Investing megathread extravaganza

[DaFace]

A place to talk about investing stuff.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Hah, yeah, I'm actually up on Royal Caribbean, which is encouraging, but down on all the others. At this point, I've been holding the bag so long that I will likely just continue to do so.

Yeah, I figure at this point they have nowhere to go but up.

I bought RCL back in 2014 and made such a killing on it that I never ended up down even during the shutdown. I just lost a lot of profit on paper. I bought NCLH in February of 2020, which was the worst timing possible. I'm down about 50 percent on it right now. And then CUK has been a disaster. I had a ton of it that I bought back in probably 2016 or so. It lost 30 percent or so before the shutdowns and I was hanging on to it because I was just collecting the dividends and could wait for it to go back up. But then March of 2020 hit and they all stopped the dividends and now I'm down 82 percent on it. Again, though, no place to go but up at this point so I'm keeping it.

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Is anyone in on SPY, QQQ or SCHD?

I'm in SPY and QQQ in small amounts. I figured I'd go low-maintenance and try them out, but I like shopping for stocks so I haven't really increased them to any significant level.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Yeah. I really like her philosophy of investing in innovation. It seems like a great idea. Of course, those were the companies that got clobbered the most in 2022, so to some extent she or I or both got nailed by bad timing. But it seems like she's also made far bigger strategic mistakes, because I shouldn't still be down by 60 percent.

And you hear that, hog? I'm coming for you!

via GIPHY

Man, when she got going her funds were rocking and rolling with 100% returns. She became a cult leader. What I've read on more than one occasion is that she became a threat to other hedge funds and they collectively took aggressive short selling attacks on a lot of her investments. Don't know if that's factual but it makes sense. She does her homework and she's not stupid and has a large advisory team.

That being said, it seems like short selling has become just a thing in the last 4-5 years that have really destroyed the market. I just don't remember it going on at these levels 10-20 years ago.

Warren Buffett says the main reason he doesn't split BERK.A is he doesn't want short attacks.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

I had no experience in investing and decided to dip my feet in the water maybe a year ago with some airline and cruise stocks thinking they'd rebound after COVID (stupid lol).

I'm no day trader and realize I know absolutely jack and shit about any of this, so I recently parked some cash into VOO. I hope to be able to just keep that money in there for the next 30 years and see some growth. I've been considering other ETFs as well.

Is that an advisable course of action in the eyes of the financial gurus of CP?

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Is anyone in on SPY, QQQ or SCHD?

I have some of all 3.

In terms of investing, the big key is doing it. If you can get an automatic withdrawal, that automatically flows into an instrument that you don’t have to manage that is the best option for most people. In my tax sheltered account I have it going into a target dated fund that automatically rebalances to get more conservative as I get older.

There are some largely agreed upon flowcharts for personal finance. Big thing is if your company matches a 401K do that. The free money aspect is too easy.

If the fees are high in the 401K I can listen to arguments for avoiding it if the fees are high. I’m a fan of Roth because I feel taxes are going up not down, even in retirement, but some of both is a good strategy. The biggest thing is get it in a retirement account. IRA has a 6000 contribution limit but you can do 6000 in a Roth and 6000 in a traditional. If you’re married your wife has the same limits. If you have a company sponsored 401K the limit is 14000. That’s where I’d plow the majority of your investment.

Big thing is emergency fund -> 401K up to the match -> CC debt -> normally you’d pay off consumer debt but if the rate is low I wouldn’t -> max out retirement.

There are a million flow charts but they are all pretty similar to this.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Hog's Gone Fishin

Man, when she got going her funds were rocking and rolling with 100% returns. She became a cult leader. What I've read on more than one occasion is that she became a threat to other hedge funds and they collectively took aggressive short selling attacks on a lot of her investments. Don't know if that's factual but it makes sense. She does her homework and she's not stupid and has a large advisory team.

That being said, it seems like short selling has become just a thing in the last 4-5 years that have really destroyed the market. I just don't remember it going on at these levels 10-20 years ago.

Warren Buffett says the main reason he doesn't split BERK.A is he doesn't want short attacks.

The short selling thing is confusing to me. They're more aggressive and open now, whereas in the past they just did their business. They'll make claims that a company is misleading investors, and I don't have enough knowledge to know if it's true or not.

I have a stock in one company now (MPW) that's under aggressive attack by short sellers, and they're suing the short sellers. I'm hoping that the company is right and the short sellers are wrong since the price has declined notably with the war underway.

[PunkinDrublic]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

I had no experience in investing and decided to dip my feet in the water maybe a year ago with some airline and cruise stocks thinking they'd rebound after COVID (stupid lol).

I'm no day trader and realize I know absolutely jack and shit about any of this, so I recently parked some cash into VOO. I hope to be able to just keep that money in there for the next 30 years and see some growth. I've been considering other ETFs as well.

Is that an advisable course of action in the eyes of the financial gurus of CP?

VOO is the way to go in terms of holding long term. I have my 401k and Roth invested in index funds but I also buy partial shares of VOO when I have extra cash.

