Investing megathread extravaganza

[DaFace]

A place to talk about investing stuff.

[DaFace]

Oh, and I charge literally everything I can for the rewards. Everyday expenses, monthly bills - everything. If they let me charge it, I do. I probably rack up around $50-$75 in rewards every month. As lewdog said, you just have to be sure you have the discipline to never spend more than you can immediately pay off. Carrying balances is bad mmkay.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

You better hope your wife never finds out you call her that.

Goddamned autocorrect. Fixed it.

[ChiliConCarnage]

Originally Posted by DaFace

I also have an Amazon card for the 3% at Amazon and a Costco card that does 4% on gas, 3% on restaurants, 2% at Costco, and 1% for everything else, but the rewards are only redeemable at Costco.

I was thinking about getting the new Costco card but then read someone say they were having to call in because Quiktrip wasn't being flagged as gas. I don't want to track that shit and have to call in and have them fix it. Are you having good luck with it assigning gas and restaurants properly?

I was already on edge because I don't like how they pay the money back but the %s were high enough it seemed like it might be worth it.

[wutamess]

Originally Posted by lewdog

Have you ever actually tapped your Roth? I worry it's not as seamless as it seems. Then again, even if it takes 2 weeks, you could always charge it and pay it off in full once the money arrives I suppose.

Actually, I had to take money out of both IRAs (wife and mine) last month because we can't contribute the maximum $5500 to both IRAs anymore or we'll get penalized. So I Sold off the some stagnant investments out of both of them and transferred the money to my bank account the next day. No penalty had to come out and it was rather painless. Entire process took 2 days as the money was in my bank account the next business day after the transfer.

It's as simple as that. It literally is a savings account.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by ChiliConCarnage

I was thinking about getting the new Costco card but then read someone say they were having to call in because Quiktrip wasn't being flagged as gas. I don't want to track that shit and have to call in and have them fix it. Are you having good luck with it assigning gas and restaurants properly?

I was already on edge because I don't like how they pay the money back but the %s were high enough it seemed like it might be worth it.

Yeah, that does seem to be an issue. I had assumed that it was because I often get gas at Safeway, but I've definitely not been getting 4% on that. Conoco seems to come through OK.

[lewdog]

Finally pulling the trigger on a refinance for the mortgage. Locked in a 3.625% rate today and couldn't pass it up. Should save us about $150 a month on our mortgage. Just have to complete the paperwork and appraisal. We still plan to pay our current mortgage rate, as it's plenty comfortable for us. This should allow us to pay off our mortgage sooner.

[eDave]

Originally Posted by lewdog

Finally pulling the trigger on a refinance for the mortgage. Locked in a 3.625% rate today and couldn't pass it up. Should save us about $150 a month on our mortgage. Just have to complete the paperwork and appraisal.

Nice

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by eDave

Nice

I was pretty jacked! Our current rate is 4.625% that we got in Feb of 2014. Reason it was higher is that my wife's credit score was about 730 at the time, and they use the person with the lowest credit score for approval. This time mine was 805 and her's was 790, so he said our super high credit score would get us a great rate.

[ChiliConCarnage]

Originally Posted by lewdog

Finally pulling the trigger on a refinance for the mortgage. Locked in a 3.625% rate today and couldn't pass it up. Should save us about $150 a month on our mortgage.

[Dunit35]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Oh, and I charge literally everything I can for the rewards. Everyday expenses, monthly bills - everything. If they let me charge it, I do. I probably rack up around $50-$75 in rewards every month. As lewdog said, you just have to be sure you have the discipline to never spend more than you can immediately pay off. Carrying balances is bad mmkay.

We use our cards for everything and pay them off monthly. Our cards suck for rewards but have high limits and are our oldest credit. I should upgrade for better rewards but I don't want to mess with lowering our length of credit.

Anyways, we've built up close to $300 this year in rewards for Christmas.

[eDave]

Hey guys. I've got a friend who is new to the 401K thing, though he has around $25K so far. He is same age as me, 50. His company matches up to 4%. He is contributing 10%.

What would be the the best 401K portfolio for a guy like that? He'll assume more risk as he'd like to maximize over the next 15 years. Don't know his salary, but in the 28% bracket.

I recommended small/midcap fund but would like to hear other's thoughts. And those went to shit today. Down 2.75%.

Thank you Gentlemen,
eDavid

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by eDave

Hey guys. I've got a friend who is new to the 401K thing, though he has around $25K so far. He is same age as me, 50. His company matches up to 4%. He is contributing 10%.

What would be the the best 401K portfolio for a guy like that? He'll assume more risk as he'd like to maximize over the next 15 years. Don't know his salary, but in the 28% bracket.

I recommended small/midcap fund but would like to hear other's thoughts. And those went to shit today. Down 2.75%.

Thank you Gentlemen,
eDavid

Is definitely put some in large caps but I'd hit the small caps and maybe international funds. Hopefully te 401k will let him split it up but he definitely needs more than 1 fund.

[DaKCMan AP]

Originally Posted by eDave

Hey guys. I've got a friend who is new to the 401K thing, though he has around $25K so far. He is same age as me, 50. His company matches up to 4%. He is contributing 10%.

What would be the the best 401K portfolio for a guy like that? He'll assume more risk as he'd like to maximize over the next 15 years. Don't know his salary, but in the 28% bracket.

I recommended small/midcap fund but would like to hear other's thoughts. And those went to shit today. Down 2.75%.

Thank you Gentlemen,
eDavid

He should allocate to index funds to mimic the global market economy which is about 45% US equities and 55% international. If he wants a home town bias he can flip those and do 55% US. Then diversify over small, medium, large cap.

[Infidel Goat]

Originally Posted by DaFace

I also have an Amazon card for the 3% at Amazon and a Costco card that does 4% on gas, 3% on restaurants, 2% at Costco, and 1% for everything else, but the rewards are only redeemable at Costco.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/credit-cards

I use the Amazon Card (at Amazon for 3% and Walgreens for 2%) and the Costco card (pretty much everywhere else but the grocery store for the reasons mentioned above--plus 3% on travel).

I also have an American Express Blue Cash Preferred. It comes with a $95 annual fee, but offers 6% cash back at grocery stores for up to $6,000. Even if you subtract the $95 fee from your potential reward (.06 * 600 = 360) you would end up with $265 in rewards if you spend $500 a month at grocery stores. If you spend less than $500 per month at grocery stores, you might be better off with the America Express Blue Cash (Not Preferred) because it has no annual fee, but only offers 3% cash back at grocery stores. We spend plenty at grocery stores, and so the Preferred Card nets us over 4% in a year on a good deal of our groceries.

[scho63]

Originally Posted by eDave

Hey guys. I've got a friend who is new to the 401K thing, though he has around $25K so far. He is same age as me, 50. His company matches up to 4%. He is contributing 10%.

What would be the the best 401K portfolio for a guy like that? He'll assume more risk as he'd like to maximize over the next 15 years. Don't know his salary, but in the 28% bracket.

I recommended small/midcap fund but would like to hear other's thoughts. And those went to shit today. Down 2.75%.

Thank you Gentlemen,
eDavid

I hope he realizes he is making 40% on his money without it doing anything

I would select 5 sectors for someone our age, I'm 53.

1. S&P and large cap 25%
2. Total return 20%
3. International Fund 15%
4. High Growth 20%
5. High Yield 20%

If rates start to rise move money out of high yield.

My portfolio allocation is attached from today's Paychex login