FirstStepsInvesting

Decoder · Accounts

Settlement fund (core position)

The cash parking spot inside a brokerage or IRA where money waits — deposits land here, and buys are paid from here. It usually earns a money-market-style yield. Money resting in the settlement fund is not invested in the market, however long it sits there. This one mechanism explains the most common beginner freeze: 'I put money in — why is nothing happening?'

For your first $100: After your first $100 lands, check where it is parked. If it is in the settlement fund, the choosing step has not happened yet — the empty-account pages walk you through it.

401(k), in plain words403(b), in plain wordsEmployer match, in plain words

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See this word inside your order