The Investment Thread!

[cramx3]

GME just cleared $300/share this morning.

I think it's amazing that this is still a thing 

[romdrums]

I bought on the dip and it's fascinating to watch it climb back.  With some of the recent announcements about the company, this feels like it's going to be a bit more sustained rise than last time. 

[cramx3]

I bought on the dip and it's fascinating to watch it climb back.  With some of the recent announcements about the company, this feels like it's going to be a bit more sustained rise than last time.

What I don't understand is how even with changes for the company, how it could be valued this high.  I mean, I know it's still kind of a game with these traders, but as someone on the sideline, I still don't see how I could put money into it.

[eric42434224]

Yeah Cramx, it is clearly a speculative play.  Don't invest any money in something so highly speculative that you cant be ok with losing all of it.

[Cool Chris]

Crazy! When GME peaked I read there were others they were targeting too* that have yet to pop.


*I may or may not have sunk some cash in to these stocks

[cramx3]

Crazy! When GME peaked I read there were others they were targeting too* that have yet to pop.


*I may or may not have sunk some cash in to these stocks

TBH, I was going to as well but that was when robinhood shut it all down.  They may have, in the end, actually protected me from myself which is what they were stating all along.  In the end, maybe Robinhood wasn't so wrong.

I received a small bonus last week and put almost all of it into a few ETFs, and put a small amount into bitcoin.  I actually wanted to put more into bitcoin but by the time the money got approved into robinhood, bitcoin was already going back up so I put a small amount in to hold and so far its looking like maybe I should have put more into it.

[Cool Chris]

My daughter loves to play Roblox. It has been a great way to play and connect with some friends without being able to see them during Covid. They just went public (RBLX) so I bought her a share for her birthday.

[Cool Chris]

I seem to be noticing a massive increase in radio commercials touting the benefits of investing in gold. Anyone here have any gold in their portfolio?

[lordxizor]

I seem to be noticing a massive increase in radio commercials touting the benefits of investing in gold. Anyone here have any gold in their portfolio?

Nope. I've debated over the years, but I've never seen any compelling arguments that I should. In general, the more you hear something advertised, the less likely it is that it's a good investment.

[ReaperKK]

I seem to be noticing a massive increase in radio commercials touting the benefits of investing in gold. Anyone here have any gold in their portfolio?

While I don't personally hold any gold I'm not surprised that it's on the news. When the market turns downward people will flock to presumably safer investments like gold.

[cramx3]

I seem to be noticing a massive increase in radio commercials touting the benefits of investing in gold. Anyone here have any gold in their portfolio?

While I don't personally hold any gold I'm not surprised that it's on the news. When the market turns downward people will flock to presumably safer investments like gold.

I saw something in the news yesterday about Switzerland buying gold from Russia just recently too.  I've heard about doing this in times when currencies aren't very stable.  I don't know much about it though.

I seem to be noticing a massive increase in radio commercials touting the benefits of investing in gold. Anyone here have any gold in their portfolio?

Nope. I've debated over the years, but I've never seen any compelling arguments that I should. In general, the more you hear something advertised, the less likely it is that it's a good investment.

This just makes me thinking of my Dad buying coins from commercials as an investment 

[Cool Chris]

My dad bought some coins, probably from the same commercials haha but it became a hobby for him, not something to fortify his retirement.

[cramx3]

My dad bought some coins, probably from the same commercials haha but it became a hobby for him, not something to fortify his retirement.

My siblings rip on my Dad for many things including buying the coins, but it's just funny how he doubles down on it being an investment instead of just saying it's for fun or he enjoys collecting them. 

[Phoenix87x]

So I have a 403b with work. Does it make any sense to open a separate Roth IRA on the side or just invest through the 403b?

[lordxizor]

So I have a 403b with work. Does it make any sense to open a separate Roth IRA on the side or just invest through the 403b?

I would do both. Is there a matching contribution your employer makes to the 403b? If yes, I would get the full match, then move on to a Roth IRA, then go back to the 403b with whatever you can afford until it gets maxed out too.

