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robskydiv

Financial Advice

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Early next year, I'll be able to start savings for my two children's college funds. I was thinking of an IRA or two IRA's. Do you think that the economy will recover? Or am I best suited to invest in CD's and bonds? One more savings for my personal retirement as well. Would you recommend 401K with the company (diversified of course) or IRA? Or Real Estate. All suggestions welcome. Thankyou (2 children btw) Harrison is 9 yo and Evelyn is almost 5

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If you had purchased $1,000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would
now be worth $49.00. With Enron, you would have $16.50 left of the original $1,000.00. With WorldCom, you would have less than $5.00 left.

But if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling price, you would have $214.00. Based on the above, current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.:ph34r::P;)

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Hi Harry,

My daughter & her husband both were born & raised in Oregon but now reside across the river in Washington state.

They have established a college fund here in Oregon for my grandson ( this is allowed ); and I contribute to it a couple of times a year.

You might check out surrounding states to see if they have state-supported college funds; depending on where the little ones will want to go to school.

Good luck as it is a tough decision,

JerryBaumchen

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Ever heard the term "buy low sell high"? I know a few older folks who have made a significant amount of money from buying during times like this. With that being said, you obviously have to do your homework... but when the economy gets out of this slump you could be among the few who took advantage of a bad situation. Most people either have no clue about it, or just don't have the money to make the move...
"I didn't know they gave out rings at the holocaust"

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Ever heard the term "buy low sell high"? I know a few older folks who have made a significant amount of money from buying during times like this. With that being said, you obviously have to do your homework... but when the economy gets out of this slump you could be among the few who took advantage of a bad situation. Most people either have no clue about it, or just don't have the money to make the move...



I'm finding that this is the case. My business partner, (who has been in business for 40 years, and has alot more liquid assets) is doing really well right now in the market, because he got in when the dow was around 8000 or so, and the companies he invested in have steadily climbed. Shit out of luck if you don't have the cash to invest, though. [:/]
What you say is reflective of your knowledge...HOW ya say it is reflective of your experience. Airtwardo

Someone's going to be spanked! Hopefully, it will be me. Skymama

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. Shit out of luck if you don't have the cash to invest, though. [:/]



Most people have the money to invest, they just dont put it as a prioity you dont have to start with much, just start
the reason more people dont invest (in what ever) is fear, laziness, or plain CBF.
it's way easier to say cant afford then to say cant be bothered
You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

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Thanks everyone. Keep'em comi'n if you haven't posted. btw What about gold?



Gold does about as well as inflation except when speculators drive the price up.

In inflation adjusted dollars, we're well below (less than $1000 vs $1417 in 2008 dollars) the 1981 peak and above where the price would be in constant dollars.

I wouldn't bet on gold.

You want diversity so you're less exposed to risks.

Whatever you do you want to hold your assets in tax-advantaged accounts like a 529 plan for college savings which allows tax-free withdrawals for education (including any gains) and has contributions which are often deductible from your state income tax.

For retirement a mix of traditional and Roth IRA (or 401K, or SIMPLE, etc.) plans would be ideal; where you're hedging on the risk of what happens with taxes (with unprecedented debt, they're going up) and the government's treatment of such accounts (for example, tax-deferred withdrawals mean that your social security becomes taxable therefore doubly your marginal tax rates).

Such plans will also give you target-date plans which experts believe to offer an appropriate level of risk based on your children's time left before school and your time left to retire.

The complication there is that things are pretty unprecedented and therefore unpredictable.

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Check out Dave Ramsey.
www.daveramsey.com

Solid advice. Not flashy.:)
Edit to add: For your personal retirement, Roth IRA's can be good. Check em' out!



Could not agree more! Do the Dave Ramsey debt thing before you invest any for you or your kids. Pay off all cars and CC debt first! Then do 401k up to the match then Roth IRA. Traditional IRA's are NOT as good! I would look at college saving's acounts for the kids then when they are of the working age (14) you can contribute what they make at ajob to Roth IRA's for them. You can get all of this on Ramsey's web site. Also if you look on his site he has ELP's (endorsed local providers) (top right of page). I have had great luck with a few of his ELP's. He has them for financial advisors. Check it out.
Nothing opens like a Deere!

You ignorant fool! Checks are for workers!

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Check out Dave Ramsey.
www.daveramsey.com

Solid advice. Not flashy.:)
Edit to add: For your personal retirement, Roth IRA's can be good. Check em' out!



Could not agree more! Do the Dave Ramsey debt thing before you invest any for you or your kids. Pay off all cars and CC debt first! Then do 401k up to the match then Roth IRA. Traditional IRA's are NOT as good! I would look at college saving's acounts for the kids then when they are of the working age (14) you can contribute what they make at ajob to Roth IRA's for them. You can get all of this on Ramsey's web site. Also if you look on his site he has ELP's (endorsed local providers) (top right of page). I have had great luck with a few of his ELP's. He has them for financial advisors. Check it out.


+1 on the Dave Ramsey thing. Also think seriously about going thru this 13 week course called Financial Peace University. What an amazing program. Think about it as everything that your parents should have taught you about handling your financial life but didn't because they didn't know either.


Have Rig will travel ...

