Investing megathread extravaganza

[DaFace]

A place to talk about investing stuff.

[scho63]

Originally Posted by lewdog

When we bought the house 3 years ago, we only got approved for a 4.625% rate, I think because of my wife's lowish credit score of 720. I also didn't do any shopping around, so that probably didn't help. I checked into refinancing last month with rates being at record lows and they ran a credit report and with our credit now, 790 and 805, they said they could knock a full 1% off our interest rate. We plan to stay in this house long term, so it's just a play to pay less interest over the life of the loan. Our mortgage payment is very comfortable for us, so we will continue paying what we pay now, maybe even a little more, to pay off the house sooner and with the refinance, save on interest over the life of the loan.

I guess it would be good if you take the savings and pay the principal off each month. That would be the best of both worlds. Sounds like a good move depending on how much all the refinance fees were.

[ChiliConCarnage]

Originally Posted by El Jefe

Anyone have any good recommendations on where to put money you are taking out of Savings? My local PNC is closing, so I am taking all my savings out, and I am going to take it somewhere. I should have done it a while ago, because the interest rate is a joke. I guess I kind of worried putting it somewhere else where I don't have quick access to it.

I use Ally. It's been fine with 1% APY. Basically matching inflation give our recent rates. I've considered their CDs for my safety net. I think you only lose 2 months interest if you break them but it's been a while since I read up.

edit: it does take a couple days for transfers to another account. I know some ppl who used it for both check/sav then it's very quick.

[markd2000]

Originally Posted by El Jefe

Anyone have any good recommendations on where to put money you are taking out of Savings? My local PNC is closing, so I am taking all my savings out, and I am going to take it somewhere. I should have done it a while ago, because the interest rate is a joke. I guess I kind of worried putting it somewhere else where I don't have quick access to it.

Synchrony Bank is a spin-off from GE and has a high yield saving account that is yielding 1.05%. There are no check book privileges, but you can link bank or investment accounts and move money in 2 to 3 days.

[markd2000]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

I like simple. I'm sure there are cards that you can "work" to get better rewards out of them, but I don't have time/patience for that.

Therefore, Fidelity Visa. No annual fee and 2% cash back on everything I buy, which gets automatically deposited into whatever Fidelity account(s) I choose, which can include a kid's UFund (529 Plan) account.

EDIT: And, btw, I don't think using a credit card isn't money savvy. I think it is, SO LONG AS YOU PAY THE BALANCE IN FULL EVERY MONTH WITHOUT FAIL. Which you absolutely must do. If so, then they basically pay YOU interest for them giving you a loan. Yes please...

I have the Fidelity Visa card but not currently using it. Instead, I've been using Capital One Spark. Both offer 2% cash back on everything with no limits. Advantage Fidelity: no annual fee ($59 for Capital One Spark). Advantage Capital One Spark: no foreign transaction fees (1% for Fidelity). My best advise would be to get out of any airline miles cards you have. First, you can hardly find mileage flights that are available at the 25000 RT level and then you have to pay additional airport fees, etc. I'd rather have $500 cash to spend where I want than to accumulate 25000 miles that I can't use.

[markd2000]

Originally Posted by lewdog

Wanna know how many here use their Roth also as an emergency savings vehicle like this article suggests since contributions can be withdrawn tax/penalty free? I see this posted a lot lately and it makes sense for many I would think after you have a savings account emergency fund but still wanna have an option to stay relatively liquid without parking in a savings account and getting nothing. Any of you do this? What kind of funds do you use?

https://blog.mint.com/saving/does-us...d-idea-052012/

Quite honestly, Roth assets are the last place you should tap for funds. These are precious assets that will grow tax free for life. No tax on dividends, interest and market appreciation, depending on your investment of choice. It is hard to accumulate funds in Roth accounts unless you do an IRA conversion (which I did) and pay the ordinary income tax at the time of conversion. While that was painful, I now have a 30% gain that will never be taxed. For those thinking about estate planning, Roth assets can be given to your kids and they can take distributions over their lifetime. The other major benefit of Roth vs. Traditional IRA's is that there are no required minimum distributions at age 70.5. So they can continue to grow tax free for a very long time. Don't take assets out of your Roth if you can possible help it.

[Abba-Dabba]

Doing fairly well with options on OIH and USO the past couple days.

[Steve Sewell]

Originally Posted by DaFace

I mentioned it in another thread recently, but I'm a big fan of the "lazy portfolio" approach. I personally use this pretty much exactly:

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund_portfolio

This is what I do as well. See, Broncos fans are smart too.

