patrick.net

More grist for the mill, re: mutual funds.

If you admire Warren Buffet's success with investing, you can have some of it by owning Fidelity Contrafund.

The #2 stock owned by Contrafund is Berkshire Hathaway. Of course Contrafund also has hundreds of other stocks in the portfolio, but Berkshire is #2 in terms of dollar amount. #1 is Google.

Funds are better than stocks unless you enjoy the activity, and for reasonable risk control you need 20 or 30, of course, picking the dividend paying blue chip stocks is OK.

T.Rowe Price Capital Appreciation, Dodge&Cox Stock, Dodge&Cox balanced, Vanguard Wellington, Vanguard Dividend Growth, Fidelity Contrafund are good, as are others. A fun website is Maxfunds.com to research funds if you are interested.
I forgot to mention, T.Rowe Price and Vanguard offer very low cost financial planning, I think it's $500.
If you have a large enough balance at Vanguard, there is ZERO fee for a financial plan to assist you. Theoretically you could "park" your chunk of dough in a Vanguard money market and then qualify for the free financial plan.
Either way the guys there are very good to talk to, the problem is you are on the phone, Vanguard doesn't have offices all over like Fidelity does.

Go over to Bogleheads and have them set you up on Vanguard with a 3-fund portfolio or whatever. You'll get nice market returns and pay almost no fees and be ahead of almost everyone speculating.

Get a vasectomy. It's way cheaper than having any kids.

I am entering from stage left, and the below is specifically not written in response to any other posting in particular:

The single most important question you can ask anyone about their stock tip or other investment idea is WHO they got the idea from, or HOW they got it.

Was it from watching CNBC on TV or some other crappy source that is dominated by the sell-side of Wall St? Did you read it on some financial rag, web or otherwise? Did you base it on some original observation or analysis that you made?

My thesis would be that most investment ideas are subtly planted into people's heads, and they have no idea where it came from, and/or they may not recall the correct answer to that question if queried. A lot of times they are just parroting something they saw on TV or "read somewhere".

That does not mean that the advice is bad or good. Sometime one can even identify a good momentum play from what is richocheting around the echo chambers of the web. But most of the times it means that the train has already left the station.

The point is, investment ideas are rarely original, often bad ideas, and rarely timely.

"Municipal bonds, Ted. Triple-A rating, best investment in the book!"

epitaph says

Vanguard sounds like what you want.

thanks to all of you for your informative (and comedic) answers.

i ended up putting the majority of it in a vanguard index funds.

and, yes, i did put some of it in a 5-year CD @ 2.2%. egg on my face for that one

AdamCarollaFan says

i'm thinking of putting it in a 60-month CD earning 2.25% - good idea?

Buy a rental property in the new buildings being built from Austin to San Antonio in good school districts and rent it out

Who are these AWESOMES you speak of?
This is patnet. You must have us retardos confused with another site.

RentingForHalfTheCost says

Yes, holding about 20% in Swiss Franc, another 10% share in Canadian and another 10% in Reals (Brazil). The Brazil angle is also a double play, because it might be where I buy land and retire. Both Canadian and Brazil are also plays on precious metals making a comeback, which would strengthen the currencies as well as the countries finances. The other 60% is in a mix of metals, quality stocks (high dividends) and cash.

Renting must be broke by now.
And i'm sure he's paying twice the rent.

AdamCarollaFan says

thanks to all of you for your informative (and comedic) answers.

i ended up putting the majority of it in a vanguard index funds.

and, yes, i did put some of it in a 5-year CD @ 2.2%. egg on my face for that one

Here's the best advise you will receive:
Buy that fucking home. It's going up in value.

imagine if you bought 2 years ago.

20% down on a 400K home = $80K.

very modest 7% annual appreciation: $458K

tax free profit $58K

return 72%

how is that compared to Vanguard index fund?

i myself have enjoyed the vanguard index funds. low fees, easy to know how you're doing: just listen to the radio or read the papers.

not as much fun as picking individual stocks, but not as dangerous either.

anonymous says

costs to move, costs for new appliances/furniture etc.

Renters have these costs too. But renters don't get a tax write off on interest and property taxes.

anonymous says

On that $58K profit did you take into account closing costs, costs to move, costs for new appliances/furniture etc., repairs/maintenance and all the other bullshit involved with a home purchase that adds up and costs more than you planned ?

why do you have to live in it? renters will pay for all those expenses and MORE!

rando says

i myself have enjoyed the vanguard index funds. low fees, easy to know how you're doing: just listen to the radio or read the papers.

not as much fun as picking individual stocks, but not as dangerous either.

i have them too for my 401K. other than that i sold all my stocks. rental properties >>> stocks.

I invest in stocks of companies that provide a valuable service to me. Any company that is doing something good and indispensable for its customers will grow and grow. This formula hasn't gone wrong yet! Sometimes it's slow but usually it beats market averages! For example: netflix.

Ironman says

That's just icing on the cake along with the property tax deduction. I don't consider the house an "investment". I bought "shelter", and as long as the shelter price was affordable and in line with rental prices, the MID and tax deduction is found money.

A house you live in is your shelter and not an investment. Wether the price of your shelter goes up or down makes no difference, because it's still the same shelter.

Ironman says

Ha ha... I went through that when purchasing the current house. The realtor was so pissed when I told her what I was going to spend, and she kept coming back saying "But, you qualify for so much MORE"... Needless to say, she WASN'T the realtor that ended up making the commission when I bought.

Many people have this belief.....If i qualify, i must be able to afford it.

Get a vasectomy. It's way cheaper than having any kids.

it's currently earning 0.75%

Whatever you do, i just wanna say I love your username. Oh, the good ol years of Loveline!