Wife and I have some extra money, and are looking for safe investment options...

[cjchaps]

My wife and I have some extra money, and would like to invest it. We don't have kids yet, but we are planning on having some, and we would like the money to go towards their college fund. We are looking for something that is guaranteed not to lose money, and also FDIC insured. I assume we should start researching CDs or Bonds?

 

[CRXican]

www.ingdirect.com

 

[Lonyo]

Tech stocks

 

[virtueixi]

Try the YDFBT bonds, they can yield 25% returns in the short term and they are FDIC insured.

 

[MaxDSP]

mutual funds?

 

[arcenite]

Invest in a new car

 

[cjchaps]

I googled for YDFBT bonds, but it couldn't find anything?

Originally posted by: virtueixi
Try the YDFBT bonds, they can yield 25% returns in the short term and they are FDIC insured.

 

[tfinch2]

Invest in my "jump to conclusions" mats.

 

[StageLeft]

At your age you need to take a more aggressive path to investing. FDIC investments are not investments; they're savings. If your return is 4%, it's hardly much of an investment.

 

[virtueixi]

Originally posted by: cjchaps
I googled for YDFBT bonds, but it couldn't find anything?

Originally posted by: virtueixi
Try the YDFBT bonds, they can yield 25% returns in the short term and they are FDIC insured.

Your Dumb For Believing This Bonds.

 

[Amplifier]

4% minus inflation rate (2.5-3.5%) = .5-1.5% real interest.

 

[Yossarian]

young, no kids = invest aggressively

 

[Rudee]

Buy real estate and rent it out.

 

[deejayshakur]

Originally posted by: virtueixi

Originally posted by: cjchaps
I googled for YDFBT bonds, but it couldn't find anything?

Originally posted by: virtueixi
Try the YDFBT bonds, they can yield 25% returns in the short term and they are FDIC insured.

Your Dumb For Believing This Bonds.

what chicanery!

 

[deejayshakur]

oh yea, options. try BRK.B and BRK.A

 

[MeanMeosh]

my bank account.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
At your age you need to take a more aggressive path to investing. FDIC investments are not investments; they're savings. If your return is 4%, it's hardly much of an investment.

Exactly.

You can invest $8K a year with tax-free growth if you and your wife each open a Roth IRA at www.Vanguard.com and buy shares of their VFINX S&P 500 index mutual fund. This is about the safest stock-based investment you can make, with historical growth over decades at 8-10% a year.

Since it's stock-based some years will do better, some will do worse (even lose a little) but over time (and you're looking at 18 years here) you'll do very well.

With the Roth IRAs, when your kids reach college age you can take out the principal (the $8K/year you put in, $144K over 18 years) penalty-free, and keep all the growth for your own retirement.

If you have more than $8K/year to invest we can suggest ways to invest the rest of it. There are college savings accounts as well as bank CDs and unsheltered brokerage accounts.

 

[desteffy]

6800 ULTRAs!

 

[cjchaps]

Thanks for the advice, and yes, we already both invest in Roth IRA's. We also have our company 401k's. We do have extra money above any beyond the Roths and 401ks to invest.

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Originally posted by: Skoorb
At your age you need to take a more aggressive path to investing. FDIC investments are not investments; they're savings. If your return is 4%, it's hardly much of an investment.

Exactly.

You can invest $8K a year with tax-free growth if you and your wife each open a Roth IRA at www.Vanguard.com and buy shares of their VFINX S&P 500 index mutual fund. This is about the safest stock-based investment you can make, with historical growth over decades at 8-10% a year.

Since it's stock-based some years will do better, some will do worse (even lose a little) but over time (and you're looking at 18 years here) you'll do very well.

With the Roth IRAs, when your kids reach college age you can take out the principal (the $8K/year you put in, $144K over 18 years) penalty-free, and keep all the growth for your own retirement.

If you have more than $8K/year to invest we can suggest ways to invest the rest of it. There are college savings accounts as well as bank CDs and unsheltered brokerage accounts.

 

[Peetoeng]

You may spread the money into serveral investment instruments with varying degrees of return/risk.

Put some in FDIC insured saving acct like ingdirect. Put some in conservative/low risk mutual funds whose portfolio are mostly on dividend yielding stocks (usually utility companies). Put some for long-term investment in moderately aggresive mutual funds.

With saving account, you'd probably just keep up with inflation.

Educate yourself by reading online or library books. Decide what kind of portfolio would let you sleep well night after night as the good Lord says, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

 

[cjchaps]

I think I'm going to pick up one of "Investing for Dummies".

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: cjchaps
Thanks for the advice, and yes, we already both invest in Roth IRA's. We also have our company 401k's. We do have extra money above any beyond the Roths and 401ks to invest.

An S&P 500 index fund like Vanguard's VFINX is also one of the best stock-based investments for a regular brokerage account, since as it grows it creates less capital gains to pay taxes on than "actively managed" mutual funds.

Bond funds will not be doing very well for the next couple of years as interest rates continue to rise.

CDs from someone like ingdirect.com are 100% safe but give a low return.

 

[Rudee]

You can invest $8K a year with tax-free growth if you and your wife each open a Roth IRA at www.Vanguard.com and buy shares of their VFINX S&P 500 index mutual fund

Index funds have tanked lately as the index's that these funds are based on have taken a considerable beating. People are running away from index mutual funds in droves and the future is not looking so good for these investment types.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Rudee

You can invest $8K a year with tax-free growth if you and your wife each open a Roth IRA at www.Vanguard.com and buy shares of their VFINX S&P 500 index mutual fund

Index funds have tanked lately as the index's that these funds are based on have taken a considerable beating. People are running away from index mutual funds in droves and the future is not looking so good for these investment types.

You mean for the last couple of months? The S&P 500 grew 10% last year. This is for an 18-year investment term.

 

[MustangSVT]

I dont konw about safe but I'll take care of it very fast