I’m almost finished with “The Millionaire Next Door” from yours and several others recommendation in another thread. I’ll just go ahead and add this one to the list as well.
Investing Strategies. What is your move?
- Thread starter PimTac
- Start date
No changes to my IRA or either annuity funds. Letting TSLA ride for a couple more years and if it hits $3000 will sell most of it and buy a house at the beach.
I'm retired, house is paid for as are both vehicles and I have very low monthly expenses. When I reach age 70 I plan on spending a good percentage of my investments doing all the things I have ever wanted to do. Provided I don't have health issues which don't seem likely today. If I die broke, I won.
I'm retired, house is paid for as are both vehicles and I have very low monthly expenses. When I reach age 70 I plan on spending a good percentage of my investments doing all the things I have ever wanted to do. Provided I don't have health issues which don't seem likely today. If I die broke, I won.
Absolutely correct! However, I simply followed the advice of my advisor. No apology needed, I'm not at all sure I could go back in time and do better, as the suggestions looked good at the time. My wife used the same firms as I did, and like me, followed the recommendations her advisor gave. She's been retired for 20 years and has a whole bunch more than I do in her IRA.
The good news is, I've been skilled at making money the old fashioned way, by earning it. I earn and save, I don't spend, have zero debt. Sadly, my plan may be for naught, as my health is so poor, I can't enjoy my money. The toys I once wanted, are useless to me now. I guess I can look forward to a fancy powered wheelchair instead of a new sports car or dirt bike.
I did not bring up some other very serious issues caused by UBS. My IRA issues are a joke compared to the other things they've done. One problem is that I don't micromanage my accounts, I leave them alone.
I've mentioned this before, but I had quite a bit of GE and GM stock. Sure seemed like a safe gamble way back when. GE went from nearly $60 down to $8, GM went to nothing. GE recently had a 1 for 8 reverse stock split, bumping up the numbers so they "look" good. Don't be fooled, GE stock SUCKED and the little bit I have left retains 10% of it's original value (IT NEVER CAME BACK, despite the constant claims that it will) Yes, it's trading over $100 right now, but it gobbled up 8 shares to do that. God, people miss understand things sometimes.
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I’ve made lots of investing mistakes.
An example: I bought $3,000 worth of Neuberger & Berman Guardian fund in November. It was the early 1990s. It was a “hot” fund. Great returns. Touted by the magazines, advisors, all of them.
In December, they had a whole bunch of realized gains. Because I was in the fund on the day of those gains, I had to pay capital gains tax on about $1,000.
Oh, and the NAV fell by 20%.
So, in one month, I managed to lose $600, and had to pay the IRS a few hundred for the privilege of losing money. Learned about taxable events in mutual funds and how “active” management and fees are great for management but not so great for shareholders. In one month, including taxes and declines in share price, I had lost a third of my investment. No internet.
Had to wait for paper statements to find out all that good news…
I won’t tell you about my venture into 3D printing. Lost a fair amount on that stock.
But here’s what I did right:
I invested $166/month from 1991-1997. Back then, the IRS limit on an IRA was $2,000/ year, so, I hit $1,992. Non-deductible, by the way since I was covered by a pension and a Roth didn’t yet exist. I split the money between Vanguard and T. Rowe Price, with each getting the princely sum of…$83 a month.
For only eight years.
I stayed the course, not adding, but not cashing out, through the NASDAQ crash in early 2000, through the crash of 2008, through all the turbulence of 30 years.
Those two accounts have an aggregate value, this afternoon, of more than 20 times my initial investment, and that’s despite some recent losses.
That’s a win.
An example: I bought $3,000 worth of Neuberger & Berman Guardian fund in November. It was the early 1990s. It was a “hot” fund. Great returns. Touted by the magazines, advisors, all of them.
In December, they had a whole bunch of realized gains. Because I was in the fund on the day of those gains, I had to pay capital gains tax on about $1,000.
Oh, and the NAV fell by 20%.
So, in one month, I managed to lose $600, and had to pay the IRS a few hundred for the privilege of losing money. Learned about taxable events in mutual funds and how “active” management and fees are great for management but not so great for shareholders. In one month, including taxes and declines in share price, I had lost a third of my investment. No internet.
Had to wait for paper statements to find out all that good news…
I won’t tell you about my venture into 3D printing. Lost a fair amount on that stock.
But here’s what I did right:
I invested $166/month from 1991-1997. Back then, the IRS limit on an IRA was $2,000/ year, so, I hit $1,992. Non-deductible, by the way since I was covered by a pension and a Roth didn’t yet exist. I split the money between Vanguard and T. Rowe Price, with each getting the princely sum of…$83 a month.
For only eight years.
I stayed the course, not adding, but not cashing out, through the NASDAQ crash in early 2000, through the crash of 2008, through all the turbulence of 30 years.
Those two accounts have an aggregate value, this afternoon, of more than 20 times my initial investment, and that’s despite some recent losses.
That’s a win.
Really a lot of good information in this thread.
The biggest lesson I've learned in my three score and 10 years on this planet is never let someone sell you an investment. If someone is selling they are doing it for their own gain no matter how much they try and convince you otherwise. Buy based upon your investment research. Trust no salesmen and very few analysts.
Took me a while to learn that lesson, but I've applied it for the last 25 years to great success. Just remember for every Buffett, Lynch, Danoff and Bogle out there, there are a thousand Madoffs. Since Lynch is retired I'll stick with Buffett, Danoff, and the principles of Bogle.
