U.S. Investors Are Flush With Cash, and Happy to Keep It There

Wall Street Journal ^ | 09/27/2025 | Hannah Erin Lang

[SeekAndFind]

U.S. investors are sitting on a pile of cash. Even with rates now coming down, many are in no rush to move it.

Assets in money-market funds reached a record $7.7 trillion last week, with more than $60 billion flowing into those funds during the first four days of the month, according to Crane Data, an industry researcher.

The latest rush into money funds began in 2022, when the Federal Reserve started raising rates. The yields on these funds, which typically hold short-term government debt, also rose, giving investors higher returns on their cash than they have had in years. Many have kept a larger slice of their portfolios in these cashlike investments ever since—as the stock market raced to record highs.

That is unlikely to change soon, even with the Fed now cutting rates. Money funds are still yielding a lot more than what they had in the 2010s and early 2020s, when the financial crisis and then the Covid pandemic pushed rates to ultralow levels. With stocks by some measures now more expensive than ever, some investors are willing to wait for discounts. And it will take more than one (or two or three) rate cuts to change their minds.

“It is indeed a ‘wall of cash,’ because it ain’t going anywhere,” said Peter Crane, president of Crane Data.

Cash allocations among individual investors are still hovering above levels seen in the months leading up to rate increases in 2022, according to survey data from the American Association of Individual Investors.

Money-market funds offer a seven-day annualized net yield of 4.1% as of the end of August, according to Crane’s index of 100 such funds. The national average annual yield for a bank savings account is a paltry 0.6%, according to a survey by Bankrate.

[GOPJ]

The national average annual yield for a bank savings account is a paltry 0.6%

In the last 3 months I made 7.62% on VOO, 56.46% on INTC (Intel) and 201.08% on UUUU. And I lost 6.71% on GWW (Grainger) I'll skip the savings account for now...

[kiryandil]

My own money-market fund return has been dropping.

Sounds like the WSJ is behind the times.

[GOPJ]

Either we believe Trump can pull this off - or we don’t. I’m in with Trump. Liberals can sit on the sidelines.

[frank ballenger]

Thanks to millions of entitlements grabbing illegal aliens, our taxpayers flush our cash.

🚽🧻🌊

“Differing estimates on the cost of benefits provided to undocumented immigrants result in amounts including over $150 billion annually.”
“They and their families may receive other services and benefits.”
💸💸💸💸💸💸💸💸

[SaxxonWoods]

Yes, all the funds are dropping, WSJ information is over a month old.

[Wuli]

Money/cash&equivalents is waiting to see if the fed, the money supply or interest rates - one or the other or all three - will favor bonds, equities, or flight to safety; that question seems unsettled for now.

[electricjack]

As a former Pension Trustee for a Police Department pension fund, 100% of the employee pension funds are buying and selling like crazy when you invest in the mighty 4. Vanguard, Black Street, and two other funds with $20-30 million and a 4-6% ROI are a paltry $250,000 to a pension fund with 225 participants; that’s a substantial amount of money. The WSJ is a questionable source for only doing one thing: being a wrapper for dead fish.