Financial/retirement planning

[jbot]

Hi fellas

I don't know why, but recently I've been a bit consumed with thoughts of retirement and financial planning recently. "Consumed", however, does not equal "knowledgeable" unfortunately.

If you have an interest or are like minded or you are a financial adviser for a living, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Obviously, there is no need to divulge any of your personal finances, but would like to get your thoughts on your strategy. If you are a financial professional (CPA, securities adviser, etc), you would not be held liable and I would certainly hold you harmless for anything you say.

I know that, probably, many people on here that have an active interest in this sort of thing have a 401K from their work and whatnot and that comprises a large portion of their "retirement planning". Sadly, I do not have one. The closest I have to it is the IRA (a mix of roth and traditional) that I have been contributing to for the last 4-5 years. The rest of it has been going to savings and paying off my mortgage (although, I have a new one now. lame)

Basically, what I'd like to know is, what does your portfolio look like? Also, what do you do with your paycheck after bills are paid?

oh, and bonus question: anyone know anything about prenups? it's a subject that will have to be broached eventually by myself and my fiancee in the near future.

[RFM]

I lost a lot in my divorce, like my house which I owned outright before marriage. By all means, consult an attorney if you have monies already.

As for retirement, I've had luck with Bingo. Old Catholic women fear me.

[shittygsxr]

I have been too aggressive with my retirement contributions, and have had to change my strategy. I am more into investing for income, High dividend utility stockS and selling covered calls.

[smashweights]

My wife and I just started our Roth IRAs this past tax year, so I'm just starting to learn all this stuff too.

[madcat6183]

Jinu,

Let's put it this way, if you want to retire young, with a shit ton of cash, my parents can put you in contact with their guy. He's based out of Mansfield, both retired by 62, dad only worked to that age to get more pension, and they travel extensively every year. By that I mean 2-4 Euro trips, where the USD is worth dick. On top of that, they just poured about 50K into their house, which they built new(250K value even today), paid off in 13 years, and are still worth $$, even after the market crash and losing over 1/3.

We(fiance' and I) are meeting with him the last Friday of this month. If you are interested, PM me, I can give you more $$ numbers and details, but basically he told my parents they need to start spending or I will never have to work a day in my life after they pass, or my kids won't for that matter.

And my mom was a HS librarian, and my dad was a waste water treatment pump salesmen who didn't work for 18 mos when I was in HS.

[CoolWhip]

I'm very into financial planning. I have a very strict budget down to the dollar, yet I still can buy the things I want and have flexibility. I contribute to a 401k at work and I have stocks and mutual funds. I would be happy to talk to you about my strategies.

[Disclaimer]

My personal portfolio in addition to my 401k is quite extensive and smells of rich mahogany.

Here's my strategy, more or less: http://www.merriman.com/PDFs/UltimateBuyAndHold.pdf

I'm well diversified and should I have EVER cashed in the entire portfolio, the most I would've lost was 2%, though right now, I'm well over 20% gain.

But, for the less ambitious: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2009/06/02/the-lazy-way-to-investment-success/

[redkow97]

I have a couple IRA's (roth and traditional) and life insurance through Ameriprise, and while my first (paid) adviser wasn't the greatest, the guy they assigned us after after we terminated our personal advising relationship with him, is AWESOME.

His advice comes at no cost to me, but he does make commission on any sales or transactions I make.

But I do trust Peter. I quit my old job, and he advised my wife and I to STOP our contributions to the roth IRA we have through Ameriprise, and max out my wife's 401k instead.

Anyway, if anyone is interested in his contact info, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him. He's not pushy in the least, and he actually listens to what you say. (our first guy kept ignoring the fact that we didn't want disability income insurance, and wanted to buy a house. Pete tells us, "that's not what I'd advise, but if you've made up your mind..." and then outlines his plan based on your wishes.

And it's not like the wife and I have tons of money tied up with them. But based on the treatment we're getting now, Pete will make healthy commissions on us in 10 or 20 years.

[jbot]

reading some of the posted links/articles and digesting the info. i really appreciate the input.

i'll have to give a professional advisor some serious thought.

[max power]

I have an annuity made up of several old 401k's (that I wish I hadn't been talked into even though its doing ok), pay into a 401k at my new company up to the match and recently started buying company stock.

That said, I still have no idea what I'm doing and will be watching this thread closely.

[madcat6183]

Max, replied to you buddy. I'm trying to set up a meeting 4/27 with Chuck. Casper back to you too buddy.

[Earache]

Inheritance.

End of.

[smashweights]

Check out the American Association of Individual Investors website www.aaii.com. It's a great resource for starting out and learning about investment strategies, how to evaluate mutual funds/stocks/bonds/etfs among other things. They have online "classes," basically articles that walk you through understanding investment terms and concepts from the bottom up. Membership is like $20/year, iirc. At the very least you'll know what your financial adviser is talking about, at best you'll be managing your own portfolio and saving money.

Edited April 8, 2012 by smashweights

[fireman_343]

I need to get started on this.. Because I'm not getting younger!!

I've got money going into my defered comp every paycheck... But I k ow I can do better! I'll be keeping an eye on this topic and reading some links! Any and all info would be great!!

[speedytriple]

Wish I had a better plan I do 401k and have a plan through my work. But still fear I will work to long.

[madcat6183]

Just met with the parents for Easter lunch/dinner, the whole inheritance thing, yeah, it sucks, but yeah, it doesn't.....

