Investing

patooyee · Feb 9, 2015

My 2014 resolution was to learn how to invest for retirement. I failed. I'm damn sure not going to fail in 2015. Where should I start learning? Should I just go by Investing for Dummies?

wayne86 · Feb 9, 2015

I'm with you on this Patooyee. Interested in hearing everybody's feedback. For starters I have been maxing out my IRA for 3 years ($5,500). It is set pretty aggressively since I am only 28. With that being said it has gone up and down and is currently slightly less than I have invested. It's incredibly irritating. I know you aren't supposed to pay attention to a lot of that, but losing money has never been something I liked to do! Especially on an "investment".

stuftmunky2k · Feb 9, 2015

i have my investments threw Edward jones. they do pretty good I get a statement every quarter its like every investment it goes up and down but they look at it regulary and let me know what they think I should do. they haven't let me down yet I try and forget I have the money in there. but if something would come up to where I need to get a hold of it its just a phone call away and its in my bank account the next day. just my experience

onepieceatatime · Feb 9, 2015

Re:

I would like to learn how to do something more with some retirement accounts I have from past jobs. Don't know if I can take them and move them around or not just to see if it helps. Currently contributing 15% of my paycheck at my new job. We get raises every year and I'm considering upping my percentage the amount of my raise from the prior year every year. Pretty comfortable with my checks now so if I just get used to that and keep putting away the extra maybe I'll actually be able to retire although I never see me not working somehow until I physically can't do it anymore.

lowbudgetjunk · Feb 9, 2015

I invest in property. I have three in mind when the coin is available. Stability in my town equals land. If you can get residual income off of it, that is a bonus. All the rest is a real crapshoot, no matter what anyone says. When you read all the paperwork and "risk" is attached, it makes me second guess. With that being said, I have only ever invested in high risk or above. I also only invest disposable income that I don't expect to see again. Won some and lost some, but as a long term strategy, I'll take property.

Toddy · Feb 9, 2015

To really make money is tough. It's really a game. Guy I work with makes really good money at it but it is all he does after work till bed time. He bought his half million dollar home on apple stock.

It's so over my head but I talk to him every chance I get. He is more into the calls then buying the stock. It's like trying to predict what the stock is going to do. He has a subscribed blog for some big investment guy that give tips everyday.

If someone had the passion for that kinda stuff like some do for wheeling big money can be made. Just takes lots of time and money to be able to play the game.

Trailabite · Feb 9, 2015

Re:

onepieceatatime said:
I would like to learn how to do something more with some retirement accounts I have from past jobs. Don't know if I can take them and move them around or not just to see if it helps. Currently contributing 15% of my paycheck at my new job. We get raises every year and I'm considering upping my percentage the amount of my raise from the prior year every year. Pretty comfortable with my checks now so if I just get used to that and keep putting away the extra maybe I'll actually be able to retire although I never see me not working somehow until I physically can't do it anymore.

If the accounts from your past employers are 401k's you should be able to roll them over into your current one.

money_pit_yj · Feb 9, 2015

It all depends on your age, risk tolerance, goals, etc. If you are not bothered by risk and don't mind the chance to lose, then play with commodities futures. If you want stability and lower return, look to an investment group like Edward Jones. It is a moving target. Nothing works the same for everybody. I am younger and have had a 401K for 10 years, I have mine on the most aggressive plan available and never look at it. When I turn 40 I will look at it and may change bu until then I want growth and I am not concerned about risk.

patooyee · Feb 9, 2015

Toddy said:
To really make money is tough. It's really a game. Guy I work with makes really good money at it but it is all he does after work till bed time. He bought his half million dollar home on apple stock.

It's so over my head but I talk to him every chance I get. He is more into the calls then buying the stock. It's like trying to predict what the stock is going to do. He has a subscribed blog for some big investment guy that give tips everyday.

If someone had the passion for that kinda stuff like some do for wheeling big money can be made. Just takes lots of time and money to be able to play the game.

It sounds to me like he is day trading. There is a difference between day trading and long-term investing, that I do know. I'm more interested in long-term retirement investing or possible income-investing. I don't have the disposable income, time, or knowledge to day-trade I don't think.

patooyee · Feb 9, 2015

money_pit_yj said:
It all depends on your age, risk tolerance, goals, etc. If you are not bothered by risk and don't mind the chance to lose, then play with commodities futures. If you want stability and lower return, look to an investment group like Edward Jones. It is a moving target. Nothing works the same for everybody. I am younger and have had a 401K for 10 years, I have mine on the most aggressive plan available and never look at it. When I turn 40 I will look at it and may change bu until then I want growth and I am not concerned about risk.

