i know timing the market is a fools errand but i have the money to dump into both my and my wifes roth iras and sort of want to wait even knowing its dumb in the long run
If you've got the money available, go ahead and dump it into a money market account so that its a 2016 contribution. Then you can invest it as you see fit (all at once or averaged over time)
i already did 2016 so this is for 2017 and i'll be dumping it most likely into my already established broadly invested wealthfront account should just dump it in, even if stock market stumbles the broadness should be a positive unless the entire global economy crashes (DOPE)
I bought one back in the summer when it was around $650-700. Robinhood saved me $431.52 in commissions this year
No. The security issues with Bitcoin are a major problem. Some of the major exchanges have been nearly wiped out by thieves. You aren't getting your money back when that happens. A second major concern is copycats. In the future we may see major banks issue their own digital currency mechanisms that will allow people to be protected by FDIC. I could see those becoming more mainstream before bitcoin. Bitcoin has a purpose and it will be around for a long time but it has several road blocks before becoming mainstream. Its price will likely be very volatile and it will be a risky asset. So while i find bitcoin fascinating i wont be investing in it.
Yeah offline storage is a must for anyone holding a significant amount. There are several ways to do that which make it basically impossible to have your bitcoins stolen. I think it's a really interesting vehicle for wealth preservation. Currently, I see plenty of liquidity out there and a growing list of retailers accepting BTC as a method of payment for goods and services. Digital currency seems to be the future, and Bitcoin looks to have a huge head start on all the other competitors
I keep reading about this, but haven't seen it myself. Is this a regional thing? I'm in NC for reference.
Online. Direct spending is possible primarily for travel (Expedia and CheapAir) and electronics (NewEgg, TigerDirect, Dell, etc). Then you can go through sites like Gyft to purchase online gift cards for just about anything you can think of.
Anyone here keep physical silver or gold? What sites do you use? Thinking about buying a couple silver coins every couple weeks or so and then flip those to gold coins when I get enough.
I don't know anything but I can't imagine there is a very good bid/ask spread and any potential returns would be eaten by the dealers.
Damnit you people just invest in VOO and ISHARES and dont touch anything. Fuck. You got 30+ years, no need to waste 5k on bit coins. At just 5% a year that 5k is 23 or 24 in 30years. Why fuck up the most surest thing in investing... And if you wanna be risky find some mid cap consumer plays but jesus dont invest in bitcoin
This post probably belongs in the father in law thread more so than the investing thread, but my father in law has what I understand to be his entire retirement in gold and silver coins. He was telling me about it once, and about how he keeps them stashed in a couple different safe deposit boxes around town. I thought that sounded kind of cool and pirate-like so I bought some a few years ago but I don't really consider it an investment.
The whole just invest and let it sit there is a valid strategy, however, I get a little irked when people think its the only strategy. Im going to toot my own horn a little here, but as a day trader i had 52ish straight days of positive pnl last year. Point being, markets are definitely not efficient (in my eyes) and there is certainly opportunity out there for other strategies aside from buy and hold.
Therein lies the bid/ask spread problem that I mentioned. Something is only worth as much as someone will pay for it. It is important to know how much the people selling you silver or gold coins are willing to pay for them when you want money out of them.
Coin dealer....... But again, they are going to get their commission. If they don't abide by the market rates they are not reputable. Not advocating, just saying if that's what you want to do that's how you do it.
The online gold dealers usually have pretty good spreads. I don't think they are that unreasonable. Plus, if you are buying physical gold you are most likely buying it for the long term and the cost of the spread will become irrelevant the longer the holding period. If you buying for the short term you would just trade an etf or gold futures.
I keep approximately 15-20% of my investments in physical gold/silver. Like tmbrules said the spreads really aren't that bad (can find a couple dollars or 1% over spot). As currencies around the world continue to experience volatility (and even chaos in some places) I think a lot of people are going to look outside of their own country's fiat currency and into alternates like gold, silver, bitcoin, ect...
