How do you invest your money?

mathjak107 said:
that’s for sure .

but like most mantras they sound good even if wrong .

never let facts get in the way of some of these good sayings
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You do whatever you want with your money and I'll do whatever I want with mine. I'm as happy as a pig in mud getting 3.75% with my insured CD's. And thats for a 9 month CD with the option of one penalty free withdrawal which can be for any amount up to and including the whole Enchilada. :)
 

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Trade said:
You do whatever you want with your money and I'll do whatever I want with mine. I'm as happy as a pig in mud getting 3.75% with my insured CD's. And thats for a 9 month CD with the option of one penalty free withdrawal which can be for any amount up to and including the whole Enchilada. :)
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I know the rates vary from one place to another, but the rates are up now to nearly what used to be considered standard interest rates in certain bygone decades. One CD I opened at my local community bank in July of last year was earning 4.80% for a year. It just renewed for another year at 4.05%.

Risk tolerance has always been a big issue with me; more so at this time my life.

COMERICA
 
Trade said:
You do whatever you want with your money and I'll do whatever I want with mine. I'm as happy as a pig in mud getting 3.75% with my insured CD's. And thats for a 9 month CD with the option of one penalty free withdrawal which can be for any amount up to and including the whole Enchilada. :)
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you can do whatever you like .

my view is i worked to hard for my money over a lifetime and now it’s my moneys turn to work for me .

cash instruments over time have historically been a guaranteed loss after inflation and taxes.

so i won’t let the bulk of my money work a min wage job .

so its invested in a conservative portfolio staying way way ahead of of inflation and taxes .
 

mathjak107 said:
you can do whatever you like .

my view is i worked to hard for my money over a lifetime and now it’s my moneys turn to work for me .

cash instruments over time have historically been a guaranteed loss after inflation and taxes.

so i won’t let the bulk of my money work a min wage job .

so its invested in a conservative portfolio staying way way ahead of of inflation and taxes .
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Well bless your heart.
 
MACKTEXAS said:
Risk tolerance has always been a big issue with me; more so at this time my life.
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Low risk has always been at the forefront for us. Hoping to outlive running out of money prompted a decision made back in 2017 or 2018 I'm not exactly sure of the year. For some reason I was awarded 100 shares of Talen stock. A spin off of PPL. The IPO was @$20.00 it didn't take long for that to drop to around $6.50 a share. With no dividend when it climbed back to $14.00 a share I sold it.

Coulda, shoulda bought 4900 more shares at $6.50 to equal 5000 shares. But looking long term at that time $31,850.00 cost might have been the difference outliving or running out of money. 7 years later hind sight is the reason for Coulda, shoulda bought 4900 shares. The stock price of Talen today is $339.16

With no real strategy were doing great.
 
Trade said:
You do whatever you want with your money and I'll do whatever I want with mine. I'm as happy as a pig in mud getting 3.75% with my insured CD's. And thats for a 9 month CD with the option of one penalty free withdrawal which can be for any amount up to and including the whole Enchilada. :)
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I'm with you! I do my own thing as well and I certainly don't talk about it in any depth over the internet to people I don't actually know. And, I absolutely avoid taking investment advice from people on the internet! Who are they to tell me how to invest? No thanks, I'll do what I think is best for ME!

I think most people are well aware of the different ways one can invest thier doe-ray-me and they have to make their own decisions based on the level of risk they're willing to take. The higher the risk, the better the likelyhood of higher returns &/or losses over the long term. Safe bets yeild lower rates of returns. It's not that complicated.

As seniors though, long term investing often loses a bit of it's shine as many of us won't be around 20 years from now so for many seniors, it's time to back off the throttle on aggressive investing and move to more conservative portfolio of investments. Nothing wrong with that at all in fact it can be the smart move depending on your future financial needs, just as there's nothing wrong with staying aggressive in your investing if that's what you want to do but let it should always be an individual choice as to how & where to invest.
 
Knight said:
Low risk has always been at the forefront for us. Hoping to outlive running out of money prompted a decision made back in 2017 or 2018 I'm not exactly sure of the year. For some reason I was awarded 100 shares of Talen stock. A spin off of PPL. The IPO was @$20.00 it didn't take long for that to drop to around $6.50 a share. With no dividend when it climbed back to $14.00 a share I sold it.

Coulda, shoulda bought 4900 more shares at $6.50 to equal 5000 shares. But looking long term at that time $31,850.00 cost might have been the difference outliving or running out of money. 7 years later hind sight is the reason for Coulda, shoulda bought 4900 shares. The stock price of Talen today is $339.16

With no real strategy were doing great.
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Looking back doesn't help us much. I had Prudential stock, but I just let it sit there 10 years, not paying much attention. It didn't do much. I decided to sell it, and did fairly well, but would have made more had I waited a bit longer. Glad to hear you're doing great. I'm hanging in there and have enough money to get me the rest of the way through. That's all that matters to me because the cousin I'm leaving everything to is already worth a whole lot more than me, and is not depending on what I leave for his retirement or well being.
 
