retirement

Here’s a question waaayy off topic. What kind of financial plans have you made for retirement? I’ve been investing with Salomon Smith Barney for a while now. My money’s giong the wrong way. I’m 33 so I’ve got a few years to go but do any of you have any investment people/companies that you recommend? I want someone that will take care of everything about my retirement for me. I want to give them money and when I retire they give me a shitload of money. Most of my money’s invested aggressively(why I’ve lost so much.) What are you doing to retire as soon as possible?

Gezzz…First don’t panic, second you need to learn a little bit about the market,third diversify

Are you really willing to “give them money” and expect a shitload back ???

You are lucky you’re with SSB. Take a look at this fund, I’ve also lost money with this fund in this down market but not much.

Yahoo Finance - Stock Market Live, Quotes, Business & Finance News Good luck!

Invest in biotest

I’m 31 and I made the same mistake you did. i started dumping the maximum into my 401K plan, and went “aggressive” since the market was doing so well. 5 years later and my money’s nowhere to be found.

This, however, has not completely scared me away from the stock market. Our economy will have its up and downs, and, in the end, i think that 20 years from now I’ll be far better off riding the stock market roller coaster than having put money into safer investments that offer a lower return.

That said, I’ve also been investing more in businesses and property.

As far as who I trust - no one.

Read the Motley Fool’s first book. Like Ironbuddah said, the market goes up and down, but over the long haul it goes up. Don’t panic over short (a couple of years) drops.

Ironbuddah is right, the stock market is the best long term strategy and you still have decades to go before retirement. So for now just ride that roller coaster. do not try to “play” the market. get a solid portfolioand stay with it. As you get closer to retiring then begin moving your money to safer investments.

Read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and “Retire Rich, Retire Young” by Rob Kiyosaki. He gives a lot of good, easy to understand advice.

First off, to put your financial destiny in the hands of some one else is pure foolishness. They are interested in THEMSELVES first, and making money from your money. Second, make sure you have the REAL numbers that you’ll need for retirement. Use the rule of 72, and assume an 8% return on the investments annually. You’re going to need somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.6-2 million invested to retire. The sad fact is that financial planners are INSTRUCTED to dumb down the numbers, because if they told people the TRUTH, they’d be so demoralized they’d never start saving.

Ironbudda and char-dawg both make solid points. Your money is going the wrong way…along with 50 million+ other people. The stock mkt. is a roller coaster ride, but historically people with money invested over 15 yrs. (esp. over 20 yrs) have ALWAYS came out a winner! That puts you in your early 50’s when you will be greatful for your aggressive decisions! Smart man in my book! Also, move your money to safer investments as you approach retirement. I think someone else may have said this already, but it is a GREAT point. Just keep this in mind, the stock mkt. is NOT designed to be a “get rich quick” scheme. That is a STUPID way to think, and you most likely will get burned! BTW, I am an in investment mgt. so you should feel confident in the advice I am giving you. Sorry, I work in the Japanese mkt. so I do not have any HOT tips for you guys! Best of luck, and hang in there, you’ll be fine!!

“Rule of 72”? Care to elaborate?

It’s a formula for interest gains and inflation losses. For interest gains, take 72 and divide it by the interest rate. That gives you the number of years for your money to double. For inflation losses, take 72 and divide it by the inflation rate. That is the number of years it takes for your money to lose half it’s buying power. To estimate retirement savings requirements, take 72 and divide by the current inflation rate (say 4% now – giving 18). Say you’re 29 now and want to retire at 65. That’s 36 years, or twice the time it takes to lose half your buying power. Meaning at 65, your money will be worth one fourth of what it is today. So if you want to have the same buying power at 65 as you do today, multiply your income by 4. Now you need to generate THAT number as interest off your investments. Say you make $50K now. That means you’d have to make $200K at retirement at 65. So you’d need $2.5 MILLION invested. Financial advisors always give the advice of cutting back your lifestyle at retirement, and give these dumbed-down numbers that you’ll need for retirement, then you’re gambling that the money will last as long as you do. I say BS to that! First off, your medical expenses are probably going to go up, and you’re going to want to do more things (with the extra time you have). And I don’t want to be chipping away at my principal and gambling that I’m going to die before the money runs out. God, I just get heated over this stuff. Hope that clears thing up a little.

