Investing: Avoiding Working Until You Die

a reply to: projectvxn

I am not a financial adviser either. However, I have found if your employer does a 401k match put in as much needed to get all of it. Do not leave that money on the table. This is the #1 of 10 things you should be doing. Get the others from a good adviser.

Just lets dont become sociopathic like Soros. You let the company use your money so when I cant stand Google, Amazon or Monsanto, anything sick, globalist or China based, I stay away from it. I dont wanna wish them luck to gain couple of bucks.
You know what I mean? Like put your money where your heart is. People do it all the time when fund-rising ideas they like. Stock market should be the same. It may not be the most profitable strategy but I'm the type of a guy who doesnt wanna sell my favorite company's stock when the price goes down because some pricks are manipulating the price without a real reason.
I wanna learn how to make some cash on rising food prices though. We are in the middle of a solar minimum, global cooling and possibly even heading to a grand solar minimum. What do you think Is the best company to invest in? I want it to be into innovations, greenhouses, or a broader spectrum of comodities. I dont like the idea of futures and options. It has no value for the future and development. It only takes advantage of others by selling them at a higher price in a few months.

I was talking with a farmer about the last spring. Wheat seeds were incredibly low to the last minute. Here in the EU everyone knew there's not enough of it but states like France and Germany were able to manipulate the market to get it cheap by waiting on subsidies. That's sick. Sometimes you know what's going on and big players will rob you anyway.
It's not a free market and it never was

Not a financial advisor either but paid off a house, car and a nice trading account. Here’s how I did it making 45-60k a year in 20 years. Meet the requirements to get the most company match if you have that option in your 401k. Next open an account at a bank or CU that you will never visit. Take all of your bills and divide by 4 if your weekly paid, 2 if semi monthly. Put that amount plus a little fluff in that account direct deposit and pay bills from it. Never look at the account. Whatever is left over is your spending money, no more. Learn to live on that. Once you do that for a couple years you should have a few thousand extra in there from 5th week months. Next you max out a Roth IRA with whatever you can afford a month, if you can afford 500$ a month by all means max it at 6k. Just watch the rules on contribution limits. If you have anything extra after all that, invest in the stock market. Remember, once your honey pot bill account gets big enough put that in a money market account and let it grow.

It took me 16 years to pay off my house, now I can afford to max the Roth and play in the market. Remember, It’s basically a casino, don’t risk more than you’re okay with losing. I had many sleepless nights in 2018 because I got too big for my britches. Now I dollar cost average in the indexes, when I deposit funds, in my mind I am losing that money.

Good luck all!

originally posted by: moyeti
a reply to: projectvxn

I am not a financial adviser either. However, I have found if your employer does a 401k match put in as much needed to get all of it. Do not leave that money on the table. This is the #1 of 10 things you should be doing. Get the others from a good adviser.

This post is on point. Anyone looking at their company's 401K benefits NEEDS TO HEED THIS ADVICE!

a reply to: Lumenari

The earlier on in life you can figure out how you want to die, the easier it is to accomplish it.

Words to live by.

This sentence is as important to live by as the quote from Buffet himself.

a reply to: projectvxn

Nope, nothing. And just like the past, the millennials will vote themselves your money to bail themselves out.

originally posted by: Dfairlite
a reply to: projectvxn

Nope, nothing. And just like the past, the millennials will vote themselves your money to bail themselves out.

I hate that a whole generation of people my age can't seem to shake the disease of debt and frivolous spending.


Edit:

I reminded myself of this song just now.

a reply to: toysforadults

Why am I not surprised you are Tim Sykes fan... He's a con man. Nothing more, nothing less. He was lucky in his start and hasn't done any real trading since.

a reply to: projectvxn

The thing is, it's easy to get into debt and still save for retirement so long as you're not a complete fool. I have plenty of debt myself, but I still have plenty of room in my budget to save. I'm well ahead of the retirement milestones. I'm a few years away from 35 and will surpass one years worth of income in my 401k next month (give or take, based on market conditions).

My debt is reasonable compared to my income and that's where people get in trouble. I got burned when I was 19 and learned my lesson about debt management. My rule for credit cards is that If you can't pay it off in less than a year (without making major financial adjustments), you need to chop that card up and pay it off now. I'm a sucker for zero interest cards, but for the most part avoid credit cards. I don't take out a car loan for more than 3 years (and pay it off faster).

I feel for people who can't live within their means (by can't I mean, they lack self control) but at some point you need to develop that skill.

Most young people don't seem to grasp the power of compound interest.

If you invest $200 per month, at the end of a year you hardly have anything. But if you go to you local investment office and put it in a mutual fund that makes average returns for 20 years, you should have over $200,000.

