<prompt> Human: Without giving too many potentially descriptive details: my friend sold his house several years ago he traveled out-of-country for an extended period, and has rented and lived a generally low-cost lifestyle since then.He has had the funds sitting in a savings account since then though I do believe it is a high interest account like Ally bank.He intends to purchase a house in the near future say 1-2 years and plans to use the previously mentioned money as a significant portion of the purchase price.Could he do anything better with this money during this time, considering he wants to keep the funds liquid, in preparation for a home purchase?Im wondering if he would be better served to put the funds into retirement standard PF recommendation of low-cost index funds, etc and just take out another home loan, assuming the rate on the loan is lower than the expected returns on the retirement fund. Obviously he would want to hold back enough for a 20 downpayment, or however much is required to avoid PMI.Assistant: Not with that timeframe.Human: Seems to be the key point. 5 years ago the money could have made money, IF he had been willing to do so. But my understanding is that 5 years ago while on his world travels, this lump sum of money was his safety net that he could fall back on if he decided to come home early and rejoin us working stiffs in our office jobs. So it served its purpose back then as a liquid safety net, and now theres not much to do with it if hes looking to use it in the near future.edit: although the 20 downpayment and invest the rest option seems a good alternative, if his risk tolerance allows it.  <response>: Its below FDIC limits, so I wouldnt really worry about it too much. He may be losing money via opportunity costs of investment X, Y, and Z, but he also gets to avoid 100 of the risk at this level. Short term corporategovt bonds may be worth looking into for stability, but theyre definitely a longer term equals higher yield deal 