Investment account back up!

[Torvy]

You look at investing as a form of income. Maybe your job doesn't pay too good and you have more bills to pay so you invest because you NEED income. I have already made my money and I don't NEED any more. A CD just offers a way of having a bit more return on what I do have. There is a big difference in those two positions.

Wrong again. I'm retired. Investments are absolutely a form of income. I don't "need" it except to counter the inflationary pressure.

A CD is just losing money more slowly than keeping cash in your mattress. It is like saying a piece of gauze on a serious bleed is sufficient, when you really need stitches. It's your money, but stop lying to yourself and anyone who reads this that thinks a CD is providing real income.

 

[CliffordK]

One can always follow the very wise investment strategy of "Buy High, Sell Low". It is so very easy to do.

It is so very hard to tell when one is at a peak, or if the market is going to continue to drop. However, I need to pay more attention to the next time there is talk about inflation. These interest rate hikes drove much of the market plunge, so perhaps it was predictable, at least for the better investors.

At the same time, I don't want to realize the capital gains just to save a few percent plunge, so a different strategy would also be of a benefit. Selling options?

 

[Lineman North Florida]

One can always follow the very wise investment strategy of "Buy High, Sell Low". It is so very easy to do.

It is so very hard to tell when one is at a peak, or if the market is going to continue to drop. However, I need to pay more attention to the next time there is talk about inflation. These interest rate hikes drove much of the market plunge, so perhaps it was predictable, at least for the better investors.

At the same time, I don't want to realize the capital gains just to save a few percent plunge, so a different strategy would also be of a benefit. Selling options?

Didn't you mean buy low , sell high?

 

[MoKelly]

One can always follow the very wise investment strategy of "Buy High, Sell Low". It is so very easy to do.

It is so very hard to tell when one is at a peak, or if the market is going to continue to drop. However, I need to pay more attention to the next time there is talk about inflation. These interest rate hikes drove much of the market plunge, so perhaps it was predictable, at least for the better investors.

At the same time, I don't want to realize the capital gains just to save a few percent plunge, so a different strategy would also be of a benefit. Selling options?

One of the smartest guys I used to work with said when you trade stocks you need to make 2 good decisions:

- the right time to sell

- the right new thing to buy

It’s not east to get both correct.

That is why few have outperform the indexes over a sustained period of time.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Buying and selling, and long term holds, are separate animals. The vast majority of people have no business buying and selling, timing the market, short of folks in Congress.
Finding good long term holds is much easier, it removes emotion. It’s not exciting. It’s not glamorous. Half of my net worth is owed to it though… And I interact with it very infrequently.

 

[LD1]

You have to invest without emotion.

When things drop, everyones first reaction is to panic and pull money out.....and when the stock market is doing exceedingly well, everyone wants their piece of the pie and wants to invest. However that is exactly the opposite of what you really should do.

You need to put money in when things have tanked, and pull it out when its doing well. Buy low, sell high. But that is difficult to do if you are an emotional investor.

And relying on paper statements in the mail puts you behind the curve. in your case....she panicked but it was for nothing because things had already recovered. Had she been monitoring it.....when it tanked would have been a good time to put more money in.....and she would have had that nice little 10% jump that things have saw over the last 2-3 weeks.

While my 401k money is like 99% mutual funds....like target retirement date funds, large cap growth funds, international, etc etc. Bout 10 different "funds"....In my personal accounts that I buy/sell/trade in I dont like mutual funds. Because everything is diluted.

Sure, mutual funds are safer, because a few of the holdings within that fund doesnt do well....as long as the majority are doing well you see growth. But the reverse is true.....if a few do exceedingly well....like 20-25% gains in a year.....they are watered down by the rest of the holdings. In that case it would be better to just own the few that do really well.

But thats the gamble with the market, picking which ones were gonna do really well. So its alot more risky. Mutual funds will never be able to have the growth potential of individual stocks.....but they will also never have the risk potential for great losses.

