love their careers).

It's ~10% of their overall savings. Not generational wealth but a substantial amount. They want to be "riskier" with it. They told me to assume they'll never need it and they trust me to do whatever I think is best.

My inclination is 100% VT or VTI/VXUS and 0% bonds. I'm thinking of it as a seed for future generations.

But... I'm nervous. It's not my money. Am I being too risky? Is there something I'm overlooking? Trying to stay out of my own way here.

Maybe someone has been in a similar situation.

Can anyone explain the policy behind allowing backdoor Roth IRA conversions?

The end result seems to be that earners above the income threshold just have to file more paperwork. My traditional IRA collects dust all year with a $0 balance waiting for its big moment in January. (Actually $0.02, I can't ever convert literally the last two cents.)

Is this loophole a tax law relic? Should we count on it staying open indefinitely?