so i just signed up for my IRA

[jabumbo]

trying to start off with a boom and put in 10% right away. hopefully i'll be able to maintain that amount for a decent period of time so that i'll have no worries when i'm an old and injured man


anyone have and suggestions/tips on how else i should diversify my portfolio? :cool:

[Freebasser]

So you just joined the IRA, and plan to start things off with a "boom"?

O....k

*phones FBI*

[cookiepuss]

invest in things like Drug companies (no matter what the economy is doing people still need thier drugs) and Utility companies (same deal these sectors are not greatly effected by market volatility. we need energy and medicine no matter what.)

Some international stock is good for diversifcation too.

a mutal fund or and index fund is good to throw in too....although the new big thing is ETFs.

[MC Moot]

Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.

[cosmo105]

INVEST IN MY NUTS

[jabumbo]

INVEST IN MY NUTS


if they are anything like roasted almonds, then i'm all over it

[cosmo105]

oh man, dry roasted almonds are intense.

[cookiepuss]

and Jabumbum....

you're 23? right?

so you can take a little bigger risk. At this stage in the game you want your portfolio to be growth oriented. Do some research on growth stocks and keep in mind that the bigger the risks you take the greater the gains. don't go nuts, but certainly at your age you could stand to have medium to high risk tolerance.

is this a self directed IRA? Do you have a financial adviser managing this or is it all up to you to decided how to manage this money???

[beastiegirrl101]

IM A SPAZ...never you mind.

[jabumbo]

yeah, just 23....


its a simple ira plan through some company that my work has just recently hired. so i talked with this advisor today and we set it all up. i think i can direct them in any direction i want, and the guy i talked to seems pretty straightforward about what he thinks would be the best way to make the money.

[ScarySquirrel]

See, now I would think being so young you wouldn't want to take risks. Wait until you have a LOT of money, later on in life, when you can "afford to lose it."

Of course, to me, the concept of being able to afford to lose money seems pretty ridiculous. Screw that, man. I want to hold on to every damn red cent I can.

[cookiepuss]

See, now I would think being so young you wouldn't want to take risks. Wait until you have a LOT of money, later on in life, when you can "afford to lose it."

Of course, to me, the concept of being able to afford to lose money seems pretty ridiculous. Screw that, man. I want to hold on to every damn red cent I can.

trust me that's ass backwards. when you are older you aren't working..thus your investments are often what you rely on to bring you income, beside Social Security (hah hah if there even is any by the time we get old). you go for growth and greater risk when you are young, and income and low risk when you are old.

But then what do I know I just work for an investment firm.;):D (and I don't mean that in a snotty way...just that this is something I work with people on on a daily basis and one would hope that means I know something. hah.)

and yes Pete, you do get a say in what the advisor puts you into. it is afterall YOUR money. Still know your stuff...not all advisers are created equal...you need to be able to recognize if and when he is making inappropriate recomendations for you.

[The Notorious LOL]

invest in health sciences.

I put 6% in to a 401k for about 15 months at my former employer and when I left I got a check for $8,000, which I rolled over.

[Loppfessor]

cookie is so smart....so I have a question what the hell is the difference between a regular IRA and a Roth IRA. My bro-in-law handles all my money but I don't wanna ask him cus I'll look stupid....:(

[jabumbo]

the guy told me that the regular one is taken off your sallary before taxes, so you don't pay the taxes on that money until you pull it from the account. the roth is taken out after taxes, and when you take that out to use it, you aren't taxed on it at all.

thats about all i know now. he suggested that once i build up a little in the regular one, to try and put a nice chunk into a roth account so down the road when i need money to live on, its cheaper to pull it out of the account

[roosta]

So you just joined the IRA, and plan to start things off with a "boom"?

O....k

*phones FBI*

hahaha..

ahhh..you beat me to it.

(for the record this was my joke:

I signed up for my IRA, but they made me blow up a bus)

[cookiepuss]

the guy told me that the regular one is taken off your sallary before taxes, so you don't pay the taxes on that money until you pull it from the account. the roth is taken out after taxes, and when you take that out to use it, you aren't taxed on it at all.

thats about all i know now. he suggested that once i build up a little in the regular one, to try and put a nice chunk into a roth account so down the road when i need money to live on, its cheaper to pull it out of the account

yeah that's right about the roth it's not taxed as it accrues or when it's distributed aslong as it has been in the account for 5 taxable years and you are 59 1/2 or older when you take it the distribution.

