help me decide what to do with my money

[AggroFish]

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... I would really like to open some type of busisness, but considering I know nothing about that, that probably wouldnt be best.

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Everyone seemed to ignore this portion. Yes, index funds are great but your upside is limited and it doesnt really adress your desire to run a business. Now, being on the poker tour it's not possible for you to put in the 80 hr work weeks required to get a business off the ground.

However, could you possibly invest in say one of your friends businesses, i.e. Brian Townsend with cardrunners? It doesnt even have to be poker related and you can determine what level of participation you want. Want to share in the overall direction of the business then get yourself a seat on the board.

You could even get one of your non-poker buddies to run something for you. There's more out there than the stock market.

[donkalicious]

For friends new to indexing (and investing in general), I always recommend "The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read: The Simple, Stress-Free Way to Reach Your Investment Goals," by Daniel Solin, which for beginners is much easier to read and apply than "Random Walk" and similar books, including those by Jack Bogle. In a few brief pages, this book will tell you everything you need to know about indexing (and why for many people it's superior to more active investing strategies) and provide simple instructions for getting started. Vanguard is probably the way to go, btw. Good luck!

[jaydub]

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... I would really like to open some type of busisness, but considering I know nothing about that, that probably wouldnt be best.

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Everyone seemed to ignore this portion. Yes, index funds are great but your upside is limited and it doesnt really adress your desire to run a business. Now, being on the poker tour it's not possible for you to put in the 80 hr work weeks required to get a business off the ground.

However, could you possibly invest in say one of your friends businesses, i.e. Brian Townsend with cardrunners? It doesnt even have to be poker related and you can determine what level of participation you want. Want to share in the overall direction of the business then get yourself a seat on the board.

You could even get one of your non-poker buddies to run something for you. There's more out there than the stock market.

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Yes, there is no faster way to insolvency than investing in your friends' businesses. Well other than cocaine and investing in your friends' businesses that is...

J

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

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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.

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first figure out how much you want to invest long term (your investments will have more variance but will have a better return). if you are investing long term, just dump into Brazil, Russia, China, India index funds. I promise they are going up ten years from now, but they could easily have a 30% slide so if you need the money next year it'd be a risky investment.

for the short term, i dont know what is best.

[PuertoKid]

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The Intelligent Investor
Rich Dad Poor Dad
A Random Walk Down Wall Street
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
The Millionaire Next Door
Fooled By Randomness
The Black Swan
How to Make Money in Stocks

gl

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I would add The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John C. Bogle and put it first on the reading list. If you are just starting in investing, S&P 500 Index fund is the way to go. If possible max out an IRA. I prefer a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA for most people unless they think their tax bracket during retirement will be higher than during their contribution years. But the income cap for traditional IRAs is lower, so you may have no choice other than a Roth IRA. As Strassa says, keeping fees at an absolute minimum is an absolute requirement for best long-term growth.

[anakedcowboy]

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Most Corporate fools save x% of their income in their 401k then invest it in the stock of the company they work for. Would be pretty hard to think of a worse investment strategy than that.

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Any corporation with a decent benefits package matches to some degree the contributions you make to your 401k, so the 401k and roth ira should be your first investment vehicles as a "corporate fool".

After enron, there was tremendous pressure to move 401ks away from company only stock and give people more investment options. Your statement about single company 401ks is very rapidly becoming less true.

I'm an accountant, so granted the places I've worked will be better about giving you options, but at my last firm we had 15+ different investment options for our retirement plans, and complete control over the distribution between funds our money went into. Saying that MOST people invest their whole 401k in their companies stock couldn't even be close to the truth anymore.

[FieryJustice]

Thanks [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I actually have $50,000 online now, so im happy about that. I hahve been reading Why We Want You to be Rich by Trump and Kiyosaki and they are constantly bashing stocks and mutual funds, saying you have little or no control compared to other things, like real estate or owning a busisness. They also sorta bash trading stocks, like most of what I am hearing here, stating that the fees will eat you alive. So...I am wondering if what they have to say is true or if I should basically ignore it.

[gusmahler]

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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.

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Since he'd be putting money in Vanguard anyway, why not just put this portion in a money market fund?