OT: investing Bankroll

[Etats360]

Hey, i think this situation may apply to a decent amount of SSNLers, so hopefully I can get some feedback.

I am a US player and I currently have my bankroll spread across 3 sites I play at (Stars, FT, UB). I have about 47BI's or so for my main NLHE limit. The past couple of months, I have been very busy studying for GREs/doing graduate school application stuff/working 40hrs in a medical lab/volunteering in a research lab and haven't been playing much poker. My bankroll has been esentially sitting idly in my accounts, not getting too much returns.

I was wondering how practical it would be for me to keep some of my bankroll off sites and collecting interest on any investments. I would only transfer them back into the sites if I go on a downswing or whatever. Again, I am a US player so this transfer process could cause a problem. I believe most nosebleed stakes players have foreign bank accounts to transfer to and from sites. How practical would it be for me to try and get a bank account somewhere in norway or something (Can i even do that?), since I don't trust ePassport.

If anyone does something similar to this, I would love some feedback. I would be looking to invest around 10-12k or so, preferably with a decent ROI, but not TOO much risk. The general consensus in the investment forum seems to be INGDirect, but I'm not sure it's worth the trading costs.

I'm posting this here instead of the investment forum because:
a)I'm going to be investing a lot less than people over there do
b)I'm probably a lot more risk averse than they are
c)They don't have to deal the possibility of constantly moving their money around.
d)I want to hear experiences of any SSNLer who do this

Thanks a lot.

[invid]

if you have 47BI at lets say 200nl thats only 9400..how is "some of my bankroll" and "10-12k" part of this equation? and i doubt you are going to make much interest in a short amount of time..and the price to bring your roll back onto your poker sites will use up your any/small amount of profit...

[Rampage_Jackson]

47 buyins is right about the amount I like to have to play a stake. I suppose if you aren't going to be playing much it might make sense to take out 20 buyins. Also, it would be a lot better to really invest your money rather than have it sit in some random bank where you are barely beating inflation.

[brizzology]

I do it and it's worked out well for me. The 20BI BR requirement doesn't mean the money literally needs to sit in that site, of course!

I have a US-based capitol one money market/savings account which offers 5% interest. ING, emigrant direct, etc, all offer about the same, give or take a bit. There is very low risk, as this is a savings account. Shop around for your favorite.

I keep about 15-20% of my BR in this account, touching it only when I must.

I don't agree with invid's point that the interest won't be worth it. Hopefully, you can keep the money in the savings account indefinitely, and only withdraw when you're on a downswing. So, you'll continue to collect interest. With any luck, you'll be able to build this account as your BR increases.

I also don't agree that the price to roll the money back will overcome the profit of the investment. I use wells fargo to deposit, which costs nothing. None of my sites (bodog and FTP) charge for withdrawals. So there's literally zero fees.

[DWarrior]

FTP eats your MGR, not sure how much though.

[SinkRox]

FTP eats you monthly generated rake. I dont understand this comment, in or out of context, please elaborate?

[Heine]

I usually take out enough to do a full contribution to my roth IRA. I start graduate school in 3 weeks, just got married and have a baby on the way. Needless to say if i log 8k hands in a month its a good poker month.

In that, I'd say your situation is similar to mine. I'd take out some and just try to recoup your withdrawal over time. Put it into a roth or something similar. Play when you can, for fun and for the little extra money at the end of the year.

Also, I'd consolidate to one site, have 20-30 buyins for whatever level your playing and go from there. The lower amount of buyins is only because it is not your main source of income, its just a little something on the side (i.e. if you go busto it doesn't effect you like it does others).

GL

[ChoicestHops]

I've been really trying to catch up on investing lately. Instead of taking shots I've decided just to stay below 2/4 NL where the $/hr is excellent and the variance is low. Keep a minimum amount in my bankroll and take the rest out and invest it. Two good sites I have found are wikiinvest.com and investopedia.com for the basics.

[ChoicestHops]

[ QUOTE ]
Put it into a roth

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know if you are referring to poker winnings but they do not count as earned income for an roth, right?

[Etats360]

[ QUOTE ]
I usually take out enough to do a full contribution to my roth IRA. I start graduate school in 3 weeks, just got married and have a baby on the way. Needless to say if i log 8k hands in a month its a good poker month.

In that, I'd say your situation is similar to mine. I'd take out some and just try to recoup your withdrawal over time. Put it into a roth or something similar. Play when you can, for fun and for the little extra money at the end of the year.

Also, I'd consolidate to one site, have 20-30 buyins for whatever level your playing and go from there. The lower amount of buyins is only because it is not your main source of income, its just a little something on the side (i.e. if you go busto it doesn't effect you like it does others).

GL

[/ QUOTE ]
thanks for the response. I have two questions-what is your preferred method of taking money out of sites and back into them? Also, what kind of Tax implications do roth accounts have?