Official Investing Thread

Very, very good decision.

 

USD went down
Gold and Silver went up

hth

 

Going to max out my 401k for the first time in my life this year. And opened and maxed an IRA for the first time as well. 401k in a S&P500 index fund. IRA in one of Vanguard's target retirement funds.

Now the question is what do I do with the savings I can put together after maxing 401k and IRA. Right now I just have it in an Ally savings account, 2% interest or whatever.

 

Why the target date fund?

I put my "savings" in an S&P index. Hard to beat Ally for parking the emergency fund though.

 

I think it fits well with my risk tolerance and want to just "set it and forget it" and the fees are relatively low.

Savings in S&P Index, ok, so just like open a taxable account at Vanguard since I'm already there... do you do Mutual fund or ETF?

 

I do most of my banking/investing through Schwab, I just use their mutual funds. Mutual fund vs. ETF doesn't matter IMO for a long-term horizon. If you want to be able to liquidate it immediately the ETF will provide that flexibility.

 

Make sure that mutual fund has low costs. ETFs are great for that very reason.

It adds up.

 

Congrats. Do you have a Roth account? Im guessing you'd have to backdoor if you're maxing your 401k (I may be biased since I live in the bay area).

Taxes are only going to go up due to healthcare and environmental pressures IMO

 

If you decide to put the extra into a taxable account, a Total Stock fund is the most tax efficient one, either Total US, Total International, or Total World. And congrats, This will be my second year being able to max my 401k and my both Roth IRAs.

 

Can you expand on the taxable account recommendation? What should I Google to get more smarter?

 

This is a good place to start. But like someone mentioned before, if your company allows for backdoor Roth and you have the funds to take advantage, I'd look at that. You can then put up to 56k into your 401k.

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Tax-efficient_fund_placement
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Backdoor_Roth

 

Yes the IRA is a Roth. No, no backdoor necessary, income is still under 100k.

 

Thanks and congrats to you. Regarding those 3 options, would that be these 3? https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/list#/mutual-funds/asset-class/month-end-returns

VTSAX 0.04%
VTWAX 0.10%
VTIAX 0.11%

Maybe a % into each of those?

 

I haven’t looked at those but VTI is a tremendous low fee index ETF

 

VTSAX is the mutual fund version of VTI mentioned in the last post. I would go with VTSAX (Total US) or VTWAX (Total World), depending on if you want international in that account or not. I would just pick one, but you can split it up if you want. VTWAX is basically a combo of VTSAX and VTIAX in certain percentages. You can also go with the ETF version, that's up to you.

 

Sold my small Texas bank LTXB at $43.07, made a small profit.

Holding AMZN into earnings. Not confident about that at all.

I’m 60% cash right now.

 

I tell you what I am starting to like...VIX calls.

VIX currently at 12, give me a 10 or maybe 11 and I’m jumping in.

 

My 401k is up almost 6% the last month. Glad I’m not 60% cash and trying to time the market, personally. Different strokes for different folks.

Here’s an interesting article on this subject:

https://www.thesimpledollar.com/inv...best-stock-market-days-can-tank-your-returns/

 

Yep. Time in the market is better than timing the market bc no one can successfully time it over the long haul.

 

I was 5% cash only 48 hours ago. I’ve enjoyed the same gains as you over the last month and in turn locked in some good profits.

This is nothing more than profit taking. I don’t feel particularly strong one way or another. I would like to have some dry powder available if another opportunity presents itself soon. Could I miss a big run up in the process, sure, and that’s the cat and mouse game I enjoy playing.

 

Fred Fern asks that you politely fuck off with that comment

Spoiler

He's got the only RIA I'm aware of that has successfully played this game over the long haul

 

No one can time the market over the long haul?

No one?

Are you new to investing?

 

I’m sure you can pull up some examples of people that are more successful than others but it’s pretty proven that being in the market is better for you than trying to time it and buy the dips and sell at the peaks.

I wouldn’t consider having a portion of your investments set to cash to invest when you see opportunities timing the market.

 

Just so we’re clear you are walking back your statement that “no one” can time the market.

I completely agree the majority of investors, professional and non-pro alike, cannot time the market.

Again, if this your mindset, and it’s very rational and reasonable, you shouldn’t waste any time investing or reading about stocks. Buy an S&P index fund and forget about it.

But for me that’s no fun, and I’ve got a small ego that makes me think I’m one of the few that can beat the market.

 

Beating the market, or a given benchmark, is a whole different animal than timing the market. Timing to me means calling the peaks and valleys of various market cycles.

 

Yes, I’m walking back from a saying no one in the world can time the market. Forgot this was a message board and everything is taken literally. I meant it in the general sense as it isn’t something anyone can just easily do so being in the market is the better decision.

I would definitely agree that most people should buy an index fund and forget about it and I do that with the majority of my investments. I also like researching stocks and trying to beat the market and having a portion of your portfolio for that is fine too. More power to anyone going all out in that manner.

 

My portfolio has experienced double digit growth every year dating back Q3 2002. I couldn’t imagine anything less.

 

11.86% return avg since 2002 for my 401a. There’s a 40% loss year in there too

 

A doctor is overconfident in a field outside his speciality? Shocker.

 

There’s nothing more dramatic than losing $19k in ORIG and making it all back and then some the next year by owning calls in the #1 DOW stock for 2018 (MRK).

Some people were born to play it safe but that’s never been my style. If you’ve ever read Jim Cramer’s Confessions of a Street Addict you know exactly the feeling I’m talking about.

 

Okay doc. Keep posting your plays. Hoping you’re the next mike burry.

 

This is probably the best thread for this. This site has a bunch of national data for things like net worth, retirement savings, and other investment calculators. It's good for seeing national averages and medians. It even has BMI calculators for lechnerd

https://dqydj.com/financial-calculators-investment-calculators-economics-health/

 

It is profoundly disappointing to see that I feel like I'm struggling to get my shit together and I'm still in the top 10-25% of almost every measure I checked.

 

Sorry you're so obese.

But yeah, it puts some things in perspective.

 

Yikes
https://dqydj.com/retirement-savings-by-age-united-states/

those median numbers

 

Top 1% all categories

 

That top 1% BMI will get you before you can enjoy the rest

 

Nah my BMI is high because I lift weights

 

Above 90th percentile.

Spoiler

Can’t spend it for 20 years

 

If you can retire before 59.5, there are ways to get the money out penalty free. At least from Roth 401ks/IRAs.

 

Yeah I wish that thing would have told me I was lower. But apparently I'm rich.

 

Two weeks away from earnings. I'd say yes if you can handle the volatility.

I sold mine a little above $8.

 

Last Dec. 24th I was not at the 90th. Up $110k since then.

 

Assuming you're in your late 30s, a 60%+ increase is amazing.

 

why is rolls royce a penny stock?

 

41

 

Holy shit this is depressing. I shattered the 90th percentile amount for my bracket.