The "I have XX money to invest, where should I put it?" Thread

[oofRome]

Kurd,
Be aggressive with the credit card debt (i.e. way more than minimum payments), but still stash away a little for yourself as well. Better to have shrinking liabilities AND growing assets.
That way, while you're paying everything down, you'll have cash in case of an emergency. And, once you're done, you don't have to reach for more credit if you want to buy something.
Pay the card completely off. There is NO good reason for stopping @ $1500.

[rickyt88]

Originally Posted by tyler_cracker

if you like, i can ask "how much interest are you paying on the car and student loans?" and you can tell me and then i can answer, or we can skip all that and i'll just tell you: pay off your debts before you try to do anything more advanced. especially for a 3-5 year window at medium-low risk.

I'm not paying any interest on my car the financing was preset and there is no incentive to pay it off earlier. I have no student loans either I have a $500 credit since pokerstars only always me to withdraw to my Visa. I'm just going to make the minimum $400 payment for my car since it's easy and there is no incentive to pay it off sooner. I think I'll be working at a bank soon part-time for my last year of school.

[tyler_cracker]

Originally Posted by rickyt88

Canada
Income:Low 20-30K I'm a student should be done in about 1 year and salary will jump to 45K-50K
Debt: Paying off car $400 per month
Risk Tolerance: Medium-Low
Cash to invest:$2000-$5000
Timeframe: 3-5 years
Any advice is appreciated cheers!

Originally Posted by rickyt88

I'm not paying any interest on my car the financing was preset and there is no incentive to pay it off earlier. I have no student loans either I have a $500 credit since pokerstars only always me to withdraw to my Visa. I'm just going to make the minimum $400 payment for my car since it's easy and there is no incentive to pay it off sooner. I think I'll be working at a bank soon part-time for my last year of school.

i would prioritize thusly:

- emergency fund (6+ months of expenses) in savings

- CDs (maybe build a ladder for the next 3-5 years) *or* a 2015 or 2020 target retirement fund (quite a bit riskier than CDs).

- once you have a steady job, go after your 401k and/or roth ira

hth!

[phos77]

have ~£10k (~$15k) that i'd like to invest.

i live in the uk. i don't mind some risk, as long as there's significant payoff. timeframe is anything <3-4 years. i don't have any responsibilities.

i kind of like the idea of investing in an IOS app (games in particular), but my heart's not set on that (does anyone know how to go about doing this btw?). i think i just like the idea of having some fun sweating the investment and having a chance at a big score.

i'm really new to the whole idea of investing, haven't read up on it at all yet, so any beginner articles etc. would be great too.

thanks for any help.

[rickyt88]

Cheers tyler, what are CDs?

[tyler_cracker]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_of_deposit

not sure what the canadian equivalent is.

[eeee]

friend of mine who is in mid 50s
married with 401k

have some cash in savings account they are looking to invest

low risk

my advice was traditional ira each of them put in 6k a year
and all in on VTTVX

anything better?

[dalerobk]

Originally Posted by eeee

friend of mine who is in mid 50s
married with 401k

have some cash in savings account they are looking to invest

low risk

my advice was traditional ira each of them put in 6k a year
and all in on VTTVX

anything better?

It depends what you mean by "low risk." 2025 is 75% in stocks.

[eeee]

ya figured 2025 target would have been more bonds didn't even look which fund would be best then for low risk? is the traditional ira the best way to go?

[dalerobk]

Originally Posted by eeee

ya figured 2025 target would have been more bonds didn't even look which fund would be best then for low risk? is the traditional ira the best way to go?

Again, it depends on what they mean by low risk. It wasn't a rhetorical question. The 2010 fund is 46% stocks, so that would be moderate risk.

You say they have cash in a savings account that they want to invest. Is this money that they want to invest for retirement or money they want to access sooner than that? If for retirement, then sure an IRA would be a good idea. Whether to use a Roth or Traditional would depend on their current tax bracket along with other things.

[oofRome]

Originally Posted by eeee

friend of mine who is in mid 50s
married with 401k

have some cash in savings account they are looking to invest

low risk

my advice was traditional ira each of them put in 6k a year
and all in on VTTVX

anything better?

Way too little information for me to make a good recommendation.

PLEASE INCLUDE:
Country you live in
Income
Risk Tolerance
Timeframe for investment
Debt
Any other information you might have that would help us

[GAYEST_MAN]

Location: California, Bay Area
Income: whatever i can get from the casino
Risk Tolerance: Very high
Debt: 0
cash to invest: 15-25k

Hi, I am a student living at home with one more year till I graduate with a degree in Econ so I won't have a real solid income till then. I have about 30k sitting in my bank account after withdrawing all my money from black friday and looking to invest about 15-25k in anything with very high potential growth rate. The money isn't super important to me right now and I decided that I want to invest something with very high returns. I am young and the money probably won't be a huge deal if things do not go well. I have a lot of time and wouldn't mind not seeing the money for a while or at least until I buy a home. Any input would be great and appreciated. Thanks.

[eeee]

Originally Posted by dalerobk

Again, it depends on what they mean by low risk. It wasn't a rhetorical question. The 2010 fund is 46% stocks, so that would be moderate risk.

You say they have cash in a savings account that they want to invest. Is this money that they want to invest for retirement or money they want to access sooner than that? If for retirement, then sure an IRA would be a good idea. Whether to use a Roth or Traditional would depend on their current tax bracket along with other things.

by low risk, the most important thing would be to not lose money with very little variance over the course of ~15 years. i was thinking a fund that is like 35 stocks 65 bonds This is for retirement. i would guess there combined income would be 70k. what other questions should i ask them?
usa
completely debt free

[dalerobk]

Originally Posted by eeee

by low risk, the most important thing would be to not lose money with very little variance over the course of ~15 years. i was thinking a fund that is like 35 stocks 65 bonds This is for retirement. i would guess there combined income would be 70k. what other questions should i ask them?
usa
completely debt free

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/fun...FundIntExt=INT

This is 28% US total market, 12% internationa total market, and 60% total bond market. Seems about right.

[eeee]

traditional or roth?