BringBackFergy Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 (edited) This is a general thread about what you like to invest in, how you plan for retirement, estate planning, favorite market positions and strategy. I'll start. I don't have much disposable income since most of my business income as a solo practitioner goes into a SIMPLE IRA I set up for my office. It is managed by American Funds and mostly conservative investment strategy (40% growth and income fund, 40% income fund, 20% International). I have been moving small amounts to my Ameritrade account and have saved up some dough so I'm thinking of buying a few hundred shares of Huntsman (HUN/ currently trading at $21.25/share) which is a chemical company that makes organic chemical products and inorganic products (thinking they are pretty diversified) used in all different applications whether it is auto, aerospace, coatings, etc. They are at the low end of their 52 week range and pay a dividend. Probably buy 200 shares and go from there. Was also thinking of getting back into Corning (GLW) but I owned it before when it was down at 14 and sold it around 20...it's above 20 now so that doesn't make sense. Not sure where this market is heading...has been a fast ride and hopefully it doesn't take a major step back. WARNING: This thread is for entertainment purposes only and is not a substitute for sound, professional, financial/estate/investment or legal planning. Mods: I didn't see a Thread about investments, retirement planning, estate planning and the stock market. If there is one, it might be on some other board with Baseball or Consumer Reports. Perhaps we can keep this one here where it might be more active. Edited March 10, 2015 by BringBackFergy
BillsFan-4-Ever Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 no matter what the Fed and states will find a way to steal it from you
May Day 10 Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 I invest what I can into a Traditional 401K every year. My employer kicks in a bunch for profit sharing and pension too every year. Within the last 2 years I started to put a percentage into a Roth IRA as well for a little balance. The company my company uses has automated investment options I use based on age, retirement goal/age, etc... I'm fairly young so its set at pretty aggressive. My extra money I want liquid I keep in an online investing account where I have another Roth IRA and also purchase and hold some Mutual Funds and a few dependable individual Stocks. I really got in and started heavily right when we went down in 2008 so it has been a good ride for me. My goal (although ambitious) is to retire at 59 1/2 years old. Im on track as of now.
BringBackFergy Posted March 10, 2015 Author Posted March 10, 2015 I invest what I can into a Traditional 401K every year. My employer kicks in a bunch for profit sharing and pension too every year. Within the last 2 years I started to put a percentage into a Roth IRA as well for a little balance. The company my company uses has automated investment options I use based on age, retirement goal/age, etc... I'm fairly young so its set at pretty aggressive. My extra money I want liquid I keep in an online investing account where I have another Roth IRA and also purchase and hold some Mutual Funds and a few dependable individual Stocks. I really got in and started heavily right when we went down in 2008 so it has been a good ride for me. My goal (although ambitious) is to retire at 59 1/2 years old. Im on track as of now. I did one of those "retirement calculators" last week. Although they ask you to plug in annual return, etc. (which is really a guess on my part...i think I used 7% to be safe) it said I could retire with my projected goal at the age of 62 (Social Security would be an added benefit if it's still around). My SIMPLE IRA shows an annualized return from the start in 2007 of 10.32%...that can't go on forever.
GG Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 [automated response] If you take investing advice from randoms on an internet forum, you deserve your fate [/automated response]
BringBackFergy Posted March 10, 2015 Author Posted March 10, 2015 [automated response] If you take investing advice from randoms on an internet forum, you deserve your fate [/automated response] LOL..there's already advice threads for love, UFO's and how to make sausage...why not? I'll put a warning in the OP.
Jobu Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 Forex I trade currency pairs. Took a while to learn. Started out with play money (Demo account) for a year or so. Fairly automated too. I started small, snowballed enough that I was able to get my seed money back out and now I am still working away at it. Just don't get greedy. Little bites. Great place to start learning -- http://traderspodcast.com/ Rob Booker is a genius. Start at the beginning. Thats what I did on my commute.
BringBackFergy Posted March 10, 2015 Author Posted March 10, 2015 I trade currency pairs. Took a while to learn. Started out with play money (Demo account) for a year or so. Fairly automated too. I started small, snowballed enough that I was able to get my seed money back out and now I am still working away at it. Just don't get greedy. Little bites. Great place to start learning -- http://traderspodcast.com/ Rob Booker is a genius. Start at the beginning. Thats what I did on my commute. I have no idea what "currency pairs" are. I'll take a look.
