Cash profile

I've spent a lot of time over the past few weeks organising and managing my cash balances.  As the balance has grown to a significant proportion of my total assets (currently around 36%) and isn't likely to reduce significantly in the short term, i consider it important to manage this as closely as i would manage my other investments.

There are a number of parameters i consider in managing my cash.  These include:

Security:
My preference is to use reputable financial institutions, with balances covered by deposit guarantee schemes.  The only exception i have made to this is a relatively small experimental placement in a peer to peer lending site, which offers a much greater return for the increased risk to capital.

Accessibility:
The ease of transferring funds in and out of accounts.  This is important being an expat with funds in different locations.  My preference is to do as much as possible online.  I also need to be aware of the terms and conditions of existing and new accounts, which can differ by country and institution.

Maturity:
This is a balance between funds being available on demand or after a fixed term, based on when i would like the ability to access the cash.  The current maturity profile of my cash balances is summarised below:

	On demand	<3mths	<1yr	<2yrs	>2yrs		Total
% of cash	49%	19%	3%	23%	6%		100%
% of assets	18%	7%	1%	8%	2%		36%

I am currently keeping a significant amount of cash in instant access accounts should better investment opportunities arise.  I'm generally keeping new time deposits to a maximum of 2 years given the current low rate environment, as there is little advantage to locking in low rates for excessive time periods.

Currency/Country:
Again, this requires more active management as an expat.  I generally limit myself to placing cash in countries that i either currently live, have lived in the past or am likely to live in the future, in order to minimise my global tax footprint.  In terms of currencies, this is primarily based on currencies that i have active cashflows in, or the currency of the country where the funds are placed.   I generally do not make speculative investments in currencies, apart from the occasional RMB time deposit which has recently offered the opportunity for both enhanced yield and capital appreciation.

Yield:
This is generally a trade-off with the other parameters, with higher rates often available on longer term fixed rate deposits or in certain currencies.  Following some recent maintenance and a few new accounts, my average yield on cash is up to around 2%.  I have been trying to minimise cash held in HKD given (a) the extremely low interest rates available, and (b) my positive HKD cash flow generation from employment.