What to do with all this money ... ?

It's never been a worry or concern for this user. After all, I don't bring in six figures (not sure if that term is used outside the United States... or even in the United States, for that matter).

Decades ago, when I inherited a financial advisor/planner (now they are called 'wealth managers'), I was told that the secret to my success would be in creating a diversified portfolio.

Of course, my notion of what the word 'portfolio' meant was not anywhere near the meaning that was used by the money person.


I was made aware that my money would be used to invest in instruments that would be used as tools to financial gain. Most of the portfolio was in mutual funds. There was also a pesky life insurance policy from a company that had been around since the age of Napolean and Queen Victoria. These funds were not quite as liquid as, say, a checking account, but they were the bedrock of the investments.

Did I have anything on the side? I had a collection of bonds (United States Savings and State of Israel ones), an account at work called the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), and some dabbling with a company called LendingClub. LendingClub sort of went the wayside for me. At one point, the 'investing' went into a savings account in Boston. After a while, I just got rid of it all together.

The day-to-day money gets funneled through a local checking account at a local credit union. I do have some bank accounts (I will not work with a bank that charges any fees for 'maintaining' my account) and I more or less keep them because they have been in my life for oh-so-long. None of the banks that I use is based in my home state... one is even located on the Hawaiian islands. I keep the Hawaiian bank account so that if/when I return, I will always have ready cash to play with.

These days I play the numbers. I have about seven sets of numbers that I use for POWERBALL. When I buy the tickets, I might get two or three scratchers for extra fun. I only scratch off the bar code. I never look at the prizes.

Oh, and I don't want to overlook the coffee can that's loaded with coins. I generally carry it in my knapsack when I travel. It sets off the alarms at the airport and it's always fun to show to security. You'd think they'd never seen coins in a coffee can before.