Freeper Help Wanted: How do I learn how to invest my money? [Vanity]

Today | me

[Slings and Arrows]

I *knew* a BAHOG pic would show up!

[Tijeras_Slim]

When it comes to being predictable, I rarely dissappoint!

[Slings and Arrows]

Added to the list, with gratitude.

[Joe 6-pack]

It really depends on the kind of money you have to invest. Send it all to me so I can take a closer look at it and make my evaluation, after which I’ll advise you appropriately ;-)

[Slings and Arrows]

Who knew Bernie Maddoff was Nigerian?

[Slings and Arrows]

Interesting, but what about inflation? If we get Carteresque inflation rates, wouldn’t an annuity be a money-loser?

[Petronski]

BAHOG for the win.

[TheArizona]

All things being equal, they will affect your money the same except, high inflation would probably cause the markets to tank, at least with an annuity your inflated money still grows but at least you get to keep it. I don't think anybody advocates putting all of your money into gold I generally hear about %10 should be in gold. If it were me I would go higher. But gold isn't practical for everybody because it is so expensive. Silver might be a better alternative for some. But I believe a bulk of your money, the money you must count on in old should be in a fixed annuity. Any insurance agent worth his salt would not tell you that they recommend you put all of your money into an annuity. I advocate diversification. For example, lets say you have $100,000 and your 40 years old. Bear in mind I am only an agent, I do not hold any securities or financial planner certifications and as a professional it would be inappropriate and illegal for me to give and phrase certain recommendations a certain way.

$10,000 in gold or silver
$50,000 in a fixed annuity
$20,000 in an indexed annuity
$10,000 in some sort of security stocks etc...
$10,000 in cash on hand for an emergency if you don't have cash on hand already. If you already got cash somewhere then divide that last 10k in the other places listed above.

TheArizona

[bert]

Go to a news stand, buy a Forbes and read it from cover to cover. If you like it subscribe. Steve Forbes knows how to deliver financial info. Unlike the WSJ with more info than many can handle all at once, Forbes comes every two weeks and can be enjoyed at leisure.

Learning is not an event, it is a process

A good place to start is Fidelity or Vanguard funds. You can put money there while the process unfolds

[Slings and Arrows]

I appreciate the advice. I’ll add annuities to my list of things to research.

[BJClinton]

If you have $50K+ to invest http://www.mutualfundstore.com/ is a great place to start. We have one of our funds through them and we’ve done surprisingly well with it.

[MeekOneGOP]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Investing+for+Dummies&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g10

- - - - -

Check out IBD’s CANSLIM method of investing, too!
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=CANSLIM&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g10

William O’Neil is a genius and made many $$ millions using
the CANSLIM method.

He made plenty of $$’s selling his books as well.

Not suitable for all investors, however.

[TheArizona]

A wise decision. If you are in AZ I would be happy to help you with that although I am primarily a life & health insurance agent. (If Obama gets his way, I will probably only be a life agent only). I specialize in senior stuff mostly Medicare Supplement, Final Expense, and Critical Illness insurance. But I do it all.

The important thing is to pick the right company. I would stay away from the following.

Aviva Not on stable ground
New York Life
The Hartford
Genworth
The Prudential
Principal Financial
Lincoln National
Allstate

All but Aviva have taken or were considering accepting TARP funds. Aviva has some shadey practices and they had to stop issuing annuities temporarily a while back because they had depleted assets below the minimum levels.

Also, don't use A.M. Best as a basis for ratings. the street dot com. They are the only truly unbiased rater out there. A.M. had listed AIG as an A rated company before they fell apart. The street had them as a C+. Google “the street.com ratings screener.”

TheArizona

[KoRn]

/mark

[hocndoc]

My husband just read “The Gone Fishing Investment Guide.” I may have to read it, just to find out what they mean by the title!

[LucyT]

You’re welcome; glad to help.

[rmlew]

I don't know any good books on investing. You should start with a knowledge of economics. I suggest either a good textbook or Henry Hazlitt's "Economics in One Lesson".

As for investments, I've done pretty well with a basic idea since day 1: diversify but also invest in what you know. I started investing at 20 with 50% diversified, and 25 bonds, and 25% tech. In 2001, when some bonds matured, I switched to 20% gold, 20% tech, and 10% oil/energy while keeping 50% diversified. This was fairly aggressive. I would like to say that I was precient in selling energy when oil hit $100/barrel, but in reality, I was scared into making the right decision.

[fretzer]

Jim said they are *denial of service* attacks similar to what Facebook and Twitter had last week.”

I’m not surprised.

“I couldn’t get on FR yesterday afternoon.”

Ditto.

[fretzer]

That’s a good thing :)

[wolfcreek]

Not that I know of. I saw this on FR’s Yahoo group page.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freerepublic2/