Investing Strategies. What is your move?
- Thread starter PimTac
- Start date
The W word
Women are often good investors. It's said that on average they're better investors than men. I haven't done the research so I can't say for certain.
Your fees seem kind of high. My average MER +TER is 0.54% using a combination of GICs, equity and fixed income ETFs, dividend stocks, and long held equity and bond mutual funds. The long held mutual funds have large capital gains (which are taxable in Canada) so I haven't sold them. The highest MER + TER for any mutual fund I own is 1.82% and most are quite a bit lower than that. My only other cost is a handful of trade commissions a year which (at $9.95 each) amounts to almost nothing.
My 5 year performance isn't great either. Markets go up and markets go down. Periodic setbacks are normal. Investing is for the long term, and over the long term reasonably well chosen investments go up.
I'm not selling anything. In fact I'm buying a little here and there. Everything is on sale.
There it is. Exactly.
Wow, I sure don't get that statement. You got me there, Dave!
Maybe 1/4 of my Schwab porfolio is under their Schwab Wealth Advisory managed program. There is no way in H-E-double toothpicks I would know about the various investment products out there.
At this point, my need for the managed accounts is to maintain, not looking for crazy growth. It is pretty conservative.
Now the stuff under my control would be considered bat crap crazy by youz guyz... So I consider my Schwab portfolio balanced.
Ahhh and so my problem with mass media and social media.
Walmart laying off hundreds in ominous sign for economy
Walmart has been investing heavily in automation over the past few years.nypost.com
” Walmart is laying off hundreds of workers based at e-commerce fulfillment centers in a development that could signal more trouble for the struggling US economy. “
Stimulus and unemployment cash all gone = less e-commerce fulfillment centers needed.
Walmart employs 1.6 million people in the USA and we are reading a story about the US Economy “that COULD signal more trouble for the struggling US economy” because of hundreds of layoffs?
(There is that word “could” again) Anyone on planet earth “could” manufacture a”news” story using the word “could” since it means absolutely nothing. I “could”turn a 59% profit on a one day trade today too.
But let’s forget all that. The true story is automation in their distribution centers will be requiring less and less employees, no different than self checkouts.
Good news for shareholders of which I have been one for some time now. Roughly just over 4 years when it was under $100 a share.
It’s been a safe haven for me during Covid but stagnant after a 40% gain at this 140 ish level for years now. Now sure how long I’ll hold it but I have the other part of this Roth of non WMT that I speculate with such as my recent short term trade and gain with Schwab.
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Funny, my wife does overall great with her 401k, sure some ups and downs but her numbers are good.
Sometimes I just want to copy what she does with her “set it and forget it” attitude at times
There are essentially three main types of investors:
1. People who allow someone they pay to make most/all decisions to manage their portfolio. For people who don't have the time or inclination to learn it's a decent choice so long as they aren't paying crazy fees, especially an AUM fee with a large portfolio, and the person managing it isn't being dumb. Of course, there are lots of advisors charging crazy fees and gambling with other people's money.
2. People like me where I make all my own decisions but I keep it pretty simple. Mostly low-cost index funds, I don't own any individual stocks, and I'm not trying to "beat the market" because I don't have to in order to make enough money for retirement. I also have some wiggle room because I pay so little in fees.
3. People who are actively day trading. Many of these people over a long period of time will not even match the market and most will fall behind because it's essentially gambling. There is no "outsmarting" the market and by the time someone knows something the market already knew for some period of time. Many will argue they have the secret sauce but there's a ton of research that shows otherwise.
As long as your Scwab advisor isn't doing anything silly or charging crazy fees your approach is perfectly reasonable.
Essentially is like essential oil. Some like patchouli smell like poop, others are nice. Like lavender at night or lemon pound cake.
There are some smart investors with decent size portfolios who blend 2 and 3. Not day traders like the dirty word implies, but invest in "buckets". Portfolio is appropriately divided in risk/time/tax buckets. Always some long term investments in low cost long funds. Small % amounts in PM's. Cash. Bond like equivalents. Etc. And some accounts for more rapid movements and options and inverse funds. Such savvy investors have some stress, but realistically can see their assets and not worry. They know what risk really is and act upon it. Most all investments in any single stock or fund is fairly small % of over all portfolio. Also if asked when the last time they didn't beat the market they will remember a couple things. The years the market was up ~20% and maybe they made 18%, for example, and the times the market was down ~20% yet they made 8%, for example.
Point being there are ways to buffer, or hedge your larger portfolio when you are over 50 or so. And I advise #2 for anyone younger.
