GNC has like ~$23/share in debt

Financial firms aren't really worth paying attention to. They aren't really going to skew the odds or payouts.

Think of it like your Uncle Bob making a Super Bowl prediction.

You're probably better off doing the opposite of whatever the new year prospectuses state. Last year everyone was predicting how the equity and bond markets were going to get raped because 2015 ended with a correction. In 2015 everyone was saying we were going to get another 10%.

But my most poignant financial media memory was watching CNBC in either late 2007 or early 2008 and a Credit Suisse analyst saying that 2008 was going to be a massive recession due to an overheating American housing market and like 6 other analysts on at the same time laughing in his face.

Prospectus consensus from late 2007:
http://www.barrons.com/articles/SB119768725735731187

"Indeed, the dozen seers we've surveyed all have penciled in higher stock prices in 2008, although their estimated gains vary widely, from 3% to 18%. On average, the group sees the Standard & Poor's 500 at 1,640 by the end of next year, or about 10% higher than the recent 1486 with global growth and a benevolent Federal Reserve serving as twin crutches for the aging bull."

Hey BFIers, I'm putting together a 2+2 wide, new player only werewolf game on the POG subforum and wondering if there's any interest from you intelligent people. It's a fun game and we are very receptive to new players so if any one is interested please reply or PM for more information. Cheers

New here,

Want to make a starter portfolio of stocks+bonds. As an European which sites allow to invest (and which are good)? I know of Vanguard,ishares, & schwab but these don't allow non-US residents.

I only know about Etfmatic for Europeans, but this one charges annual fee of "0.5% of assets under management of below GBP/USD/EUR 25,000 and 0.3% for assets under management above GBP/USD/EUR 25,000". This is way too high, right? If we compare to other sites...

I remember this too. I think most Financial Advisors are A$$clowns! If you are new to market stick with Fidelity or Vanguard and purchase total stock market funds like VTI or SPY.

Of course Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares are worth looking at, especially once there is a pullback, since it's currently trading at or near all-time high.. Then branch out with like 10% of your investable income into individual stocks or sector specific funds.

Also, pick-up and read The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns

For those in the US and UK, this is great news from Schwab:
https://www.fundstrategy.co.uk/charl...y-pricing-war/

Hey, this was the packet I was given of my options. Suggestions on which ones and the split?

My employer is matching 3%.

Edit - scrolled back and found your situation.

Here's what I'd do:

#1 - Put in whatever is required to get the 3% match. Put it all in T.Rowe Target Date 2055.
#2 - Fully fund your own Traditional IRA if you can. Your income might be too high.
#3 - Fully fund the 401k, into the same fund. If you ever leave this employer, you need to look to roll the money out and into a much lower expense ratio. This might enable you to do #2 by reducing your income.
#4 - Fully fund a Roth IRA. Or potentially a backdoor Roth if you make too much for the Roth too.

#2/4 you should open somewhere like Vanguard. If you are aggressive, I would be very aggressive with this money. You'd want to look at the actual makeup of the T.Rowe target date funds and consider additional investment into Equity, specifically small caps, international stocks, and emerging markets.

Hope this helps.

That chart is pretty useless without fee listings.

Endorsed. Would add, "do not open any mail you get."

Thanks again for your responses. I appreciate it.

One more question! I have a choice of health insurances. One is a high deductible plan ($3000) that had an HSA account and over the year my company will match $1200. The other is a PPO with a reasonable co-pay. Since it's not eligible for an HSA, the company pays part of the monthly premium so it's essentially free. I don't have any major health problems, so I should be leaning towards the high deductible plan with the HSA, right?

Do you have the option to invest the money in the HSA? If you do, a HSA is a killer way to save for retirement.

I max my contributions to my HSA every year and then never spend it on medical costs (funding those out of pocket). I invest the money just like I would in an IRA. I plan to use that money to pay for medical related expenses in retirement, which means the contributions were made with a tax deduction and all withdrawals will be completely tax free (including growth). If you don't have medical expenses in retirement (lol), then you can withdraw from the account just like it's a Traditional IRA.

If you are healthy, you should definitely lean towards the HSA.

I was faced the same decision a couple of years ago. Being single and healthy, the high deductible plan was a no-brainer. In fact, in my case, my company doesn't "match", rather they deposit $1k per year straight up, making the net premium I pay negative! And you can use your HSA for any medical expenses, e.g. glasses, contact lenses, lasik etc.

Cool, I went with it. Any suggestions on where to open an HSA? Also, where should I be looking to open the other 401k for the more aggressive investing options?

How are HSA withdrawals supposed to work? CVS takes the HSA debit card for everything.

How does this work? Can I tell Vanguard to take money out of my pay check pre-tax?

No. You deposit the money w/ Vanguard directly from your bank account.

We use HSA Bank for our company, because it allowed a very easy Ameritrade investment option and fees were very reasonable. We chose them years ago, so I'd definitely shop around.

In terms of 'open the other 401k', I assume you mean IRA? I'm a Vanguard guy...so I'd just tell you to do it there, since there's no fees to buy Vanguard stuff. You could go with any number of options that would be fine, just pay attention to what you'd pay in transaction fees to buy a very low expense ratio fund.

You can simply use the HSA debit card to pay for stuff that is eligible. Or you can pay for it with other money and then reimburse yourself, usually be direct transfer to your checking account from the HSA.

No, you just deposit money to Vanguard directly and take the deduction on your taxes.

When I last looked into it, Wells Fargo had the lowest fees I could find.

I'm stuck with HSA Bank. Although the TD Ameritrade is nice, you have to keep a certain amount of funds in cash (outside of Ameritrade) in order to get the monthly fee waived.

Yep. Although it's on the order of other monthly hsa account fees when we looked... And i just eat it to invest my full balance.

How much cash are we talking? How much cash does everyone else ITT keep or recommend?

I personally try to keep my checking/savings below $3k. I'm just curious what others ITT thoughts were.

Wells Fargo no longer offers HSA accounts. They are now through Optum.

Regarding the cash minimum requirements, it's usually somewhere between 2-5k cash or pay a small monthly fee.

I was reading a wiki article and there was something I couldn't wrap my head around

Why wouldn't a cash buyout of another company result in a drop in share price of the acquirer (as opposed to every other payment option)?

If someone can explain that to me it'd be great, thanks.