Extremely low tells me a combination of TIPs and maybe a short term bond fund. Specifically the two ETF's iShares TIP and Vanguard BSV.

The yield on BSV may not be much more then the CD's though - but the liquidity you have with the ETFs can outweigh the penalty for the early CD withdrawal. Plus CD's do not pay out every month, they pay out at maturity. With dividend reinvestment on both TIP and BSV you can accelerate the growth faster through compounding.

If you are shooting for a higher yield in the range of 3-7% then you will have to look at stocks, and 'safer' ones at that - avoid REITs unless she can stomach some swings but have a relatively steady dividend (then look at the Vanguard - VNQ) Look at a few specific Dow stocks like T (AT&T) or DD (DuPont).

I wouldn't go full bore into the stocks though..I'd do something like 80-90% TIP/BSV and 20-10% in those stocks to push the yield up a bit if yield is more important.

Maybe want to consider instead of stocks a long term bond fund like Vanguard BLV. Bit more risk for a higher yield. Just remember the higher the yield the more risk you must accept.

Country you live in: US
Income: 400k/yr from poker
Risk Tolerance: moderate/medium
Timeframe for investment: long term/lifetime
Debt: $0

Any other information you might have that would help us:

21 years old, just dropped out of college to become full time pro. after seeing aside some money for taxes and saving some for buying a house a house in about a year, i have about $150k cash that i don't have anything else to do with except invest. i've been thinking about opening a vanguard account and investing in some mutual funds and etfs and a roth IRA, then i found out you can't open a roth if you make over 150k/year when i called them. should i just open a traditional? tradionals suck cause you have to pay taxes right? whats my next best option??

SEP-IRA. You can contribute about 20% of your income up to 49k for 2009. Contributions are tax deductable. I would do some further research before investing any money. Not that you should try to time it, but be careful using a lump sum. Most markets are up over 50% since March.

Poker has been my sole source of income for about 7 years now.

I see a lot of posts here where the person has very little saved up and says their income is like 500k a year. I worry that some of you guys may be overestimating your "average income per year". Just because you made 200k the last 6 months does not mean you will make 400k in the next year. I am a little skeptical of someone with 5k in the bank claiming to make six figures per year from poker.

I'm not trying to be an ass, just advising that you take caution in your estimates. Maybe some of you guys new to the online poker world don't realize how variable the poker economy can be. If this is irrelevant or not necessary, sorry for clogging the thread.

+1
I almost made a similar post. Extrapolation can be dangerous.

Pretty much. People have no idea how hot they run.

PLEASE INCLUDE:

* Country you live in (Canada)
* Income (400 a month for life. Goverment Settlement)
* Risk Tolerance (High)
* Timeframe for investment (5-40 years)
* Debt (1500 Credit Card Debt)
* Any other information you might have that would help us

I'm a student. I live at home with my parents and have zero expenses. I just turned 21 years old. I play poker part time and earn about 400-1200 a month from it. My question here is what is the best investment to put my monthly cheque goverment of Quebec. Something that will grow over time. Is an RRSP a good idea? Thank you for the advice.

You should be putting 100% into an interest bearing account. Do not invest in stocks. That money should be at call when necessary.

I just sold $20k of SPY (S&P 500 spyder). Sold this morning before it dropped 1%

American

Risk tolerance is medium. I have $20k of other money in poker/savings accounts. But I don't really want to lose all this money.

Time frame is 5+ years. Might use this money for a down payment on a house if I ever buy one. Or might just hold it for retirement.

Have $150k in student loans. Most around 5%. One at 8%.

I kind of think the US market is going to fall apart. Can I put this money in Euro stocks or somthing? I have an ING Sharebuilder account so something I can buy from that would be great.

Investing in Europe when the US markets falls apart won't help you. The EU is dependent on the US for exports. In fact I don't think there is any market in the world that will profit from a big US crash.

Yeah I think you all have to understand, if the US collapses, the world business cycle collapses, and that means there is no money to be made with the exception of exotic trading (going short on stocks etc), because the money pool will constantly dry up. If you think the US is going to suck, but still be functional, then yeah international diversification is good, taking advantage of the slow depreciation in US dollar strength etc.

Can you recommend some broad ETFs for Europe and the whole world?

Thank you for the well thought out answer. What is the consensus on letting a professional person or business manage the money for her. My concern on that is if they are paid on a commission basis what's to keep them from taking excessive risks with the money in a sense "free rolling"

In this particular instance especially due to her risk aversion and desire to preserve value over achieving high growth, it does not seem reasonable to "outsource" the kinds of holdings I mentioned.

Regardless of how a money manager performs they always get paid.

Just look some up on vanguard.

[*]Country you live in:Usa[*]Income:chump change[*]Risk Tolerance: 10% chance of failure[*]Timeframe for investment-5 years[*]Debt-232 dollars[*]Any other information you might have that would help us

I am looking to deposit 500 on etrade and turn it into 1.2 million dollars cash.

I have 5 years to do this with 500 dollars starting. I want a 10% chance of going broke. Which stocks should I invest in to give me a chance of going big yet staying steady. What results should I expect in the first month? how about first year? 2 years?

I think the result you can expect is zero dollars.

Thanks for the advice. Why would I be better off with a SEP-IRA over a Roth or a traditional retirement account? I will be playing poker for 1-3 years after school, but do not plan on playing professionally longer than that. Thanks again.

and vice versa... Thank you for reminding people of that...because most people dont understand that simple concept. Thats half the reason I think commodities and managed futures are a great investment right now, but then again my opinion is biased i suppose.

Dollar amount that can be contributed.

Maximums of a SEP-IRA are a maximum of 25% of income up to $49,000. So if you pull in $40k a year, you an contribute $10k. If you pull in $196k or greater you can contribute $49k and no more.

Maximums of a ROTH or Traditional IRA are $5000 per year, thats it. And thats combined, ROTH + Traditional = $5000.

If you'll be making less then $20k a year playing poker, then you might as well open a ROTH IRA instead as you'd be limited to $5k anyway.

Thank you nuclear, I'll keep this in mind.

freshman college student
american
0 income, no job
amount of money to invest-9k
timeframe--i dunno. this is play money for the next 3 years. after that, i'll probably use it to buy a house or car.
risk tolerance--very high, my parents will support me financially and help me out a lot through my college years even if i lose a lot of the 9k
debt--5.5k a year for all four years of college


a month ago i took all my money and bought 86 shares of the gold etf GLD at 103.38 a share. so far i'm up 4%. does this seem suicidal/stupid for me to have all my money in gold?

i don't have a lot of time to keep on researching new commodities or equities to buy, and gold seemed like a great bet, so i put all my money into it. given that it's not disastrous for me if i lose a lot, and given that gold seems super unlikely to go down more than 15%, was this a wise move? if you think i should diversify, any advice on hedges for gold and how much of the 9k i should allocate to such hedges?


also, i'm considering moving some of my money from from the gold etf gld to the silver etf slv. i don't think i'm gonna do it, but i'm considering it. would taking some money out of gold and putting it into silver be a good or bad idea?

Putting it all on gold or silver is fine if your risk tolerance is very high.

It's not sound investing tho.

country: usa
income: about 3-4k to invest
risk: low to med
time: 40 yrs till retirement
debt: zero debt

this will be first major investment and was thinking opening a roth ira and starting there

any other recommendations for a first timer? I am a bit clueless when it comes to investing

alternate suggestions for someone w/o a lot of time to research?