I finally bought some BRK.B a few months ago so I could share in all of his choices rather than cherry picking from all of those financials.
Stock Advice Thread
- Thread starter dgtatu01
- Start date
Sold my last 25 sh after hours, forward outlook not good, I currently prefer MSFT, CSCO & ADBE in tech. How about you?
I had 25 shares in it as well and selling after hours. Invested in those 3 tech stocks too. Might play it safe and add some to KO or BRK.B for once after the sell.
Apparently the semi's are held hostage to the tariffs until at least the G20 meeting. My small positions in MU, AVGO and KLAC are intact with the smallest, MU, crushed, down about 18%. Luckily the other 2 are still green.
CGC is still tanking, but:
https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/11/19/15-things-you-must-know-about-canopy-growth-corps.aspx
I’m considering buying more!
https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/11/19/15-things-you-must-know-about-canopy-growth-corps.aspx
I’m considering buying more!
Or sell losers to recoup money on a rare up day, plus any stocks not up today make you wonder about them...except several medical stocks down as a group, can leave them alone, IMO.
I had awful timing in October so selling made sense last week and today works too. I can't seem to time the highs and lows no matter how much I try. 
For me, lightening up here seems to make as much sense as lightening up in August/Sept. Capital preservation I reckon.
For me, lightening up here seems to make as much sense as lightening up in August/Sept. Capital preservation I reckon.
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Nothing wrong with that strategy. I'm usually long on everything unless opportunity arises. Gotta go with your gut.I had awful timing in October so selling made sense last week and today works too. I can't seem to time the highs and lows no matter how much I try.
For me, lightening up here seems to make as much sense as lightening up in August/Sept. Capital preservation I reckon.
Yeah it's a double edged sword no doubt. I started contributing 10% to the misses 401k last month again also. She does decently with the pension plan but better prices are here. She doesn't get a company match anyway so timing is of the essence. If we somehow get close to the highs again, I'll just stop it.
I was a teacher, got a whopping $25 a month match for about 5 years midway of my career, then they cut us off during a recession. No wonder I’ll probably invest to the grave!
Indeed, similar to a batting slump in baseball, have to be tough mentally in this “game.”I had awful timing in October so selling made sense last week and today works too. I can't seem to time the highs and lows no matter how much I try.
For me, lightening up here seems to make as much sense as lightening up in August/Sept. Capital preservation I reckon.
Yes, I had a 403-B plan funded by myself, a taxable account of individual stocks I kept feeding with cash, then eventually a Roth IRA...they all helped a bunch bridging my retirement between 59 and 65.
Some really good stuff in this thread. Wanted to get thoughts of the group on investing money in your HSA account. When I get my employer contribution in January I will have enough to invest the minimum amount of $2500 and still have enough to cover my max out of pocket for the year as well so I wouldn't have to sell the stock/mutual fund whatever to cover any medical expenses. I was thinking about just putting the money into something like an S&P 500 index fund. Anyone ever done any investing in an HSA? If so how risky are you with it? Thanks
It’s like any investiture. I would spread it over some funds and not worry that much. We’re getting ready to hit a bear market though so don’t expect big returns for the first few yrs.....you might even take a loss.
Here’s the thing with HSAs. First let me start off by saying that if I could, I would have done it yrs ago. It’s awesome but you’ve got to get in on when you’re younger.....or in certain circumstances. When you’re younger.....healthy.....no dependents.....you can throw money into it, never spend it, and let it grow. Then theoretically you have coverage for life in a nice vessel that gathers interest. As you age and get to the point where you need to use the savings, it can be cheaper on the pocketbook than normal insurance.
The issue comes if you are need a doctor regularly or have dependents when you’re starting the account. A single ER visit, having a young child that goes to the doctor all the time, etc. All of these can wipe out your savings in an instant.....and you’re constantly trying to throw money into the account but never being able to gain traction with the investments.
So, if you’re younger.....don’t need a doctor for a few yrs.....don’t have dependents (or put those dependents on the spouses insurance for a few yrs)....then absolutely get an HSA. Pile money into it and reap the benefits. Once you have a nest egg in there that churns out interest, you’re golden. It’s the first 3-5 yrs that are the riskier part. To me that’s riskier than what to invest in.
I don't recall my wife's employer giving her the option to invest but a bond portfolio would seem to make a lot of sense.
Its amazing how heavily weighted toward financials (7 out 10 total and 2 of his top 3) he is.
Job change sent me from a 6% match to a 4%. Kind of bummed on that, but the pay increase helped me move my contributions from 11% to 14%. But your post below makes me question..
.. is 14%, on top of maxing my Roth IRA at $5,500, too much for what appears to be an inevitable downtown? I'm NOT trying to take my money out of it, change investments, move to bonds, etc, etc, etc. Rather, I'm wondering if I'm putting TOO much into stock-heavy accounts (target retirement being 2050 to 2060)?
I have some more pressing short-term goals, and want to open up an online savings account. Rates have gone from 1.5% to 2.05% and counting. Sure, it's not the same returns as the stock market.. But not be a bad place to move a percentage point or two over. Curious what percentage people here are still putting into the stock market.
.. is 14%, on top of maxing my Roth IRA at $5,500, too much for what appears to be an inevitable downtown? I'm NOT trying to take my money out of it, change investments, move to bonds, etc, etc, etc. Rather, I'm wondering if I'm putting TOO much into stock-heavy accounts (target retirement being 2050 to 2060)?
I have some more pressing short-term goals, and want to open up an online savings account. Rates have gone from 1.5% to 2.05% and counting. Sure, it's not the same returns as the stock market.. But not be a bad place to move a percentage point or two over. Curious what percentage people here are still putting into the stock market.
