Investing 102

[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.

[toy71camaro]

good point.. your right. a few % over the next couple months (ie. til fall) wont make that big of difference compared to not being in at all.

I need to put my big boy pants on and tackle the 401k. It makes me nervous as hell as there is SOOO many different choices, plus "diversifying" (i guess that makes me the most nervous). what % should go where.

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by toy71camaro

good point.. your right. a few % over the next couple months (ie. til fall) wont make that big of difference compared to not being in at all.

I need to put my big boy pants on and tackle the 401k. It makes me nervous as hell as there is SOOO many different choices, plus "diversifying" (i guess that makes me the most nervous). what % should go where.

It should make you MORE nervous to have money sitting not growing or not paying you!

Stick to basic rules for diversifying. If you have 100K - 5% per investment
if you have 10k - then a couple thousand per name. Somewhere in-between if you have more or less.

If you have 100K -- finding JUST TWENTY great companies is the easiest thing you'll ever do!

[toy71camaro]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

It should make you MORE nervous to have money sitting not growing or not paying you!

Stick to basic rules for diversifying. If you have 100K - 5% per investment
if you have 10k - then a couple thousand per name. Somewhere in-between if you have more or less.

If you have 100K -- finding JUST TWENTY great companies is the easiest thing you'll ever do!

If i could do individual stocks, i'd be MUCH more comfortable... but these are all mutual funds., which is what makes me nervous about diversifying it.. Ive been on schwab and see they suggest a certain % in large cap, small/mid, euro, etc. but it seems the Funds all overlap.

[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.