Where are my financial buffs??? - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Force 10 · 01-06-2004, 07:36 PM

All my life I've let the women in my relationships handle the finances. All my life I've been the breadwinner, working hard and bringing in the large amount of cash in the relationship.

I didn't like the results. I'm a responsible, relatively young individual who just seemed to always shy away from his own finances. Truth be know, no one taught me about money when I was a kid, so I was scared to take on the responsibility.

Well, that all changed a few month ago and the results have been overwhelmingly positive. The best decision I've made so far is the purchase of Quicken. I've realized how much I'm worth, how easy it is to get out of debt and how smart it is to really take control and see where I spend my money.

So now I have my basic finances in order, I'm real comfortable with the control I have over my general income...

HERE'S WHERE YOU CAN HELP:

I don't know shit about my 401K or stocks. I know I have a considerable amount of each, as I was smart enough to invest in the ESPP and 401k through my company upon my being hired. However, I don't know how to read my portfolio or make my stocks work for me. I'm craving the knowledge that I know is at my fingertips.

Please provide me with links to some good sites that will start from the bottom, teaching the laymen the basics on up. I'd very much appreciate it!

goddfather40 · 01-07-2004, 07:40 PM

This site is very cool:

www.motleyfool.com

skysooner · 01-08-2004, 11:38 AM

The biggest thing you should do when investing is diversify. Enron stock looked great till you found out what they were doing with the books. Conventional investing theory says you need a minimum of 20 to 30 stock spread over different industries to achieve a good balance that exposes you to less market risk than someone who holds only 5 stocks or so. That is why many people invest in mutual funds. A mutual fund is highly diversified. Unfortunately sometimes the fund managers make less money than they could have by trading stocks too frequently. I'm a big believer in investing for the long-term. Don't buy a stock hoping for a short-term gain. One way that Warren Buffett recommends to invest is to stick to index funds that mirrow things like the S&P 500. There are no choices for the fund managers to make. They are invested in the stocks that make up that particular index. It also helps to know that most mutual funds do not beat the S&P 500 return.

BentNotTwisted · 01-14-2004, 10:35 AM

I'm not any kind of financial wizard, but I can tell you what I know from personal experience. When it comes to 401k most plans offer several investment options. You can distribute your savings to the different offerings based on a percentage of the total amount of money you have saved. Some of the typical offerings are:
Very conservative investments, almost like a savings account. You won't earn a lot of interest, but you won't lose a ton if the stock markets go south. In any given year you could increase or decrease your investment amount by a few percent.

Moderate investments, slightly more risky with a better return on your investment. In any given year you could increase or decrease your investment by roughly 6 to 8 percent.

Aggressive investments, very risky - you could lose up to 10 to 15% of your investment in a year's time. You could also increase your investment by the same amount.

International investments, very very risky. You could earn 20% in a year or lose it.

The best way to handle your investments is to spread them out over several different risk levels. I usually go with 25% each in Conservative, Low Risk, High Risk and International. That way if the market is good I am earning a decent interest. If the market is bad, at least my Conservative funds won't go down the drain.

The key thing is to base your investments on when you plan on retiring. If you are 10 to 20+ years from retirement you should be more aggressive as you have more time to recover from losses. The market is cyclical and eventually you will earn a better return. If you are less than 10 years from retirement keep most of your investments in moderate to conservative investments. If you are less than 5 years from retirement put all your money in the most conservative funds and keep it there.

One other thing, check your fund performance and adjust the allocation of your savings a couple of times a year at the most. If you watch it more frequently you will be tempted to move money out of a poor performing fund and into one that is doing well. This is a no no. The money you have in a fund is based on a certain number of shares in that fund. If you take money out of a fund when it is down you have a real money loss as opposed to a paper loss. If you leave the money in the fund until it recovers and shows a positive return you will not have lost money. All fund performance is cyclical and eventually a poor performing fund will begin yielding a higher interest rate.

HamiC · 01-15-2004, 05:03 PM

I'm kinda partial to www.investopedia.com

It is very well organized and has lots of information. For your ESPP and 401(k) plan, check out...

http://www.investopedia.com/universi...qualifiedplan/

If you have specific questions, I'd be happy to help. I've been working with these kind of plans for years.