http://www.wsj.com/articles/envisioning-a-fannie-and-freddie-endgame-1483550871 Spoiler Envisioning a Fannie and Freddie Endgame Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can only be dealt with through a comprehensive solution that takes into account the interests of homeowners Fannie Mae headquarters in Washington PHOTO: KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS By AARON BACK Updated Jan. 4, 2017 12:30 p.m. ET 6 COMMENTS The question of what to do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has bedeviled investors and politicians ever since their crisis-era bailout. Donald Trump’s election, andcomments by his pick for Treasury secretary, have raised hopes of a solution. That has investors who believe they were unfairly treated by the government excited. Yet, while they might benefit from a solution, their demands are unlikely to be considereduntil a feasible plan that shores up the U.S. housing market is on the table. Proposals that have been floated in Washington vary from purist visions of free-market housing finance to plans for an outright government guarantee on most mortgages. Little is known about how the new administration views Fannie and Freddie, but if they do tackle the issue, it is likely they will approach it pragmatically rather than ideologically. –– ADVERTISEMENT –– Unloading RiskBalance of mortgages covered by risk-transfer securities issued by Fannie Mae andFreddie MacTHE WALL STREET JOURNALSource: Federal Housing Finance Agency .billionFannie MaeFreddie Mac2013’14’15050100150200$250 One compromise proposal stands out for its potential to achieve broad consensus—essential to avoid a potential Democratic filibuster in the Senate. A bill written in 2014 by Republican Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho and former Democratic Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota was supported by a bipartisan majority in the crucial Senate Banking Committee. The Johnson-Crapo bill would wind down the companies and transfer much of their infrastructure to a new securitization platform cooperatively owned by market participants. The mortgage-backed securities issued by the platform would have explicit federal guarantees through an agency modeled after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. To introduce private capital into the system, outside investors would be paid to shoulder the risk of the first 10% of losses on mortgage pools before federal insurance kicks in. Fannie and Freddie are already running trials that transfer some risk in their mortgage portfolios to outside investors. Since 2013, investors have purchased risk-transfer securities from the two companies covering $1 trillion worth of collateral, notes Bonnie Wongtrakool, a fixed-income portfolio manager at Western Asset Management. This plan doesn’t address demands by current Fannie and Freddie shareholders to end the “profit sweep,” by which their quarterly profits go straight to the government. This arrangement, put in place by the Treasury in 2012, is the subject of multiple lawsuits arguing it amounted to unilateral government expropriation. But ending the profit sweep and allowing the companies to rebuild capital would put them on one of two paths, both undesirable for policy makers. They could emerge as they were before the crisis, though in a safer, less leveraged form. But this wouldn’t resolve the issue of their implicit government guarantee. Or they could become completely independent of the government, which would likely raise the cost of mortgages—an outcome no one in Washington wants to see. A comprehensive approach along the lines of Johnson-Crapo addresses these problems head on. To appease current investors in Fannie and Freddie, the companies could potentially fill the role seen for the securitization cooperative. Investors could retain equity ownership and a share of profits in reformed, highly regulated companies that would act like public securitization utilities. To politicians and policy makers, the need for a stable housing finance system that works for most Americans will outweigh the demands, no matter how loud, of Fannie and Freddie shareholders. These investors have a seat at the table, but they shouldn’t waste it by ignoring the most important questions for these two companies. Our firm expects this to be a second term issue if DJT makes it that far.
cmon man, being a day trader in and of itself means youre an exception to the rule. not to mention, assuming your 52ish days straight positive isnt bs, within day traders thats a fucking huuuge exception to that rule. basing what the other 99.95% of investors should be doing on your hot streak of day trading is bad advice. my portfolio is like 30 passive 70 active anyway so im not saying to solely set it and forget it, but when compared to fucking BITCOIN or some index funds, its a no brainer. that was my point
gold is mainly an illogical investment because the only real value it has is utterly subjective. The industrial value of gold is not negligible but not anywhere far beyond the price of copper. Beyond that the price of gold is just the price of gold because gold happens to be gold
What is illogical about it? It might not suit you, but I dont think its illogical. The notion that Gold dealers weren't buying gold when it went to $1800 seems silly to me and I dont believe it. Maybe your mom and pop shops stopped buying, but that would be due to laziness more than anything. Gold is one of the deepest markets in the world there will always be liquidity.
Any pointers for someone looking for a first time real estate investment? I work as a project manager for a GC in Atlanta where 99% of our work is flipping single family houses to rent for a couple of REITS. I have essentially every trade at my hands for cheap, so I am looking to potentially buy a single family or condo in the area, rehab it and then either sell it or rent it out. I'm not extremely experienced yet, so I definitely have a lot I need to research. This is all very preliminary and just getting the ball rolling, but was wondering if anyone in here had similar investments and had any books or websites they would suggest. Been reading through Bigger Pockets and listening to their podcasts all week.
I think for someone like yourself its a great idea. You have the skill set to save yourself a lot of money on maintenance and repairs, two of the biggest expenses on rental properties. My advice would be to start small so that your errors aren't magnified and just build on your success. Also, real estate is a long term play, so start gradually but asap.
I agree with this generally. That said, I think you should always be looking to put your money to its most productive use. Right now, I think the market is very overvalued. I have still have student loans outstanding with rates ranging from 2.5%-7.5%, a mortgage at 3.75%, a car note at about 4%, and there are capital improvements I'm looking to do in the near future to increase the value of my home for sale in the next 2-3 years. I don't think the market is going up 7.5% this year, so I'm putting most of my disposable income towards paying off those highest interest rate loans (those at or near 7.5%), with most of the remainder going into a low-interest-rate savings account earmarked for house projects. I think materials and services in the remodeling industry have been bid up to an inflated price and that we will probably be in a recession within the next year, so I'm trying to hold off as long as possible before doing any of the improvements around the house. I'm still making my usual 401(k) contributions to high growth stocks, but otherwise staying out of the stock market. When I do invest in the stock market during these conditions (sideways or bear market). I don't wait for the market to bottom out, but I tend to follow a general rule of investing a set amount each time the market reaches a 4 week low (or if the market is in the shitter, a 3 month low). Keep in mind, I don't have time to follow the market closely or study company fundamentals, and my non-401(k) holdings is basically just a brokerage account with assets spread among 4 mutual funds. The point of all this is, while you shouldn't try to time the market and invest at the bottom, I think you should stop investing when you think the market is overvalued and put the money towards paying off debt. If you don't have debt, then maybe try to semi-time the market by investing at short-term benchmarks. Truth be told: I got 7 weddings this year, which include my brother's, my sister's, and my own. Either my finance or I are in 6 of those weddings. Every one of the weddings are out of town (5 requiring a flight) and 1 is in Sicily. I also got 4 bachelor parties this year and a honeymoon. My money is probably going to be tied up in all that shit. :(