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Roth IRA
- Thread starter NuSnake
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I am also financially retarded... I called USAA, they seem to be pretty good and are taking care of my investments for no charge (I was already a member though) aside from the 1 time financial brief they conduct. Give them a call or look at www.usaa.com
i use USAA for 2 different mutual funds in my roth ira.
http://www.fairmark.com/rothira/
www.rothira.com
http://www.moneychimp.com/articles/rothira/rothcalc.htm
http://www.fairmark.com/rothira/
www.rothira.com
http://www.moneychimp.com/articles/rothira/rothcalc.htm
CLAM97to99
New Member
I do all my investing through Edward Jones. It probably costs a little more but it is nice to be able and go in and get them to show me what is going on and to get a little advice what are good investments. They even have pretty pictures of how they are doing!!
I have a series 7, and still feel financially retarded.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...t_1/002-0673436-3480868?v=glance&s=books&st=*
These books are some good color crayon picture style books with good info in it.
I use USAA as well, take a day to set up a checking/saving/credit card, and then the Roth IRA and perhaps an extra mutual fund. It’s a headache getting it set up, but they will answer all the paperwork questions, and then it’s under one umbrella.
Once you get it set up, it is point and click to add or subtract money.
As someone that used to sell loaded mutual funds, I recommend you to stay away from them. At the junior levels in the military, you aren’t making enough for it to make sense to pay sales fees. If you got 30k in moveable assets, then by all means hire a professional.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...t_1/002-0673436-3480868?v=glance&s=books&st=*
These books are some good color crayon picture style books with good info in it.
I use USAA as well, take a day to set up a checking/saving/credit card, and then the Roth IRA and perhaps an extra mutual fund. It’s a headache getting it set up, but they will answer all the paperwork questions, and then it’s under one umbrella.
Once you get it set up, it is point and click to add or subtract money.
As someone that used to sell loaded mutual funds, I recommend you to stay away from them. At the junior levels in the military, you aren’t making enough for it to make sense to pay sales fees. If you got 30k in moveable assets, then by all means hire a professional.
NuSnake,
I recommend you read a few books on investing and finances before you search the web. You can get all the information you need with a few books instead of having to spend so much time surfing. That and you can take a book anywhere and you do not have to stare at a computer for hours.
I have read tons of personal financial books and investing books in my spare time. When I first started, I had no idea where to begin. There are so many books out there and I worried about whether they would give good advice. In my research, I came across a Consumer Reports article that rated recent personal finance books. The article’s name is "Financial Gurus" The date on the article is September 2003. You can find the report on their website. I have posted their top three books in order. I have read these books and would have to agree with their ratings.
1. Making the Most of Your Money by Jane Bryant Quinn
2. The Road to Wealth by Suze Orman
3. Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson
I would say start with Personal Finance for Dummies since it is the easiest. Look for these books at the local library to save some money. Making the Most of Your Money is by far one of the most informative financial books out there. You might want to turn to the chapters that deal investing first since some of these books have many pages (Quinn's has over 1000).
Before you decide to invest, whether you hire a financial planner or not, you need to learn the basics of investing and some pitfalls investors face. The more you understand the better you will be prepared next time the stock market takes a nosedive. An advisor can only explain and help you so much. They cannot force you to keep your money in the stock market if it starts to decline. Take a few months to learn about investing. There is no rush. If a few months pass and you still have not done any research, I would go with a financial advisor.
I like to invest with mutual funds, so I will recommend my favorite investment books in order. These are all popular and interesting books and I have seen them recommend several times.
1. Mutual Funds for Dummies by Eric Tyson
2. Common Sense on Mutual Funds by John C Bogle
3. Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel
4. The four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein
5. Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds
6. Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How to Correct Them: Lesson’s From the New Science of Behavioral Economics by Gary Belsky and Thomas Gilovich
To answer your question, the return of a Roth IRA depends on what you are investing through it. You use individual stocks, bonds, stock and bond mutual funds, real estate, CDs, etc. I would put the majority of my money in the stock market. The long-term return of the stock market after inflation is somewhere around 6-7%. That beats bonds, CDs, savings accounts, and gold.
For a specific portfolio selection, I like some of the really easy and successful portfolios covered in the book Lazy Person’s Guide to Investing by Paul Farrell. If you are short on finances, I would also recommend Vanguard Target Retirement 2045. It gives you a well diversified portfolio and they automatically rebalance your portfolio more conservatively as you get closer to retirement for a minimal 0.23% a year (you can’t get much cheaper than that).
I recommend you read a few books on investing and finances before you search the web. You can get all the information you need with a few books instead of having to spend so much time surfing. That and you can take a book anywhere and you do not have to stare at a computer for hours.
