Market commentary you deem relevant

[Beendare]

Retirement and Medicare;

Medicare can cost us especially since the Biden admin initiated a tax on folks making more than rock bottom Social Security payments. Its a sliding scale they use to charge us.

For example, my one retired buddy and his wife pay $504 each per month for Medicare. He has a good retirement with a decent amt of $$ coming in…but still….we paid into SS for decades…and then the gov jams us.

Its worth knowing your full retirement age. Mine is 66 1/2. If I wait until then to claim, they don’t subtract from my benefit amount if I take a part time job making over ( about) $25k. …but then there is still taxes- aaaaaaaaaarg.

 

[SDHNTR]

Don’t forget Medigap/supplement plan! Part A and B is not enough.

And think real hard about taking SS early. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should! Anything under 66/67 (depending on your dob) is early and a dramatically reduced benefit. Rarely makes sense.

 

[Paradox]

Retirement and Medicare;

Medicare can cost us especially since the Biden admin initiated a tax on folks making more than rock bottom Social Security payments. Its a sliding scale they use to charge us.

For example, my one retired buddy and his wife pay $504 each per month for Medicare. He has a good retirement with a decent amt of $$ coming in…but still….we paid into SS for decades…and then the gov jams us.

Its worth knowing your full retirement age. Mine is 66 1/2. If I wait until then to claim, they don’t subtract from my benefit amount if I take a part time job making over ( about) $25k. …but then there is still taxes- aaaaaaaaaarg.

Even better deal is to wait til 70 to take SS you get 8% bonus each year you wait over full retirement. Hard to beat that free money!

 

[bluemaroon]

Going back to OP’s original request for advice on helpful market commentary sources, here’s a few I’ve followed for past several years with success researching solid companies to invest in that have provided strong long term returns:

1. Wall Street Journal’s “Heard on the Street” columns taught me a lot over the years about how look at individual stocks and market segments (subscription required)

2. Barron’s Financial News is excellent (subscription access my through my Wall Street Journal account)

3. CNBC’s Fast Money provides excellent daily recap of market (I listen to free podcast version on drive home from work)

Another great source comes from daily newsletters emailed from major investment banks that cover public stocks from my industry (oil and gas / energy). The I-banks will generally let you on their distribution list for free if you reach out to their research departments with your work email and you are tied to the industry they cover. My assumption is that this policy is similar for I-banks covering other industries as well (tech, consumer, healthcare, etc.). I find these reports a lot more technical in nature but easy to digest if you have experience and knowledge in the industry covered.

 

[OMF]

@bluemaroon,

Good info. I think a lot of people initially struggle with where to find good, reliable info.

On another note, I was in a local used book store the other day. While poking around looking for some older hunting, fishing, camping, hiking type of books I found a copy of "The 5 Mistakes Every Investor Makes...." book that @Michael Rankin posted about earlier. For $6 I picked it up and we'll see how many ways I've screwed up.

 

[SDHNTR]

One of the best books in existence on the subject is “Investing for Dummies”. Seriously, it’s fantastic.

 

[Ecampbell25]

I’ve read articles ect about investing for a LOOONG time.

I’ve been more interested in real estate investments, and some other things. It’s all worked out great.

2 years ago I finally set up a traditional retirement account. I Wanted some more diversification.

I finally set up a retirement account. I maxed out my contributions to that account the last two years, and will continue to do so. I just have the $ come out of my check each month.

In all the years I have looked at different stock market investments,long term an index fund or total stock market index fund seems hard to beat for me personally.

I honestly wish I would have started this long ago. The money isn’t taxed going into the account, and I get a 3 percent match from the business. If my thinking is correct I’m up around 33 percent before even factoring in the gains in the stock market versus just leaving the money on my check and doing something else with it.

In 2022 and 2023 I put $29500 in total

If I would have left it on my paycheck I would have brought home around $20,000 out of the $29500 over 2 years. That $29500 I put in the tax deferred account is worth almost $44000.00 today with the employer match, and market gains.

So instead of an extra $833 per month on my paycheck, I maxed out a simple IRA, put the money in total stock market index fund and it’s $44k after 24 months!

I always knew it was a good idea, but never thought it was that good!

What a powerful tool to build wealth.

Don’t forget HSA contributions! 7500$ was the max for 2024 I believe! You can also you that money as a spare retirement account after 65!