[Phoenix87x]

Makes sense.

How about this. I just started and will admit I know nothing. I opened a Charles schwab account that defaulted to an individual brokerage account. I then opened a Roth IRA with them. So I now have two things to invest from.





Does it even make sense to have both? And if so, when would you use either one?

[lordxizor]

Makes sense.

How about this. I just started and will admit I know nothing. I opened a Charles schwab account that defaulted to an individual brokerage account. I then opened a Roth IRA with them. So I now have two things to invest from.





Does it even make sense to have both? And if so, when would you use either one?

The individual brokerage account is a taxable account. I would max out tax advantaged accounts like the 403b and Roth IRA before adding anything to a taxable account, unless you have a specific plan for why you need to access the money before 59. That's the one advantage of a taxable account is that you can access the money whenever you want for whatever reason you want. But unless you're planning to exit the workforce early, or have some other large purchase on a time horizon that makes sense to have the money invested in the market instead of just in a savings account, I wouldn't contribute to the taxable account until you've got the tax advantaged accounts maxed out or you're putting at least 25% of your income into them.

[lordxizor]

Inadvertent double post

[Phoenix87x]

Excellent advice. Thank you

[Phoenix87x]

Here goes a question about CD laddering

All these numbers are just imaginary, but Say for instance there are 3 cd's

1 month at 3%
3 month at 3.5%
6 month at 4%

I have 15k to invest

I put it all into the one month CD and then each month get a return and re-invest into a one month and just keep doing this.

Or

Put 5k into the 1 month, 3 month and 6 month

Which is better?

In example A, I see a return every month (which will really knock down monthly bills)

In example B, I see higher overall return but have to wait one month, 3 months and 6 months respectively. 6 months is a long time to wait for 1% extra of return (outside of dividends or other incentives)

If I wait 6 months for a higher return, that's 6 individual months where I am not seeing any return. I do understand that rates can go down and that's the reasoning behind laddering, but if you are always getting a monthly return that would counteract that right?


TLDR - why not just throw a ton of money into a one month CD every month and get a monthly return vs. waiting much longer periods of time for slightly higher returns

I am new to all this and I may be understanding this wrong, but Any guidance would be appreciated.

[Chino]

Could it be a taxes and fees thing?

[cramx3]

If you need access to the money, then the shorter length makes more sense, if not, then the long term. But I'm also not sure how the taxes/fees work on CDs, but I'd imagine that also favors the long term. 

[lordxizor]

I'm not sure it's worth getting too fancy for 1% more, but if the extra $150 a year is meaningful for you then it might be worth it. I've typically seen a CD ladder structured to have you splitting your money 6 ways and buying a 6 month CD every month with 1/6th of your cash. It'll take 6 months to get there, but eventually you'll have a CD mature and pay out every month. Then you put that money back into another 6 month CD and rinse and repeat. Like this:

Month 1:
Buy 6 month CD for $2500
Buy 1 month CD for $12500

Month 2:
Buy 6 month CD for $2500
Buy 1 month CD for $10000
Hold 6 month CDs worth $2500

Month 3:
Buy 6 month CD for $2500
Buy 1 month CD for $7500
Hold 6 month CDs worth $5000

Skip a few...

Month 7:
Pocket $100 profit from maturing 6 month CD
Buy 6 month CD for $2500 from the matured CD
Hold 6 month CDs worth $12500

[Phoenix87x]

Thanks for the info guys. It makes a lot more sense now

[Anguyen92]

So I'm starting, after a long time coming, to finally try to get into the investment game after some inspiration by reading some articles from Mr. Money Moustache.  I'm thinking about invest a few thousand into some Vanguard Index Funds and try to get my feet wet there and see how the slow process works and go from there.  I'm wondering if there are other newby things I can do in the investment front.  I already got a 401k that I opened a few years back and won't touch the thing.  I'm not worried about having the cash to pay my car loan and credit card bills in the next few years, so I'm just ready to want to learn more about the process and complex intricacies of investing.