Basically, the average person dont make a good investor. They look at a statement once a month, or look at a couple of stocks a few times a year and bet with emotion. IF you really want to get into investing and managing your own money....you literally have to monitor it daily. There have been stocks on my radar for 6-months before I pulled the trigger.

Selling and making money is the easy part if a stock went up. Hard to hit the timing perfect....but making money is making money. IF I buy a stock for $10, and sell it for $15.....only to watch it climb on to $17 before dropping back down to $12.....I missed a few bucks. Or watching it hit $17....thinking i will sell when it hits $18....but it starts falling and I still get out at $15. Still profit....but the HARDEST part....and requires patients.....is what to do with that $15 after it is sold. Cause in general, if the stock market is up....its up across the board. And selling stocks when they are high.....I dont want to turn around and re-invest but just a different stock that is equally high. Be patient, sit with that money available and ready to pounce if something on your radar falls below your trigger point

 

[duffer]

The value on your statements only reflects a snapshot at a very specific time. (close of the market on the last trading day of the month). If you only look at your accts via the statements once a month, or once a quarter, and you're a "nervous Nelly" to begin with, you might want to reconsider your risk tolerance.

If you manage your risk appropriately, your returns will take care of themselves.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

The value on your statements only reflects a snapshot at a very specific time. (close of the market on the last trading day of the month). If you only look at your accts via the statements once a month, or once a quarter, and you're a "nervous Nelly" to begin with, you might want to reconsider your risk tolerance.

If you manage your risk appropriately, your returns will take care of themselves.

I feel no need to look at statements often… why? The only thing that matters is the average, and each statement is a snapshot. I agree. I think folks who look often, are probably not meant to be long term investors. I can see I’m up almost 30% this year, but what matters to me is my portfolio over time, like the past 15 years. The more active a trader is, typically the lower their returns. More tax implications, and nobody can time the market.

 

[RSKY]

I am retired. We live off pensions and my Social Security checks. And we do not lead an extravagant lifestyle. So the money I have invested is not what we live on. It is what we consider generational wealth to be passed on to our children and our grands. So I am looking at the long run. Both daughters and their husbands have 401Ks they contribute to. Oldest and husband both have state pensions. Youngest and her husband have large employer contributions to their 401Ks. All five of my grands have an investment account with Fidelity that they know nothing about and will know nothing about until we pass or they turn 21. Those five funds are invested in a mutual fund that has been the top earner over the last 10, 5, and 1 year period. It averages over 20% growth a year.

What I am trying to say is that my needs are taken care of until I no longer need the money. Then the accounts I have set up will help my children to do the same thing I have done. Which is to set it up so their children can have a little bit of fall-back financial security. Just as our parents left us land they paid off and we sold.

We will pull some money out next year to purchase a new vehicle. But everything else is set up so we can leave our investments to sit and grow.

RSKY

 

[MoKelly]

I am retired. We live off pensions and my Social Security checks. And we do not lead an extravagant lifestyle. So the money I have invested is not what we live on. It is what we consider generational wealth to be passed on to our children and our grands. So I am looking at the long run. Both daughters and their husbands have 401Ks they contribute to. Oldest and husband both have state pensions. Youngest and her husband have large employer contributions to their 401Ks. All five of my grands have an investment account with Fidelity that they know nothing about and will know nothing about until we pass or they turn 21. Those five funds are invested in a mutual fund that has been the top earner over the last 10, 5, and 1 year period. It averages over 20% growth a year.

What I am trying to say is that my needs are taken care of until I no longer need the money. Then the accounts I have set up will help my children to do the same thing I have done. Which is to set it up so their children can have a little bit of fall-back financial security. Just as our parents left us land they paid off and we sold.

We will pull some money out next year to purchase a new vehicle. But everything else is set up so we can leave our investments to sit and grow.

RSKY

Excellent!!

My Dad passed a year ago. He had accumulated an estate and had a will. But, we still had to go through the courts to settle. Took right about a year. Needed a lawyer. Slowest process I’ve ever seen.

Do you have a Trust to avoid probate?