I'm very careful with my words..."Main" and "many" and "most" are the keyword here.
What you are describing are people who make up a small minority of non-professional investors who treat investing like a hobby (that's not meant to be derogatory) which requires a level of understanding and expertise that most people do not want to obtain. The fact is research is clear - many people, dare I say most people, who represent the majority but not all investors, fit into one of these three main categories.
Nothing wrong with this comment but there are those who need a third party to handle things.
I handled my investments for decades but I after a medical emergency that left me with cognitive issues I realized that I wasn’t as sharp any longer and I could make decisions that would mess things up. So I shifted the portfolio to the professionals at American Century/Avantis which gives me some peace of mind. Sometimes the circumstances change and we have to adapt.
I lost some money last year…. but luckily I made more than I lost and was not down for the year like an S&P 500 or Nasdaq fund.
I think it comes down the amount of risk people are willing to take.
Low Risk = DCA into a 401K, IRA and brokerage account for 35 years with low cost S&P 500 fund.
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It’s good that you and Jeff found someone you can trust to oversee your investments.
There are some very shady financial advisors that can quickly destroy someones retirement nest egg with terrible advice / investments or churning account to get commission and fees. Too many episodes of TV show American Greed with crooks acting as a financial advisor and looting someone’s nest egg.
All married women need to be involved with the family finances, investments, bank accounts, retirement planning, filing taxes, paying bills, understanding insurance policies, etc…. just in case husband dies suddenly she is not in the dark.
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Not $3000. A typical family of four received $11,400.00 total in stimulus checks. On top of that, the many families were kept artificially employed as the government paid companies to not lay off workers.
Last I will comment on this but felt the need in case you did not see my other response. Your number of $3000 is just so incorrect I had to restate it.
Update: Three rounds of stimulus checks. See how many went out and for how much. | Pandemic Oversight
While you may have heard them referred to as stimulus checks, the Economic Impact Payments were, for the most part, direct deposited into bank accounts or sent out as bank cards. More than 476 million payments totaling $814 billion in financial relief went to households impacted by the pandemic...
www.pandemicoversight.gov
Just to be clear, Walmart has over one million employees in the USA. The news story of laying off a couple hundred is another manufactured click bait story to make it sound like it the economy.
That’s the thing about todays news. Most of it is clickbait. A recent headline that spread through the internet was that Walmart was closing all their Portland Oregon stores. Never mind that there were only two stores in Portland and both were impacted by high crime and in deteriorating neighborhoods which much of Portland has become.
It's still about $3000 per person over 2 years - which was basically the baseline I thought you understood. You think it doesn't cost money to support a family? Even if someone in a family of 4 pockets all the money over 2 years and blew it all on non-essential stuff, which the info I linked claims didn't happen for the most part if you read it, it's not the cause of all the inflation like you claim. Plus, "rich" people were not getting stimulus money, and the majority of the working class type people getting it were impacted the most by the shutdowns and needed the money to keep a roof over their heads, food in the fridge and gas in the car, etc.
I tried on all honesty to respond but I guess fruitless, my last response on this. You questioned how $3000 stimulus payment added to inflation. I explained many posts in here how it is not $3000 but needs to be looked at as $11,600 per family of four adds to inflation and the fact that companies where given 100s of billions more to not lay off people when they should have been laid off and countless government programs.
I dont understand how you do not think manufacturing trillions of dollars and pumping it into the economy is not inflationary.
Where you come up with "money to support a family" I have no idea. The family was already supported and then given $11,600 to spend on stuff they would not have spent money on in the form of paying down debt only to run that debt back up after the economy opened back up.
Also many of them would have been thrown out of work but Stimulis money given to their companies kept them employed as well, lets not forget the extended and ENHANCED unemployment benefits, it was insane and no the price to be paid.
I could care less, the economy has to tank, you cant print money and pile on debt without sooner or later paying the piper.
I gave you the link and post it one last time here. It was not $3000.
These are your words = "So people all went out and bought new cars and homes because they got $3000 over a 2 year period? - lol."
HERE IS YOUR $3000 (in the link I gave you)
How much was paid in each of the three rounds?
Round 1, March 2020: $1,200 per income tax filer, $500 per child (CARES Act)Round 2, December 2020: $600 per income tax filer, $600 per child (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021)
Round 3, March 2021: $1,400 per income tax filer, $1,400 per child (American Rescue Plan Act)
and yes, this is inflationary
USAspending.gov
www.usaspending.gov
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