I don't know if this is the correct thread to post my question, but here goes.

With there being so many crypto currencies around nowadays, what are the chances of investing in a few of them and then the currencies increasing in value like how bitcoin has from its inception to present day.

First of all, there are huge threads about cryptocurrencies already, do skim through them.

Bitcoins - digital currency
Virtual Currency - Alt Coin Discussion Thread

As with any investment, the high potential reward from trading cryptocurrencies comes at a big price - the high volatility. If not for the risk, of course, everyone would invest into them instead of bonds, stocks, commodities and other officially approved assets, but only a small fraction of the world population does, mainly because there's a huge political risk.

Cryptocoin holders are basically making an anarchist political statement - that they'll be able to build an efficient alternative global financial system circumventing the governments. Of course, the governments are hating this with passion.

One of the reasons, pitched to the public as the main official reason, is that alas, by their very design, cryptosystems allow criminals to easily get money covertly. But the real main reason is of course that the governments want to tax as big a portion of the economy as possible and are hating the emerging black market.

In particular, this March, the Ministry of Finance of Russia proposed to make cryptocurrency possession a felony, but on October 13-14 at the Finnopolis 2016 forum in Kazan, it was stated that it's not going to be punished yet, which appears to be one of the minor reasons for the recent Bitcoin rally.

Every statement by any major government about its intentions to control or restrict the use of cryptocurrencies might cause a crash of their x-rates for fiat currencies or at least make transaction costs higher (as the costs of maintaining conspiracy will go up).

If Bitcoin chooses to cooperate with the major governments, then it will lose its intrinsic value as an 'under-the-table' currency, which is a big component in the demand for Bitcoin: if it were just another version of traveler's checks with no capacity of bypassing the official financial system, it wouldn't be worth hundreds of dollars per unit.

Therefore, it's advisable to invest only a small, if any, fraction of a personal portfolio into cryptocurrencies.

Ty còon.

The objective of most people saving for retirement is to not run out of money in retirement.

The reason that most people move to a more conservative allocation as they age is that a riskier allocation (e.g. 100% equity) exposes you to a much larger potential decline (e.g. 40-50%). Once you are in retirement, you may not have the required time horizon to even out / recover from these kinds of losses....which means you are at a much higher risk of running out of money.

It's pretty much a no-brainer for almost everyone to move more conservative as you get older and your portfolio approaches the needed amount to accomplish your financial goals.

Ah, I see, this strategy is dictated by the American social security setup.

In the US, the fed income tax is progressive and it's +EV for people to invest into IRAs to manipulate tax brackets (deduct while their income is high, withdraw and file that money later when the income becomes low), especially because the companies managing the funds are efficient enough and well-regulated. This compensates for the inconvenience of these retirement accounts being piggybanks that can be tapped into (without the 10% penalty) at age 59.5 at the earliest (bar exceptions like buying the first home). Fortunately, the health care is great over there so >1/4 of the life is still left after that.

For the part of the portfolio that is inside the IRA, the logic of taking bigger risks early does apply because contributions are made continuously and early ones will give greater compounded returns over the shelf life of the IRA if they're invested with a bigger yearly ROI, whereas the compounded growth of later contributions over their shorter shelf lives is less sensitive to the yearly ROI.

Thoughts on using Vanguard as a taxable brokerage account (I have a Roth Ira with them) to keep all investments In one account. I don't particularly need all of the fancy analysis tools other brokerages provide and if necessary I can always invest a small sum in one to gain access if required. Not interested In using Robinhood beyond growth stocks with no current dividends. Any opinions on an brokerage to use?

Please do not take this the wrong way, I am not trying to be an ass. But you must be posting in the right thread given the above logic (the opposite of diversification, something central to investing).

In my opinion the gain from your strategy, convenience, is more than outweighed by the loss, concentrating your portfolio.

Of course practically no one thinks Vanguard is going to go bust. But no one thought LTCM, MER, etc. were going to bust either.

