Where to invest IRA

Question for the financially savvy. I am about to invest in a Roth IRA and was wondering if there is a particular company that is better suited for this or if my regular bank will do?

 

Anyone? Bueller....

 

lol

 

Watch CNBC, Money Matter and Mad Money, etc. There are things that are starting to pay again.

 

Bro- You waited like 20 mins...Peace be on you and you'll get an ear full.

You need to shop around. An IRA is a declared method of investing- From there you get to choose what funds and other investments your company uses to make you money.
Large companies like ING and the larger banks may have managed programs that let you send them money and that is that. But that may cost you in fees.

I invest thru USAA cause they do everything with my money. I've selected my own no-load funds using the prospectus' that my company provided me.

Start making plans to get the full amount (5K per year) invested. One option, if you can afford it: Invest 500 dollars a month from Jan thru Oct. Then Nov and Dec you have an extra 1,000 bones for the holidays and what not.

 

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X2! Thats a smart way of investing over the course of a year. I like vanguard because they have the lowest cost of investing and are super strong financially. Check out clarkhoward.com and click on his investment guide. Good choice on the roth vs. traditional. One things for sure though...if you are at least saving you are doing more than most!

 

It depends on when you want to use your IRA; that will be the determining factor what risk you can invest in.

Of course a lot of people right now who wanted to retire and had their 401K/IRA in risky stocks are feeling the hurt right now. However someone like me who doesnt plan on retireing for another 40years can afford to ride the market's ups and downs. Right now, I invest in a USAA 2050 Retirement IRA. Right now the investments are in stocks, precious metals, riskier, higher potential investments. As I near retirement, the investments are shifted to bonds, lower risk investments. That way as I near the time in which I would like to withdraw from the IRA, slumps in the market will have a less of an affect.

The key to investing is start early and invest consistantly. I deposit $200 monthly. Almost like another bill. I dont mess with that money.

http://www.google.com/finance?client=ig&q=URFFX

 

^^^now there's a smart boy

 

i dont know anything on this topic but i have mine money in franklin templeton and havent seen a hurt, over the past couple quarters my money continues to grow so i am happy

 

I'm an active investor (over 800 trades last year) with a Masters in Business with an emphasis in investments.

What I would suggest is someone like Fidelity, eTrade, or something like that. Then I would invest in an S&P ETF until you have somewhere around 10,000 - 20,000. Then I might split it up into 5-7 equal sized pools of investments, investing in some no load mutual funds with reasonable expenses in areas that you think might do well in the next 3 years. Base your judgement of what funds on the 3 and 5 year track records and make sure that the money manager has not recently changed (make sure the guy that made the good numbers before will be managing your money!).

Also, save at least 8% of your income - yeah I know, can't do that. - I did for years (20) and I don't sweat the ups and downs anymore. You can do it. It may not allow you to waste money on, oh I meant buy your next mod. I slept on friends couches for about a year to allow me to buy a home when I was 23. You can too. It may mean top ramin but you can do it!

I know this was more than you wanted to know but good luck!!!

 

Oh one other VERY Important item - DIVERSIFICATION. What does it mean? S&P will diversify your investment by having 500 companies that when one goes down others will go up. Never, never, never, never, invest in only one mutual fund... I don't care who or why. If that manager does something stupid you will know after it is too late. If that one fund does well, you will be bragging for all the wrong reasons.... AT Least 5 buckets - I prefer a minimum of 10. Once a year, level them off - put the same amount into each bucket. If one has gone up, sell some of it and put the money in the others as long as you would still buy the same investments. If you would not, sell them at the loss and put it into something that you would invest in.

Good luck!

 

+$1,000,000

 

For my own curiosity- Why do you level them out yearly?? That would make it very hard to track trending- And if a certain fund is growing better than another over successive years- Why not leave more then to continue earning increased returns on an increased principle??

 

great thread guys. lets spread the wealth of knowledge. i agree if your younger such as i - go after a higher risk such as stock etc. then heading into later life go for more funds such as bonds and low risk mutual funds. thats how i have been set up with my personal financial advisor.

 

Diversification.

Track trending by your net worth. At least once a year. I measure my performance at least once a month.

There is a saying in the investment community. Bulls make money. Bears make money (shorting companies). and Pigs get slaughtered.

I didn't say sell all of the good performers. Just level load the investments so that you have equal parts and you are equally diversified.

I learned this lesson years ago with Pfizer (Clariton days) - Lost my ass because I thought they were doing so well that they would have to continue.

My strategies have changed over the years but if I was starting over again, I would do the same. When I buy an individual security I put price targets on when to exit 50%-75% of all shares and what price to sell and run.

 

Interesting- ::might have to look over his portfolio with these thoughts in mind and see what pans out::

Right after I re-do all my estate planning stuff.....

 

Not entirely sure what you said here, but it sounds good. What is an ETF?





Thanks for all the input fellas!

 

Not to conflict your investment strategies, but is this what you do with your Roth IRAs? I understand doing this sort of micro management of investments that you plan on the near future liquidating, but with IRAs? I have neither the time or knowhow to do this with retirement accounts.

 

ETF Exchange Traded Fund. It allows you to buy in to an index of funds. So lets say that the Blah Blah Blah tacks company 1, 2, 3, 4... 100. This index would allow you to buy all of those stocks at one time. This allows for good diversification.

Here's the general breakdown of the S&P 500 (cons is Consumers)


S&P 500 Fact Sheet

Many people judge investment performance by how they have done compared to the S&P 500. Check out this link to see what the S&P 500 has done... http://www.standardandpoors.com/indices/sp-500/en/us/?indexId=spusa-500-usduf--p-us-l--

 

Are you asking what to invest in or where to open the account?

Here is what I concider to be important (I am a CPA) if you are looking where to open:

1) Annual Custodial Fee (many offer $0 so look for that);
2) Cost per Trade or transaction cost (many self directed offer between $0-$15/trade);
3) Funds or ETF's being offered (Vanguard offers some of the lowest fee ETFs)

take a look at Fidelity or Vanguard both have some great programs and nice fee structures.