Best Place to Stash Some Cash?

With the stock market swinging wildly up and down, real estate prices still falling in many markets, and banks paying basically zero (or worse) on savings accounts, I’m curious what the readers think about where’s the best place to keep one’s cash today.

Let’s assume you just want to hold the money and avoid losing value (including to inflation). Gaining a large return is not a requirement. Where would you stash your cash today? For the real estate option, let’s assume that we’re not talking about Seattle-area real estate, but some other market that has corrected more.