[EPodolak]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

I had no experience in investing and decided to dip my feet in the water maybe a year ago with some airline and cruise stocks thinking they'd rebound after COVID (stupid lol).

I'm no day trader and realize I know absolutely jack and shit about any of this, so I recently parked some cash into VOO. I hope to be able to just keep that money in there for the next 30 years and see some growth. I've been considering other ETFs as well.

Is that an advisable course of action in the eyes of the financial gurus of CP?

VOO or something similar is the right move for someone without experience, or a crystal ball. Indexing is a deceptively sophisticated approach to investing, the trick is to block out all of the seductive noise that can take you out of your strategy, it is a simple and boring approach after all.

[lewdog]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

I had no experience in investing and decided to dip my feet in the water maybe a year ago with some airline and cruise stocks thinking they'd rebound after COVID (stupid lol).

I'm no day trader and realize I know absolutely jack and shit about any of this, so I recently parked some cash into VOO. I hope to be able to just keep that money in there for the next 30 years and see some growth. I've been considering other ETFs as well.

Is that an advisable course of action in the eyes of the financial gurus of CP?

If you're young and being more aggressive look at VOO, VGT and VXF.

If you just want to manage one fund look at VTSAX. Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund is designed to provide investors with exposure to the entire U.S. equity market, including small-, mid-, and large-cap growth and value stocks.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

If the fees are high in the 401K I can listen to arguments for avoiding it if the fees are high. I’m a fan of Roth because I feel taxes are going up not down, even in retirement, but some of both is a good strategy. The biggest thing is get it in a retirement account. IRA has a 6000 contribution limit but you can do 6000 in a Roth and 6000 in a traditional. If you’re married your wife has the same limits. If you have a company sponsored 401K the limit is 14000. That’s where I’d plow the majority of your investment.

Big thing is emergency fund -> 401K up to the match -> CC debt -> normally you’d pay off consumer debt but if the rate is low I wouldn’t -> max out retirement.

Yeah, my last job matched the 401k contribution but my current doesn’t so I just rolled it into a traditional IRA. I’ve maxed out the contributions the last few years and have been considering opening up a Roth as well. I think I asked what others thought about the traditional vs Roth in this thread a few months back. Like you said, I can’t imagine taxes going down in 30 years when I’m looking to retire. Either way, as long as I’ve got contributions into some from of IRA, I think the time invested will be more important than how it’s taxed.

My biggest issue lately is that I’ve got a lot of cash in a money market that’s only getting, like, a .00003 return. There’s no reason a six figure account should only be getting me $100 per year in returns. I appreciate not having any risk but inflation is eating those savings up far more quickly than I’m comfortable with.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Yeah, my last job matched the 401k contribution but my current doesn’t so I just rolled it into a traditional IRA. I’ve maxed out the contributions the last few years and have been considering opening up a Roth as well. I think I asked what others thought about the traditional vs Roth in this thread a few months back. Like you said, I can’t imagine taxes going down in 30 years when I’m looking to retire. Either way, as long as I’ve got contributions into some from of IRA, I think the time invested will be more important than how it’s taxed.

My biggest issue lately is that I’ve got a lot of cash in a money market that’s only getting, like, a .00003 return. There’s no reason a six figure account should only be getting me $100 per year in returns. I appreciate not having any risk but inflation is eating those savings up far more quickly than I’m comfortable with.

I moved all my savings shit out of a bank into a taxable brokerage account and got a Vanguard Money Market fund with them. Almost 5%.

[scho63]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

My biggest issue lately is that I’ve got a lot of cash in a money market that’s only getting, like, a .00003 return. There’s no reason a six figure account should only be getting me $100 per year in returns. I appreciate not having any risk but inflation is eating those savings up far more quickly than I’m comfortable with.

This is terrible money management unless your like 65 years old.

If you are under 40, you should find a financial advisor.

You're flushing money down the toilet.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by scho63

This is terrible money management unless your like 65 years old.

If you are under 40, you should find a financial advisor.

You're flushing money down the toilet.

I took this to be his emergency fund or whatever.

Up until interest rates moved for the first time in 2 decades I had it in a local bank money market too.

If his intention is to invest it, he should. If his intention is to find a better yielding money market, he can do that without a financial advisor.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

I took this to be his emergency fund or whatever.

Up until interest rates moved for the first time in 2 decades I had it in a local bank money market too.

If his intention is to invest it, he should. If his intention is to find a better yielding money market, he can do that without a financial advisor.

Eh, I don't take offense to what he said, though I do not think I need a financial advisor. Someone from my bank has reached out a few times over the years about investing and I ignored them. My issue is and always has been that I'm a safe little bitch about my money. I've kept it in a money market all this time exactly because I do not like risk.

But over time, things and people change and I'm finally ready to put a good chunk of this change in the market or a HYSA at the very least to cut the effects of inflation.