[scho63]

Originally Posted by RubberSponge

Doing fairly well with options on OIH and USO the past couple days.

I play the options markets a LOT.

Do you buy:
-At the money?
-Far out of the money for leverage?
-Mostly calls?
-Mostly puts?
-Near term expiration?
-Long term expiration?
-Whatever you feel is a good value?
-Enhanced strategies like covered calls or naked puts or straddles?
-Equity options or index options?
-Mostly big caps?
-High price for big moves?

[Abba-Dabba]

Originally Posted by scho63

I play the options markets a LOT.

Do you buy:
-At the money?
-Far out of the money for leverage?
-Mostly calls?
-Mostly puts?
-Near term expiration?
-Long term expiration?
-Whatever you feel is a good value?
-Enhanced strategies like covered calls or naked puts or straddles?
-Equity options or index options?
-Mostly big caps?
-High price for big moves?

I don't want to get to detailed. I will however reveal my moves the last few days. Calls for both OIH and USO. Put for SPY this morning.

[Discuss Thrower]

How much in fees per trade?

[Abba-Dabba]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

How much in fees per trade?

ten bucks

[Abba-Dabba]

Originally Posted by RubberSponge

Calls for both OIH and USO. Put for SPY this morning.

Had options for 8 days but felt the time was right to sell. Did that yesterday afternoon. Had a good run them. Probably going to kick myself in the pants later today so I may not even look.

[scho63]

Next Saturday will be 4 months already living in the office.

-I've saved over $15,000 in a combo of my 401K and personal account. Pushing for a minimum of $30,000 before I start looking for new digs. The next few paychecks will be large as my sales and commissions due have been great

-Paying off and paying back items that I couldn't prior

-I've watched 61 movies FOR FREE in the last 4 weeks, list below.
WWW.123MOVIES.TO (YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DOWNLOAD ANYTHING OR SIGN UP)

-I've started losing weight again and back at the gym

-I've spent more time on CP and rarely use Facebook anymore after unfriending 320 people. No need to have a so called "friend" on Facebook because one time 35 years ago we were in a class together. All those people are no longer a friend as they never really were-just acquaintances

-I'm probably going to be taking off work for 3-4 weeks in January and travel to somewhere like the Cayman Islands and stay in an AirBNB because it is very slow in our business for the entire month

-Haven't been with any escorts in a long time, so I really have changed!

Overall this is one of the best decisions and sacrifices I've made.

Movies Watched

1. 3:10 to Yuma
2. A Bronx Tale
3. A Fistful of Dollars
4. A League of Their Own
5. American Gangster
6. And Justice for All
7. Animal House
8. Back to School
9. Black Mass
10. Brewster’s Millions
11. Car Wash
12. Catch Me If You Can
13. Cheers-Season 1
14. Clay Pigeons
15. Cool Hand Luke
16. Daddy’s Home
17. Demetri Martin: Live (At the Time)
18. Donnie Brasco
19. Down and Out in Beverly Hills
20. Dutch
21. Easy Money
22. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
23. Fletch
24. Freeway
25. Full Metal Jacket
26. Funny Farm
27. Glengarry Glen Ross
28. Goodfellas
29. Groundhog Day
30. Guarding Tess
31. Harlem Nights
32. Hudsucker Proxy
33. Jim Jeffries: Freedumb
34. King of New York
35. Leon: The Professional
36. Let it Ride
37. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
38. Lucky Number
39. Midnight Run
40. Office Space
41. Once Upon a Time in America
42. Papillon
43. Reservoir Dogs
44. Revolver
45. Saturday Night Fever
46. Sausage Party
47. Snatch
48. Spartacus
49. Stand By Me
50. Stripes
51. Swingers
52. The Cable Guy
53. The Illusionist
54. The Jerk
55. The Secret of My Success
56. The Super
57. Trapped in Paradise
58. Unforgiven
59. Welcome to the Doll House
60. White Nights
61. Young Frankenstein

[Discuss Thrower]

Not a big fan of the amount of warez activity you've been partaking in, but great job making the best out of a shite situation and saving money... and for watching Midnight Run.

[scho63]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

Not a big fan of the amount of warez activity you've been partaking in, but great job making the best out of a shite situation and saving money... and for watching Midnight Run.

Not making excuses but I'm just going to an open website with thousands of movies. Not hiding behind a TOR browser, a secret identity, downloading and sharing.

The next movie I'm watching tonight before the debate is "Dave" starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver and Frank Langella. Perfect topic.

Ironically, my father dated Frank Langella's sister Rose Marie back in Newark in the 50's