[lordxizor]

So I'm starting, after a long time coming, to finally try to get into the investment game after some inspiration by reading some articles from Mr. Money Moustache.  I'm thinking about invest a few thousand into some Vanguard Index Funds and try to get my feet wet there and see how the slow process works and go from there.  I'm wondering if there are other newby things I can do in the investment front.  I already got a 401k that I opened a few years back and won't touch the thing.  I'm not worried about having the cash to pay my car loan and credit card bills in the next few years, so I'm just ready to want to learn more about the process and complex intricacies of investing.

Regular purchases every week or month into a low cost index fund is the way to go. Never sell, just keep buying. Get your full employer match in your 401k if you have one, then max out your Roth IRA before putting anything more into your 401k.

If you do have credit card debt, you should be paying that off before investing.

[axeman90210]

^all of that

[lordxizor]

I have 529 accounts for college savings for each of my kids. I had the investments set in what is essentially a target date fund that gets more conservative as they get older. I mostly haven't looked at them much over the years, but I took a look the other day and noticed that my 13 year old's account had basically been flat over the last couple years. I looked at the fund he was in at it's uber conservative, like mostly in cash. I am so annoyed I didn't look at this more closely. I wasted so many years getting crap returns because of this dumb they're in. I moved everyone to the aggressive fund, which is still 20% in bonds, so not really even all that aggressive. I feel bad for my oldest two kids because they're going to have far less money for college than they would have if I had been more aggressive when they were younger. I'm really kicking myself for not paying more attention.

[cramx3]

I have 529 accounts for college savings for each of my kids. I had the investments set in what is essentially a target date fund that gets more conservative as they get older. I mostly haven't looked at them much over the years, but I took a look the other day and noticed that my 13 year old's account had basically been flat over the last couple years. I looked at the fund he was in at it's uber conservative, like mostly in cash. I am so annoyed I didn't look at this more closely. I wasted so many years getting crap returns because of this dumb they're in. I moved everyone to the aggressive fund, which is still 20% in bonds, so not really even all that aggressive. I feel bad for my oldest two kids because they're going to have far less money for college than they would have if I had been more aggressive when they were younger. I'm really kicking myself for not paying more attention.

Don't be too hard on yourself. You could have played it aggressively and ended up worse too.

[Cool Chris]

I do a thorough check of my IRAs and other investments this time every year, but haven't even glanced at my 529s in a long time. Thank you for the reminder!

[lordxizor]

I do a thorough check of my IRAs and other investments this time every year, but haven't even glanced at my 529s in a long time. Thank you for the reminder!

I'm all over my other investments and am super intentional about everything. That's part of the reason I'm so annoyed with myself.about this. My oldest son's account is probably thousands of dollars lower than it could have been if I had just paid attention.

[Phoenix87x]

So with these couple banks failing, anybody doing anything different with their money. Are you pulling it out of things, just leaving it as is?

How much worse do you think this will get?

[lordxizor]

So with these couple banks failing, anybody doing anything different with their money. Are you pulling it out of things, just leaving it as is?

How much worse do you think this will get?

Had I not just puled out most of my savings to pay for a new HVAC system, I would be leaving my money where it is. As long as it's FDIC insured, you'll be fine.

[ReaperKK]

So with these couple banks failing, anybody doing anything different with their money. Are you pulling it out of things, just leaving it as is?

How much worse do you think this will get?

I work for a very large investment bank and I've actually fairly involved with the bank failure stuff from an intake side and truly I wouldn't worry. You're money is FDIC insured and if you have more than 250k I'd stay move your funds to one of the big four banks. I do see more scrutiny coming down the pike for banks as a result of this, maybe not as big as Dodd-Frank but significant.

[wolfking]

Bump.

Got some more time on my hands and seriously looking at investing a little bit of money and see what happens but man this stuff is confusing going in blind.  Early on, seems finding a good platform to start with and putting a small amount to start with into an index fund is the way to go and feel things out.  Although, I see index funds classed and EFT's but reading up it seems they are different things?  Seems a lot of local sites I can only sign up through and EFT.  I'm guessing they are near similar enough though.