I would suggest getting a real broker if for no other reason than it is the right thing to do.

There are many out there, if you don't need bells & whistles go for the lowest commission. Which now that you know the right thing to do, just requires a little leg work on you part.

My simple opinion, low.

Maybe ETH. But I wouldn't mess with it.

I am not going to say much more than that I think what I have put in bold is unfair. BTC does not imply anarchy.

Also, they don't really have to build or circumvent anything. Crypto & fiat can coexist (exhibit A: now). I think it is more about organic growth than planned development.

Many would say BTC doesn't have to do anything but let fiat do its thing (see Voltaire on the subject: http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_...ire.Quote.2BC6).

even if vanguard goes bust, your accounts will be fine

Yeah, in that situation I am sure everything would be fine

I have everything at Vanguard, except my work 401k. It is way easier to have your taxable account, IRA's, etc. all at one place. Plus, Vanguard starts giving you more perks the more you have there.

This for sure.

You're missing out on thousands of dollars in free money if you park everything at Vanguard.

What are you referring to? Churning signup bonuses? That **** is a grind.

I appreciate the thought I would have to explore signup bonuses to see if I qualify for anything worthwhile. Otherwise I appreciate all feedback

Yep. I've only done a few so far, but they've been pretty painless.

But even parking it at BofA would be preferable to Vanguard if you have at least 100k invested to get preferred rewards (mainly the credit card cashback boost and free trades).

Can anyone assist with a rudimentary calculation as to what it would cost to ensure that a particular word or phrase appears on the first page of a google search? e.g. if a search on google was for "poker forum", what the is the equation which leads to $x for a new website to appear on page 1?

There may not be a way of doing this without knowing the exact phrase, I'm just wondering if there is a way I can work this out, and/or seeking assistance with how that equation works.

Organic results, or paid search?

Rex Tillerson, CEO of XOM, may become Secretary of State. Buy XOM?

Anyone read Quantitative Value? I struggle between thinking it makes a ton of sense and thinking that obviously some system is going to have worked over the past xx years and this means nothing about it beating the market going forward.

Ideas of removing emotion from decision making, filtering out worst companies, buying a large swath of companies that are underpriced and should revert to their true value all makes so much sense though.

Havent read it but i have studied Buffett's and grahams approach in-depth. The book didn't go into Phil Fisher??! Buffett became less Graham and more fisher over time partly because he had to bc of size but anyway. To answer your question though read "The super investors or Graham and Doddsville". Deep asset value investing works. Look at AAII's(American assoc. of individual investors) model portfolio returns over the years. I should add most people who go out and pick their own stocks will fail. Not everybody can be those guys.

If you want to blow your mind after studying all this value investing read "How i made 2 million in the stock market" by Darvas.

Too much smart and connected money out there.

IMO either get into the industry or spend your time doing something else that you're good at and just index.

What about in small cap where most hedge funds and bigger investors cant really touch due to position size?

Argument against this is that PE companies have really cleaned up the good small caps in the last decade or so.

Hey all,

I'm about to start a job out of school making 100k/year. I have about 11k in student loans as my only debt. I have 5K in the SPY ETF and about that in savings. What kind of retirement/investments should I be looking at and what kind of balancing should I consider with respect to my student loans? I don't have exact details on the retirement package and the matching, but I've been told that I should plan on maxing that.

Thanks in advanced for any knowledge shared; I'm obviously going to talk to an investment professional and a tax adviser, but it's good to do a bit of digging around myself.

What's the interest rate on the student loan?

You should completely max out the 401k at that income level. Not just max out the match, but put the maximum allowed into it which is $18K. You should also max out a Roth IRA which last I checked was $5,500. Do this every year and you'll be fine.

For investments, choose 401k funds with the lowest expense ratio. Preferably an "Total US Market Stock Index" or something along those lines at 50%, and a non-US index at 50%. Or just total world fund if one is available. Post us the options if you get the list and are confused.

Read a short guide to personal finance, then read A Random Walk Down Wall Street.