I think my emergency fund really only needs to be, idk, maybe $30,000 at most. 6 months of bills/expenses might be $10,000-$20,000. I'm driving a 20-year old car so she could take a shit on me at any moment. Other than that, the rest of the cash should be put to better use. It's just a matter of what type of account/investment, where and how much.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I'm in SPY and QQQ in small amounts. I figured I'd go low-maintenance and try them out, but I like shopping for stocks so I haven't really increased them to any significant level.

Originally Posted by EPodolak

VOO or something similar is the right move for someone without experience, or a crystal ball. Indexing is a deceptively sophisticated approach to investing, the trick is to block out all of the seductive noise that can take you out of your strategy, it is a simple and boring approach after all.

Originally Posted by lewdog

If you're young and being more aggressive look at VOO, VGT and VXF.

If you just want to manage one fund look at VTSAX. Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund is designed to provide investors with exposure to the entire U.S. equity market, including small-, mid-, and large-cap growth and value stocks.

Anyway, thank you all as well as Buehler for the advice.

I am 100% not built for the individual stock game lol y'all are different.

My next issue is the constant threat of this looming recession. What does everyone make of that?

Part of me thinks it'd be best to just park the bulk of this cash into a HYSA and ride it out 'til the storm's over. It looks like you can find quite a few with returns between 3-5%. The other part of me says **** it, throw it into some ETFs. Even if/when the market dips, it'll recover down the line and it's best to be in when that recovery starts.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Eh, I don't take offense to what he said, though I do not think I need a financial advisor. Someone from my bank has reached out a few times over the years about investing and I ignored them. My issue is and always has been that I'm a safe little bitch about my money. I've kept it in a money market all this time exactly because I do not like risk.

But over time, things and people change and I'm finally ready to put a good chunk of this change in the market or a HYSA at the very least to cut the effects of inflation.

I think my emergency fund really only needs to be, idk, maybe $30,000 at most. 6 months of bills/expenses might be $10,000-$20,000. I'm driving a 20-year old car so she could take a shit on me at any moment. Other than that, the rest of the cash should be put to better use. It's just a matter of what type of account/investment, where and how much.

Ah. I see. That makes more sense from what you were saying before.

If you've got 100K in your dogshit money market account, I'd do the following. I've got my shit with Vanguard, but I think they're all pretty much the same. Choose the brokerage of your choice, just make sure your brokerage has a money market fund that yields.

Open brokerage account.

Link to your bank account. Vanguard has free ACH. It takes a couple days both ways to clear, so it's not a huge deal to get money back and forth.

There are limits for IRAs. If you make more than 138K (single), 218K (MFJ), you can't do contributions to a ROTH. You can do a traditional, but it won't be deductible, so I wouldn't do it. There are some backdoor ROTH options if you make more than that, but you need some CPA/Advisor help. If you're below those levels, fire away on the IRAs.

Start a ROTH IRA. Put $6,500 in it (that's the limit). I have mine in a target dated fund. Mine is in VFIFX, but choose your projected retirement date and set it and forget it.

Put $6,500 in your traditional IRA (That's the limit)

I'd put the emergency fund and car amount in a money market fund. If you're rolling a 20 year old car, probably 20K. So if you have 20K for a car and 20K for emergencies, put 40K in the money market. VMFXX is the one I'm using. The interest will be taxable, but so is the dogshit interest in your bank account.

That leaves 47,000 to invest. I'd stick 35,000 in VOO, it's an S&P Index fund. Then put 12,000 VIGAX. It's a Vanguard Growth ETF. There are a few options here, but I'd just get it in there. Any gains will be taxable when you sell. There will be some dividends that will be taxable income, but so is your dogshit interest in your bank account.

That gets you to 100K. Adjust numbers to reflect what you have.

This is what I'd do. If you're more risk averse than that, you can leave more in the money market, but I'd definitely get some in a S&P ETF and forget about it. If lump sum scares you, put it in VMFXX and split it into 12 increments and Dollar Cost Average it over a year, but after the big pullback, I wouldn't worry about it. Just get it in there.

In terms of management, it doesn't have to be any more than what you're doing to get it in the money market. Vanguard's site lets you pull directly from your account and into whatever fund you want. And you can automate it if you want. Probably from what you're doing, I'd probably just transfer it to the money market and distribute it to wherever you want (IRA, ROTH, Taxed Instruments) once a year or so.

JMO.

[Munson]

Open up a high yield savings account. There are plenty of places to choose from with rates over 4%, and as high as 4.85%.

https://www.bankrate.com/banking/sav...ings-accounts/


Assuming you put in $100,000, and earn 4.85% compounded daily, you should get $4969.20 in interest after 1 year according to this compound interest calculator.

https://www.bankrate.com/banking/sav...gs-calculator/


If you want to go with CD's, you can get well over 5%.

https://www.bankrate.com/banking/cds/cd-rates/



I opened a high yield savings account a few months ago with UFB Direct, and was able to get an interest rate of 5.02% APY. I was tired of getting 0.5% at my local bank, and before that it was at 0.1% for the longest time.