Need some financial advice.

[shilala]

Here's the papers.
I've been getting reamed on this particular annuity for the last 10 years. The growth has been stagnant, and I lost a good chunk along the way.
I can change how the money is invested, the options are listed on the bottom of the pic.
I've always kept the money in 354 balanced, just because that used to be the only option and it is now the default option.
Where should I move the money? It has to be within the options provided.
I think I can only move it once a year.
I suppose a balance of security and growth would be best. I won't realize the annuity for about another 30 years.

 

[bobbybe01]

Invest in Real Estate?

 

[Red]

Take it all out and buy a Vette.

 

[shilala]

Originally posted by: bobbybe01
Invest in Real Estate?

I can't yank the money out of that fund. It's not an option. I already own 5 houses and an apartment building. I'm just about "real-estated" out.

 

[Torghn]

I've got my money in an S&P index fund. It's at about 10% this year and 12% historically.

 

[Mill]

What was your %YTD total investment earnings? Some of your stuff didn't look to be doing too bad. What are your options tha you can change to?

 

[richardycc]

see my sign, with that said, I rolled all my money from my 401k into an european/foreign funds last yr, and got ~30% gain, I think biotech/health stocks should be good this year (good being that it wont go up that much, and might drop a bit in the beginning of this year), so its excellent time to load up and wait for an explosive gain toward the yr end. YMMV

 

[DaveSimmons]

It looks like the EVGRN EQUITYINDEX/1 is close to the S&P500 in mix and performance, so it is a good long-term investment with low risk for a stock fund. I'd put at least half into that fund, especially if you just want to leave funds in place instead of changing.

The Fidelity Adv Val is a small-cap fund, you could use it to balance the large cap EVGRN. Maybe use that, the Templeton foreign and perhaps a bond fund to together make up the second half.

 

[shilala]

Quote:
Originally posted by Mill
What was your %YTD total investment earnings? Some of your stuff didn't look to be doing too bad. What are your options tha you can change to?

The year to date was 7.32%, I believe. The money is all in the one fund (of the funds listed in the lower part of the picture).
The picture is actually in two parts. The top part is my statement, the bottom part contains my options.
The top part shows that all the money is in Plum Pipe #354 Balanced.

 

[shilala]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
It looks like the EVGRN EQUITYINDEX/1 is close to the S&P500 in mix and performance, so it is a good long-term investment with low risk for a stock fund. I'd put at least half into that fund, especially if you just want to leave funds in place instead of changing.

The Fidelity Adv Val is a small-cap fund, you could use it to balance the large cap EVGRN. Maybe use that, the Templeton foreign and perhaps a bond fund to together make up the second half.

I'm not sure how I can distribute the funds. I don't know the rules in how I can break it up until I call the Fund office. What you're suggesting makes sense, even though I have no idea what it means.
Just to make sure I'm hearing you right...
50% in EVGRN EQUITYINDEX/1
15% in Fidelity Adv Val
15% in Templeton foreign
20% in EVGRN Core Bond
Meh?
Man, I sure appreciate all the help!!!

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: shilala

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
It looks like the EVGRN EQUITYINDEX/1 is close to the S&P500 in mix and performance, so it is a good long-term investment with low risk for a stock fund. I'd put at least half into that fund, especially if you just want to leave funds in place instead of changing.

The Fidelity Adv Val is a small-cap fund, you could use it to balance the large cap EVGRN. Maybe use that, the Templeton foreign and perhaps a bond fund to together make up the second half.

I'm not sure how I can distribute the funds. I don't know the rules in how I can break it up until I call the Fund office. What you're suggesting makes sense, even though I have no idea what it means.
Just to make sure I'm hearing you right...
50% in EVGRN EQUITYINDEX/1
15% in Fidelity Adv Val
15% in Templeton foreign
20% in EVGRN Core Bond
Meh?
Man, I sure appreciate all the help!!!

The American Fund has a pretty solid 10 year average.

 

[shilala]

Originally posted by: Mill

Originally posted by: shilala

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
It looks like the EVGRN EQUITYINDEX/1 is close to the S&P500 in mix and performance, so it is a good long-term investment with low risk for a stock fund. I'd put at least half into that fund, especially if you just want to leave funds in place instead of changing.

The Fidelity Adv Val is a small-cap fund, you could use it to balance the large cap EVGRN. Maybe use that, the Templeton foreign and perhaps a bond fund to together make up the second half.

I'm not sure how I can distribute the funds. I don't know the rules in how I can break it up until I call the Fund office. What you're suggesting makes sense, even though I have no idea what it means.
Just to make sure I'm hearing you right...
50% in EVGRN EQUITYINDEX/1
15% in Fidelity Adv Val
15% in Templeton foreign
20% in EVGRN Core Bond
Meh?
Man, I sure appreciate all the help!!!

The American Fund has a pretty solid 10 year average.

How can I factor that in? Our balanced fund was a consistantly solid 10% or better for years and it just bellied up. The returns have been awful.
I'd like to take a crack at something and maybe adjust it a year down the road. I think I can make changes every 6 months. I may be able to learn enough about the funds to take care of it intelligently, but quite frankly, I'd rather go to the Dentist.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

OK, and what does a n00b to investing start off with? I've got $4k that i want to grow off of.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: shilala

Originally posted by: Mill

Originally posted by: shilala

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
The Fidelity Adv Val is a small-cap fund, you could use it to balance the large cap EVGRN. Maybe use that, the Templeton foreign and perhaps a bond fund to together make up the second half.