The biggest lesson I've learned in my three score and 10 years on this planet is never let someone sell you an investment. If someone is selling they are doing it for their own gain no matter how much they try and convince you otherwise. Buy based upon your investment research. Trust no salesmen and very few analysts.
Took me a while to learn that lesson, but I've applied it for the last 25 years to great success. Just remember for every Buffett, Lynch, Danoff and Bogle out there, there are a thousand Madoffs. Since Lynch is retired I'll stick with Buffett, Danoff, and the principles of Bogle.
Unfortunately many financial advisors work on commission and steer their clients into very terrible , high risk investment products. These vultures will constantly ‘churn’ the account to reap maximum gains for their pocket while client loses money. I’ve seen this on TV show American Greed.
You can buy and sell very low cost (expense ratio) Vanguard ETFs and mutual funds that are commission free as long you have a Vanguard account, same goes for a Fidelity account and their line excellent ETFs and mutual funds.
When my 4 kids turned 18, I opened Roth IRAs in their name and funded it for the first year to get the snowball rolling and now they max out the yearly contribution.
You can buy and sell very low cost (expense ratio) Vanguard ETFs and mutual funds that are commission free as long you have a Vanguard account, same goes for a Fidelity account and their line excellent ETFs and mutual funds.
When my 4 kids turned 18, I opened Roth IRAs in their name and funded it for the first year to get the snowball rolling and now they max out the yearly contribution.
I have gotten some bad advice from a Fidelity advisor; at least I believe it was. He sold me an annunity; an annunity in not a good fit for me, it is for people with few assets. I later moved everything to Schwab; I am sure that did not bode well for him.
I know there are some real bad advisors out there; however I am very happy with Schwab.
I have to disagree with your statement; there is no way an individual can understand all the investment products out there.
But I agree; ultimately you are responsible for your fiscal decisions and your own fiscal health.
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I couldn’t agree more. In fact anytime I’ve deviated away from that strategy I’ve underperformed. Lucky for me I haven’t deviated away from it too often.
Slow and steady since age 20 working putting away 10% salary. My first job had pretty amazing profit sharing age
23 which helped the most. It has grown nicely due to long haul age 50. Plan on another 15 years.
23 which helped the most. It has grown nicely due to long haul age 50. Plan on another 15 years.
How about we challenge young members here to contribute to their company sponsored retirement and/or an IRA?
Investing isn't complicated anymore with the great tools at companies like Vanguard or Fidelity. How do you choose from the thousands of investment options? You don't have to, just put you money in Fidelity's ZERO cost total market index fund - FZROX and check on the value in 40 years. Force yourself to put some money into your account every month by clicking a button. That's it folks, it's not hard. You will retire in comfort.
I would be glad to help anyone who is interested.
Takers?
Investing isn't complicated anymore with the great tools at companies like Vanguard or Fidelity. How do you choose from the thousands of investment options? You don't have to, just put you money in Fidelity's ZERO cost total market index fund - FZROX and check on the value in 40 years. Force yourself to put some money into your account every month by clicking a button. That's it folks, it's not hard. You will retire in comfort.
I would be glad to help anyone who is interested.
Takers?
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I used to time the market.
Then I didn't time the market.
Now I time the market.
I learned it's time in the market.
Then I didn't time the market.
Now I time the market.
I learned it's time in the market.
INFLATION - FLASH (Feb 10): Year-to-year inflation continued to surge in the both the January 2022 headline Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) and the ShadowStats-Alternate CPI, with both measures hitting new multi-decade highs.
• January 2022 CPI-U annual inflation hit 7.48% [up from 7.04% in December], the steepest inflation pace since February 1982 (in 40 years); the ShadowStats “Corrected” Alternate CPI estimate hit 15.63% [up from 15.15% in December], the steepest inflation rate since June 1947 (in 75 years).
www.shadowstats.com
• January 2022 CPI-U annual inflation hit 7.48% [up from 7.04% in December], the steepest inflation pace since February 1982 (in 40 years); the ShadowStats “Corrected” Alternate CPI estimate hit 15.63% [up from 15.15% in December], the steepest inflation rate since June 1947 (in 75 years).
Shadow Government Statistics - Home Page
www.shadowstats.com
If inflation goes to 15% and lasts for 5 years, that still is technically "temporary", right?
How?
1) Invest in what you know well, to a certain extend (say you are an expert in some industry and you know it is doing well, invest some in it as well)
2) Pick the lowest cost investment for the same risk you are targeting, risk is inversely proportional to reward in a fair market and you should always pick the lowest cost per the same risk, the easiest is to avoid products that pay commission to the sales. Not sure how Fidelity make money for zero cost but they may make money from someone else and you are the product instead of the customer.
3) Make sure you know your risk tolerance and avoid any wipeout event (which means don't leverage, don't do margin, diversify) to chase the best gain out there. Some amount of play money is fine but don't put the whole nest egg in the highest growth basket like crypto.
Technically the entire universe is temporary until it hits the heat death and then that's forever as once you hit the heat death, time stops because there won't be enough energy to track the passage of time.
Heat death of the universe - Wikipedia
By helping with setting up an account, explaining why index funds, explaining risk and diversification, etc.
edit: I'm saying for free, as in free advice.
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I would pay someone a per service fee instead of let them take a cut of my investment to do all that for me.
Wayne is offering to advise and encourage without fees, isn’t he?
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