many discount brokers provide no-fee ETFs as well, which is what i was thinking of.

but i'm really just guessing since i don't do my financial planning as a man without a country.

$150k

presently all in a standard savings account earning ****

looking for the simplest and safest step up from this. Needs to be insured.

Is is simply an online bank? Or Vangaurd? If so which fund?

Really almost completely risk adverse here and may need access to the money without penalties.

given your risk tolerance and timeline, an online bank is your only real option.

you might look into a ladder of CDs.

You really don't have any options. If you need the money, then simply accept the fact that you won't make any type of significant return on it. It's better to keep it safe if you need it than put it into something and say, lose 5%, right?

Your only options are CDs and money markets, and like I said, they won't return much.

Yes, it is difficult to decide on where to invest your money now a days. It can be a tough decision. Be sure to have some advice on the people on the stock market or you can analyse the economic standing of your country if what type of business is in or out.

Or you can try Investing in Precious Metal and Property such gold which its inherent value provides security during times of austerity. It is therefore expected to enjoy a prosperous 2013, on the back of a 12-year upward price trend that has seen its value soar from $250 to $1,700 per troy ounce. While analysts are predicting that the value of gold will peak during the next 12 months and then begin to fall in line with an improving global economy, this market currently presents a sound and profitable investment option.

lulz

Location: USA
Income: ~120k
Risk Tolerance: High
Time-frame: now (24) till retirement (~50-60)
Debt: None

I currently max out roth ira (5k) every year starting when I was 23, a simple vanguard s&p 500 mirror stock. My employer matches 6% of my 401k of about 30k/yr (base-pay), I have the option to max this out up to 50%, this is also in a s&p 500 mirror stock. I currently have around 50k to invest and I expect to invest around ~30-50k each year after. I'm divided whether to buy an investment property or simply buy stocks. I do want to keep things somewhat liquid for unforeseen business opportunities and poker which is making me lean towards buying stocks. My stock/investing knowledge is in its infancy, any help is greatly appreciated!

I'll be Tyler: Vanguard Target Date Retirement Fund.

Also, if you're going to put all your money in a domestic index fund, do the Total Market Index Fund over S&P 500. That way you get mid- and smallcaps too.

Finally, starting in 2013, you can do up to $5,500 in an IRA. FYI.

USA
400K
no debt, no family, no house

I'm 42 and may want to take the money out at some point, but not really sure when or for what. I'm earning good money at poker and maxing out my IRAs. I just want something where I can put it in and forget about it. I'm okay with taking risks, although this is my nest egg so obv I would not want to risk losing most of it.

Thanks!

first step is to open a brokerage account and put the money there.

my standard advice here is a target retirement fund. that would be ok, but it's not a perfect fit for your situation.

before we go further, approximately how much is in your iras? why do you have more than one of them (maybe you have a sep-ira as a professional poker player?)? what investments do you hold in your iras? why?

Is there any reason not to buy a leveraged ETF rather than SPY for long term investments? Specifically I am looking at SFLA which is a leveraged ETN of the S&P 500 (currently about 2x). It does not reset (I am aware of the issues with holding those, especially daily reset ETFs, long term).

Basically, my thought is that I plan to hold the investment for 10+ years, so as long as the S&P 500 is up over that time, I am better off with the leveraged position (fees are not too bad at .35%). Since it's an ETN there is some issuer risk, but since the issuer is Barclays, it should be very minimal.

Leveraged ETFs are not meant for longterm for exactly the reason you mention. You'd be much better off using margin to double your position. I don't recommend that, btw.

sly pm'd me more about his situation but asked that i keep the details private. they don't matter except to give me some context so i can (hopefully) give good advice.

i'm quoting this part for a few reasons.

1. i, too, am a big procrastinator and i, too, put off dealing with my financial house for a long time. i caught it a little earlier than you but i know the feeling.

personal finance really isn't that hard. yes, there's an initial learning curve to get over, and that can be discouraging. but you've managed to open and fund two kinds of iras and own some different investments so you're already a long way down the road. spend a few weekends studying and it will all click. then it will become obvious what you should do.

2. it's cool that you have a profession you enjoy and which clearly pays the bills, and i understand that you're not playing cheeseburger stakes, but not having a plan for this much cash is definitely "stupid" (to put it politely ).

and you're 42 -- not exactly a spring chicken anymore! poker is great but do you want to play it for the rest of your life? or do you want to be able to retire someday? you're off to a great start but time and compound interest wait for no man. time to quit dicking around and take the reins!


ok, you sat through the tough love. what's the plan?

- any expenses you know you need soon (taxes) can bear no risk. set this cash aside in high-yield savings (or pay the irs up-front? i think there are rules about this.)

- i don't own individual stocks and i don't think there's a reason for you to do so. i had to look up what "buying on margin" means but i'm pretty sure you should cease that practice immediately.

