On etrade I find even mutual funds boasting of better returns than index funds tend to underperform on a 5 year/max scale. One of the biggest problems with portfolio reporting is that they use arithmetic averages when geometric average is the only one that matters. Unless you have enough money to put into a top tier hedge fund, indexed etf will probably be your best bet for performance/value

If you want to make sure rent money for the next few months is taken care of, you can set up a treasurydirect account and buy some short term t-bills. It normally pays better interest than savings account with under 100k, and the money is taken out immediately and comes back with interest at the end of the specified period. Paying your landlord or landlady a few months worth of rent is not optimal