Do you manage your own investments?

[Kimber7man]

I have a 401k thru my work. It's at Edward Jones. I absolutely hate it. They take a annual percentage pulled out monthly, of the account gross balance. I dislike that in the fact that they get a paycheck for "attendance" not "accomplishment". It has done good though 15% annual return of the last 4 yrs. I have only had it 4 yrs. I opened up a TD acct in March. I am putting in all the extra money I can into it. I bought only into individual stocks. But I am in the process of getting 2/3 of my money into ETF's (QQQ,SPY) and will keep 1/3 into individual stocks. I always put my annual raise into my 401k, but wont be doing that anymore. Any raises will be put into my TD account. Granted, it will be post tax instead of pre tax. But I am fine with that.

If this is all going for post retirement income, you might Look into a Roth 401k option if your company offers that option. Or a Roth IRA.

 

[nnkboykin]

If it's retirement investing Vanguard all the way. Although I do have some at Nationwide retirement through work.
I'm not giving advice but If you have 15+ years until retirement I'd roll it into a ROTH IRA at Vanguard and just pay the taxes on it. (the thought being that taxes will likely be higher in 15 years than they are now). if you have less than 5 years until retirement. I would go regular IRA.

Individual stock investments (a small portion of my portfolio) I just do through TDAmeritrade

 

[kevin11mee]

Vanguard is a great low cost company. You can pick a target retirement fund and just contribute monthly. Index funds usually beat even the best hedge-fund managers and are way cheaper.

 

[540-Virginian]

The Algebra of Wealth | No Mercy / No Malice

The news of the (second) impeachment seems strangely pedestrian after the blowtorch intensity of Reddit vs. The Hedge Funds. The good news is that the hedge funds didn’t conspire with market makers and trading apps to suppress a (warranted) generational revolution. The inevitable...

www.profgalloway.com

summary on how to think and manage money. Author is a little too liberal for me but he makes excellent points worth adding to the collection of knowledge about what managing money is all about.

Be skeptical of people who manage their own investments that never speak of their loses.

Good strategy is have as little debt as possible, live as simple as possible, always contribute to an employer 401k if they match, then dump everything into index funds like Vanguard and then live life for decades and one day you’ll see your accounts with a lot more zeroes than today.

 

[cutback]

I'm self employed. Been with Vanguard 15 years and still pleased...

 

[eddielasvegas]

Here's a PSA for those members at least 59.5 years of age who do not like their company's 401k offering.

You can make an "in-service" withdrawal and deposit it to a Rollover 401k account, which will allow you to invest it anyway you see fit. I did this when I turned this age as my employer's 401k offering were terrible and their fees atrocious.

Make sure the check is made out to your brokerage (with FBO you) and the appropriate acct #.


Eddie

 

[Wingnutty]

Bogleheads.org
No reason to pay someone else to manage your $. I’ve been a boglehead for 15 years. One of the best decisions of my life.

I use vanguard for my Roth IRAs for my wife and I. All of our retirement funds are diversified in index funds. I keep about 10-20% of my portfolio in individual stocks.

I’m 40 and have never made more than 80k/yr, my wife makes about 70k. We will retire multi- millionaires at age 57 - I’m NOT saying this to brag but as a testament to the financial security that one can achieve. There is no secret, invest regularly (15-20% of salary), don’t try to time the market - don’t jump in and out of funds, invest retirement savings in low-cost, diversified index funds.

 

[TxxAgg]

Bogleheads.org
No reason to pay someone else to manage your $. I’ve been a boglehead for 15 years. One of the best decisions of my life.

I use vanguard for my Roth IRAs for my wife and I. All of our retirement funds are diversified in index funds. I keep about 10-20% of my portfolio in individual stocks.

I’m 40 and have never made more than 80k/yr, my wife makes about 70k. We will retire multi- millionaires at age 57 - I’m NOT saying this to brag but as a testament to the financial security that one can achieve. There is no secret, invest regularly (15-20% of salary), don’t try to time the market - don’t jump in and out of funds, invest retirement savings in low-cost, diversified index funds.

Bogleheads.org
No reason to pay someone else to manage your $. I’ve been a boglehead for 15 years. One of the best decisions of my life.

I use vanguard for my Roth IRAs for my wife and I. All of our retirement funds are diversified in index funds. I keep about 10-20% of my portfolio in individual stocks.

I’m 40 and have never made more than 80k/yr, my wife makes about 70k. We will retire multi- millionaires at age 57 - I’m NOT saying this to brag but as a testament to the financial security that one can achieve. There is no secret, invest regularly (15-20% of salary), don’t try to time the market - don’t jump in and out of funds, invest retirement savings in low-cost, diversified index funds.

This deserves to be read twice!

 

[HNTR918]

Do your research and manage your own.

 

[CiK01]

Curious to which app everyone uses to help track your investments. Any stand out above others?

 

[Trogon]

Just helped my father review our deceased grandfathers holdings with EJ. Pay the fees to close the accounts and run. It may be 100 bucks each to close 3-4 accounts, but you will pay thousands and thousands of dollars in fees otherwise.