I won't speak for him but you want to be buying at lower prices if you think a correction is coming. Personally, I wouldn't get above 4% at all unless this is your mindset or you're really in love with the company's investment options. Otherwise a separate individual IRA works great for everything above 4% simply because of fees and investments options.
Jameslee probably has a better strategy than me. I’m NOT a financial guru. I’m just a consumer that likes t9 be educated on what I’m involved in. I figure that because nobody can predict when the market is going to turn, I just contribute like I always do. When a downturn occurs, I get picky with my investments.....looking for buy low specials.
Same BlueRaider. I contribute 4% every paycheck and only lately have been thinking of increasing it as I have the misses.
So are you guys only putting in 4% of your paycheck into 401K? Obviously you want to hit the match, so I'm certainly going to put at least that in. Because I haven't yet started investing outside my 401k/Roth IRA, I've just upped my contribution (but maybe, down the road, I need to rethink this).
I put upwards of 20% into my 401 and Roth. Too much? Don't have any other place for it and thinking of shifting some percentage points to short-term savings.
I put upwards of 20% into my 401 and Roth. Too much? Don't have any other place for it and thinking of shifting some percentage points to short-term savings.
I think the rule of thumb is contribute to the 401k enough to get the match......then dump the rest into a Roth.
They used to say, aim for 10-12% contribution of your income yearly. But since the housing bubble around ~2008....they have been saying aim for closer to 13-15%. Honestly, you can't really overshoot in retirement......but you darn sure can undershoot.
My wife and I are contributing around 15% right now......and we have an automatic increase of 1-2% every yr. We're currently on path to retire early. Right now I'll be 58 when I retire.....but as you know things can change quickly. Gotta be fluid.
The only issue with over feeding the retirement acct is not having access to it if you need it without penalties.
My company matches once a year at 25% up to 10K. Because I’m commission only I get a profit share contributed too.
The one thing that is pretty cool is if we hit our target goal as a company we get an 84% match again up to 10K per person.
My side 10K had at one point gotten up to 12,400 but is currently at 9200........if CGC and NBEV bounce back like I expect then I’ll be a happy little investor!
My company matches once a year at 25% up to 10K. Because I’m commission only I get a profit share contributed too.
The one thing that is pretty cool is if we hit our target goal as a company we get an 84% match again up to 10K per person.
My side 10K had at one point gotten up to 12,400 but is currently at 9200........if CGC and NBEV bounce back like I expect then I’ll be a happy little investor!
Agreed.
Like I said though you shouldn’t contribute so much that you present life suffers.....and if you “need” to pay the penalties to raid your retirement, then you are sacrificing in your present life. Your present life should have an emergency cash buffer and investments to draw upon if needed.
My wife has something similar depending on performance but the correction had me upping her 401k contribution because the funds in it were essentially on sale. Fairly simple to do also via her plans website.
I do for the match only and also make yearly IRA contributions to buy stocks, funds and ETF's.
^This. I was over 20% for years until I bought a house, got married and had kids. If had to do it all over again I would just split it as 4% 401k and 16% IRA until marriage. Maybe 10% IRA after kids.
Starting the compounding clock early is probably the most important part of investing though.
I grew up in a very small town. The school (k-12) was the largest employer in the town. Thus many of my friends became teachers. What you said, jameslee, is the stuff that’s missing from the education system. Kids these days are learning the most complex calculus at early ages but are not taught basic finance. All of these kids are going to have 401k or equivalent plans.....but not a single one will be taught what to do with the darn thing. Imagine if kids were taught to even put in 1% or more of whatever income they had from ages 16-23 into some sort of investment.....
I don't believe so, but I might double check on that.
I've maxed out my yearly Roth IRA contributions, which is why I'm socking so much into my 401k. Maybe it's time to look at a traditional IRA. My question is, what's the downside to contributing too much to a 401k? Traditional and Roth IRA's still have pretty small limits.
So maybe:
1. Hit my contribution for 401k (4%)
2. Max out Roth IRA at $6,000, then
3. Open a traditional IRA, look to max that out?
I'm starting to understand the "life" part of what you guys are saying. My short term savings (/emergency fund) could certainly be larger. You can't take it with you, as they say.
The total amount you can contribute to either a Roth IRA or a Traditional IRA remains unchanged at $5,500. People 50 and over can contribute an additional $1,000 for a total of $6,500.
Meaning you can divide 5,500 to 6.500, depending on your age, between the 2 accounts.
So unless you're 50 or older, you may have some explaining to do. Don't worry though, I've already contacted the IRS on your behalf.
YWIA
I see that you can only contribute $5,500 TOTAL (soon to be $6,000) into both. So I'm still at my starting point: If I'm already maxing out my Roth/Tradtional IRA, what's next? Do you continue to add percentage points to your 401k, with a limit up to $19,000? Invest in other areas?
As many are WELL aware, I'm a novice ha. I'm probably not ready to buy individual stocks. I guess bolster my short term savings in an Online Savings Account/CDs. I just don't want to put even MORE money into the stock market, when nearly 20% is already there (minus the bond portion), seems very risky.
As many are WELL aware, I'm a novice ha. I'm probably not ready to buy individual stocks. I guess bolster my short term savings in an Online Savings Account/CDs. I just don't want to put even MORE money into the stock market, when nearly 20% is already there (minus the bond portion), seems very risky.
As you probably already know the money going into 401k is pre-tax money so that's something.
I've heard you should have 3 to 6 months of liquid capital in reserve (for monthly bills in case of emergency) I'd lean to 6+. Maybe do that if you havent already. 2% online savings account.
