Posted on 01/11/2014 9:28:42 AM PST by WesternCulture
I am unfortunate to have lost a very dear relative of mine.
Because of this sad occurrence, I have inherited some money.
I will not use them up at bars down in Berlin, Copenhagen and Rome Et cetera, even if this seems like something natural to do.
We all like money, don't we, but honour and family ties matter more than quick thrills.
Instead, I would like to invest in healthy companies.
If you happen to possess some knowledge of American business life that might be of use, pray inform me (- of course, the stock has got to be on the public market).
I'm not an expert, but I'd suggest that you follow the Fox Business Channel show, Varney and Co. to get a grasp of how things are changing in the domestic and global markets. It comes on ealry where I live. Stu Varney and Charles Payne bring the intricate job of analyzing stocks down to my level, I like that. I've followed them for a while and made some profit, especially by being disciplined enough to list to them when it's time to sell a stock. They got me interested in two companies recently that are moving steadily for me (CUI Global and Organova). I am trusting them but not recommending anyone do the same.
1. If you have the time and capacity, study on how to invest. Diversification into different asset classes can help, but studying and watching is the best thing to do.
2. You could also go with several different advisers, investing a percentage with each, keeping an eye on each of them.
3. You could use Vanguard funds as an alternate.
In any case, you need to be proactive with your money, things move fast, investing is not for the weak at heart.
I recommend reading the book “The Warren Buffett Way” for some insight into finding healthy companies.
The most important thing, I can’t emphasize enough is: DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY and do some research yourself, in addition to advice. The most important thing is preservation of capital — there are too many people out there who will give you advice, which results in commissions for them, and losing ALL your money for you. There is NO rush to invest, it is far better to “miss an opportunity”, than to grab something and lose all your money — I have seen it happen quite often.
Mutual funds of various types: growth stocks, dividend paying stocks, bonds, various combinations.
Real estate — in the area you know — you can buy apartment buildings with a few units (don’t buy large ones, unless you have many millions) or single family houses that you can rent out — buy them in “medium” type areas — not the worst areas, just because they are cheap and not in the most expensive areas, in case they have a price drop. DO NOT, repeat DO NOT get conned at some real estate investment seminar, where they sell you property in areas you aren’t familiar with, haven’t seen — I personally know people who lost their fortunes that way.
Then you can set aside a small fraction — maybe 20-30,000, if we are indeed talking about a million total, and you can play with that — buy individual stocks, if you make money, you will have fun, if not, then you learned that individual stock investing is not for you — but do NOT keep adding to this pot.
Many will tell you to turn your money over to “professional investment advisors” — just think of Madoff. You can get advice from reputable firms, BUT you also have to do your own research and don’t go for the “huge returns” — usually there is something wrong with those.
And do not be in a hurry, missing out on an opportunity is far better, than grabbing one that you think is one and losing all or most of your money.
Just take your time and also don’t start handing out money to everyone, including yourself, because once you start doing it the money goes fast.
I would separate the funds into bins — with a small fraction, emphasis on small to spend on something you want or help our relatives, but this has to be a small finite amount.
You can be financially secure, if you are careful and really follow my above advice, but don’t fall for all the get rich quick advice you will get from everyone coming out of the woodwork, whose interest is not your wellbeing, but their own.
Good luck!
To everyone that has bothered to reply:
- Thanks a lot!
Whether you have money or not all American patriots are most welcome to my corner of the World, Sweden.
We are not all PC idiots.
Many Swedes and other Europeans too strongly believe in Nationalist values.
Best of regards!
Spread it through four different countries.
Currently I would go with US, Canada, Singapore and Chile personally as I don't know enough about Euro Markets to judge.
You might want to go with different countries but spread it out. That way you don't lose everything if things go sideways.
American Balanced Fund
Long term, hide it, or short term, invest it in companies that are profiting in the dispersal of fiat and tax plunder.
Now you tell us you’re European. Investing in the Euro stock markets is an entirely different thing from the US market. They have very different asset classes over there, and different corporate capital structures.
But at least Euro stocks tend to pay out more of their earnings to investors than US stocks. The problem is, that in Sweden you’ll be killed by the taxes, whereas in the US we pay only 15% on stock dividends if we keep our incomes under $200,000.
Even though the must close coal plants they will be replacing them with Natural Gas.
and unless someone comes up with a way to replace electrical power they will be making fat stacks for many years to come...
1. Read post 19 (by proxy_user); the advice is excellent.
2. If you are going to pick blue chip stocks, I would suggest that you take the 30 Dow Industrials or some similar list, and cross off the 15-20 that seem least safe, at most risk of a technology game changer, least stable, worst managed, etc. Buy the remainder of the list. Whatever you buy, review it quarterly, but plan on holding it for a minimum of 5 years. I don’t try to pick the great stock that I can brag about to my friends, just to avoid the bad stocks that will make me cringe in a year. As a result, I have outperformed the broad market by an average of 2.5% over the past two decades.
3. I have found that you can safely withdraw 1% a quarter, essentially forever, either to support yourself or to supplement your budget from other sources. With natural variation, that might mean occasional drops in your quarterly income, but anything unspent from the previous quarter(s) can be used to smooth those out, and with a reasonable return, the balance may rise faster than inflation on average.
Still better yet, invest in ETF's which track certain indexes or market segments. You avoid the single stock risk and avoid the fees charged by the mutual funds.
For example compare "SPY" (which is the symbol for the S & P Composite index) to any mutual funds. There is no load and you can exit at any time.
I have an account at Charles Schwab which provides plenty of research capacity with only a single per trade charge of $8.95.
Other ETF's (electronically traded funds) you might look at are QQQ (Nasdaq index fund), IBB (a biotech fund which has performed well), etc.
Here is a site for getting familiar with ETF's...nasdaq.com/investing/etfs/
People are predicting all kinds of dire things about an imminent crash. Is it wise to invest large in the market right now?
Diversify: maybe 40% in U.S. equities (stocks, ideally held through mutual funds spread over a variety of sectors), 30% in foreign equities (likewise, and spread about equally between Western Europe, developed economies in Australasia and developing markets, with a focus on the BRICs in the last lot), 15% in bonds, 10% in real estate (or maybe vice versa), and the last 5% in precious metals as a hedge.
If you don’t like the mutual funds, go with the same mix and pick your own stock — the mix depends on your risk tolerance, by you should have some in solid companies from which you expect dividends, and some in up-and-comers from which you expect price appreciation. And as someone else wrote, probably don’t put more than $10K in any one stock.
Everybody knows. So how come so many lose at playing the market? Just yesterday I deposited two checks for $0.36 each, dividends for 3 shares of something or other which is what was left of some hot company I had invested in years ago. I’ve done veddy, veddy well with mutual funds on the other hand, have some cash to invest again, and will invest it in... mutual funds.
Follow Mark Twain’s advice and invest in real estate. As he said, “They’re not making any more of it.”
With that much money, you should seek “professional” advice.
Someone you pay a flat fee to set up your plan. Do not go to someone who will charge commission.
The Dave Ramsey web site has a list of counselors.
Invest in FREEREPUBLIC! The minds you save may save you one day.
Look em up...this is where most individual investor money is moving.
Thanks, will check them out!
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