Investment BS Thread - Stocks/Futures/Mutual Funds/Bonds/Commodities/Options/ETFs/401ks/Etc

If I am ever offered a 0% interest loan, I will take it even if I don't need it! Put that money in an investment, pay it back over time with minimum payments, you just made money. "One bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

People confuse bad debt with good debt. If you know how to use debt, you can do very well. Look at every company in the world, they all run high debt loads but to their advantage.

If I had $10 million and a ton of debt, that money is going into 3% dividend stocks and I'm making $300,000 a year. I would still pay good debt off slowly.

 

that’s why I went ahead with a 0.5% interest rate on a car years ago. Had the cash sitting there to pay it mostly in full but opted for the loan to invest it in higher return products.

 

How did you get that rate?! I am debating paying my truck off because I don't owe too much more, and my interest rate is 3.24% (not horrible but not great either).

 

Have you looked into local investment clubs? Would be an alternative to the markets and higher upside but also higher risk of course. I am sure lots of small business owners could use your cash wisely

 

Get a car that has trouble selling. Toyota tacoma will never have a 0% interest unless it's base price is like 70k. In my example of 0%, it was the toyota 86, people either didn't think it existed or would rather get the slightly nicer Subaru BRZ, so they had trouble selling it. I went in and told them the price I wanted and the interest and they said fine haha.

 

Looking back now, I probably did it wrong. I got the loan from my bank before I even went to the dealership. I used the fact that I had a loan for a fixed amount as negotiating leverage and got a good deal on the truck (I waited until we reached an impasse in negotiating to disclose that I had a loan already). I may have been better off trying their financing. Oh well, you live, you learn.

 

Sometimes banks are better because toyota overstates the value of their tacomas... They think they can justify 6% on some of the new tacomas due to it holding it's value for so long.

That said, I bought my truck from toyota on a trade in on the 86, then refinanced down the line to get a better rate. The truck was such a good price for a mint 2014 that I had to get it.

 

Does anyone here use a wealth manager?
Do you recommend it?

 

I think the average person can manage up to a million dollars pretty easily if they’re willing to put the time in to learn. Anything above that, probably a good idea so you can diversify out of the traditional markets.

 

Subscribed to learn more about investing. I've played a little bit on Robinhood over the last few years but will be following this thread to learn more.

 

I’m more interested in having someone work with me to determine how I should be setting up my investments based on what my future goals are.

Its not that I have tons of wealth to work with currently but I will if I knew how to manage it better.

 

They will charge you, so you’d have to decide if it is worth the fee. It could be depending on your situation. I think a lot of people who do hire someone may do better buying shares of SPY whenever they have extra money, and leaving it alone for decades. I just think those “experts” are more useful for complex situations.

 

Well I’m 28 my husband 31. We max out his 401k now and the rest of our extra cash goes on the mortgage which I hope is gone no later than Nov 1 2021. Then were comfortable investing at least $40k/yr

We want the option of cashing out 30% of our retirement to start a brewery at 50-55. We do all Roth investing now so there is no tax implications of doing that only potential age implications based on our investment types.

So do we need an accountant or a wealth manager?

The tax rules around the different types of investing are what trip me up. I want the option to leave the money alone if we don’t want to start a business but the option to start a business if we want.

Maybe what we want is simple enough it doesn’t require a wealth manager (even though it seems complex to me).

 

It sounds like you’re doing everything right to me, probably better than me to be honest.

You could always hire someone to get you started, but not pay them a percentage of your gains forever. That’s all I would avoid, an ongoing fee if it’s something you can do on your own. Maybe hire someone for a year, learn everything you can based on what they’re doing over that year, and take back over yourself.

 

You might want to talk with a Fiduciary financial adviser. I am not sure the cost but it is something I’ve been thinking about doing.

 

I’m learning this. Not everyone is a fiduciary that acts in your best interests.

I don’t mind paying someone a reasonable fee for their services. I just don’t need to be making other people rich off my money lol.

 

Oh, and don't take financial advice from me. One of my investing goals is to be 80 years old telling everyone who will listen about how I have bought and never sold Chevron, Walmart, Apple, etc. Those are the stories I like the best from the real retirees, who are often sitting on millions, and hope to be able to say that one day (in about 50 years).

 

I'll parrot this in saying half of my decisions investing are awful. But that is mostly because I'm a risky single young person with no dependents other than my truck. So don't listen to me either.

 

So are you saying you are high risk or low risk?
Forgive my ignorance.

 

I would say low risk, but only because my time horizon is hopefully forever. Anything involving the stock market and less than 10 years (in my opinion) is high risk.

I am in 34 stocks, equally weighted (well, 4 of those are double weighted). The portfolio yields about 4.5% in dividends. Paced about even with the broad markets last year overall so I am not missing too much opportunity by seeking more income.

The plan is to buy as much as possible, and never sell. Reinvest dividends as I continue to work. Hopefully the dividend income gets to be more than I need.

I can also stomach a 50% drop, and just keep buying, because my time horizon doesn't ever involve selling.

Edit: I pay attention to 1 number in my Spreadsheet, average monthly income. That has been slowly going up every month since I started investing (as companies increase dividends, as I reinvest dividends, and as I add new capital). I don't pay attention to portfolio value at all (I do look at individual prices to try to capitalize on good value at the time of buying). It's all about monthly cash flow and nothing else to me.