MrPants said:
I'm with you! I do my own thing as well and I certainly don't talk about it in any depth over the internet to people I don't actually know. And, I absolutely avoid taking investment advice from people on the internet! Who are they to tell me how to invest? No thanks, I'll do what I think is best for ME!

I think most people are well aware of the different ways one can invest thier doe-ray-me and they have to make their own decisions based on the level of risk they're willing to take. The higher the risk, the better the likelyhood of higher returns &/or losses over the long term. Safe bets yeild lower rates of returns. It's not that complicated.

As seniors though, long term investing often loses a bit of it's shine as many of us won't be around 20 years from now so for many seniors, it's time to back off the throttle on aggressive investing and move to more conservative portfolio of investments. Nothing wrong with that at all in fact it can be the smart move depending on your future financial needs, just as there's nothing wrong with staying aggressive in your investing if that's what you want to do but let it should always be an individual choice as to how & where to invest.
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Most know about investing but most know little about constructing a safe withdrawal rate from what they have.

it all depends how much you draw and what your draw rate is and for for long are you planning

not using enough equities and say , trying to draw 4% inflation adjusted can be extremely risky of running out of money over a 3 decade retirement plan .

so it isn’t a matter of getting richer , it’s a matter of of high inflation , that does not go away in a short period of time , that can be devastating .

those who retired in 1965/1966. and tried to live on 4% inflation adjusted as a draw went broke before their time frame ended .

if your draw is low enough one can do just fixed income but as little as 4% has gone bust 65% of every rolling 30 year period we have had since 1871

That is 125 time frames
so it may not be as much a case of what you think you want to do when it comes to your allocation as what you have to do
 
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the benchmark for a safe withdrawal rate is what if your retirement was the same as that 1965/1966 retiree.

they were the worst group in history in america

In the years after 1965, the perfect storm of retirement killing conditions took place.

Inflation grew rapidly over the following decade, exceeding 10% in several years in the 1970’s and averaging 6% a year from 1965 to 1985.

Interest rates rose rapidly, from ~4% in 1965 to ~8% in 1970, up to 15% in 1982, causing bonds prices to plummet.

The combo of fast rising high inflation and rising interest rates destroyed bonds.


Stocks also performed horribly. Adjusted for inflation, the stock market didn’t rise above its 1965 value until 1992, 27 years later.

Dividends moved sideways over 2 decades

The most insidious portfolio killer was inflation.

Retirees were pulling out way more dollars to live then they ever imagined .

By the time. The smoke cleared the fact the greatest bull market in history was in their time frame did not help as they already spent down to far for markets to help

Few even gave it a thought prior since inflation was low and not even on the radar.

those trying to live on cash instrument’s were destroyed since inflation rose first before rates caught up

they did not build the cushion others built up from investing.

so a safe withdrawal rate is a draw based on the worst of the worst outcomes for a retiree .

its about 4% inflation adjusted with 35-60% equities.

its about 3% with just fixed income

but remember the difference between 4% and 3% is a 25% drop in income .

i think if most took a 25% pay cut when working they would be outraged and it would hurt .

so big difference in income ability and sustainability between just fixed income and a conservative portfolio
 
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I remember my parents expressing concern in the early part of the 1970s that they may not have enough savings when it came time to retire. But, then came the mid to late 1970s, when they started earning double digit interest on their CDs, and locked those rates in for the longest terms they could get. Plus they decided to sell a certain piece of property they no longer needed, and invest those proceeds in a CD as well. They were elated at how fast their savings grew.

My father was forced into early retirement in 1982, due to a Parkinson's Disease diagnosis. His limited mobility prevented them from some things they hoped to do in retirement, but having enough money was no longer one of their worries. Their savings were still experiencng good growth at that time - and in the years after - until 1990, 1992 - or somewhere thereabout. Even in the mid 90s, CD rates were typically 5-6%. I can't remember what year it was we started getting rates like 1% on CDs, which is unnhealthy in any ecnomy, so far as I'm concerned.

So we're finally at an average of at least 3-4.5% on CDs. It may go low again, but if inflation should rise again to the historical levels we saw 40 years ago, it should be assumed that interest rates on savings will rise also, unless the Federal Reserve develops other tactics to bring inflation under control.
 
MACKTEXAS said:
I remember my parents expressing concern in the early part of the 1970s that they may not have enough savings when it came time to retire. But, then came the mid to late 1970s, when they started earning double digit interest on their CDs, and locked those rates in for the longest terms they could get. Plus they decided to sell a certain piece of property they no longer needed, and invest those proceeds in a CD as well. They were elated at how fast their savings grew.