15% in Fidelity Adv Val

The American Fund has a pretty solid 10 year average.

How can I factor that in? Our balanced fund was a consistantly solid 10% or better for years and it just bellied up. The returns have been awful.
I'd like to take a crack at something and maybe adjust it a year down the road. I think I can make changes every 6 months. I may be able to learn enough about the funds to take care of it intelligently, but quite frankly, I'd rather go to the Dentist.

The American fund is a "small cap" fund similar to the Fidelity fund. Cap = capitalization = overall market value of the company.

It looks like a decent fund, but if you get the Fidelity fund I don't see much reason to put money into the American fund too.

The purpose of either fund is to balance against the EVRGRN EQUITY which is made up of stocks from large cap / large companies. Over time the market often shifts back and forth between growth in large and small companies, so having funds in both categories can improve overall performance. Having a foreign fund and bond fund follows the same philosophy. If you have this kind of mix you'll do well over the years.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
OK, and what does a n00b to investing start off with? I've got $4k that i want to grow off of.

1. Park it at INGDirect.com until you have $5,000
2. open an account at vanguard.com and buy their VFINX fund
3. wait a few years
4. profit!

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
OK, and what does a n00b to investing start off with? I've got $4k that i want to grow off of.

1. Park it at INGDirect.com until you have $5,000
2. open an account at vanguard.com and buy their VFINX fund
3. wait a few years
4. profit!

2.25% is pretty awful, really. If you're going to invest, at the VERY least get a CD.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
OK, and what does a n00b to investing start off with? I've got $4k that i want to grow off of.

1. Park it at INGDirect.com until you have $5,000
2. open an account at vanguard.com and buy their VFINX fund
3. wait a few years
4. profit!

2.25% is pretty awful, really. If you're going to invest, at the VERY least get a CD.

Sure, if it's going to take a year to come up with the extra $1,000 then get a 1-year CD at INGDirect on the 4,000.

The point of waiting to raise $5,000 is to avoid the account maintenance fees for having a low balance. It might make sense to go ahead and send the money to vanguard now and just pay the fee.

Also, if this is long-term savings for retirement, a Roth IRA account is a good idea. You can put in $3,000 for year 2004 (as long as you do it before 4/15) and up to another $4,000 for year 2005.

 

[shilala]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Originally posted by: shilala

Originally posted by: Mill

Originally posted by: shilala

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
The Fidelity Adv Val is a small-cap fund, you could use it to balance the large cap EVGRN. Maybe use that, the Templeton foreign and perhaps a bond fund to together make up the second half.

15% in Fidelity Adv Val

The American Fund has a pretty solid 10 year average.

How can I factor that in? Our balanced fund was a consistantly solid 10% or better for years and it just bellied up. The returns have been awful.
I'd like to take a crack at something and maybe adjust it a year down the road. I think I can make changes every 6 months. I may be able to learn enough about the funds to take care of it intelligently, but quite frankly, I'd rather go to the Dentist.

The American fund is a "small cap" fund similar to the Fidelity fund. Cap = capitalization = overall market value of the company.

It looks like a decent fund, but if you get the Fidelity fund I don't see much reason to put money into the American fund too.

The purpose of either fund is to balance against the EVRGRN EQUITY which is made up of stocks from large cap / large companies. Over time the market often shifts back and forth between growth in large and small companies, so having funds in both categories can improve overall performance. Having a foreign fund and bond fund follows the same philosophy. If you have this kind of mix you'll do well over the years.

So this works???
50% in EVGRN EQUITYINDEX/1
15% in Fidelity Adv Val
15% in Templeton foreign
20% in EVGRN Core Bond
How should I adjust that scenario, or do I need to?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: shilala
So this works???
50% in EVGRN EQUITYINDEX/1
15% in Fidelity Adv Val
15% in Templeton foreign
20% in EVGRN Core Bond
How should I adjust that scenario, or do I need to?

That should work well. One thing to keep in mind is in any one quarter one of the funds might lose money, but it will make it back in a later quarter. This is a balanced set of funds and you should look at the overall growth of the complete set.

Over enough time, there can even be years where the complete set loses money, but you're not investing for just one year.

 

[shilala]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Originally posted by: shilala
So this works???
50% in EVGRN EQUITYINDEX/1
15% in Fidelity Adv Val
15% in Templeton foreign
20% in EVGRN Core Bond
How should I adjust that scenario, or do I need to?

That should work well. One thing to keep in mind is in any one quarter one of the funds might lose money, but it will make it back in a later quarter. This is a balanced set of funds and you should look at the overall growth of the complete set.

Over enough time, there can even be years where the complete set loses money, but you're not investing for just one year.

Thanks for all the help Dave. Hopefully I'll be able to stay a couple clicks above what I'm seeing now. I sure appreciate your time!!!

 

[rahvin]

Yuck, just put the lot into the vanguard index 500 if you can get into it.