Lot of good points. First, learn all you can about investing. My favorite is the “Only Investment Guide You Will Ever Need”. Good solid stuff. Expland your reading from there.
Two, Not only invest with a good company, but watch the fund managers. Who are they? What is their track record? Why should you trust them with your money?
You still have 32 year to work this all out. Just larn and remember the time value of money.

Look into RothIRA’s good Annuities and a cash value life insurance plan while you’re young. The Roth IRA and Life insurance will grow tax deferred.

Thanks for the info! Sounds like one of those rules of thumb that’s really good to know…

I just put a little bit of money each payday into one of those plastic peanut butter jars (I wash them out first) and then bury them in my yard. When I retire I’m going to buy a metal detector to help find the money in case I forget where I put it.

As a future financial planner, I have been lucky enough to learn all about the market. First off, the market follows the ‘Random Walk Theory’, this is for the market as a whole not jsut anyone stock. It will go up and it will go down with no rhyme or reason. THe best thing to do with your money is to trust it with a good financial advisor because they invest and diversify one’s portfolio to limit as much of the risk as possible as smartly as possible. There of course is random market risk that you have to take into account because this risk can not be diversified out. SO no matter what, there will always be risk involved.
Now at a younger age it is best to invest aggressively because you are young and can afford some losses here and there assuming you will continue to earn so that you can keep reinvesting. As you get older it is best to invest in lower risk/return strategies so that you dont lose your shirt when it comes time to retire.
SO to make a long story short trust your financial planner with some decision making, just instruct him or her on what you are looking to do at this time whether it is to be aggressive now or more passive what ever the case may be. THe market is really tough to get a handle on now because it is still feeling the ripple affect of 9-11 believe or not. YOu might see some things go up and other things go down, but right now everything is in a time of recovery.
Juat remember the market balances out over the long run, you hear stories about people making it rich off the market, but at the same time there are just as many people losing a lot.
Moral: Diversify, Diversify, Diversify!

Well I have been properly warming up and cycling my off weeks with gradual returns before going back to low reps - OH YOU MEANT -

Read Kiyosaki’s books first…then the Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need and the Richest Man in Babylon…RDPD website and Mastermind forum has good discussion forums for more suggestions…

then WWTMD…THINK FOR HIMSELF!

IMHO

It’s great!

I can’t fucking believe that not one single person on this thread said to get into REAL ESTATE. Fuck. I thought I was on one of the more inteligent sites in the world but that is obviously not so. Real Estate is the simplest most common way to wealth. To be a real estate tycoon you need only moderate credit and less than 10g to get a nice peice of property. You buy say a 100,000 1-2 bedroom condo for roughly 8,000 down. Your mortgage payment is roughly 900 and your property management co. rents it for 1000. You make 1,200 per year in cash flow and the place appreciates somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-5 percent (very modest) You are making 3-5 percent on 100,000 dollars not just the 8,000 you put down. Then you do not sell the place. you leave the renters in their and refinance and buy another one. Repeat this formula til you go to the grave. All the while your renters are paying down mortages for you and you can refi and take the equity out to buy another. It is very safe to say that you would be able to buy one place like this every two years for the first 6-10 yrs then you can step it up even more. Do an internet search on “Marshall Reddick” this guy and his group (which is anyone interested) buy buildings with multiple units and that way the property management co is answering to the group and the seller is going to bend over for a better deal.
SERIOUSLY people. Wake the fuck up. Stop putting your money in funds and stocks. Why do you think they call it REAL ESTATE???