Also. in a traditional IRA your are Required to take annual minimum distribution at age 70 1/2. A Roth IRA has no RMD (required minimum distribution.)

another cool thing about a ROTH is the 10% penalty for taking a distribution before the age of 59 1/2 is waived for first time home buyers if the funds are used to purchase a principal residence.

Pete, there is one other thing I'm confused about...a few post back you said it's a simple IRA...did you mean simple as in basic (or traditional as we say in the industry) or do you mean it's a SIMPLE (Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees) IRA? There is a dramatic difference.

[GreenEarthAl]

Probably a whole different direction than anyone is looking for, but...

About two years ago --at the height of my financial ruination-- I decided that when I get money again I was going to take an entirely different tact with investing. The replacement strategy I came up with is very high risk... and... (I believe)... very high reward. I call it: Investing in people.

Basically, how it works is, instead of investing in all of the things in this world that promote evil and are made out of evil and will... employ your money in the service of evil (in my humble opinion), you invest in people: friends, neighbors, community members, relatives and loved ones.

More specifically, here are examples of how it can work:

* You know a friend --you probably know a few actually-- they have high APR credit card debt that is kicking their ass. They aren't deadbeats and they pay more than the minimum but they just have so much that they are crunched under the weight of it all. You work out a serious arrangement where you make them a personal loan at half of whatever their APR is. Credit cards are reaming people for 25% and up here in 'Merica and even the best investors have a hard time garanteeing you more than 10% annual return. This arrangement proves good for you (if you actually have a trustable friend), good for your friend (really good as they've reduced some of their debt servicing by half the rate), and good for the world (as some multinational banking interest will not have less money to employ when they go to do evil).

* You and a number of your friends have a little bit of extra money. You start a small business entrepreneur group. Private micro loan type deal. Pool some money together to invest in some start up that has a really good and viable idea. Look up your local entrepreneur group and develop a application of some sort or figure out some way to vet a bunch of ideas. Try to find at least 10 ideas and select the best one and then fund it. Use your imagination and work out whatever profit sharing arrangement excites you. Accept the fact that even some of the best ideas go bust, try your best to overfund it because start ups are really hard in the beginning, and if it works out and the idea is really all that hot then the rewards will be far more satisfying than investing in some far away company that you have no influence over (and that, again, is going to use your money to do evil.)

* Other ideas along these lines ad infinitum. Use your imagination.

[cookiepuss]

I like Al's ideas. I think if you're socially conscious and you wanna do something like that instead of having a money market account or joint spousal account that's really cool.

I'm not sure if I see how those ideas would be a good replacement for a retirement account like an IRA or an annuity. if there are people with in your investing community that are committed to caring for you when you are old, and you are willing to take that chance then fine...but it sounds a bit utopian to me and personally I'd be more comfortable with a tax deferred retirement account. There are ways you can still be in the big evil stock market and still invest in companies that are environmentally and socially conscious. that's certainly something I'm trying to learn more about because I have my issues with big oil companies and war mongers.

[roosta]

and Jabumbum....

you're 23? right?



23 years old and investing in funds?

yikes.

[cookiepuss]

23 years old and investing in funds?

yikes.

more like kudos!

I'm 30 and i don't even have an IRA yet. it's scary.

did you know that it's currently estimated that the average person needs to have 1.2 to 3 million dollars in order to retire at means in which they are currently living and have $ for the rising costs of health care that isn't covered by other means?

you have to be a fucking millionaire to retire and not end up running out of money when you are old. and that number is only going to increase.

I will have to work very hard over the next 30 years to be able to even consider retirement at any age. pretty scary.

[Loppfessor]

yeah that's right about the roth it's not taxed as it accrues or when it's distributed aslong as it has been in the account for 5 taxable years and you are 59 1/2 or older when you take it the distribution.

Also. in a traditional IRA your are Required to take annual minimum distribution at age 70 1/2. A Roth IRA has no RMD (required minimum distribution.)

another cool thing about a ROTH is the 10% penalty for taking a distribution before the age of 59 1/2 is waived for first time home buyers if the funds are used to purchase a principal residence.


