I'm only a mental whore if I got paid.

So yea, I guess you're right.

Your parents are smart. And DO NOT touch that money, even if you are struggling. They murder you with fees if you touch that shit before maturation. Pretend you don't even know about it.

....mental gutter slut.

Are you coming on to me?

(touches fingers to temples, concentrates on Mutty's sluttiness...)

For unruly THEM

Currently I own Altria(MO) which is Phillip Morris..and Siri (Sirius)..I just sold a bunch of Crox(The ugly shoe company) which turned a nice little profit. But that only helped me get back some of the money I lost this year. I don't claim to know much about the market, but I keep an ear to the streets and try and get in on what's hot and make a few bucks..I also have the old 401K.

lol

Actual Financial Guy Here (see also "Moxie"---where's he been?):

Hate to say this, but if you have to ask, you shouldn't be buying them (note, I did not say you should not invest, I said you shouldn't be buying individual stocks).

Also, not sure who made the comment, but you don't really "move up" to mutual funds. A mutual fund is a diversification tool--thousands of owners chip in a few bucks and each own a sliver of a share of hundreds of individual stocks. Your first dollar invested is immediately diversified in the same manner as an investor owning thousands of dollars worth of the same fund. In this sense, you should start out with mutual funds, and then "graduate" to individual stocks. It should be said that many people see the benefits of mutual funds (particularly index funds) and see little reason to ever graduate.

i'm gradutating in the other direction with my roth. i've been investing in individual stocks for years and now i'm starting to buy mutual funds. if anything, it's less work. and i guess the fund people have more of a clue than me. (yeah, right!)

of course, all 401k money is divested in 5-8 diff funds.

I'm finally signing up for the 401k program here at work. I've signed up for this "GoalMaker" thing. Basically, the folks at Prudential do all the work for me. I've chosen the "aggressive" model portfolio. Is this a good idea? I feel like it is.

Soon to be ex-financial guy here, but save, save, save, people. The sooner the better - get involved w/ your company's retirement plans, esp. if they're willing to match. This is a shrewd decision you're making here, Red, but be sure the 'aggressive' model (north of 5%?) is conducive to your budget, i.e. don't spread yourself thin just to put heaps away now.

*What I'm spewing is nothing new - you can read this noise in anywhere.*

And FWIW, mutual funds don't 'mature'. I don't know if gregrey was alluding to funds, but just so you know. If funds're really hot, they'll close to future punters, but never 'mature'. Bonds and annuities, on the other hand, 'mature'. Depending on which funds your broker has you invested (like other securities, there are shitty ones out there, folks), gregrey is right, don't muck with it. If anything, make friends with a broker or somebody financially savvy (Seamonster) and get free advice. Lots of slime out there looking to earn a quick commish. Apologies for the boring post.

It's a good idea if:
- you accept fluctuations in price, both good and bad (meaning that your 401k value could go down significantly, but could also go up in a big way)
- you have years and years before you plan on touching the money

In general, the younger you are, the more aggressive you should be. You have much more time to ride out ugly periods in the market. As an individual gets closer to retirement, their investments should become more conservative.

There are some new funds out there that do this reallocation for you. You buy the fund that most closely matches your targeted retirement (say in year 2035). The fund is aggressive now, but by the year 2030, it will be invested in far more bonds and CD's than in tech stocks.

The 529 plan I invest in for my sons does this kind of reallocation based on their age. My 2 year old's fund is slightly more aggressive than my 4 year old's.

I invest in death and misery.

Namely Altria, Anheuser-Bush, Pfizer, and RJ Reynolds.

I also own P & G and JNJ(Johnson and Johnson), they give me big fat dividends.

I speculate sometimes in energy and commodities, but it's pretty volitile right now. So I'll chill for a bit on what I got. Made a good deal of ca$h money in the market so far......why ruin a good thing.

Once you get hot, you need a significant cooling off period, imo. Dump all trades, take the profit, and don't let the money get to your head. Then get back to the grind thereafter, preferable a few months, imo.

I'm only putting away 3%. I don't make a lot as it is, but since I'm expecting a 4-5% raise in January, I figure 3% won't hurt me.

I have a 403b at my job. Fully vested from the get-go which is great. My first year they put in 2.5%, the next year they put in 5%, and the third year and beyond they put in 7.5%.

This year I am putting in 7.5% of my pay, next year I will put in 5%, and the next year and beyond I will put 2.5% in so that every year I have 10% of my pay going into my retirement.

It's nice because I don't even notice that the money is being removed from my check since it is done before taxes and such. It's nice.

I have a 403b (If I have it figured right, it's the same as a 401k, the only difference being 403b = private company, 401k = public co.). Anyway, the hospital I work at automatically contributes 5% of what I earn each paycheck into my Fidelity mutual (ie. nothing out of my pocket, they contribute). On top of that they match what I contribute up to 4%. That's 13% going into my fund, only 4% of which comes out of my pocket. Not sure how your 401k works contribution wise, but max it out. I make three times what I did when I started benefits in 1997, but I maxed from the start and it has been well worth it. And like a previous post stated, it comes out of my check, so I never noticed it, though yeah, there were a couple lean years there at the beginning.

<==also knows a bit about finance stuff


Oh lordy, where to begin.

I've only scanned this second page, seen some smart stuff, seen some somewhat mis-guided stuff.

As for me, I own all stocks--everything is invested in a total market index fund--most of it is in Vanguard's VTI, which is better than an index fund since as a security in and of itself, it doesn't generate management fees.

Over time (time being the more than 20 years I have to go until retirement), not much is going to beat the risk-reward performance of the entire market index.

If you have a choice, stay clear of large dividend paying stocks. The general trade-off with dividends is appreciation. Companies that spin off cash in the way of dividends are not ploughing money back into the firm--i.e. slow growth. Also, dividends are not tax-efficient. As an investor, you'd prefer to see the company spin off cash by re-purchasing shares.

If you want the lower risk of a steady stream of structured payments (which is all a dividend is) consider debt--either investment grade corporates, or if you aren't so risk averse, a decent junk bond portfolio. Even at their worst, junk bonds are ridiculously under-priced given their average default rate.

I wasn't asking what stocks you guys own so I can somehow benefit personally from that info. I was genuinely curious. To be honest, I don't trust anyone but myself to make those decisions. I bought Apple in '97 simply because Steve Jobs got on board. I saw it climb along with all the other stocks until the 2000-2001 meltdown. I held onto them through thick and thin and then in April 2003 (I think) I plunked down $2000 the DAY that Apple announced it was going PC compatible (may have been the same day the itunes store opened). The itunes store didn't sound like a money maker, but it sure as hell sounded like a Trojan Horse to sell ipods and all the more if the PC market was in play. I tend to go on instinct, or if it's a company I respect (Whole Foods). But yes, I also have mutual funds as a safety net to offset volatility. People should not be dissuaded from buying individual stocks, in my opinion, so long as you are well informed.