Since there's a lot of overlapping advice going around, I've decided to create a new megathread dedicated to passive investing of a large lump sum. If you have a complicated situation, feel free to post a dedicated thread. Otherwise, all request for investing advice go in here.

PLEASE INCLUDE:

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

All threads with a simple line "I have $XXXX, what should I do?" will now be deleted with no explanation given. Thank you.

No, thank you!

ok ill start I guess.. Not sure if i should even post, b/c its not a very large amount.

I am 18, have ~10k to put into stocks. i live in the US, and currently have a little bit of $ into 2 stocks. ATW and NE.

I dont think the risk matters to much in decision making, but I will take alot of risk to try and make some quick cash. And no specific time frame, I was hoping maybe 2 years or so.

Any advice is good, and any on my current stocks.

Any amount is fine!

As far as the amount of money you have, 10k is pretty good to start with. When I first started learning about the stock market, I started with 5k. My first problem that I noticed was that I only bought 5 shares of a couple companies. At the time I started it was just about the start of a bull market and a couple of the stocks I bought went up over 300% each so I sometimes kick myself in the butt when I think about it. Don't be afraid to put $1-2k in a stock and get yourself a little chunk of shares. However, with that said, it's not about the amount of money that you make in each company you buy, but rather that percentage that it goes up or the return that you get.

And if you're investing, it's not about getting rich quickly. It's about buying ownership in businesses at cheap prices relative to the underlying value of the company. Just because a company is currently trading at $5 doesn't automatically make it a bargain, and a company at $115 doesn't automatically make it expensive.

Im currently 20 and have invested 17.5k in the last 6 months or so that has turned into 19.5k. My portfolio snapshot is below, but my question is regarding getting in and out. I know I know very little about equities in general, and I feel if I try to take profits I'll end up just being on the wrong side of the trade most times. Should I just sit on my portfolio indefinitely or is there a decent strategy of hopping in and out that even an ignoramus can succeed at.

Currently a senior in business management starting my MBA in the fall with hopes that this will at some point become the capital for a business once I get some relevant industry experience. I'm simply trying to maximize profits and minimize the losses...

Any advice would be appreciated.

Dan

country: USA
income: at least 3x my expenses
risk tolerance: all-in
timeframe: now (24) till retirement (~55)
Debt: 20k, mostly student loans, and all <7.5% interest

Suppose I have 10k to invest after maxing my roth ira. I have selected one stock I believe will grow, and they are not involved in the financial or energy sector. Should I diversify my investment? Suppose I have 50k, is the answer different? Assume either investment is <20% of my cash net worth.

Country you live in: Austria
Income: From very low to very high. Living expenses (house, car, food etc.) are covered though.
Risk Tolerance: High
Timeframe for investment: 4-5y till I'm out of college.
Debt: None
Amount to invest: About 50k$ (= ~35k€)

I stopped playing poker so I looked into daytrading with a propfirm but unfortunately there are very few in Austria and all of them are crap (comparing to propfirms people talk about in the day trading thread here). I would really love to look into this and already got me some basic knowledge but I can't leave my city due college (studying law and economics). So the only thing left to do is getting a mixed portfolio of stocks and bonds and just invest longterm according to Graham p.e? Or is there any other way I could turn those 50k$ maybe into ~ 100-150k$ in 4-5y? I would be willing to consistently work with my capital and not just sit back and relax.

Another thing I looked into was maybe founding my own business but
1) I don't have experience in anything other than maybe webapplications/programming (so I could start a webshop) and
2) For a "real" business I don't have the time to work 60-80h /w during the first year due to college. I'm top 10% of my class right now and I want to keep it that way.
3) 50k$ aren't that much considering opening a business and I don't like loans

Speculating and Investing are two different things. Speculating is basically trying to catch big moves based on current market conditions irrespective of long-term future prospects. Investing is buying businesses with good long-term prospects at attractive prices. Just looking at your holdings, you have some pretty big companies that move around a lot. Most of the time the companies are moderately-to-slightly overpriced. Don't take that as set in stone and immediately go out and sell everything. Jumping in and out is just as bad as buying a company at very overpriced prices.

The market is going to go up and down, it's all noise. In the long-run it is known for going up. Think about what it is that you want to do. There are many different strategies as you probably know, and each strategy has its own characteristics. My personality would be to buy good companies at great prices and ride it out into the future. I've tried buying big companies hoping they'd go up, I've tried trading in and out of stocks using margin and what not, but although I am willing to take some risk, I am moderately risk averse. Don't be concerned about your portfolio going up and down constantly. In reality, if you can't take the ups and downs you should probably select index funds and not check your account other than a few times a year. The market is very unstable right now with the questionable economy so although one day the market might drop like a rock, the next week it might start inching up. There was something else I was going to say, but I forgot.

Here is my situation.

