Keep Cash Moving When You Need It
Make your cash easy to move
The situation. Your cash and assets may live in a handful of different places, sometimes simply to diversify for security reasons. Even when everything is organized, moving money can still involve extra steps that slow things down when you need it most.
What you can do. Define a few simple, reliable pathways for moving cash between your key accounts. For example, you might keep a primary liquidity account that can be funded quickly from an investment account, a business distribution account, or a line of credit.
Set up and test transfers, linked accounts, or standing instructions so you’re not initiating everything from scratch each time. When you already know cash comes from here and moves like this, access becomes quick and predictable when you quickly need it.
Build an immediate-use capital layer
The situation. Some of your wealth is accessible in theory, but not without tradeoffs. Consider the following examples:
Selling would trigger taxes you’d prefer to defer
Positions you don’t want to unwind (long-term strategy)
Private investments with long horizons
Real estate that’s liquid only with time and effort
What you can do. Instead of treating all assets as equally available, carve out a dedicated pool of 'immediate-use' capital that’s meant to be available to be deployed if needed.
This might live in a high-yield cash account, short-term treasuries, or a brokerage account with short-term securities you’re comfortable tapping without disrupting your broader strategy. This is money you can use immediately for opportunities, obligations, or timing gaps without any tax hesitation or portfolio second-guessing.
Create a defined fallback plan
The situation. Even as you build and expand a dedicated immediate-use capital layer, there may be periods while it’s still taking shape and not yet sized to cover every need. This is where a secondary plan becomes valuable. The key is deciding ahead of time which of your other assets will get liquidated first.
What you can do. Map out your next sources of cash in advance, especially the ones that come with tradeoffs. After your 'immediate-use' capital layer, list the assets you’d turn to next, and be specific about when you’d be willing to use them.
You might, for example, decide to tap a taxable investment account only after a certain threshold is crossed, trim a long-term position only if markets are stable, or explore selling a private holding if a liquidity event is already on the horizon. By defining these conditions ahead of time, you avoid making tough calls under pressure.
Stay ready without continuous oversight
A strong liquidity plan doesn’t require constant attention. It simply gives your money a clear path when it needs to move. When access, timing, and tradeoffs are already thought through, you can act quickly, stay flexible, and focus on bigger decisions with confidence.
As a final thought, make this plan available to a chosen loved one, in case of emergency. This is especially important for couples, as tragedies happen at a moments notice and with the advent of Multi Factor Authentication, if you cannot get into a phone you are in a pickle with no access to cash.