• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Investment Question

A

Aztech

Golden Member
Any big investors on here? I know most of yall are broke college students but there seems to be some good savings/investing topics on here sometimes too.

So, if you had $75K to invest somewhere safe, where would you put it? I'm actually asking this for someone else, and they need it to be safe, as in very low risk, if any.
 
Originally posted by: AccruedExpenditure
Depends on how much homework you want to do...

If you're lazy through it into an S and P index fund.
Click to expand...
What's the best rate you can safely achieve there? Can you point me to such a fund?

 
Amazing! Perhaps fate brought us together? You will bw pleased to hear that I am the exiled president of a small African republic, and I need only $75,000 to retrieve the sum of 400,000,000 (four hundred million) from my frozen offshore accounts! Please reply as soon as possible so we can continue this most profitable business venture.


 
Originally posted by: Atheus
Amazing! Perhaps fate brought us together? You will bw pleased to hear that I am the exiled president of a small African republic, and I need only $75,000 to retrieve the sum of 400,000,000 (four hundred million) from my frozen offshore accounts! Please reply as soon as possible so we can continue this most profitable business venture.
Click to expand...
Haha! NOT!

 
Preliminary research shows there are better CD rates for peeps with a min. of $25K deposits... I'm thinking about one of these...
 
Well a bank would be very low risk, if any. Even if you get 5% interest though that's not much. Mutual funds that invest in savings bonds would be pretty low risk still, and average around 10% a year. My choice would be Mutual Funds, but not bond funds. I get a reliable 25% annual return from mutual funds... but I manage my portfolio myself so my fee's are almost non-existant, and I do what I want, when I want. Plus I don't lose money waiting for a moron broker to tell me to sell (a broker will RARELY advise you to sell something... they'd rather you take a loss than lose your business).

I'd say your best bet would be to join an online brokerage like Ameritrade, eTrade, Scottrade, or any of the other good size online brokerages and check your funds yourself every month. To chose a fund, look on the brokerage's website for long term investment recommendations... if you can't find them there, check something like MSN Money. Then once you've bought a fund, watch it monthly. If the price has been trending down for more than a month, sell it and find a new one.
 
Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Well a bank would be very low risk, if any. Even if you get 5% interest though that's not much. Mutual funds that invest in savings bonds would be pretty low risk still, and average around 10% a year. My choice would be Mutual Funds, but not bond funds. I get a reliable 25% annual return from mutual funds... but I manage my portfolio myself so my fee's are almost non-existant, and I do what I want, when I want. Plus I don't lose money waiting for a moron broker to tell me to sell (a broker will RARELY advise you to sell something... they'd rather you take a loss than lose your business).

I'd say your best bet would be to join an online brokerage like Ameritrade, eTrade, Scottrade, or any of the other good size online brokerages and check your funds yourself every month. To chose a fund, look on the brokerage's website for long term investment recommendations... if you can't find them there, check something like MSN Money. Then once you've bought a fund, watch it monthly. If the price has been trending down for more than a month, sell it and find a new one.
Click to expand...
We don't have that much investment knowledge. We'd be ecstatic with 10% returns, if they're really safe. Otherwise, the watch and sell stuff is not for us.

 
You've come to the right place. A group of eleven year olds with tremendous amount of investment expertise.

Good choice.
 
How long until the money is needed? How much risk are you willing to take?

That's critical to deciding what to do.
 
Originally posted by: Aztech
Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Well a bank would be very low risk, if any. Even if you get 5% interest though that's not much. Mutual funds that invest in savings bonds would be pretty low risk still, and average around 10% a year. My choice would be Mutual Funds, but not bond funds. I get a reliable 25% annual return from mutual funds... but I manage my portfolio myself so my fee's are almost non-existant, and I do what I want, when I want. Plus I don't lose money waiting for a moron broker to tell me to sell (a broker will RARELY advise you to sell something... they'd rather you take a loss than lose your business).

I'd say your best bet would be to join an online brokerage like Ameritrade, eTrade, Scottrade, or any of the other good size online brokerages and check your funds yourself every month. To chose a fund, look on the brokerage's website for long term investment recommendations... if you can't find them there, check something like MSN Money. Then once you've bought a fund, watch it monthly. If the price has been trending down for more than a month, sell it and find a new one.
Click to expand...
We don't have that much investment knowledge. We'd be ecstatic with 10% returns, if they're really safe. Otherwise, the watch and sell stuff is not for us.
Click to expand...

It's not that difficult to watch funds... because funds are made up of many other stocks and bonds and whatnot, they don't move fast, like a stock does. It's almost unheard of for a fund to gain or lose 10% in a day, but that type of move is expected from a good stock.

But if you're not interested in doing it yourself... I'd go to a financial advisor and have them invest it for you in something safe that grows slowly.