Guffalo Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 I have been contributing to my 401K since the early 80's, we are now over 50 years old and max out every year with the extra 5K per year. Because my wife and I have been at different jobs, we have five what I call "Abandoned" 401Ks which have no new cash going into them, but are part of our nest egg. One of my wifes' former employers deprecated their pension plan and she received a lump sum which we rolled over into one of these "abandoned" 401k's.( I was hoping that pension would have stayed since it would have been around 1200 per month for her.) My biggest failure is that between the 5 abandoned and our two current 401Ks, each one was set up with a strategy that made sense at the time it was opened, but neither one is appropriate for our current goals. I wish there was a way to consolidate them without losing the diversity that they offer across multiple firms. I have also have a modest trading account that I use for trying out different stocks that get my interest. I have Jetblue since we like the company, Ford, since I believe in the product (and they offer a dividend), GE, INTC and CSCO for the dividends. Some other stocks that I go in and out with in this account are things like TASR since they came up with a great body camera solution in the wake of the Ferguson mess, as well as some small biotech stocks that show promise and tech stocks.
BringBackFergy Posted March 10, 2015 Author Posted March 10, 2015 I have been contributing to my 401K since the early 80's, we are now over 50 years old and max out every year with the extra 5K per year. Because my wife and I have been at different jobs, we have five what I call "Abandoned" 401Ks which have no new cash going into them, but are part of our nest egg. One of my wifes' former employers deprecated their pension plan and she received a lump sum which we rolled over into one of these "abandoned" 401k's.( I was hoping that pension would have stayed since it would have been around 1200 per month for her.) My biggest failure is that between the 5 abandoned and our two current 401Ks, each one was set up with a strategy that made sense at the time it was opened, but neither one is appropriate for our current goals. I wish there was a way to consolidate them without losing the diversity that they offer across multiple firms. I have also have a modest trading account that I use for trying out different stocks that get my interest. I have Jetblue since we like the company, Ford, since I believe in the product (and they offer a dividend), GE, INTC and CSCO for the dividends. Some other stocks that I go in and out with in this account are things like TASR since they came up with a great body camera solution in the wake of the Ferguson mess, as well as some small biotech stocks that show promise and tech stocks. Good thought on the TASR body camera....that could be a huuuge field in the future world wide. I would have thought you could consolidate all your abandoned 401(k)'s into a Rollover IRA...that way you get a larger chunk of money working for you rather than a bunch of smaller accounts. I'd ask your Financial Planner to see if you can consolidate them all into one big account.
Guffalo Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 (edited) Good thought on the TASR body camera....that could be a huuuge field in the future world wide. I would have thought you could consolidate all your abandoned 401(k)'s into a Rollover IRA...that way you get a larger chunk of money working for you rather than a bunch of smaller accounts. I'd ask your Financial Planner to see if you can consolidate them all into one big account. Thats the problem, a financial planner wants all of them consolidated in one account, but then he offers only a limited amount of choices. Principal, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Fidelity and Transamerica are the ones, but they only offer the funds selection that give them the best incentives. I keep them separate, but their horizon/targets are all over the place. But at least with those five firms, I have multiple funds to choose from. As for picking stocks, I am horrible, but once in a while you hit and it is rewarding. Lately I am looking at dividend returns, once a payment comes in, I will but a few shares of something I already have or have been looking at. Edited March 10, 2015 by Guffalo
KD in CA Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 Thats the problem, a financial planner wants all of them consolidated in one account, but then he offers only a limited amount of choices. Principal, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Fidelity and Transamerica are the ones, but they only offer the funds selection that give them the best incentives. I keep them separate, but their horizon/targets are all over the place. But at least with those five firms, I have multiple funds to choose from. As for picking stocks, I am horrible, but once in a while you hit and it is rewarding. Lately I am looking at dividend returns, once a payment comes in, I will but a few shares of something I already have or have been looking at. Any financial planner who tells you you can only invest in X should be fired yesterday. Roll all those old 401ks into an IRA and invest in whatever you want. That's the whole point of index and mutual funds....you don't need to be an expert to diversify and you can keep your fees fairly low.
BringBackFergy Posted March 10, 2015 Author Posted March 10, 2015 Any financial planner who tells you you can only invest in X should be fired yesterday. Roll all those old 401ks into an IRA and invest in whatever you want. That's the whole point of index and mutual funds....you don't need to be an expert to diversify and you can keep your fees fairly low. This is what I was getting at...I just didn't know if you could consolidate them all into a Rollover IRA (as the name implies, you roll multiple IRA's or 401k's into one account even though you are actively contributing to an existing 401k or IRA). You can manage the Rollover IRA on your own or with an investment company.
Johnny Hammersticks Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 Simple. I don't plan on living past 60. My kids are pretty smart and can fend for themselves just like I did. If I get old and medically fragile, I am going to pay someone to push me off a cliff in my wheelchair holding lit sticks of dynamite. It's the circle of life!!
BringBackFergy Posted March 10, 2015 Author Posted March 10, 2015 Simple. I don't plan on living past 60. My kids are pretty smart and can fend for themselves just like I did. If I get old and medically fragile, I am going to pay someone to push me off a cliff in my wheelchair holding lit sticks of dynamite. It's the circle of life!! Johnny to his children at the edge of cliff "Kids...some day this will all be yours...now go ahead and push me off this cliff"
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