Is cash king at the moment?

[Duy Do]

I'm a single 24 years old living in Houston. I dropped out of college since I'm just a straight trash student and hustled in the last 3 years. I saved 50%-70% of every profit/income I got and lived well below my means. I managed to save up $120,000 in total asset and I'm eager to invest but I'm also frightened at the idea of screwing up my saving, especially now in the middle of a pandemic and a possible market crash. I came up with 3 options:

1/ Put money into the market. Just put the money gradually into the 90%SPY/10%Bond portfolio 

2/ Put money into RE. Buy a fixer upper for $50,000-$80,000 cash and utilize the BRRRR method

3/ Just holding cash and wait for the waves to ease out

So, is the best day to invest is today or cash is king now? Considering the situation now, if you were in my shoes, what would you do?

[Ujwal Velagapudi]

@Duy Do props to you for hustling and finding something that clearly works for you! If I was in your shoes, which I think we all are to some extent trying to figure out what to do with cash during this odd time, I would choose option 3 (and am doing it myself). I've considering along the lines of option 1 but it's just been too unstable, odd, disengaged from the economy, etc. for me. RE has not seen any real impact yet, and from what I think it will take some time, so I wouldn't invest in an unstable market with no price savings especially when I anticipate some market decrease in the near future. I'd continue to make $$ to add to that cash pile you've already got, and wait till there is a bit more certainty with the external variables (health & safety) in such an odd market we have today. Holding cash can also be a part of your short term strategy too, and no harm will happen if you just wait a few months.