I have read tons of personal financial books and investing books in my spare time. When I first started, I had no idea where to begin. There are so many books out there and I worried about whether they would give good advice. In my research, I came across a Consumer Reports article that rated recent personal finance books. The article’s name is "Financial Gurus" The date on the article is September 2003. You can find the report on their website. I have posted their top three books in order. I have read these books and would have to agree with their ratings.
1. Making the Most of Your Money by Jane Bryant Quinn
2. The Road to Wealth by Suze Orman
3. Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson
I would say start with Personal Finance for Dummies since it is the easiest. Look for these books at the local library to save some money. Making the Most of Your Money is by far one of the most informative financial books out there. You might want to turn to the chapters that deal investing first since some of these books have many pages (Quinn's has over 1000).
Before you decide to invest, whether you hire a financial planner or not, you need to learn the basics of investing and some pitfalls investors face. The more you understand the better you will be prepared next time the stock market takes a nosedive. An advisor can only explain and help you so much. They cannot force you to keep your money in the stock market if it starts to decline. Take a few months to learn about investing. There is no rush. If a few months pass and you still have not done any research, I would go with a financial advisor.
I like to invest with mutual funds, so I will recommend my favorite investment books in order. These are all popular and interesting books and I have seen them recommend several times.
1. Mutual Funds for Dummies by Eric Tyson
2. Common Sense on Mutual Funds by John C Bogle
3. Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel
4. The four Pillars of Investing by William Bernstein
5. Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds
6. Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How to Correct Them: Lesson’s From the New Science of Behavioral Economics by Gary Belsky and Thomas Gilovich
To answer your question, the return of a Roth IRA depends on what you are investing through it. You use individual stocks, bonds, stock and bond mutual funds, real estate, CDs, etc. I would put the majority of my money in the stock market. The long-term return of the stock market after inflation is somewhere around 6-7%. That beats bonds, CDs, savings accounts, and gold.
For a specific portfolio selection, I like some of the really easy and successful portfolios covered in the book Lazy Person’s Guide to Investing by Paul Farrell. If you are short on finances, I would also recommend Vanguard Target Retirement 2045. It gives you a well diversified portfolio and they automatically rebalance your portfolio more conservatively as you get closer to retirement for a minimal 0.23% a year (you can’t get much cheaper than that).
BigWorm said:
Bigworm,
I do not know if I would ever recommend a load fund. Those funds have to overcome their higher expenses to compete against no load funds. They are at a disadvantage from day one.
Look at the Morningstar April 2001 study of 10-year results of load funds vs. no load funds from April 1991 to March 2001. No load funds on average beat load funds in returns except for Midvalue funds and Small value funds. So no load funds beat load funds in 7 of the 9 Morningstar categories.
The link below shows what a load would do to a hypothetical $10,000 investment.
http://www.smartmoney.com/fundfeeanalyzer/?nav=LeftNav#expense
If you assume a normal 1.5 expense ratio, 10.5% return, and the all to common front-end load of 5%, how much of your return will you lose? In one year, you only lose $705. However, you will lose $18,688 in 40 years. A typical person investing more than $10,000 will lose much more. If you instead invested in an index fund with no load and a 0.18% expense ratio you would only lose $3,708 in 40 years. That is a big difference. I know the load means you get the advice, but if you really wanted to hire a financial planner wouldn’t a fee only planner (one that charges you by the hour and gets no commissions) be a better option. They would not have a conflict of interest because they would not make a commission off of what they sold you. If you only need an planner to recommend a portfolio, it would not cost as much as continually investing through loaded funds. Another alternative is to use one of the many portfolio recommendations from the books I listed in my post above. Most of those books cost around $20.
CLAM97to99,
Does Edward Jones charge you a percentage of assets or do they sell you load funds?
I'd rather just give my money to someone else and let them deal with it.
I bought a book called investing for dummies twice now. As far as the returns go johndd321 hit it on the head. Read read read!!! I have Edward Jones, USAA, and Merrill Lynch. Mutal funds are a safe bet as well as a roth IRA. This book explains the ins and outs as far as investing in different vehicles. I was in the Marine corps as a lance corporal giving classes to 2nd Maint Bn on investing. I dont get paid by the "Dummies" book but I highly recommend it! Then you can choose which path you would like. I personally have stocks, bonds, mutal funds and an IRA as well as real estate. Dummies for Investing explains these basic options so you can decide. Good Luck!!
-rob
-rob
robmac45 said:
I also like investing for dummies. Eric Tyson is a great author.
robmac45,
Are you using REITs for your real estate investing or are you buying properties and reselling? I have been thinking about doing some real estate investing. Have you read any other good real estate books? I have read some of the Rich Dad Poor Dad books. I agree with some of his advice and disagree with some of his other advice.
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