* Country you live in - TEXAS is a country
* Income - 100K
* Risk Tolerance - LOW
* Timeframe for investment - 20 years
* Debt - ZERO
* Any other information you might have that would help us


My wife and I are in our 40s, zero debt, house paid for, she retired from Exxon after 20 years and has about $300,000 sitting in cash IRA at the moment.

With massive inflation coming soon thanks to Obama printing trillions of dollars.. where should be put this money to fight off inflation?

We are investment rookies, and my wife is very afraid of losing this nest egg. We need to diversify.. not sure the best way to go about any of this.

Advice appreciated thx.. BB

HAHA that's hillarious - I'm in Sugar Land

Vanguard Target Retirement 2020 - while you don't expect to retire in 10 years, you want low risk, so having some stock exposure is still good, but having higher bond exposure is what you're looking for here.

United States
23

i have an extra 30k (+3k month additions)

risk tollerance. Mediumish. If i lose ohwell, i dont mind taking some chance, however im not looking for something unusually risky. But 3-6% growth goal?

can someone recomend a Vanguard maybe

Goal: i want my monies out in 2-3 yrs if i start a business. If i take a good job instead ill jsut leave it. Anyhow i play poker for a living, i pay my taxes, but dont crontribute to roths or hha's or anything.

Basically this "30k" + additions is whats beyond my "6 months living expensses + roll"... so its somthing i havnt touched in a while. Currently sitting in HSBC online savings account.

* Country you live in - United Kingdom, England
* Income - N/A
* Risk Tolerance - N/A
* Timeframe for investment - 1-20 years
* Debt - N/A
* Any other information you might have that would help us -N/A

I have $2000 to invest where sould I put it

Thanks for the advice! I'll check this out.. much appreciated..

take care.. BB

Was about to start a thread and saw this.

I have about $80k in capital that is sitting in a savings account collecting 1% annually. I've decided that it's time to explore some investing options and have no idea where to start. I am very uneducated with regard to investing, particularly with trading.

I am 21 years old, and I live in Vancouver, Canada. I have a guaranteed income of about $25k CAD per year, on top of poker. Last year I made about $200k US with poker. This year I've found myself having a little more trouble both finding time to play and study, as well as actually maintain a decent winrate at the tables. Thus, my expected annual salary will likely be somewhere between $50k and $150k (unless I ship a bracelet or something).

My risk tolerance is pretty high (I do play poker after all), but nothing absurd. with 10 being huge risk/reward, and 1 being a savings account, I'd probly be a 7. Naturally the riskier/higher variance the investment, the less im willing to invest.

I don't really have a timeframe, but do not really want funds locked away in RRSP's or TFSA's.

I have barely any debt ($2000ish worth of unpaid speeding tickets etc)

My expenses are minimal. I have an addiction to expensive foods and long distance cell phone calls which probly sets me back $1000-$1200 a month. Other than that, I have no financial obligations.


What options should I be exploring and researching further?

Some of the ideas I've entertained are:

Real estate

- This is the obvious one. This is a lot harder than it sounds, especially in Vancouver where the avg property price is about $750k. I make about $2500 a month on paper and would likely have trouble qualifying for a mortgage, although I've never inquired.

Starting a small business

- This seems like a good way to invest both time and money to get a positive result, and is the route a lot of my friends have taken. Unfortunately there's nothing that I can think of that would be profitable that I am passionate enough about to dedicate the majority of my time too.

My father's business

- My father is an equipment leasing broker. He basically connects funders, vendors, and lessee's. For example, John(Lessee) need's 50 computers for his business. He contacts my father(broker) who contacts IBM(vendor) and buys these computers with money from General Electric(funder). John then pays the computer's off monthly for a 3 year term, at which point he is offered to buy them out at 50%. Computers are usually obsolete after 3 years, so he declines and re-leases a new set etc. Old computers are resold, john can write this off as an expense, etc.

My father has told me that I can fund some of these deals, and the returns are decent. The problem I have is that the economy is scary these days and if "John's" business falls through, there is very little I can do, other than ding his credit and maybe garnish future wages. Furthermore, the maximum earning potential is capped at the expected return rate. You can only lose money, or earn the expected rate, and never earn more.

Stocks/Day trading

This is an area I know NOTHING about. If it is profitable, I'm basically looking for some direction to educate myself, at a beginner's level.

All of the above are really kinda mediocre to me. I feel like I should be taking advantage of the recession, being that capital is harder to obtain today. I'm really looking for something different that peaks my interest. In the meantime, I'm just gonna make $1k a year on this capital, which seems stupid in a time when so many people need money.

Some guy emailed me regarding the death of a family member in Hong Kong who has a trust of 10 million dollars, all I have to do is send him $40k in Nigeria and and I get half.