- i also don't own any real estate but i'll fall back on my inner suze orman (you're welcome for stopping short of calling you "boyfriend" ) and ask how owning that property makes you feel. if you're happy with it in your portfolio, great. if it's a source of stress or confusion, dump it and focus on investments that are part of your master plan and make you feel confident and empowered.

- the main problem i see is that you're all over the place. you should be thinking of all of your investment money as one big portfolio. and you need a plan, including an Asset Allocation.

- the simplest thing you can do is liquidate all of your investments and buy a target retirement fund with a date/allocation that you like. buy that everywhere -> instant diversification. however, this isn't the most tax-efficient thing you can do.

- if it were me, i'd rock a basic three-fund portfolio. using the basic Your Age In Bonds rule, we're looking at about 60% stocks, 40% bonds. the stocks are split into 50% us and 50% international. we'll use index funds for all of this (Total Bond Market, Total US Stock, Total International Stock).

bonds are tax inefficient, so you want them in tax-advantaged space (IRAs). i don't think you have 40% of your portfolio in tax-advantaged space, so you'll need to keep some bonds in taxable space. you can look at various tax-free bonds, like municipal bonds, for this. you could also look at treasury i bonds.

stock indexes, meanwhile, do great in taxable space so no worries there.

this version is a little more complicated -- rebalancing, changing allocations as you get older or your situation changes -- but it should fare better than a straight TR fund due to its better tax efficiency.

- there is certainly no shame in finding a good financial advisor to help you with this much cash. you definitely can do it yourself, but if the high stakes or your lack of motivation are a concern, getting professional help is totally reasonable.

good luck!

I can't thank you enough for your help. That's exactly what I needed.

I'll have a lot of questions before I can completely grasp all of this. Here are the first couple..

Where do I go to invest? Can I do all of this on etrade or is it better to spread it out among different sites?

How do I find a financial advisor? I am out of the US for an extended period of time so I'd have to contact someone online and go through skype or something. What is a typical going rate?

Do NOT invest in leveraged ETF for long terms. If you do the math you will find that, if the index does anything but move 1 way (which it always will in the long run), the leveraged product value will approach zero over time (both short/long). This is because usually the daily %change is leveraged so the 'starting point' (100%) does not remain constant.

There have actually been lawsuits by people who had a poor understanding of these exact products, it was even a case-study in the recruitment procedure of my employer (prop trading company). So be careful and make sure you understand what you will be holding before you move in Good luck!

As for adivsors, I'd recommend Rick Ferri (http://www.portfoliosolutions.com/). He charges only .25% of assets under management and uses only index funds, so your total expenses would be quite low while having the benefits of a financial advisor who uses good judgment. The one thing is that for people with relatively modest assets, there is a minimum charge of $625 a quarter ($2,500 a year). I think you listed your assets at $400k. That would put in in the fixed fee range because of your lower asset base. You would be paying about 0.625% for the benefit of an advisor (plus the expenses of the index funds they use). That's signficantly less that the 1-2% you're going to get charged by any other advisor. And every advisor is going to charge more for a smaller account. I'm inclined to think Ferri is your best option.

sly,

etrade is probably fine. of course, when i said that to the last guy who asked about his particular name-brand broker, we later learned that broker had index funds with exorbitant fees compared to vanguard (and significant compared to fidelity).

i don't think diversifying your brokers is all that important, but it's up to you. a little more complexity for a very slight amount of security.

i don't know anything about finding a PFA since i don't use one. i do think dale gives solid advice and i know a little of rick ferri from the bogleheads forums and he is legit, so that seems worth exploring.

Thanks guys. I will look into ferri and try and figure out the best path.

Realize this isn't exactly (or maybe even close to) what this thread is for, but I imagine you fellas would know the answer to my stupid math question: I have the opportunity to pay off a sizable amount on my VERY sizable student loans. With the amount I have, I could pay off one of the loans in its entirety. Another option would be to pay off ~ 1/4 of a much larger loan. Both are fixed rate, with the smaller loan about 2% more than the larger. Is the math as simple as pay off the higher rate first, or is there some funky math I should be thinking about with the long-term, high principle loan? Thanks. Talking several years to pay off both, FWIW.

yes

Are the loans otherwise exactly the same? Is one with the government and one private? Is there a co-signer on one but not the other? Anything different at all?

If exactly the same, pay the higher interest one first.

so fidelity is getting rid of the fund that i have 25% of my 401k in. i figured now might be a good time to review it here and change it if necessary. i still have the same funds that you guys helped me pick maybe 3ish years ago.

my current amount is 25k and its currently divided up 75% artisan mid cap value fund (ARTQX) and 25% davis ny venture fund class a (NYVTX). i am ~30 yrs away from retirement. thoughts?

my thoughts are use a TR fund.

why do you own those two things? what else is in your portfolio?

Yeah, people itt gave you suboptimal advice (but not horrible).