Need advice from experienced investors!

[tennisplayer23]

Time playing tennis has the best return of all!

YES! It definitely is lol
Its sad that the university I currently go to doesn't have a tennis team/club since its really new, in high school I was voted all-conference (kinda like an all-star) and miss those glory days lol

 

[tennisplayer23]

everything what u mentioned here are strategies based on hope not on reliable method of investing

you do not have those methods and neither 99.99% of investors ...(same in trading)

so fact of the matter is you will not get here (or anywhere) the correct answer how to do investing (or trading)

But I mean aren't the Dividend Aristocrat companies going to keep paying dividends (Atleast a very small chance of them stop paying them) so that is kind of a high chance of happening for sure?

 

[tennisplayer23]

You can invest/save any which way... nothing really matters until you accumulate "significant mass" in assets. How much is that? Well, a "few Hundred $K, or so".

Accumulating capital.. that's your first task. After that, investing intelligently. It's likely to be at least 10-20 years before you've got enough accumulated to "make a difference" in your life. IOW... save, accumulate, "dollar-cost-average", whatever... you have to build capital before anything you do will make a difference.

Start early. Invest regularly. The "early years" results don't matter much because the amount of capital is small.

(I began my investing career with $25/mo into a mutual fund. Today, I've got $Millions of my own to manage. I know of what I speak.)

So it is better to take more risk since I am younger and have a lot of time to recover if I mess up? Also why would a mutual fund be better than an etf?

 

[tennisplayer23]

This tells me you are a smart young man (i know because i was going to be an actuary, but i found it too dull, so i went into trading, anyway..). Your future career is a high paying one. Concentrate on it. Save your money in a savings account. Don't do any stock market investment...yet. Read up on the subject (I suggest Battle for investment survival as your 1st book). Being of a statistically minded person, you should get your hands dirty and really look into investment performance numbers. People expect too much from the markets. Think about moving from being an actuary into investment management, which is very possible since you are already in the financial industry. That can make you very wealthy.

Yeah I hope I can become one and start making some good money soon lol
I mean wouldn't it be better to invest as early as possible?

 

[tennisplayer23]

1. Scataphagos took the words right out of my mouth. "Dollar cost averaging"
   Ever pay period, buy a fixed dollar amount of SPY; don't mess with mutual funds. During corrections and bear markets you're accumulating more shares at a lower price. During bull markets you're buying less shares that are more expensive.
   Accumulate, accumulate, accumulate!
   
2. Absolutely don't do DRIPs! My wife had a bunch of them from before we were married. When she started selling some of them off the accounting was an effing nightmare. Accounting for splits, reverse splits, spin-offs, acquisitions was a total pain and took hours of research.
   They seem good in principle but aren't worth the headache.

Its weird I have read a lot of articles where people are praising Div Reinvs and others how say it is a waste, I mean I guess it just depends on what you get right? So would it be better if I was to get a decent sum of money through growth stocks and then once I have a large financial nut to buy div stocks for a steady passive income?

 

[loyek590]

Would the vanguard S&P ETF work the same as the index or the index is better? (Idk if this is the same thing lol)

I was reading up a little on 401k/IRAs and the maximum yearly is only 5000, that seems like you would be better off just investing that extra money into something else that yields a better return (Unless the matching that companies do is where the real benefit is?)

ira is for protecting personal money which otherwise would be taxed. Inside the ira you can invest in anything you want. To achieve your goals you must max out your IRA before you open a personal account. 401k is provided by an employer. The investment choices ypur employer offers may not be perfect, but you at least need to contribute up to the point to get the free employer match.

Yes, the Vanguard S&P 500 index can be purchased as a mutual fund or etf. For long term monthly investing I prefer the mutual fund due to all the conveniences. Not sure why anyone would trade the etf. SPY would be a much better choice.

 

[tennisplayer23]

Ok so I tried replying to mostly everyone, and It'll take me a little bit to reply cause I only have time to check this site after I finish my day at school. Also I never said but I currently have $10k saved.

A little update, my family is starting to get into real estate and are looking into buying a couple of additional houses in my town, so:

1) My sister is going to buy a house and is asking me if I want to help her with the down payment, so she said if I give her 3000 she will double it within 4-6 years (I trust her 100% so assume she will pay it) or I can get 100 a month from the rent since she's gonna put it on rent.

2) Also my mom/dad/brother also are thinking about buying another house and they also are wondering if I want to help with the down, this one would be 10% on the principle only(no compounding) every year and a portion of the profit if they decide to sell.



What do you guys think, would these options be better investments of my money compared to investing in the stock market?

 

[FCXoptions]

Are they just short on cash or something? Seems like 10% return on your money either sounds like they A. want to help you out/generous B. just don't have enough for a down payment and are willing to pay a high rate for it.

Your sisters deal seems like the best, take the $100/month from rent option IF you think you can keep it rented out. $3000 profit in 4-6 years or $100/month, so $3600 to $5000 over the same time frame...assuming you of course get the $3000 back.

Hope they know what they are doing of course also.

 

[newwurldmn]

Ok so I tried replying to mostly everyone, and It'll take me a little bit to reply cause I only have time to check this site after I finish my day at school. Also I never said but I currently have $10k saved.

A little update, my family is starting to get into real estate and are looking into buying a couple of additional houses in my town, so:

1) My sister is going to buy a house and is asking me if I want to help her with the down payment, so she said if I give her 3000 she will double it within 4-6 years (I trust her 100% so assume she will pay it) or I can get 100 a month from the rent since she's gonna put it on rent.

2) Also my mom/dad/brother also are thinking about buying another house and they also are wondering if I want to help with the down, this one would be 10% on the principle only(no compounding) every year and a portion of the profit if they decide to sell.



What do you guys think, would these options be better investments of my money compared to investing in the stock market?

Do the IRR calculation and compare the two. This is finance 101.

 

[Scataphagos]

So it is better to take more risk since I am younger and have a lot of time to recover if I mess up? Also why would a mutual fund be better than an etf?

1. ETFs likely better than mutual funds. In fact, had ETFs come along first, there likely wouldn't be a mutual fund industry.

2. Whatever risks you take, it's better not to lose.

Oftentimes traders talk about "blowing out" their account, then starting over again. "Better to do it early on when you don't have much money, blah blah..."

Better to not blow out... ever.