My father was forced into early retirement in 1982, due to a Parkinson's Disease diagnosis. His limited mobility prevented them from some things they hoped to do in retirement, but having enough money was no longer one of their worries. Their savings were still experiencng good growth at that time - and in the years after - until 1990, 1992 - or somewhere thereabout. Even in the mid 90s, CD rates were typically 5-6%. I can't remember what year it was we started getting rates like 1% on CDs, which is unnhealthy in any ecnomy, so far as I'm concerned.

So we're finally at an average of at least 3-4.5% on CDs. It may go low again, but if inflation should rise again to the historical levels we saw 40 years ago, it should be assumed that interest rates on savings will rise also, unless the Federal Reserve develops other tactics to bring inflation under control.
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rates lag inflation .

first the inflation comes , then rates are raised to stop it . but that higher inflation doesn’t just fall immediately. it can take years for rates to have an effect .

a lot of inflation is not monetary inflation but demand and push pull inflation and that does not come down when inflation falls . no one gets a pay cut when the cpi drops .

so there is more damage done from higher rates on everything from credit cards , auto loans , mortgages , and everything else connected to rising rates then most people get in savings .


most americans have more in debt than savings .

the ones who do have some dough generally don’t have it sitting in a savings account , it’s diversified in other assets .

so the point is higher rates hurt more people via their debt than benefit from a savings account.

lower rates benefit more people
 
mathjak107 said:
rates lag inflation .

first the inflation comes , then rates are raised to stop it . but that higher inflation doesn’t just fall immediately. it can take years for rates to have an effect .

a lot of inflation is not monetary inflation but demand and push pull inflation and that does not come down when inflation falls . no one gets a pay cut when the cpi drops .

so there is more damage done from higher rates on everything from credit cards , auto loans , mortgages , and everything else connected to rising rates then most people get in savings .


most americansvhsve more in debt than savings .

the ones who do have some dough generally don’t have it sitting in a savings account , it’s diversified in other assets .

so the point is higher rates hurt more people via their debt than benefit from a savings account
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I don't dispute the parts in black bold, but none of it applies to the situation I related in my post 114, nor to my own personal situation. There is no one size fits all that worksfor everyone.

I'm aware of the part in red bold, but choose not to exercise that option for reasons I've already given in prior posts I've made. That is not to say I discredit much of what you have expressed in this thread.
 
right now is one of the most rarest moments in our financial history.

typically after inflation and taxes a one year cd rate will be negative . bonds typically will be at breakeven with inflation and taxes .

because of all the fear and uncertainty world wide cash instruments are actually having positive real returns .

but as inflation comes down so will rates and fear and we will likely go back to normal real returns where they are slightly below inflation and taxes
 
Mitch86 said:
I'll repeat my earlier post. I placed all my money in Amazon stock shares in 1998 and now I am a very wealthy multimillionaire! In real life only the risk takers make the big bucks!
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Congratulations on your good fortune, and if I understood this post correctly, the same could be true with or without the Amazon stock.
 
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My retirement plan was to work for the government for 35 years and retire with a defined benefit pension. Between that and social security I have more than enough income to live on comfortably without having to worry about investing, rates of return, or running out of money.
 
IMO there are more risk takers out there panhandling or sleeping on their parent’s couches than there are successful multimillionaires.

It’s taken me most of life to build a rock solid financial foundation and it was done with very little sacrifice.

A slow methodical savings and investment plan starting with a payroll savings plan was the beginning for me.

There was plenty of good information about the accumulation phase but very little about creating a safe secure income stream during retirement.

The Early Retirement Forum and FireCalc provided much thought provoking and valuable information for me and my situation.

https://www.early-retirement.org/
 
yes ,the early retirement forum. was a biggie for me too .

so many knowledgeable elders as i would call them over 2 decades ago when i found my way there .

i can’t tell you how many views on things i changed as i stopped believing my own bull as i call it and realized my view wasn’t the best way or the right way to look at things .

also , and most important is , it is unlike most retirement forums where most who frequent are more interested in talking about their cats or ailments then in bettering themselves financially or understanding why what they are doing is filled with risk and holes .

so there is a common denominator of wanting to learn how to do better n that forum .

everyone is there to either learn or share what they learned .

its a very well versed group in the area of retirement planning and implementation.

its also a wealthier group which does making doing better a focus .

also one can discuss actual numbers without others calling them braggarts .

so it is a very different kind of retirement learning center if you want to call it that than other forums where you have the haves and the have nots .

of course i never understood why people chime in on other forums they really have no interest in , or have nothing to add just to say they have no interest in this discussion or to argue whats being said when they have such little knowledge on the subject and run on myth and old wives tales .

then they argue with those far more knowledgeable on the subject .

so , yes , if one wants to learn how to do better molding a financial path it is a highly recommended forum .

they do have other areas in the forum to discuss other topics other than financial discussions .

but if one wants to learn about the financial aspects of planning , investing and developing a safe , secure and consistent income in retirement then that’s the place to learn.

the forum was founded by the creator of one of the best and most popular retirement calculators FIRECALC
 
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