That's exactly how I thought for the past 10 or so years. I just set it and left it. Then when I looked back it had done nothing but lost value the entire time. That's when I decided I had to learn a bit more before I continued.

collinmaune · Feb 9, 2015

I'm not a big reader but have a book called the behavior gap by Carl Richards about 80 pages goes through everything with investing with risk and how to look at investing. Also with the market being high right it would be like going to the car dealership and buying a 50k car for 60k.

patooyee · Feb 9, 2015

collinmaune said:
Also with the market being high right it would be like going to the car dealership and buying a 50k car for 60k.

People are still making money in the market. But if you are right that means its a great time to learn and not miss opportunities. I'm kind of disappointed that some of the big money people here haven't chimed in yet.

Toddy · Feb 9, 2015

patooyee said:
It sounds to me like he is day trading. There is a difference between day trading and long-term investing, that I do know. I'm more interested in long-term retirement investing or possible income-investing. I don't have the disposable income, time, or knowledge to day-trade I don't think.

For the most part he is, but knowing what the market is doing and where to invest takes time. Prob doesn't have to be 8 hours a day like him but will take time.

At work we use Blackrock thru Schwab. Mine is in the life path fund. It is set up by age and how long you plan to work. Mine is 2040. The closer you get the less aggressive it get. I'm happy with the way it is working for me.

Boulderdash · Feb 9, 2015

I use Vanguard through work. So far I really like them if I have a question I call them and a person at a desk answers ready to answer any question. Be careful though who you use if you do ,watched a thing on tv how a lot of those places charge a lot of fees that nobody notices because a lot of people don't look at it much and just trust that they are doing them right. Vanguard was one of the ones that was more trustworthy.

patooyee · Feb 9, 2015

I'm currently with Vanguard and they are super-amazingly-overwhelmingly helpful. Them and Chase are probably the best examples of phone service / support I've ever had with any company in general. With Chase there is no menu system, no hold. You go straight to an actual human every single time and they are US-based, no accents other than regional. It actually quite amazing.

Vanguard's website is probably the most confusing one I've ever used though.

fl-krawler · Feb 9, 2015

I did mutual funds, CD's, and IRA's for a while and was doing well till the market crashed in 08. I was also heavily vested in municipal bonds up until 2 months ago (good safe investments with decent yeild of 5% that increased over the life of the bond) Since then I have learned the only people making money in investments are the brokers who handle your money. In 09 I got into flipping houses and rentals. Look for run down houses in good neighborhoods. I usually will find houses in the 50-70k range that need work. Throw 20k or so on remodel (CL day labor is a great source for cheap workers) and sell the house for 100-130k.. Keep doing this till you have the cash to buy a decent home that you can turn into a rental. Just keep doing this process till you get 3-4 rental houses, and then use the rent from them to buy additional properties. Having a good lease written up and screening your renters goes a long way to making sure you get your money every month, but so far, so good. Right now I have 3 rentals, and each one pays $850+ per month. One still has a mortgage on it, but I am rolling the cash from the other 2 into it to pay it off in the next 3 years. I am hopeful the market slowly over inflates, and I can cash out in a peak in about 5 years, move to North Georgia/Tenn, then start all over when property values are in the toilet again.

patooyee · Feb 9, 2015

Just to be clear, I'm not asking for investment strategies, experiences, or advice. I'm asking people who are successfully investing how or where they learned to do so, not what they are doing.

Just read "Stock Market Investing for Beginners," by Richard Stooker. It's a quick 85-page, $2.99 read on Google Play Books. (The Play Books App will even read it to you if in case you are blind or illiterate!) It seems to follow my general understanding of what I should vs shouldn't be doing very closely. I am going to read some more by this guy.

TheViking · Feb 9, 2015

patooyee said:
Just to be clear, I'm not asking for investment strategies, experiences, or advice. I'm asking people who are successfully investing how or where they learned to do so, not what they are doing.

Just read "Stock Market Investing for Beginners," by Richard Stooker. It's a quick 85-page, $2.99 read on Google Play Books. (The Play Books App will even read it to you if in case you are blind or illiterate!) It seems to follow my general understanding of what I should vs shouldn't be doing very closely. I am going to read some more by this guy.

If you are illiterate I doubt this is being read.......

CHASMAN9 · Feb 9, 2015

Berkshire Hathaway and Sam Adams for JD. Can't go wrong there. molaugh

TheViking · Feb 9, 2015

CHASMAN9 said:
Berkshire Hathaway and Sam Adams for JD. Can't go wrong there.

I will say I rolled over a 401K from a previous employer to a previous bank and need to roll it over to my current bank. I have read the book from the Dummies guides and it helped me get a better idea on how things work and types. I have always set mine up with a aggressive plan verses the conservative route and still being younger, at nearly thirty-five, I will go that route again.