<prompt> Human: Hello,I recently came into 21k. Im paying off debt and taking care of some essentials, but when the dust settles I will have about 20K cash to my name.Im 26, male, in Seattle, pretty useless BA, with healthauto insurance, 500month rent. I just quit my bartending job for unrelated reasons. Im fairly employable in a couple fields so Im not worried about finding a decent paying job 30kyr on short notice. I plan on doing a bit of traveling w the money, maybe spending 5k at most. When I get back I will start working again. I want to set aside around 5k in an emergency fund. Im not interested in investing towards retirement an IRA. My credit union has about 3 interest rate on savings accounts, but I would like to do better.So my question is: what should I do with the remaining 8k? Looking for concrete advice on investing, Id like market rate returns on money I can touch whenever I want. Should I consult a financial advisor? Im weary of spending on fees, etc. I am also good friends with a CPA who I am comfortable running things by.Thank you Assistant: are you planning on killing yourself young? is that why you dont care about you future? or do you just really want to work until youre 80?Human: Haha, live fast die young right? I didnt mean to sound crass, but as I mentioned above, Im not interested in an IRA, but a quicker return and something I can touch without penalty before retirement. Perhaps stocks, ie a mutual fund. Im very novice when it comes to finance and am looking for the best, most productive path that will show returns in the short term. Assistant: good returns and short term dont go together. when do you need the money. if you talk more about when you need it and why you might get more productive responses because pretty much everyone is going to suggest retirement.Human: Fair enough, there is no set date for the money. Ideally, in May 2017 instead of having 10,300 if I left 10k in my savings account 3 I would have something like 10,700. So a more refined question: how can I get 7 returns with as little risk as possible while being able to access the money whenever I want without gross penalties.  <response>: how can I get 7 returns with as little risk as possible while being able to access the money whenever I want without gross penalties.You dont. You decide which is more important.If you want safe and perfectly liquid you are looking at much smaller returns 1-3, in a well researched high interest rate bank savings product.If you want 7 and liquid you can invest it in the market, hope for that return, and accept the risk that you may lose a substantial amount of the funds. 