Investing for Retirement (2 Viewers)

[JustDave]

All my money goes in Vanguard targeted year mutual funds and I use my brain power for stuff that I find more interesting.

Unless you want a second job, this seems like the best option.

 

[Trihonda]

lol... I have this poker buddy, who every single time we'd be riding the 1 hr drive to our local casino, he'd talk about "crypto" constantly. He kept bugging me to buy it (this was like 3+ years ago). I listened politely for a few trips, but eventually had to tell him to stop talking about that crap, that I had no interest in "fake" digital currency. This was when bitcoin was at $2-3k... Well... fast forward to this morning...

 

[HaRDHouSeiNC]

Don’t know who he is but did a tiny bit of reading. Sounds like he recommends paying of your lowest borrowings because it encourages better financial behavior. Of course, it makes more financial sense to pay of the high interest stuff first but that requires discipline.

Discipline is essential for long term growth. Steady investing is what gives you steady gains.

His pay off debt plan is good for people bad for money
I listened to His show for over a year and it’s good
He’s very safe in his investment strategies but it works and the basics are sound
His basic strategy of carry no debt pay cash is the basic foundation
His plan for smallest to largest debt snowball actually makes sense
It makes people pay off faster in the end

 

[JustDave]

His pay off debt plan is good for people bad for money
I listened to His show for over a year and it’s good
He’s very safe in his investment strategies but it works and the basics are sound
His basic strategy of carry no debt pay cash is the basic foundation
His plan for smallest to largest debt snowball actually makes sense
It makes people pay off faster in the end

Yeah, for 97% of people his advice covers what they need. You aren't going to be doing a backdoor jumbi ira if you are a median income so why even bother learning about it.

 

[HaRDHouSeiNC]

Yeah, for 97% of people his advice covers what they need. You aren't going to be doing a backdoor jumbi ira if you are a median income so why even bother learning about it.

But some of the people who need it call Up and have no idea about it or how to set it up
Like I listened to his show for over a year every day
He’s got some good stuff
Like how many people know about the unified estate tax credit process to gift early inheritance with no gift tax?
Not many
Lots of good nuggets in his shows over the course of a year

 

[DrStrange]

People who have enough wealth to care about the estate / gift tax are highly likely to be aware of the tax. The first $11,700,000 of an estate is exempt from estate / gift taxes. Double that for a married couple, $23,400,000. < that exclusion covers 99.8% of all estates.> No doubt we can find some tiny slice of the high net worth crowd who has that kind of money yet is somehow is unaware of how to handle the tax, but it can't be many.

One does wonder what purpose is served by pod casting generic estate tax advice to the world. What part of the top 0.002% doesn't have professional legal and accounting help? All that does is run yet another flag up the "I am a fraud" pole for me. I know how to get sound estate tax advice and it isn't listening to some dude on the internet.

Perhaps this is all entertainment. It is fun to imagine buying your own island. Traveling by private jet. Having many homes in all the best cities. Pretending you'll have tens of millions of dollars really soon. Stuff dreams are made of. It is why we buy lotto tickets with faint chances of winning - hope is fun.

But very few of us will ever do any of that. And advisors who peddle such cotton candy fantasies are doing their "clients" no favor. Have all the fun you want. Just don't treat the shows as your main source of good advice. And 100X, don't buy any financial product from these sorts of fellows.

P.T. Barnum knew what he was talking about when he said, "there is a sucker born every minute" -=- DrStrange

 

[HebrewChuckNorris]

I had a friend who got involved in World Financial Group, a multilevel marketing scheme that sells life insurance as long term investments. They somehow convinced this guy who has 0 savings that he can give investment advice. He also now pays $200/month in life insurance because they told him he could cash out the full benefit after 20 years even if he's alive.

Anyways this just reminded me that. And steer clear of WFG

 

[mike32]

Years ago I read on a financial site that investing is supposed to be boring. That resonated with me and because ETF funds were not yet available at Vanguard I went with the low cost index funds. I’m still doing that to this day and although I am not perfect I think it is a solid strategy for the majority of mainstream investors. It has served us well over the years. I’ll come clean, my problem is I am too conservative. I think I benefit mentally from not worrying much about the stock market, but I’m sure too much bonds/cash have cost me dollars over the years. Hopefully I have recovered some of this through less stress.

@pltrgyst advice immediately made me think of Sixteen Candles!

 

[Silver_Fiend]

So I started talking to a financial advisor about 18 months ago and not being a 'high worth individual' I'm not making any assumptions that I'm getting the best of the best here, but unless you are maxing out a bunch of accounts that are basically on auto pilot, it seems like the fees these people charge are not worth the return on investment increase they are providing.

Thats not what an advisor should be doing. If they arent actively monitoring markets in relation to your investment strategy and making changes as needed, then you are paying them for nothing. Anyone can drop cash into a random market fund. Advisors should be limiting your losses on recessions and looking for future growth markets to re-invest into.

Can you do all this on your own? Sure, but it will be a full time job doing research. THAT is why you should be paying an FA.

 

[Highli99]

I’m a CPA and yet I hire both a tax accountant and financial adviser. Best money I spend so I don’t have to be an expert in either area. Same reason I hire folks to do plumbing repair and lawn maintenebce. I can do those things but as expert does it faster and better and using them me focus on my own areas of expertise.

All assets are in low cost funds and most of the advice is stuff that minimizes tax liabilities or enhances estate planning. Back door stuff etc.

 

[JustDave]

Actually, the best thing they did for us was evaluate how much insurance we owned, car, home, life, umbrella, and point out things like 'you may drive a pretty cheap car, but everyone around you drives a lexus so maybe having the same auto insurance coverage you had when you were 22 isn't enough anymore.' Also, they made us write wills.

I’m a CPA and yet I hire both a tax accountant and financial adviser. Best money I spend so I don’t have to be an expert in either area. Same reason I hire folks to do plumbing repair and lawn maintenebce. I can do those things but as expert does it faster and better and using them me focus on my own areas of expertise.

The only industry I feel like I know enough of to invest in I'm restricted from investing in so I just stick to index funds.

 

[allforcharity]

If you are a young(er) person, the best way to invest (for your retirement or otherwise) is in YOURSELF. And by that, I mean pursue education, whether that would be degrees, certifications, or anything else that would get you a higher paying job. My shabby estimates that my 4-year professional degree (which probably cost me maybe $150,000 in direct fees and lost opportunity earnings) would turn into 2-3 million dollars in extra future earnings over a 35-40 year career (prior to taxes, but also prior to other investment earnings potential). STAY IN SCHOOL.

 

[jazzV3]

Re: Vanguard ETFs: 100% agree.
Re: underpants: has been working for me so far though!!

Any particular Vanguard ETF recommendations?