Investing 102

[67pro-street]

Thanks for the reply Greg. I will try to keep posting and keep current on this thread as much as possible. Its more valuable than gold right now!

DICLAIMER: I have no investments in gold nor plan to invest in gold within the next 72 hours

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by 67pro-street

DICLAIMER: I have no investments in gold nor plan to invest in gold within the next 72 hours

Okay! That's funny as hell!

[bdahlg68]

Greg mentioned the ROTH. If you qualify, consider not taking a 401k loan but reducing your 401k contribution down to the limit the company matches and putting the rest in the ROTH up to the max. Any leftover, tuck away into a normal investment account. As you accumulate $1000 or $2000, buy something....

Just something to consider. You have time on your side and slow and steady can win this race in a big way!

[Rybar]

Greg thanks for the help so far. I am making some moves to be able to begin some investments based on this thread.

I have a bunch of $$$ in Mutual funds that have done me nothing over the last 10 yrs. Time to take a different approach.

Tried catching up on the thread and got through a small chunk of it.

[toy71camaro]

couple new faces chimed in.. Sweet!!

welcome fella's.

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by toy71camaro

couple new faces chimed in.. Sweet!!

welcome fella's.

Yeah buddy! X'2 -- right there with ya!

[toy71camaro]

So question....

With the "sell in may and go away" theory, that seems to be pretty consistent year to year... would now be a bad time to restructure/re-balance a 401k portfolio?

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by toy71camaro

So question....

With the "sell in may and go away" theory, that seems to be pretty consistent year to year... would now be a bad time to restructure/re-balance a 401k portfolio?

I wouldn't pay ANY attention to any of that kind of stuff. That's "trader talk". You're an INVESTOR. LONG TERM.... so a few percent one way or the other won't affect your total return in the long run.

Having said that - August is a good "bottom". And it depends on your question if your asking if now is a good time to SELL.... vs buy. Typically the market sinks through the summer. So BUYING sometime in the summer usually, on average, works out in the long run.

Remember the longer you wait to "do something" - the less time you have for compounding. Go back and look at the compounding posts -- IT'S NOT THE FIRST DOUBLE --- IT'S the LAST DOUBLE - that counts - and that means you have to be EARLY in order to get to that last double. That is YEARS away - so does a few days or weeks make much of a difference -- YEAH if you're buying dividend payers... because a dollar now -- might be 1000 dollars later.

[GregWeld]

A reminder to the newbs of investing....


You get up and the "market" is down 100 points... and your stocks are down 1 or 2% - IT'S DAYS and WEEKS like this that will make you thank yourself for investing in DIVIDEND payers. Because the dividend doesn't go up and down... it keeps paying you every quarter.

Actually -- in all honesty -- it's good that the market is down -- because your dividend will be re-invested at lower share prices - thus buying you more shares!

Think LONG TERM.... 10 / 20 / 30 or more years. Even if you retire at 65 - you're not going to die the next week! You're going to live another 30 years - and those dividends will just keep supporting you.

First thing this month AT&T (T) paid me $6600 bucks.... That's real money - and every 3 months they'll have to write that check - and I'll thank them and cash it.