EDIT: Also mods, if you feel this is worthy of its own thread, I would prefer this, Since this thread seems to have little activity and participation

Just a slight note, TFSAs are not 'locked away' in the same way that RRSPs are, as you have already paid the tax on them (lol poker). If you are able to invest in what you want with a TFSA account, it's basically a way to avoid capital gains tax on $5000/year. So most of your 80k would not apply to this, but if you want to make every dollar count, it's still worth it.

Interesting side note, I have the exact same dollar amount, location, and risk aversion as you, so I'd be interested in any replies to this Q as well. Right now I am avoiding buying a 1.7% 1Y GIC, and collecting a whopping 0.75% in a 'high interest' savings account.

my advice to everyone:

buy physical gold coins or bars that you can hold in your hand and put someplace safe. it also might be a good idea to have some gold held for you overseas such as at the Perth Mint (Austrailia) or GoldMoney.com (held in London and Zurich).

no matter what circumstances you are in, or what country you live in, i think eveyone should have some real money (gold) put away as savings for a rainy day.

the good things about gold is that it is no one's liability. you can take your gold to almost any country on earth and exchange it for their local currency. it is an asset that you can hold in your hand and take with you where ever you go. it has had value for 1000s of years, and its value cannot be inflated away since the supply is scarse. it doesn't have accountants, balance sheets, CEOs... it doesn't restate earnings. it doesn't pay any interest because it doesn't have too.

so that's my advice... just buy the real stuff and put it away... one day you'll be glad you saved something real.

how much does your portfolio weigh?

I'm looking for a way to make my money really grow and prosper. While gold is a great object to trade if you're knowledgeable, and a great way to save if you need to, it doesn't have the risk and reward that I'm really seeking.

Hey guys, excellent thread idea and much thanks to all.

Location: US citizen working in Hong Kong
Income: 230k
Risk tolerance: Low to medium
Timeframe for investment: 10+ years
Debt: I own two properties in mainland China with a combined monthly mortgage payment of around $3000/month. Both are 30-year mortgages, with interest rates based on the PRC prime rate --- for around 176k and 235k, at 4.96% and 4.12% current rates, respectively. I also owe my parents approximately 150k for law school + other expenses, but this is obviously interest free and repayment schedule is flexible (although I would like to start making some payments once I accumulate sufficient savings and a decent portfolio.)

I graduated law school and am currently working as a corporate lawyer in HK. Through fairly aggressive saving and repayment I've paid off my law school loans and now will have a steady monthly cash flow that I'd like to put to good use. Due to aggressive repayment, I currently have very little savings, but this should start accumulating right away. I think right now I'm probably looking for a 60:40 to 70:30 ratio of low-medium risk investments. I'm not sure whether this is correct, but lately I've been feeling a sense of urgency re: getting into the market, partially based on what I've seen from my practice out here. My cousin is an analyst at a hedge fund and has recommended that I just purchase basic market-based index funds or blue chips for long-term, and while I might do that for part of my portfolio, I feel like I can handle a bit more risk/reward. I've been reading the Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham, and turned out to be one of those people for which it just makes total sense right from the beginning. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Note: there are some hoops I have to jump through to purchase individual stocks, but this shouldn't be an issue.

Sweden
student no income basically
Lifetime investment
0 debt


I'm currently 21 years old and have roughly 12-15k USD to invest. Which isn't an awful lot if you're going for a diversified portfolio. I'm studying full time at university and don't really have time or knowledge to go through annual reports and really dive into companies in the same way that many other do when evaluting when and if to buy. I have a fundamental understanding about companies but to the point that all I know is that I like the products McDonalds, Coca Cola, P&G and other companies produce

All companies I "understand" are basically in the consumer discretionary and comsumer staples sector.

So my option is to invest in those two areas in 5-6 companies or to put it all in an ETF (mostly thinking about SDY). It's here I was thinking if you had some input. 5-6 companies isn't that much but then I also minimize fees (0.35% annually on the etf)...

What does "no income basically" mean? You score $100 here and there selling pot or something?

In my opinion "no income, basically" and only $13.5k in the bank isn't enough to start investing. Some people are going to argue that, but emergency cash funds and the standard "6 months living expenses" are far more important then building wealth via investments.

If you're really hard up on putting some into the market - put $2500 into VTI and $1000 into VWO and $1500 into VEU, or some allocation similar to those 3. You're mixed 50/50 with the US/Canada + rest of the world.

Pay off that debt! With that kind of capital reserve it makes no sense to not get rid of the debt.

As for the rest of what you wrote...Look at some allocation of VTI, VWO, VEU, VEA, VBK and VNQ.

Your cousin is correct. After you have an emergency fund of six to twelve months' income locked away in a savings account or CD ladder, look into index investing. bogleheads is a great site. For more risk/reward, you can look at the regional or sector ETFs (e.g. Brazil, India, pharma). Powershares has a bunch of specialized ETFs.

Oh, basically is poker during holidays don't have time to play during school. The money I intend to invest are money I don't need. I have other savings if that really is something you need to know