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      12-01-2019, 12:48 PM   #60
XutvJet
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Drives: 2011 Cayman Base, 2016 M235
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Kansas City

iTrader: (-1)

Quote:
Originally Posted by VisualEcho View Post
Damn, sounds easy from your perspective, I just don't know the first thing about it, and that's the type of guy that loses his money and funds guys like you that know what to do.

Maybe I'll visit KC, buy you dinner and you can show me the ropes. haha

The photography will be free
Read this simple, though somewhat redundant book: "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing"

It will hammer into your brain why low fee (aka expense ratio) S&P 500 index funds are the best investment choice for a majority of investors and why financial advisers are a total waste for most us. Take it from me, don't trust anyone with investing your money but you. It's a pricey mistake I made and it cost me a lot of money in lost performance.

Go to https://apps.vanguard.com/web/cf/move-money/welcome and open an account. It's incredibly simple.

Transfer money (typically $3000 needed to open an account) from your linked bank account and buy 90% in:

Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO); or
Vanguard 500 Index Fund Investor Shares (VFINX); or
Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares (VFIAX)

They have their minor differences, but their overall approach is the same. It's a very low cost mutual fund that has shares in all of the major S&P 500 players. The performance of the funds follow the performance DOW/S&P 500 to nearly tenths of a point.

Then take the remaining 10% and buy various low fee government bond funds.

Vanguard, and I'm sure the others like it, make it very easy to open:

- traditional IRAs
- Roth IRAs
- opening 529 college accounts for children
- transfer 401K accounts from previous employers

I've done all those things and the hardest part of it all was coordinating the transfers with my fired financial adviser and doing the correct paper work to avoid tax implications of all the transfers.

Like you, I knew very little and just let my adviser at Morgan Stanley handle it all for nearly 15 years (MISTAKE!). Then I read "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing" 7 years ago and shortly thereafter took total control.

My wife and I have the following at Vanguard:

- Brokerage account
- His and her Roth IRAs
- Traditional IRA from a previous employer 401K account
- Two 529 college plans for our kids
- Very well funded saving account "war chest" that has funds to cheap stocks during major market downturns

I spend less than 1 hour a month managing my accounts and most of it is simply checking up on performance for the month. I do very little buying and selling. All dividends are reinvested into their respective accounts and/or funneled into the war chest account.

Simple.
__________________
The forest was shrinking, but the Trees kept voting for the Axe, for the Axe was clever and convinced the Trees that because his handle was made of wood, he was one of them.

Last edited by XutvJet; 12-01-2019 at 12:54 PM..
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