Vanguard set and forget. It gets even easier if you do a "Target Retirement" fund. Vanguard also provides a "Digital Advisor" which is basically an algorithm that manages your fund balance. Its new, I put some money in there to try it. The way I see it, its the same thing EJ provides but 1/10th the cost. We'll see what it does.

 

[jlh42581]

Curious to which app everyone uses to help track your investments. Any stand out above others?

My favorite is Fidelity ATP, i have finished migrating everything from all over the place into it except one more account I have from an old employer. Now, I cant see my new retirement there but I dont get to manage the funds very aggressively in it either.

Im back to managing crypto in coinbase even though I know its not a favorite of most. I can see my balance in fidelity but not ATP and I cant manage it from inside there either.

 

[roadrunner]

This site has gone to crap......sickens me to see the direction it's going........this is a hunting site.......only for hunting topics! What's the world coming to when all people can talk about is real world stuff that actually matters like finances and the direction of our nation. *sarcasm* ........LOL.

I've been managing my own investments since I was 12.

sickens me more that we cannot, as a society, function without caring what someone else thinks or says. Really, who gives a flying rip that gates and his wife are splitting up.

I don't manage my own investments because I don't have the time to really pay attention to what's going on with them. Needless to say, my FA's are doing an outstanding job.

 

[CiK01]

I'm not giving advice but If you have 15+ years until retirement I'd roll it into a ROTH IRA at Vanguard and just pay the taxes on it. (the thought being that taxes will likely be higher in 15 years than they are now). if you have less than 5 years until retirement. I would go regular IRA.

What would a break even analysis look like for this? Lump sum tax now vs. projected yearly taxes on yearly conversions later on? I love the idea but I am about 12 years away ft retirement.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ADower]

1/ Open Vanguard Acct
2/ Buy VTSAX - Don't touch it until you retire
3/ Reinvest the dividend
4/ End Thread

Not sure why you would ever pay someone to manage an index fund. They're pretty much auto pilot and have the lowest expense ratio. That guy managing your money is making a really really easy buck off ya.

 

[Marbles]

A hampster can outperform the market. That said, I lost money managing my own, so I may be dumber than a hampster.

Mr Goxx, the crypto-trading hamster beating human investors

Can a hamster trading cryptocurrency beat human investors in the stock market? Mr Goxx can.

www.bbc.com

 

[Hoodie]

1/ Open Vanguard Acct
2/ Buy VTSAX - Don't touch it until you retire
3/ Reinvest the dividend
4/ End Thread

Not sure why you would ever pay someone to manage an index fund. They're pretty much auto pilot and have the lowest expense ratio. That guy managing your money is making a really really easy buck off ya.

This is literally all anyone ever needs to know about how to do money.

Mine's averaged 18% over the last six years. My girlfriend's is 24%. We're big on buying the dips. The guy managing your money is making a really easy buck off you and almost certainly not beating the market.

 

[peterk123]

This is literally all anyone ever needs to know about how to do money.

Mine's averaged 18% over the last six years. My girlfriend's is 24%. We're big on buying the dips. The guy managing your money is making a really easy buck off you and almost certainly not beating the market.

If you are buying on the dips then you are leaving money on the table. Nobody, and I mean nobody, can time the market. It is well proven that putting your money in and feeding the beast consistently wins all the time.

Everybody can make money when the market is hot. Yes, even a hampster. Let's keep this thread going so we can see how everybody does when the market drops by 30%. If your portfolio only drops 15% then you know what you are doing. If it drops 30% or more, you are not as good as you think you are. High tides float all boats. It also gets much more real when we are talking $2 million in investments vs. $200K. Wealth is relative, but it gets much more complicated when the numbers start getting into he millions. And you really need to be talking millions if retirement is the goal, unless you have a cushy pension or a nice inheritance coming your way.

I am willing to bet your portfolio beta is above 1.5. You are in for a wild ride.

The other big part of this equation is tax planning. How well is your portfolio balanced to minimize taxes as you reach retirement and you have to withdraw? Have you successfully started to shift risk as you enter your fifties? Is your non 401K/IRA investments mostly in income or is it mostly equities? How do you plan to shift it so you do not get taxed to death? What will your tax situation look like when you have to make the required withdrawals from your 401K/IRA? When should you start to take social security? Will you have other sources of income that will impact things? Is your plan to deplete your assets or preserve it for your kids and live off of the income that it generates? I prefer the latter.

I have posted before; I am 54 and my wife and I have retired as of April 30, 2021. I did something right. I may even dare say I know what I am doing. I am still happy to hire a professional to care for it and help me plan.

A good lawyer, a good accountant, and a good investment guy are worth every freakin' penny.

 

[Hoodie]

I don't try to time the market. I have an autopayment that goes in every month.

The dip buying is extra. When the market drops I'll cut back on other things (gear purchases, eating out, whatever) and buy more. Agree that only purchasing when the market drops is not the way to go.

The initial Covid dip was a huge boon.

 

[ranchhand02]

For and index fund I would do it myself. I do have an EJ guy that manages my IRA's. He is a friend of mine I have know for 15 years or so. He has made me more money on my accounts that I ever have managing them myself.