Stock Market

[HBerry]

Who here dabbles in the stock market?

I just started to last month and bought a few tech stocks. I have been reading a lot of personal finance websites and a few books and have gotten really interested in it. I am planning on opening a Roth IRA in the very near future

[Stoneman]

Buy low, sell high...

[HBerry]

Thanks for that great insight oh wise one. You will be the next Warren Buffet.

[Awesome]

watch Mad Money

[Stoneman]

Originally posted by HBerry
Thanks for that great insight oh wise one. You will be the next Warren Buffet.

Mmmmmmm.....buffet....

[richw]

I tried I sucked

Just turned 30000 into 28800

Only got ahead one time then back down.

Other hand have a spider fund that made over 10 percent last year

[TurboRush91]

Capital Guardian and Emerging Markets fund = 40% growth for me last year

Matthews Pacific Tiger fund = 25% growth for me last year

[HBerry]

Originally posted by TurboRush91
Capital Guardian and Emerging Markets fund = 40% growth for me last year

Matthews Pacific Tiger fund = 25% growth for me last year

40% growth, thats pretty fuggin unbelieveable!

[RandyO]

What are your goals? long term

about 18 years ago, I rolled a 401K into an IRA. my broker invested it in Growth Fund of America it's had it's highs & lows but has been a consistent performer

When they passed the Roth IRA law, I opened a second account, that's where all my new investments are going.

read this review

[TurboRush91]

Originally posted by HBerry
40% growth, thats pretty fuggin unbelieveable!

Both of these are ranked as "highly volatile" and spend a good portion of the 1st quarter last year in the shitter, at one point one of them was at -10% and I considered dumping it.

We'll see how it goes this year... unfortunetly (or fortunetly) I have my money spread across 7 or 8 funds so I only saw about 17.4% growth overall. That and I don't really have that much money in there, so I will not be retiring anytime soon

[HBerry]

Well sense I am college I guess I have a lot of goals.

First and foremost is retirement, I would like to have $2 million in liquid assets so a Roth IRA is my best bet there.

Second would be saving for a home, which I will likely go with an Index fund.

Thirdly, make my money work for me.

[RandyO]

Originally posted by HBerry
Well sense I am college I guess I have a lot of goals.

First and foremost is retirement, I would like to have $2 million in liquid assets so a Roth IRA is my best bet there.

when are you going to retire? consider inflation if your 30 years or more off from retirement, you really think $2m is enuf, I say no, and I'm only 10 years away

[HBerry]

Well they say right now you need 1 million to retire comfortably.

If I follow the "normal schedule" I will retire in 45 years (ugh that fucking hurts to say) but I would like to retire 10 years early.

So 2 million might not be enough, but who knows how much will be.

[benVFR]

Yah geez.. I'm older then you and a couple years ago when I talked to financial advisors they were saying $6 million if I wanted to retire at 65 and have an equivalent quality of life as making $55k/yr after taxes now???

You need azzloads of money...

But since you are young you can be risky with your money. Almost anything is lower risk then say... spending it on motorcycle racing.

[HBerry]

Is that 6 million in liquid assets or does that include all assets, house, rental property ect?

[HBerry]

If you retire at 65 and live to 90 and want to have 55k a year that means you need 1375000 to retire. That is assuming no growth in your money. 6 million would mean you would have 240000 a year.

[benVFR]

I'm not sure but $1-2 million sounds way low, I doubt any financial advisor is going to tell you that.

Unless you meant if you had $1 million today and invested the whole thing for retirement - you'd have a ton in 45 years.

There are tons of financial advisors who would go over this for free with you and draw up a plan. The trick is not to buy what they're selling at the end, cause unless they charge you a fortune they're just going to give you a sales pitch for life insurance or whatever fund they can get a commission from.

[benVFR]

You sure you're factoring in inflation and all the other things? The # I came up with probably implies some items which you will get taxed on.

When you go to retire depending on where you've got those investments stored the government is going to take some of your money.

[HBerry]

Originally posted by benVFR
You sure you're factoring in inflation and all the other things?

Not in the least. I am just doing 55000*25 to see how much you need. Your expenses should also be less when you retire though, your house should be paid off, your kids should be out of the house and you should have 0 debt.

[benVFR]

Yah note I said "equivalent of $55k after taxes today."

I don't recall the details, I am not a financial advisor, but it may be they were saying after projections you would need a quarter of a million dollars a year 50 years from now to live the same way I am living right now.

Unless we have World War III or the Chinese enslave us or something else drastic if things continue the way they are going now, $55k will be less then minimum wage in 2055. Not much of a retirement if you worked hard your whole life.

Ben

[RandyO]

I doubt that a 55k/yr lifestyle will be the same in 10 years

[bentbryan]

You want some sound finacial advice? Easy, spend less than what you make.

Oh, and you do not need 6 million to retire. If you did, most of us will never retire.

[TurboRush91]

Go over to cnnmoney.com, they have some quick and dirty calculators to figure out how much you can accumulate or how much you need to save to meet your goals.

[Honclfibr]

Roth IRAs are great long term savings vehicles. The main reason for this over a traditional IRA is that you are allowed, at any time, to remove any or all of the principle amount that you contributed to the Roth IRA at any time. The only time you pay a penalty is if you remove the earnings. So rather than paying taxes on your gains, you keep them in a Roth IRA and if you ever get strapped for cash you pull out your principle. Much better than keeping a "rainy day" savings account in a bank.

As far as stock picking, don't fool yourself into calling that investing. It's speculating, you don't have the capital necessary to properly diversify a portfolio and hedge against possible downtrends to end up with an investment-grade portfolio. If you can't afford, or can't bear the thought, of losing every cent you've put into the stock market, I suggest you pull it out ASAP.

But if you consider what you put in there disposable income, it can be a lot of fun to speculate. Profitable too, sometimes. But everybody gets bitchslapped by the stock market now and again, and it hurts. If you can't take the heat...invest in a low risk mutual fund that focuses primarily in low-risk bonds and stable blue chips.

[richw]

I think people 18 will live to 100 plus or for sure your spouse will.

you will be working to 75+ its happening now.

Real Estate is the best multiplyer. Wait for the next down cycle get into at least 1 home ASAP I say scheduled for 2008 or 2009.

I will check out those funds because I suck at it.

I think the Dow will bounce off 11000 most of this year "tading range" whn it pops through good to near 12000

Or screw it and start smoking should have you check out by 70 and avoid all these hard choices.