Research Mutual Funds Before You Invest
I am a first time investor. I plan to open a ROTH IRA and invest in mutual funds, but don't have any idea of where to start. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Vanguard and T. Rowe Price are two of the best MF families. Make sure you stick to no-load funds.
powered by Yahoo Answers
Mutual Funds:: Is it a good time to buy now?
I have a couple of SIPs of some top rated funds(ref. Value Research Online). But currently when I check at my ICICI Direct account, all are going through huge negative returns. Will it be a good option to invest some extra on those funds assuming that future rise in NAV will give me good returns ? Please suggest as I have very less knowledge about the market.
If you're a long term investor, it's always a good time to buy a good mutual fund.
powered by Yahoo Answers
My wife and I both have IRA’s valued about $50K each and I was wondering if one of us should take advantage of the low rates and put their $50K in Mutual Funds.
I’m a novice at investing, I’d rather let it sit in a CD or IRA but with the current low interest rates I think I should diversify.
Any Intelligent thoughts?
nope, my friend, nowadays, beware of financial instutitons and assets. If you have money put it in your pocket.
powered by Yahoo Answers
401k retirement plan is a good option to save for future. Not only it is tax saver but also ensure good returns and is safe too. As employer and employee both make contributions so funds grow to sustantial amount till the time of retirement come. 401k Retirement Plan An Effective Saving Tool
Retirement is a word that brings chill feel to spines but when it is well think of in advance then this same word stands for long deserving restful life after hard days of work. Retirement plans contribute much to this comfort and 401k Retirement plan is one out of good considered retirement plans.
Various retirement plans have different features and it is possible that one plan which is most suitable to your friend could not serve you same way depending on the type of job, income or other related facts. Retirement planning should always be custom designed to get maximum benefits.
401 retirement plan is a popular plan and many of the people opt for this. In this saving plan both parties i.e. the employee himself as well as the employer makes contribution to the retirement fund. Say if you
contribute x % of your annual salary to this retirement plan then your company would also have to make matching contribution towards this account.
This plan is also attractive for the reason that it helps in tax saving. In 401 Retirement plan, contributions deduction is from pre tax salary and these savings accumulated tax free until the time of retirement or withdrawal time and thus helps significantly in tax saving as at time of retirement you probably would have lower income slab and thus lower tax rate.
Funds in your 401k Retirement plan are economic crises proof that means that if in case the contributing employer goes bankrupt then even the funds will be safe and cannot be consider as the asset of your employer, not even for his contributing part. Further, there are various restrictions on before time withdrawal of fund money and this will surely keep you in check if you are one out of undisciplined spenders.
Several other features of 401k retirement plan includes roll over facility that enables you to shift to other plan in case you change your employer. Moreover, under 401K retirement plan you get some freedom as regards to investment of money and can put it into mutual funds, stock market, or other bonds whichever you found most paying.
401k retirement plan has different versions for different working groups. Like for selfemployed people there is Solo 401k retirement plan that takes into consideration their income structure and thus have provisions suiting the need of a self employed person.
However, tremendous information is available on the internet about 401 retirement plan but if you have any doubt or want, best options sorted out then can always seek help of a professional. For starters, 401k retirement plan calculator is also a good tool and is available on many sites. In this, you have to fill some information and its result will show the information regarding money available at retirement time, interest earned and other such things.
So, go ahead and be smart by choosing 401k retirement plan.
The stock market has been crushed over the past couple of months. Is now a good time to invest in index mutual funds if I am willing to hold them for 10 years? Is it worth it or would I be better of putting them into CD’s at 5% interest over 5 years?
I have a decent amount of cash in a money market account making 3.5%…I wonder if I should invest this into the market.
Any comments or advice would be appreciated
Like the previous poster that is bragging about his Smith Barney Broker with all the years of experience.
It doesn’t make any sense at all. Unless you have a broker that was in business in 1929, then I would hold back there judgments.
If you can think back with Enron collapsed. The brokers with the most experience were the ones high on the company. No one knew that the down fall would be because of FRAUD…
Same thing with this case. We have been in a recession for the past 3 1/2 years, but no one has called it. So people are being told to wait on the fence until the DOW goes lower???
No matter who you are.. I don’t care if your Peter Lynch. YOU CANNOT TIME THE MARKET. Anyone that tells you that they know how, is giving you BS advice and they are making money. If you were in the market to purchase an auto mobile. And you truly know this is the AUTO you wanted for years. Then why wouldn’t you purchase it at a discount?? Because you believe there is going to be a better sale?
Here is what you need to consider. Money at work is money at work. T-Bills have been doing well for the past 6 years, and in most cases out pacing the gains in the stock market.
Mark my words……. The DOW is going to explode to 10,000 before anyone knew what hit them. Then they are going to start putting money in. But with any short run up, there has to be some sell off. So these people will be putting monies into the market at 10k, only to find out 3 months later it’s back down to 8,500. And so forth and so on.
What would I do??
1. Eliminate all BAD DEBT instruments. Credit cards, Auto loan, etc. A mortgage is considered good cause you get a tax deduction. Student loan is considered decent cause where else can you have that large of a loan at 4%, or even have the opportunity to defer it?
2. Make sure all my security investments are in place and being maximized. Auto insurance, Umbrella Policies, Home owners insurance, LTD, Life Insurance. (LIFE INSURANCE???) Yeah, did you know that cash value whole life insurance in most cases has an internal rate of return of 5%?? Also provides a death benefit. In fact, you can take a loan out against your cash value, and pay the interest to yourself. Think of it as like you being the bank, and loaning youself monies to pay cash for a car. Then paying the interest to yourself.
- With auto or homeowners insurance. Would your agent ever call you to let you know you overpaid your premiums, and they would like to give you the money back plus interest?? SHOP AROUND….
3. Start saving. Make sure you have enough incase of emergencies. Make sure your employment appears to be stable.
4. Then start growing your money. Place some into a Money market, some into a short-term CD. Most importantly, start considering tax diversification.
EXAMPLE:
Person at 30 years of age sitting at a 35% tax bracket. Do you think taxes are going to increase or decrease?
Tax deferred account:
Annual Contribution $100.00
Annual Return 8%
Term 20 years
Total after 20 years = $4,576.20 x 65% (cause you have to pay taxes) = $2,974.53
Tax free account:
Annual Contribution $65.00 (cause your paying the tax right now)
Annual Return 8%
Term 20 years
Total after 20 years = $2,974.53
* But the income that you derive from this Tax Free Account (ROTH IRA as one example) will not have an impact on your social security wages. Nor will you have mandatory distributions at 70 1/2. In addition, chances are at retirement you’ll be in a higher tax bracket, just because no mortgage interest deduction, or dependent deduction, because your kids are full grown.
I could go on and on… But do what you want.
Make sure you check out http://www.callan.com/research/institute/periodic/files/Pertbl.pdf This will give you a visual understanding on why you should reallocate your investments at least 2-4 times per year. Take away from winners and buy some losers at a discount.
In addition, try reading “Becoming your own banker” by Nelson Nash
http://www.infinitebanking.org/store.php
Once you retrain your investing. And understand that there is a Lost opportunity cost, and time value of money. Then you will be light years ahead of anyone in your financial battle plan.
Lastly, keep in mind that you need to start getting away from compounded tax. And start choosing flat tax. For example:
My no rolling a dividend into a mutual fund, cd or any similar investment. Over a 30 year term, you could end up saving yourself millions of dollars.
There’s a homework assigment for you.
Just my two cents though
Just my two cents
powered by Yahoo Answers
good