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birb_cromble  1d ago (text post)   270 thread views

Weekly Finance Thread - 2026-08-08

A weekly thread to discuss financial matters - from personal all the way up to global.

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I have a portion of my portfolio that I would like to be highly liquid and effectively zero risk. Currently, my approach is to buy Blackrock money market ETFs, but these present a problem in that a) my broker does not have good tools for daily cash sweeps, so getting compounding interest requires too much micro-managing and b) the gains are subject to income tax.

Do you guys have approaches to the risk-free parts of your portfolios that are brainless and optimized? I'd strongly, strongly prefer for it to be accessible through Merrill so I can keep high status.

my broker does not have good tools for daily cash sweeps, so getting compounding interest requires too much micro-managing

I think I'm not fully understanding here -- are you referring to reinvesting dividends automatically, or is it that every time you make a deposit, you want it to automatically be invested in the MMF? If it's the former, I'd have thought for sure Merrill would have that option; if the latter, could you schedule an automatic "buy" that just doesn't execute if there's no cash in the account?

I'd strongly, strongly prefer for it to be accessible through Merrill so I can keep high status.

What benefits does that actually bring, out of curiosity? I've always wondered about that sort of thing.

I'd have thought for sure Merrill would have that option

You'd be surprised how many brokerages don't offer this. They make money by using fallow cash for their own investing, and allowing an automated sweep would kill that resource.

Looks like ML has a cash management account that allows automatic dividend reinvesting, even if nowhere else, so that might be the best option depending on fees.

My brokerage doesn't have an automated cash sweep either. I just go in twice a month and buy a mix of ultra short term treasury funds (like SGOV) and a state municipal bond ETF. Both are tax advantaged and have a post tax return that beats my broker's money market offerings.

It's not 100% brainless, and the duration on the municipals carries some risk, but it's not terrible.

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