[gen3flygirl]

I would say do you own research into some of the companies you might be interested in. When I was working at 15 and not spending any money on bullshit shopping I had my mom set up a Roth IRA for me. I am kicking myself for not buying more apple stock back when it was $90 a share. I knew it was going to make me money I just didn't realize how much. Honestly I would say start investing in companies like Proctor and Gable or any company that makes medical supplies. As the baby boomers start to retire and get older there is going to be an increase in medicinal demand. If you look at the population demographic in the US we are fatter in the middle than the older and younger ends. That demographic will shift into being heavier on the top side right around the time a Roth IRA is going to mature. Medical type robotics will be the big one to look for. We have immigration to make up for he lack of population replenishment but countries like china and Japan don't. They will be relying heavily on robotic medical products to take care of their elder.

[smashweights]

Also, if you're planning on going the mutual fund route, rather than trying to pick individual companies, I've found this site to be a good starting point for getting some background on funds.

http://fundmojo.com/

[redkow97]

I'm not estates guru, but I know the basics (because i have to for the February bar...)

It would behoove everyone to have some frank discussions with parents and grandparents about what (if anything) they intend to leave you.

Strictly speaking, you only "inherit" when one of your relatives dies intestate (without a will). Anything you receive from a will is not an inheritance, and you have no right to any of your parents' property - they can donate it all to charity, and all you can do is challenge the will in probate court.

So especially if you're not close with your parents, have siblings who are closer with your parents, or know your parents think "chris has his shit together, he doesn't need our money," and have some charity they like - talk to them. It's a hard thing to bring up.

I just assume my parents will leave me $0, but also 0 liabilities or debts when they pass away.

[madcat6183]

I'm not estates guru, but I know the basics (because i have to for the February bar...)

It would behoove everyone to have some frank discussions with parents and grandparents about what (if anything) they intend to leave you.

Strictly speaking, you only "inherit" when one of your relatives dies intestate (without a will). Anything you receive from a will is not an inheritance, and you have no right to any of your parents' property - they can donate it all to charity, and all you can do is challenge the will in probate court.

So especially if you're not close with your parents, have siblings who are closer with your parents, or know your parents think "chris has his shit together, he doesn't need our money," and have some charity they like - talk to them. It's a hard thing to bring up.

I just assume my parents will leave me $0, but also 0 liabilities or debts when they pass away.

Yep, this is a good post for sure and makes a lot of sense. Actually a lot of times people think they are inheriting all this good stuff/money, then turns out hte parents have health care bills, insurance bills, a mortgage on the property they still have, and in the end all the get is well nothing except stress paying the mtg off when/if the house sells etc.

[jbot]

meh, my dad already defriended me on facebook, i'm assuming the inheritance ship has sailed long before then.

then again... he defriended my sister too, so perhaps my long term psy-ops tactics are working. MUAAAHAHAAHAHAHA

jk (on everything except getting defriended. that actually did happen)

for the first step, i'm leaning towards continually buying a variety of mutual funds in addition to maxing out my IRA's every year. i did buy some stocks and funds prior to now, but with no real direction and only a small amount invested... just on a whim here and there.

When a couple contracts start playing catch up on cash flow, I will seriously consider consulting with a financial advisor on what to do with those funds as well as the proceeds from my old house sale. Part of what brought this about was the prospects of letting those funds languish in some 1% savings. i am still considering letting them languish in a used 911 turbo lololol

[smashweights]

The savings account thing is why I went ahead with investment plans (that and finally have a real income). While a savings account is guaranteed, it's such a waste to have money sitting there. Your purchasing power is probably going down every year. IMO, most of what you have in savings is just emergency money to pay bills, unforeseen emergencies, etc. to keep you from having to sell your other investments at an inopportune time.

[shittygsxr]

meh, my dad already defriended me on facebook, i'm assuming the inheritance ship has sailed long before then.

then again... he defriended my sister too, so perhaps my long term psy-ops tactics are working. MUAAAHAHAAHAHAHA

jk (on everything except getting defriended. that actually did happen)

for the first step, i'm leaning towards continually buying a variety of mutual funds in addition to maxing out my IRA's every year. i did buy some stocks and funds prior to now, but with no real direction and only a small amount invested... just on a whim here and there.

When a couple contracts start playing catch up on cash flow, I will seriously consider consulting with a financial advisor on what to do with those funds as well as the proceeds from my old house sale. Part of what brought this about was the prospects of letting those funds languish in some 1% savings. i am still considering letting them languish in a used 911 turbo lololol

skip the mutual funds the fees will kill you. High dividend stock, write covered calls and use the proceeds as income or to buy puts if you are scared of market fluctuation.

https://www.thinkorswim.com/tos/displayPage.tos?webpage=lessonStraddle

If you read this article and don't get it, then wait until you do to invest.

[smashweights]

skip the mutual funds the fees will kill you. High dividend stock, write covered calls and use the proceeds as income or to buy puts if you are scared of market fluctuation.

https://www.thinkorswim.com/tos/displayPage.tos?webpage=lessonStraddle

If you read this article and don't get it, then wait until you do to invest.

That articles seems like it would take years to understand. At that point, might just be easier to pay someone else who does understand it.

[shittygsxr]

That articles seems like it would take years to understand. At that point, might just be easier to pay someone else who does understand it.

You would be surprised by the number of Financial Advisers who don't get it.