WoW!
alot of good advice here!

just to give another example, this is how I do things.
I own two houses the one I live in and the one I used to live in, I have the renters pay the mortgage and taxes and expenses on that one with thier rent.

outside of my mortages I save 20% of my income in invstment and savings of some sort. When I was single and when my wife and I were both working it was 30%
I lived in 300$ a month rentboxes and drove and old copcarbluesmobile for many years.

The only reason I bought a new car is becuase I got one tax free at invoice from Iraq...it won't happen again

I maxed out my 401k, (and I think everyone should) I like the HUGE boost it gets from the money coming out of my paycheck BEFORE it gets taxed....that garenteed growth right there!!! whatever your tax rate is you get an automatic growth boost the day it goes in the account..plus whatever the account makes....plus whatever your employer might put in.

I max out my IRA

I have all my money in my government TSP or my Schwab account which I have an IRA, individual investment account and a checking acount in. I use my investment account as my "savings"

Most of my investments are in index funds, no fees and they track the market....there are very few managers that beat the market and when they do its not year after year...and index funds don't have fees to pay which compounded turn out to be alot of money.

I have a couple high divedend stocks just for fun.

schwabb has some nice tools, one of which is an account analizer. you tell them your investment needs and it compares your needs to your account and tells you what they recommend you sell and buy...as in sell some large caps and buys some small caps because you said you could tolerate more risk than your account reflects. I use it.

anyway thats what I do.

I would suggest looking at what you can reasonably save, do a budget, actually look at what you spend money on and how much you need to spend and then look at what is left over and I would suggest setting up auto transfers to a savings or other account.

Most people if they make x, will spend x, or x+. Many people are focused on looking wealthy than actually being. Live below your means and save what you can then, putting it to work for you.

I know, it was kind of a joke. The next time my wife asked for something I could tell her "Greg said she couldn't have it". And when the kids don't want to leave the nest I can say "Greg says". I just hope I don't have to eat dog food & live out of my airstream when I'm older (no offense to anyone who full times it in an airstream or eats dog food).

IMHO
and I don't intend to offend anyone but, I may...so sorry
if you own a 69 camaro, 66 stang, or any hotrod, protouring, etc or a laptop...your either
a. are doing ok enough to have saved allot of money... or
b. need to reset your financial priorities.

I personally never bought myself a toy after the age of 20 until I had over a years paycheck in savings...
we are talking an Army Paycheck so I don't want to here how somebody doesnt make enough for how much they work to save.

the thing is , you put the money directly in from your paycheck so you wont ever see it, if it isnt there you cant tell anybody "no" it just wont be there...
20% of every paycheck is reasonable less than that you screwing yourself, your future your kids future.

I have lived with really poor people in cardboard boxes with goats and not a pot to piss in LITERALLY! and I have done it all over the world in about 8 countries, really poor people are everywhere, but even they save half a cup of rice for tomarrow.

There are allot of people..(often immigrants) that make nothing and still save way more than 20% of thier income, they don't have big screen tvs, half a dozen vintage hotrod cars, go out to eat all the time. smoke 4 bucks a pack cigerettes and drink expensive beer etc...at least until their pretty darn comfortable, and if more americans had this dicipline than this country wouldnt be in the shi# we are in...its not the banks fault, or even billions of $ war spending or a lack of liberal government social programs..its people living like rockstars when they should be living under thier means...

anyway, sorry for the longwinded rant no offense meant to anyone

Is it true you can't touch a Schwab account until your 59 1/2 without getting penalized?

Your IRA....or you get penalized...but I think there are exceptions for school and emergencies and the like but don't quote me on that..I'm not sure.

I have a self directed Schwab IRA from a former employer rollover, and you can withdraw 100% of it once a year tax and penalty free as long as you put 100% of what you withdraw back within 60 days. I did it last year to help fund a business venture.

With a Roth IRA, you can withdraw whatever you've put in at any time. You can not touch the earned interest or you will be penalized. This is before you're 59 1/2. After that you can start withdrawing and living on the money from the account.

So the rule I look at FOR ME.... if the dividend is "low" -- then the offsetting information has to be GROWTH... and you have to see growth of the dividend payout over time --- SO YES! Oracle meets that criteria. It wouldn't be on the top 20 for me - because there are so many (dozens and dozens) that pay more and have as good if not better growth over time. BUT all of this info needs to be tailored by each guy to fit himself. AND #1 is you have to be happy to hold the investment and buy more IF it goes down (which is the equivalent of stuff going on sale!)...

That's the problem with two thoughts going on -- trying to formulate those ideas and type - and watch tv at the same time! :willy: :willy: :lol:

I can only speak for SCHWAB where I have my accounts -- they have a "RESEARCH" tab... and in there they have screeners. You can select various parameters that you'd like to see in a stock ----- so ---- you can select size of company - and finally down to the dividend. Schwab uses less than or greater than signs for setting up these screens and they also have pre-selected screeners. I've used these many times when I'm trying to find homes for new money. I select the criteria -- then go and see if there are any names I know - then start drilling down on the other criteria I've set for myself --- increasing dividend payout - growth over time - etc.