10% per year over what period? What percentage of financial planners beat the S&P over time? My guess is half, maybe less after accounting for their fees. If the S&P is averaging around 7% over the last 50 years, that means the overwhelming majority of FA's aren't hitting 10% consistently over a lifetime.
The thread title is: “Stocks! Anyone investing right now?”
Been probably 60-70% of portfolio invested in the S&P since ~2005 give or take. The index value doesn't include dividends which might be another 1.5% Prior to that I picked stocks, easy when the market is moving upwards, but the S&P tends to beat that in the long run. Sold my TSLA friday, moved that into the S&P. TSLA moved well from Dec-Jan -then stalled.
When I finally had enough saved to start investing I read a lot (not internet crap). A recurring theme was that most folks that you pay to invest your money don't beat the market, particularly when you factor in fees (front-end loads, annual fees, back-end loads, etc). It was a no brainer for me - S&P 500 index fund (e.g., Vanguard Index 500). That was 20+ yrs ago and it's worked for me. I seriously doubt you get quality investment management unless you're well into the 7 figures so save yourself some $$ and skip the trip down to your local Edward Jones, etc.
Yes, I would like to avoid an investment firm and try to learn and invest myself. Possibly using Robin Hood or some other investing program. There is just so much information out there that I’m going to assume 98% is BS or the information is skewed in a way to promote a false narrative. I’m really trying to get solid information to get me started in the right direction and then I’ll do the rest of the work with research. I appreciate the response and I’ll look into index funds.
This guy gets it.
Not quite sport.
DIVERSIFY with QUALITY COMPANIES for the LONG TERM. Based on you being a young guy you could be in the 80/20 equity to income ratio range but research Risk tolerance / time horizon before making a decision.
I would suggest starting with the Fidelity website and going through their learning seminars and pages. It won't cost you anything and they are worth the time. I would also suggest learning about ETF's and compare the differences with stocks and mutual funds.
Thank you for the suggestions. I have an account with Fidelity and will start looking into the learning seminars. The way I made my decision about the retirement funds was simple (albeit probably not the smartest). All the financial advisors I met with when setting up the retirement funds had the same spiel about being young and taking risk. So I choose the option laid out with the highest risk to reward, with the plan to adjust risk as I got closer to retirement. Now I didn’t do any research at the time, and just took it that the Financial advisor had my best interest in mind. So far the growth has been good, but probably could have been better. I am still dumping money into retirement and now have some extra money and time to play in the market and learn.
Thank you for taking the time to put this all together. I will look into putting a small amount into the S&P.
I have never trusted a FA and have done my own investing, that way if it goes bad it is my fault. The more you know the better you can control your money and maximize returns. Once you get comfortable with investing, whatever that might look like, always trust your system. It will take time to learn how to deal with market fluctuations, especially corrections, but you will get there.
I’m thinking about taking 10k and putting it into a longer term investments possibly index fund (once I do more research), and take the rest and make short term investments to make some play money while I’m trying to learn.
Thanks to all that answered his questions. I am in the same boat as Rocketscience. In addition my 18 yo daughter is asking how to invest in stocks and I don't have the knowledge set to answer well. Previously I just relied on financial investors for my own portfolios and played the long retirement investment game. I am learning and educating myself now to help guide her. I am looking at TD Ameritrade because they have a virtual trainer that she can play with fake money and get a feel for it before she invests her small savings/mad money fund for real. They have some decent education links for noobs like her and I, but I am open to hearing anywhere else a person can start their education and learn. Most of what is bantered about here is like a foreign language to me and I find myself going to the investopedia to look up acronyms and terms quite a bit. It actually feels like starting precision rifle shooting. You don't know what you don't know and it can be overwhelming while guys that have been doing it for a long time make it look so damn easy.
In all reality, just open a vanguard acct a d invest in ETF’s and Mutual funds. Vasgx has made me a killing and is a target 2050/2055 acct that capitalizes on risk in the short term and tapers off later. It is a fun money acct and everything else is in 401k’s, roth ira’s, etc...Dogecoin. You’re welcome.
Haha. My brother has been trying to get me to sink some money into Dogecoin since he has invested some into it. I am just skeptical of all cryptocurrency. If/when bitcoin crashes again I may buy some. I find it hard to believe all the predictions about 1 Bitcoin being worth a $1,000,000 in 10 years, but I am no expert.Dogecoin. You’re welcome.
Little different, but is sort of how I moved away from paying an FA to doing it on my own....dipped toe in b/c cutting loose. After the dot.com bust I began self-directing a small portion of my income to see if I could beat my FA. In year one I beat him by ~ 2% after backing out fees/expenses and put him on notice he was being watched....he didn't even care b/c he knew he was going to lose me at that point I kept him on for a few more years as a safety net. Dividend/dividend growth mixture with DRIPs and occasional sector rebalancing is my approach and it's merely one way to invest. Most of these FAs are dying a slow death b/c as the rear view mirror shows their crys of 'I can do better when volatility strikes' it simply doesn't work out that way. 92% of large cap actively managed funds failed to beat simple indexing over the last 15 years. And it's almost identical for large/small/mid cap as well for 10 years it's ~ 85% failing to beat benchmark. The more time goes by the worse they do. Best of luck in your career....read lots there is so much out there. One free source you may want to check out as you expand your reading menu is called Seeking Alpha they have tons of free and also pay wall subscriptions.....every type of investment philosophy covered. I think I fixed my typos sorry not enough coffee on board yet.
Cool story bro. Up until October of 2019 I was a senior regional account manager for TD Ameritrade until I quit to trade on my own full time.
I just made $40K today. What the fuck did you do?
But yeah........I don’t know what I’m talking about.
I’ll look into this. Is there a specific type of commodity you focus on, or do you dabble in anything and everything you can make money on? I’ve got no problem putting in the work, and I like to learn new things. I just feel like a fish out of water on this stuff. I am an engineer with some resemblance of intelligence, but this shit drives me crazy. I feel like a toddler sitting on the floor chewing on a wood block listening to the adults talk.
I invest in Vanguard index funds. While doing nothing, I had a 22% return over the last 12 months.
Pfft haven't you heard? The petro-dollar is doomed, every pull back is the start of the next Bear market and the only safe investment is bullets and canned goods. Massive inflation and collapse of the US Dollar as the world's reserve currency in 3....2....1..... Bury all your cash in the back yard!
You also better be prepared to deposit several hundred thousand $, show a 7 figure net worth and fill out plenty of financial disclosure forms. Also helps to have a use for 20 rail cars full of corn if you screw up and they deliver it.
I've been looking at some long term charts / consumer info this week... Consumer demand for these two has steadily risen for years... Long term investments.
Slow down........... Propaganda abounds on the Internet and the Markets.... Some propaganda even here on this board.
