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Investment Thread - For all your money needs

That is pretty sweet. I don't have the funds to pay for a broker at this time, but I'd like to eventually do that. It would save me a lot of time.

Those returns include his commissions. I got my parents set up in this from CDs. Have almost tripled their interest income.
 
It's definitely phased out between $60-75k (single) and $120-150k (married filing jointly).

Are there good ways to "lower" your AGI so that you fit into this category and can take the deduction? I know that some things such as contributing to a HSA can work, but are there other ways? Some thoughts I have had include things such as making my vehicle part of the business, them paying the payment directly and me taking a lower salary - not sure the legality of that situation. Any creative minds?
 
I work for Vanguard, so I guess I'm biased. Vanguard funds come with no loads and low expense ratios. Most funds do require 3k, but you can get into the STAR for 1k which was already discussed. Also, Vanguard ETFs held through our company are commission-free for trading. I'm going to open up a Roth IRA once I get my funds completely in order.
 
I know of a couple of short term bond finds that offer more interest than MM funds, and are conservative:
Weitz Short Intermediate Fixed Income
Dryden Short Term Bond
Vanguard has several short term bond funds to consider as well
 
I work for Vanguard, so I guess I'm biased. Vanguard funds come with no loads and low expense ratios. Most funds do require 3k, but you can get into the STAR for 1k which was already discussed. Also, Vanguard ETFs held through our company are commission-free for trading. I'm going to open up a Roth IRA once I get my funds completely in order.

I've been to malvern a few times. Got to meet with Gus Sauter, John Bogle and Brennan
 
I work for Vanguard, so I guess I'm biased. Vanguard funds come with no loads and low expense ratios. Most funds do require 3k, but you can get into the STAR for 1k which was already discussed. Also, Vanguard ETFs held through our company are commission-free for trading. I'm going to open up a Roth IRA once I get my funds completely in order.

Oooo :) Nice!
 
I may be mistaken here, but I can't remember ever having to wait more than 2 days for a transfer or deposit to clear. Is this set by the individual companies?

I just transferred some money out of Truliant FCU to ING Direct and the deposit takes 2 days to show up and 5 days to clear.

Tradeking takes 3 days to clear(I can understand this moreso than the bank accounts)



In other news, I've been looking into ETFs recently. Decided to invest a little bit of money in a Vanguard small-cap growth etf yesterday. I'm loving the YTD and 3yr return.
 
WO. Forgot about the commission to sell your stock as well. I can't imagine using any of the brokerage accounts that require more than a $5 commission to buy and sell. In my small-dollar investing world, at least.
 
What do you guys think about natural resource or precious metal's ETFs?
 
WO. Forgot about the commission to sell your stock as well. I can't imagine using any of the brokerage accounts that require more than a $5 commission to buy and sell. In my small-dollar investing world, at least.

I like to make sure I purchase enough of each position so that overall cost of buying and selling is 1% or less of the transaction. I use Fidelity which is $8 per trade so I always buy at least $1600 of whatever I am purchasing (I reduce this to $800 when I am dollar cost averaging a position in which I have conviction as I will sell the whole lot at once at the end keeping the costs to 1% overall). If I dont have enough conviction in something than to spend at least my minimums on it then I shouldnt be buying it anyway.
 
I like to make sure I purchase enough of each position so that overall cost of buying and selling is 1% or less of the transaction. I use Fidelity which is $8 per trade so I always buy at least $1600 of whatever I am purchasing (I reduce this to $800 when I am dollar cost averaging a position in which I have conviction as I will sell the whole lot at once at the end keeping the costs to 1% overall). If I dont have enough conviction in something than to spend at least my minimums on it then I shouldnt be buying it anyway.

What if you don't have $1600 to invest :p
 
My wife and I are lucky enough to be completely debt-free except for credit cards that we pay off in full every month. She's working here in Winston this year while I finish my master's degree, then we're both headed to D.C. with jobs there. I'm glad to be headed there without debt, but we'll be paying out our ass in rent. It's a good thing we're going to be a dual income family.

Investment-wise the two of us have a total of ~$20K in Roth IRAs with Vanguard that is all invested in their Target Retirement 2050 fund. $3,000 minimum to get in, but this just made sense for me. Lifecycle funds like this take care of balancing themselves, and Vanguard's expense ratios are really low. Plus, the fund will adjust it's risk profile as it gets closer and closer to that target retirement date.

If you're looking for a way to invest for retirement that will take care of itself - i.e. is well-diversified and balances itself - then a fund-of-funds like this is an excellent option. If you wanted to put a bunch of time into balancing your own portfolio then more power to you, but this gives me 95+% of the results of doing that without me having to do any work, and that's worth it to me.
 
Indeed.

How do you have your portfolio weighted in relation to large cap, mid cap, and small cap stocks?

I dont worry too much about weights and just invest in securities that I see potential in but as of last night my rough breakdown was as such:

4% in bonds
5% in commodities
8% non-US developed
14% non-US emerging
4% real estate
2% cash
20% US small cap growth
7% US small cap value
13% US mid cap
7% US large cap growth
16% US large cap value
 
I dont worry too much about weights and just invest in securities that I see potential in but as of last night my rough breakdown was as such:

4% in bonds
5% in commodities
8% non-US developed
14% non-US emerging
4% real estate
2% cash
20% US small cap growth
7% US small cap value
13% US mid cap
7% US large cap growth
16% US large cap value

This is probably the mindset I will have. I don't think you necessarily need specific weighting as an average investor.
 
Just checked my credit score. It is in the high 700s and I still can't get a credit card because of my 2.5:1 debt to income ratio.
 
Just checked my credit score. It is in the high 700s and I still can't get a credit card because of my 2.5:1 debt to income ratio.

sometimes makes you wonder if wake is worth it
 
On the topic of credit scores, I highly recommend CreditKarma (truly free credit score, in good standing with BBB, etc. I trust them with my info). Kinda like Mint (which I also use) but for credit.

I've got a 752. Considering I only have a 5-6 year credit history and nothing but a few credit cards I'm pretty happy with that.
 
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