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Check out Dave Ramsey.
www.daveramsey.com

Solid advice. Not flashy.:)
Edit to add: For your personal retirement, Roth IRA's can be good. Check em' out!



Could not agree more! Do the Dave Ramsey debt thing before you invest any for you or your kids. Pay off all cars and CC debt first! Then do 401k up to the match then Roth IRA. Traditional IRA's are NOT as good! I would look at college saving's acounts for the kids then when they are of the working age (14) you can contribute what they make at ajob to Roth IRA's for them. You can get all of this on Ramsey's web site. Also if you look on his site he has ELP's (endorsed local providers) (top right of page). I have had great luck with a few of his ELP's. He has them for financial advisors. Check it out.


+1 on the Dave Ramsey thing. Also think seriously about going thru this 13 week course called Financial Peace University. What an amazing program. Think about it as everything that your parents should have taught you about handling your financial life but didn't because they didn't know either.


Thanks! I should have mentioned FPU.
Nothing opens like a Deere!

You ignorant fool! Checks are for workers!

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For retirement savings invest in whatever your company matches. I've got both an Roth IRA and 401k as my company contributes to both. Can't pass up free money.

Same here. I can put $15K a year into my 401K and they match with another $7500. It's a no brainer. As far as investments, most of our funds are in a low cost S&P index fund, and a fair amount in real estate. It's been a real roller coaster last couple of years. :S I guess if I could really tell people where to invest their dough, I could quit my day job. :P

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Check out Dave Ramsey.
www.daveramsey.com

Solid advice. Not flashy.:)

I just checked him out on your advice. I was very impressed with his advice, especially on time shares and how much house you should buy. He says a lot of the same stuff I tell my kids. B|

When it comes to investing, one of the most important things is to have money left to invest buy practicing a little frugality. ;)

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Don't have any kids myself, so I don't have any advice from experience, but this post came up on a blog I read regularly and it seems appropriate for the topic:

http://www.wisebread.com/college/college-resources
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

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Check out Dave Ramsey.
www.daveramsey.com

Solid advice. Not flashy.:)
Edit to add: For your personal retirement, Roth IRA's can be good. Check em' out!



Could not agree more! Do the Dave Ramsey debt thing before you invest any for you or your kids. Pay off all cars and CC debt first! Then do 401k up to the match then Roth IRA. Traditional IRA's are NOT as good! I would look at college saving's acounts for the kids then when they are of the working age (14) you can contribute what they make at ajob to Roth IRA's for them. You can get all of this on Ramsey's web site. Also if you look on his site he has ELP's (endorsed local providers) (top right of page). I have had great luck with a few of his ELP's. He has them for financial advisors. Check it out.
Yes and no. Not all of Dave Ramsey's advice. Emergency savings for this, savings for that, pretty soon I wouldn't even be able to live a Spartan lifestyle or more importantly, skydive.

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I wouldn't bet on gold.



I would. Shorting it. But I'm not a speculator.

Seriously, the time to buy gold was 2-3 years ago. Not now.

Which brings me to the buy low-sell high mantra. Yeah, thats great, if you know when its low and high. Timing the market can get you great result if you luck out, or really mess you up. If timing the market was that easy, the Mutual Fund companies, whith their hundreds of analysts and models, would always be beating the market, when in fact, more than 1/2 of MF returns are below the SP500. (cue the day traders who will tell you how to beat the market... if you want to speculate, have fun!)

1- If you do not have alot of money to invest, stick to a SP500 index fund and a Bond index fund: index funds have very low admin fees, so you realize most of the fund's performance.

2- If your outlook is long term (+10 years), favor heavily stocks, but still get some bonds. They will help provide stability to your portfolio, and help you keep your allocation straight (ie, if stocks tank, you'll end up with a higher % of bonds in your portfolio, indicating that stocks may be be providing a better opportunity). If its less than 5 years, you shouldn't be investing in the market. Get a high interest savings account, or a money market account. 5 to 10 years?: a mix of all 3 asset class (cash, bonds, stocks).

3- If what you want is long term growth, buy regularly (ie every month or paycheck). This will average out your purchase costs over the short term ups and downs of the market.
Remster

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+1

right

two Harry Hometrader axioms

if you are not a shark or a whale- stick to the shallow water...or you'll get eaten for sure.

If you're a crazy fuck with cash to burn...enjoy the carnage- remember the money you cash in on a stock sale is cash that some other poor soul has invested- enjoy your winnings while you can because the next big investment idea is always just around the corner and statistically Most of the time the other people (hedge fund managers) in the game take your cash while you were busy at your day job only to come home to add up your loss.

you thought you were gonna get pitched one more straight fast ball.....wifff- it's a slnker- strike three

fun game though:)

Beware of the collateralizing and monetization of your desires.
D S #3.1415

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Remster, you're right on the money with your advice. If there was a sure fire way to get rich quick, now we'd all be rich, wouldn't we? I've made some poor investing mistakes over the years, but the twice-a-week 401k into the S&P index fund has done me alright.

I still remember one financial guru's advice, that he would bet on the "savers" over the "savvy investors" every time. I think there's a lot to be said for the discipline to sock some money away instead of spend it every chance you get. :)

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