I'm a professional poker player that's already maxed out my annual contribution for a Vanguard Roth IRA S&P500 index fund.

If you don't include what's been contributed in my Roth, my bankroll is around 65k of money in the bank and about 10k in cash that I use as my poker roll, pay expenses with, etc.

My monthly expenses are super low as my rent is paid off for the year, own a car so no monthly payments, no wife, no kids, etc.

I am not particularly interested in real estate investing, nor would I likely be able to be competitive for getting loans due to having to show income statements, etc.

I am curious to know what others in here would do? It seems like I don't have enough $ to really make any significant gains through the stock market, yet I have too much money to just be sitting in a bank account. Any suggestions?

You can also start a SEP-IRA and put 25% of your income up to 53k into it. The contribution is tax-deductible and the investments grow tax-free until you withdraw. Since there is a penalty for withdrawing before 59.5, you want to make sure this is used for money that you are unlikely to need before that.

If you still want more tax-deferred investment space, you can start a Health Savings Account (HSA) if your health insurance allows and put $3300/year into it. This is triple tax-advantaged in that contributions are tax deductible, earnings grow tax free, and if you have medical/dental receipts then withdrawals are tax exempt. Like with the SEP-IRA and Roth, there is a penalty for early non-medical withdrawals so you want to invest with money that you won't need in the near future.

If you have extra money that you think you are likely to need in the near future, you should probably invest it outside of these tax-advantaged accounts.

As for what you should invest in, either in your taxable or tax-advantaged accounts, it really depends on how much risk you are willing to take. Would you be OK with losing 25% of your investments? 50%? 75%?

SEP-IRA is a really good suggestion!

As for what to invest in, take a look at WealthFront https://www.wealthfront.com and Betterment https://www.betterment.com/portfolio/

You may also consider a stock or holding company that does not pay a dividend. Thus if you ever need the money you don't pay a penalty. REITs are good for retirement accounts because they pay a lot of dividends.

BRK-B Berkshire Hathaway
2000 32.92
2016 143.22

Loews L
Leuedia National LUK
The above pay small dividends, but they are probably qualified.

How much do you pay in tax if you invest in an individual stock and then sell it when the price moves up (or even below your initial investment)?

[QUOTE=Frankie Fuzz;49724343]You can also start a SEP-IRA and put 25% of your income up to 53k into it. The contribution is tax-deductible and the investments grow tax-free until you withdraw. Since there is a penalty for withdrawing before 59.5, you want to make sure this is used for money that you are unlikely to need before that.
QUOTE]

Is that a maximum of 53k in contributions over a lifetime or is that an annual limit?

Also, similar to the Roth, can you withdraw your initial contributions tax-free or can those not be touched without a tax penalty?

It depends on whether the stock is held within a taxable or tax-advantaged account like an IRA. If it is in a taxable account, you would pay taxes on any dividends distributed during that tax year (at your ordinary income tax rate for unqualified dividends and at the LTGC rate for qualified dividends) as well as taxes on any unrealized capital gains (at the capital gains tax rate).

[QUOTE=bodybuilder32;49729120] 53k was the maximum for 2015 tax year contributions. Again, you are only able to contribute up to 25% of your taxable income, so you would have to make over 212k to contribute the maximum 53k for 2015.

In a SEP-IRA, there is a penalty for any withdrawals before age 59.5, unless it is for a few exempted purposes (education, medical, etc.). You do not pay taxes on your contributions and you do not pay taxes on the earnings from investments within the SEP-IRA. When you withdraw, you pay taxes on both the principal and any earnings. That is different from the ROTH IRA, where you pay taxes initially, not upon withdrawal.

Solo 401k > SEP-IRA. Can make both employee and employer contributions which means it takes comparatively less income to contribute to a Solo than a SEP.

Those are terrible decisions.

ok we'll take your word for it

Both charge double to triple of what you'd pay to just invest in targeted retirement fund while delivering dubious to no advantage.

ok, now there is a reason why

i have heard of both of those services. I was even directed to one by a service I use, CreditKarma. So, i wanted some evidence

If you are looking for tax defferred:

1) SEP IRA
2) Solo 401k
3) Super low cost deferred variable annuity with a decent amount of investment choices (.1-.20% fees if you can find one)

or he could not light money on fire you shill.

The is another option, irrevocable trust or some of the other trusts. A trust is something that kind of likes its own person. The trustee runs it but the beneficiaries benefit from it. Also a non-profit.

Good idea. Everybody knows that you get a nice big tax deduction from contributing money to a trust. And trusts are particularly known for their extra favorable treatment of capital gains.

[QUOTE=bodybuilder32;49729120] 25% of your income up to 53k is the annual limit. SEPs are the vehicle of choice when you have your own business and are making a lot of money.

If you want to be able to access your money in a pinch, a solo 401(k) might be a good way to go. Unlike a SEP, it's a pain in the ass to setup and has limited investment choices. However, my understanding (although I've never done this), is that when you setup a solo 401(k), you can setup a loan provision in your plan document that allows you take a loan from your 401(k). I don't know all of the nuances, but I think if you did your homework you could probably structure it in such a way that you could get access to the money in a pinch without paying any penalties. You'd have to pay it back with post tax dollars though.

[QUOTE=Malachii;49801460] Solo 401(k) are not a pain in the ass

You probably know a lot more about the nuances of a solo 401(k) than I do. All I know is I can setup a SEP IRA in 5 minutes on Vanguard, write a check, and be done with it.

I don't think it's really arguable that setting up a solo 401(k) is more complicated / expensive / time consuming. I just Googled it and the first site I found charged $795 to set it up for the first year, and there is a fair amount of compliance crap associated with it that you don't have with a SEP IRA. Whether or not that constitutes a "pain in the ass" is open to debate.