The first five years, the bulk of the money will be only the money that you have invested. Somewhere between in the next five years, your invested money will start making more money then you are putting in.

Then, at the end of 20 or so years you have a nest egg.

Also, if every time you get a raise during those 20 years, you add 1/2 of that raise to you investment, then you will have a substantial nest egg and it will most likely not have affected your standard of living.

Most people don't think about what their life will be like in 20 or 30 or 40 years. I encourage you not to just think about it but to actually do something that will benefit your future self.

Most young people don't seem to grasp the power of compound interest.

If you invest $200 per month, at the end of a year you hardly have anything. But if you go to you local investment office and put it in a mutual fund that makes average returns for 20 years, you should have over $200,000.

The first five years, the bulk of the money will be only the money that you have invested. Somewhere between in the next five years, your invested money will start making more money then you are putting in.

Then, at the end of 20 or so years you have a nest egg.

Also, if every time you get a raise during those 20 years, you add 1/2 of that raise to you investment, then you will have a substantial nest egg and it will most likely not have affected your standard of living.

Most people don't think about what their life will be like in 20 or 30 or 40 years. I encourage you not to just think about it but to actually do something that will benefit your future self.

a reply to: bloodymarvelous

Naturally central planners will prefer to work with large companies, because that gives them the most control of the macro-economy. (Or so they think, anyway...)

In reality, if you skillfully apply statistical thinking, the behavior of a large number of small companies may actually be more predictable than the behavior of a small number of large companies. Just like how a casino does better if it relies on a large number of small transactions, rather than just a few big jackpot transactions.

But big companies give the illusion of control. And the people in charge of our economy are delusional megalomaniacs.

I really appreciate it.

They are going to create an even worse inflation crisis. I actually just went to the store and was like wtf happened to the price of Tide???

2019 is going to be a bad year for inflation I knew it when the Fed came out and took a dovish position on interest rate hikes and they said they are changing position on balance sheets.

Great, if you are young or old get ready for less pay/ higher prices. 2019, 2020 are going to be tough years for traditional investors.

a reply to: Wildbob77

The problem is people aren't making enough money. Everyone knows it. Inflation and flat wage growth has pushed everyone out. If you don't believe me read this article.

www.newyorkfed.org...

There are real systemic issues with the market. It's in the data. You have to actually base your point of view on economic data for it to be valid.

a reply to: toysforadults

No there aren't. You need to lay off the doom porn. The population increase explains all of that chart.

a reply to: toysforadults

Sure, here's one article about how they spend and don't save:
Link

The article I read a few days ago has even better statistical breakdowns of their spending/saving but now I'm having a hard time finding it. If I find it I'll add it to the post.

a reply to: projectvxn

Bumping for later. Excellent post, thanks.

a reply to: hiddeninsite

Just trying to break the tendency of my generation to view everything in a hopeless manner.

There is so much pessimism in my generation and most of it is unfounded.

We're adults now. We have the reigns of our own destiny. Yet we choose to wallow in self doubt and conspiratorial thinking.

So far none of that has had a positive impact on the prosperity of our lives.

Time to change course. That's what this thread is really about.

originally posted by: olaru12
I lost everything in 08 and stopped playing the market. But now with the advent of a "green" market, I'm back in with a few choice 420 companies.

So far, so good...

LOL. Living proof of the terrible decisions people make when they invest without the help a professional. A true advisor would never let you lose it all. A solid portfolio in the 2007-2009 time period lost about 40%. Since then it has gone up about 300%. Those who sold in 2007 and are buying now are doomed to suffer huge losses again and it will probably be the end to their investing for the rest of their lives. I continually run into people who say they have only lost money in mutual funds...every time they buy them they only go down. Even the worst mutual fund has made a ton of money for poeple over the last 30 years.

Robin Hood is a target for hedge funds. The largest retail holdings at Robin Hood always end up as the most shorted stocks in the market. If you are a shark you eat where all the fishes hang out. I would never ever recommend using Robin Hood to purchase investments.

a reply to: sligtlyskeptical

Robinhood is a good platform for education and learning how to invest.

Not everyone can afford to have a broker. In this day and age if you're not institutional you're a small fish. Platforms like RH are a fish tank where you can learn to swim before going out into the wild.

a reply to: projectvxn

In regards to sligty's comment and your response projecttvxn - this is why I want to learn how it works, so that I can feel more in control of where my money is being used, in terms of larger amounts. I may never become an expert, but I will have a better understanding and who knows - I might even be good at it. I would never dream of taking a chance on large money but I can play and see what gives.

Lots to delve into here