help me decide what to do with my money

[FieryJustice]

So I am a total fish when it comes to investing money. All I have invested right now was like $15,000 in some tax shelter thing from last year. I have about $100,000 sitting around, some of which I will need for taxes next year, but I would like to make it work for me somehow. I would really like to open some type of busisness, but considering I know nothing about that, that probably wouldnt be best. So, I assume I should go with some type of stock market thing, which I am also clueless about. I would like to find something that obviously wont busto my money but would also give a pretty decent return. I read somewhere that mutual funds were for super fish and that most of the less stable investment tools were still super stable.

So...I am planning on finding someone to invest my money for me here in Vegas (if you know anyone good, please let me get their name) on monday before I go off for more wpt events, so if you guys would tell me the most +ev thing to do, it would be wonderful. I greatly appreciate it.

[Newt_Buggs]

You're just now looking into how to invest your money?? You've probably given up a lot of EV over the past few years.

Read the FAQ (noob [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img])
cliff notes: buy some index funds, vanguard.com is a good place to start

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...c=#Post11651909

Oh and if you hire someone in vegas to help you with your finances odds are they will screw you.

[FieryJustice]

Ok, so I went to this vanguard site and apparently I am retarded and have no clue what type of account I should be opening. I do know that I need to be able to get my money out with fairly short term notice. God I am such a fish. Can anyone just give me basic guidelines and tell me what to do? I love you all. Ill go read faq now. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Fishhead24]

Countrywide savings will pay you 5.4% on your money right now with zero risk if you have 50,000-90,000 to invest.

[Ray Zee]

its alot of money so do your homework and never, ever let anyone make investment choices for you. especially if they profit in any way from their decision. put it in a money market fund until you are ready to decide.

[gull]

If you want low risk, use a high-yield savings account or money market account offering 5%+ interest.

However, if you can tolerate the risk of loss, as it sounds you can, then I would advise you invest in index funds. There's no way to go broke with index funds, but as with all stock investments, there's a risk of loss. Historically, however, stocks have climbed at a rate averaging 10% per year, and this high return is what you get in exchange for the risk you assume.

Index funds are not for super fish. They have the same expected returns as individual stocks, but with much less variance. Index funds are just a subset of mutual funds that charge low expenses, typically have low turnover (meaning low taxes), and passively follow an index.

If you choose to invest in index funds, there are two equivalent methods. One way is to invest directly with a fund company. If you do this, use Vanguard. Vanguard has extremely cheap, well-diversified index funds that cover a broad range of asset classes. The second way is to use ETFs. ETFs are a version of index funds that trade on an exchange, like stocks. They will have the same performance as normal index funds. There are a few differences. One difference is cost: ETFs typically have lower expense ratios but you have to pay a commission/spread each time you buy or sell. One small benefit of ETFs is that they cover a few more asset classes than Vanguard alone. It's also a easier to harvest tax losses. But for the most part, it doesn't matter whether you choose normal index funds or ETFs.


The simplest plan:
1) Go to vanguard.com
2) Open an account, and an IRA if possible too
3) Stick it all in Target Retirement 20XX
4) Sit back and relax

(Read the sticky for more information.)

[prohornblower]

Well I don't know how much you'll need next year for taxes.

But I'd open a Vangaurd Roth IRA (if you are eligible), if not, open a regular IRA. Put $4K into Target Retirement 2045 or so.

That leaves you with $96K. Figure out how much you'll need for taxes next April. Take at least that much, and put it into an online "e-savings" account, such as FNBO Direct, ING Direct, HSBC Direct, Countrywide, etc. FNBO Direct currently gets you %6 guaranteed return, but the rate will likely drop to %5-something in October. These accounts are great for short-term savings. They are FDIC-insured and the rates are guaranteed.

Let's say you put $50K in there (taxes plus some more), that leaves you $46K, keep $4K or so in your checking account just to have for whatever reason, and you can put the other $42K into independent (non-retirement) mutual funds through Vangaurd. Such as Total Stock Market or Total International.

Maybe do $50K e-savings, $30K Total Stock Market, and $12K International or so. You may wish to do more or less e-savings to lessen or increase your risk.

Come first week of Janaury, pull $5K out of your e-savings account and put it into your IRA. (I believe $5K is the max next year.)

[SlowHabit]

You don't want mutual funds, you want index funds [though technically, an index fund is a type of mutual fund].

[prohornblower]

[ QUOTE ]
You don't want mutual funds, you want index funds [though technically, an index fund is a type of mutual fund].

[/ QUOTE ]

If you read my post, I recommended Total Stock Market, and Total International. Both are index funds. They are also mutual funds.