I like Roger Whitney’s thinking on this topic (Retirement Answer Man podcast). For your short horizon (~5 years) spending on basic living expenses, it is more important to have return OF your money vs. return ON your money. I use a 5 year Treasury bond ladder.
I too rely heavily on spreadsheets (and Quicken) and would hate to lose any data. That said, a thumb drive backup twice a year seems risky. I recommend an automated cloud based backup service (I use iDrive but there are several). For <$100/year per year I get piece of mind that my family’s data is always backed up including precious photos, documents, and my all important spreadsheets. (No I don’t work for a backup company). Being a belt and suspenders kind of guy, I also take a backup disk to my safe deposit box every quarter. An added benefit of these services is the ability to restore an older version of a worksheet which I’ve had to do on occasion.
Comments
I like Roger Whitney’s thinking on this topic (Retirement Answer Man podcast). For your short horizon (~5 years) spending on basic living expenses, it is more important to have return OF your money vs. return ON your money. I use a 5 year Treasury bond ladder.
Post: Bond Index Funds or Something Else?
Link to comment from February 1, 2025
I too rely heavily on spreadsheets (and Quicken) and would hate to lose any data. That said, a thumb drive backup twice a year seems risky. I recommend an automated cloud based backup service (I use iDrive but there are several). For <$100/year per year I get piece of mind that my family’s data is always backed up including precious photos, documents, and my all important spreadsheets. (No I don’t work for a backup company). Being a belt and suspenders kind of guy, I also take a backup disk to my safe deposit box every quarter. An added benefit of these services is the ability to restore an older version of a worksheet which I’ve had to do on occasion.
Post: Driven by Data
Link to comment from October 1, 2023