*EDIT* Just as an example I own EUROX, TMRFX, and TREMX right now (they're all high risk mutual funds, but a high risk mutual fund isn't really more risky than the lowest risk stock). All together today they increased in value by about 6% while the market as a whole didn't do anything spectacular... the S&P500 was only up about 1%.
 
Put it in an ING direct savings account until you decide what you really want to invest in long term. It's at 4.75% for new deposits for a certain amount of time. Don't just let it sit.
 
What kind of time period are we talking about?
Any information about the person such as age, retirement needs, future expenses like college, etc?

It's hard to give really useful information without really knowing anything about the client. They can do better than CDs and money market accounts, but putting it all into a single index fund wouldn't be a good idea either. You need proper diversification among debt, equities, and other assets.
 
Personally I take all my money to my investment advisor. Or you could ask JLGatsby, I understand he's a high powered wall street man living down in kentucky.

Most of my money is in mutual funds, roths, money market and my 401K.
 
hsbcdirect.com = 4.8% liquid instant demand deposit

don't waste your money on an investment adviser. don't listen to most of these punks on ATOT for they are financial nubs.
 
Originally posted by: JS80
hsbcdirect.com = 4.8% liquid instant demand deposit

don't waste your money on an investment adviser. don't listen to most of these punks on ATOT for they are financial nubs.
Click to expand...
What if that advisor is free, like mine?

Suggesting an online savings account with a sub 5% return that is only available until a certain date and then your APR is changed to a variable market rate is a rather nub thing to advise.

With so many incredibly safe mutual funds out there I don't see the point of dumping it into a low yield online savings account for a long term investment.
 
I invest substantially more than that amount of my own money personally, and I only say that to excuse the bad advice one often gets in ATOT with regards to investments. When you're playing around with a few thousand dollars a commodity play sounds like fun, but when a single tick on a play costs you $5,000 instead of $5 suddenly the perspectives are different.

I refuse to invest in CDs or savings accounts, because while the relative guarantee is comforting the return is not. I have an automated trading system that I employ with some of my capital to generate income, and I have the capital I keep inactive in various investments. There is one thing that I absolutely will not do, and this is antithetical to the advice you often here: I buy and sell, be it fund or otherwise. Most suggest that you buy-and-hold an index fund and ride the market up and down. Why? Ride the bull and buck the bear; don't let your portfolio drawdown!

If you're willing to put forth an enormous effort in time and money you could trade the money yourself. $70k is decent capital, but to be honest you are going to have a hard time developing a trading system on that amount. If you want more information on this just let me know. I would dedicate some of your effort to identifying strong markets and finding the best funds that are diversified in that area. The natural gas bull of '05 was fantastic, and companies like CHK are now publishing record earnings. Minerals were fantastic last year. Health care, insurance, and online banking... all fantastic. Mediterranean, Latin, Russian, Chinese, and Indian markets have been incredible; I've gained over 70% in the past year or so from one of my major funds (TREMX). Growth funds are looking positive this year after the beating they have taken over the bear of early to mid 2000, and I would keep an eye on indications of a possible tech rally as well.

This is getting long. If you express interest in my reply I can elaborate on any specific areas. There are countless ways to analyze the market, specific instruments, funds, etc. etc.; it doesn't take a lot of effort to profit from a trend in a thriving sector.
 
it doesn't take a lot of effort to profit from a trend in a thriving sector.
Click to expand...

No it doesn't. But quite frankly, if someone isn't willing to put forth at least as much effort as that takes a few times a year they're better off sticking the money in a savings account or something that will give them a very low but guaranteed increase in value. Just make sure it's large enough that it outpaces inflation. 😀
 
Originally posted by: Jeff7181
it doesn't take a lot of effort to profit from a trend in a thriving sector.
Click to expand...

No it doesn't. But quite frankly, if someone isn't willing to put forth at least as much effort as that takes a few times a year they're better off sticking the money in a savings account or something that will give them a very low but guaranteed increase in value. Just make sure it's large enough that it outpaces inflation. 😀
Click to expand...

You are correct sir, and effort is the problem. A lot of people are very cavalier with their portfolio, and there are a lot of psychological reasons as to why. People are willing to invest a substantial amount of money on a tip (the most common and ridiculous mistake an investor can make--some get lucky, but most don't) and refuse to sell at a loss. This is perfect for a buy-and-hold strategy, and if you give a statistically profitable investment enough time in the sample to provide that return then you'll be profitable, but that's not sound investment strategy.

Nothing is to say that stocks will outperform any other asset classes in the future, but many decades of history suggests they do. People just need to play a more active role in their portfolios to secure profits and identify areas of maximum growth. It's easy to get lucky on a tip if you try enough times, but having a strong equity curve to the upside over a long period of time is exceedingly difficult.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top