.

So which is better? Say for a single male age 27....

[cookiepuss]

Lopp.....easy there sparky...I'm still in baby brokerhood around here.

It seems like the Roth has more tax deferred benefits and if you don't want to be forced to take distributions at 70 1/2 cause for whatever reason you don't think you'll need to then Roth seems the way to go... also I was reviewing my notes and traditional IRA will also wavie the 10% penalty before age 59.5 if you are a 1st time home buyer buying a home..so that is actually an advantage of both plans not just one.

at your age either Tranditional or Roth would likely be appropriate for you...but...
an investment advisor is gonna want to know alot more than just your age and your marital status. you income factors in as well. your target retirement age could also be a factor.

while I'm building my knowledge, I'm still not at the level yet to make a truly qualified recommendation about which would be better.

[GreenEarthAl]

I like Al's ideas. I think if you're socially conscious and you wanna do something like that instead of having a money market account or joint spousal account that's really cool.

I'm not sure if I see how those ideas would be a good replacement for a retirement account like an IRA or an annuity. if there are people with in your investing community that are committed to caring for you when you are old, and you are willing to take that chance then fine...but it sounds a bit utopian to me and personally I'd be more comfortable with a tax deferred retirement account. There are ways you can still be in the big evil stock market and still invest in companies that are environmentally and socially conscious. that's certainly something I'm trying to learn more about because I have my issues with big oil companies and war mongers.

I will try to clarify then.

Any type of investing done now is supposed to enrich your future and put you in a more secure position. Retirement accounts are based on premises such as: "You are not sufficiently responsible to manage your financial affairs" (but luckily your government and their private sector partners will accept a recurring optional fee from you and give it back to you in drips and drabs when you're very old), "You are going to care about what happens to you when you are positively ancient", "It is bad to do anything unauthorized and good to do that which is authorized."

These premises seem to work for many people, but they don't really work for me personally.

Very nice, very authorized things like CDs will yield you 1 to 2% per annum. Money markets can be 3 and 4%. It's not all that difficult to invest in evil and yield 7 to 10%. The 1st suggestion I made above , while admittedly very unauthorized, would yield 12 to 15% while at the same time denying 12 to 15 to one of the major banking evilmongers AND helping out someone you know who will be a LOT more likely to remember you and help you out in the future than your mutual fund.

If you are afraid to do it with your own friends -risk of losing a friendship, afraid they will default, don't have any friends with high credit card debt, etc.-- then do it online through prosper.com or something. Hell that's practically an authorized thing to do. And achieves the same effect.

[The Notorious LOL]

http://www.prosper.com/

[Loppfessor]

Lopp.....easy there sparky...I'm still in baby brokerhood around here.

It seems like the Roth has more tax deferred benefits and if you don't want to be forced to take distributions at 70 1/2 cause for whatever reason you don't think you'll need to then Roth seems the way to go... also I was reviewing my notes and traditional IRA will also wavie the 10% penalty before age 59.5 if you are a 1st time home buyer buying a home..so that is actually an advantage of both plans not just one.

at your age either Tranditional or Roth would likely be appropriate for you...but...
an investment advisor is gonna want to know alot more than just your age and your marital status. you income factors in as well. your target retirement age could also be a factor.

while I'm building my knowledge, I'm still not at the level yet to make a truly qualified recommendation about which would be better.

alright cookie I'll cut ya some slack...you got till Jan. Just so I don't have to worry bout it on my 07' taxes....plus I'll give my brother in law a call

[jabumbo]

23 years old and investing in funds?

yikes.

well hey, this is what the job gives me! plus, the company matches up to 3% so it would be like wasting free money if i didnt put at least that much away. so basically i am cutting 10% of my sallary away to save it, and i get 3% extra that goes right to it.


for the record, its the SIMPLE IRA one

[de-nice]

Hey,

Cookie is a smart cookie! I was wondering what your match was...even at my age, I would probably only match my employer's 3%.

ALWAYS go high risk, street name funds at your age. That's what I was taught.

d

[Loppfessor]

Hey,

Cookie is a smart cookie! I was wondering what your match was...even at my age, I would probably only match my employer's 3%.



She's also hot and gooey straight out of the oven....mmmm