Force 10 · 01-18-2004, 04:53 PM

So I've been working on my finance project for a few weeks now. so far, these are my two favorite sites:
www.investors.com
www.morningstar.com

and a big thanks to HamiC for turning me on to this WONDERFUL wealth of knowledge: www.investopedia.com

Just so you know.

01-06-2004, 07:36 PM	#1 (permalink)
Force 10 Had to leave this awesome space	Where are my financial buffs??? All my life I've let the women in my relationships handle the finances. All my life I've been the breadwinner, working hard and bringing in the large amount of cash in the relationship. I didn't like the results. I'm a responsible, relatively young individual who just seemed to always shy away from his own finances. Truth be know, no one taught me about money when I was a kid, so I was scared to take on the responsibility. Well, that all changed a few month ago and the results have been overwhelmingly positive. The best decision I've made so far is the purchase of Quicken. I've realized how much I'm worth, how easy it is to get out of debt and how smart it is to really take control and see where I spend my money. So now I have my basic finances in order, I'm real comfortable with the control I have over my general income... HERE'S WHERE YOU CAN HELP: I don't know shit about my 401K or stocks. I know I have a considerable amount of each, as I was smart enough to invest in the ESPP and 401k through my company upon my being hired. However, I don't know how to read my portfolio or make my stocks work for me. I'm craving the knowledge that I know is at my fingertips. Please provide me with links to some good sites that will start from the bottom, teaching the laymen the basics on up. I'd very much appreciate it!

01-07-2004, 07:40 PM	#2 (permalink)
goddfather40 Llama Location: Cali-for-nye-a	This site is very cool: www.motleyfool.com __________________ My name is goddfather40 and I approved this message. I got ho's and I got bitches, In C++ I branch with switches -MC Plus+

01-14-2004, 10:35 AM	#4 (permalink)
BentNotTwisted Optimistic Skeptic Location: Midway between a Beehive and Centennial	I'm not any kind of financial wizard, but I can tell you what I know from personal experience. When it comes to 401k most plans offer several investment options. You can distribute your savings to the different offerings based on a percentage of the total amount of money you have saved. Some of the typical offerings are: Very conservative investments, almost like a savings account. You won't earn a lot of interest, but you won't lose a ton if the stock markets go south. In any given year you could increase or decrease your investment amount by a few percent. Moderate investments, slightly more risky with a better return on your investment. In any given year you could increase or decrease your investment by roughly 6 to 8 percent. Aggressive investments, very risky - you could lose up to 10 to 15% of your investment in a year's time. You could also increase your investment by the same amount. International investments, very very risky. You could earn 20% in a year or lose it. The best way to handle your investments is to spread them out over several different risk levels. I usually go with 25% each in Conservative, Low Risk, High Risk and International. That way if the market is good I am earning a decent interest. If the market is bad, at least my Conservative funds won't go down the drain. The key thing is to base your investments on when you plan on retiring. If you are 10 to 20+ years from retirement you should be more aggressive as you have more time to recover from losses. The market is cyclical and eventually you will earn a better return. If you are less than 10 years from retirement keep most of your investments in moderate to conservative investments. If you are less than 5 years from retirement put all your money in the most conservative funds and keep it there. One other thing, check your fund performance and adjust the allocation of your savings a couple of times a year at the most. If you watch it more frequently you will be tempted to move money out of a poor performing fund and into one that is doing well. This is a no no. The money you have in a fund is based on a certain number of shares in that fund. If you take money out of a fund when it is down you have a real money loss as opposed to a paper loss. If you leave the money in the fund until it recovers and shows a positive return you will not have lost money. All fund performance is cyclical and eventually a poor performing fund will begin yielding a higher interest rate. __________________ IS THAT IT ???!!! Do you even know what 'it' is? When the last man dies for just words that he said... We Shall Be Free

01-08-2004, 11:38 AM	#3 (permalink)
skysooner Registered User Location: Oklahoma	The biggest thing you should do when investing is diversify. Enron stock looked great till you found out what they were doing with the books. Conventional investing theory says you need a minimum of 20 to 30 stock spread over different industries to achieve a good balance that exposes you to less market risk than someone who holds only 5 stocks or so. That is why many people invest in mutual funds. A mutual fund is highly diversified. Unfortunately sometimes the fund managers make less money than they could have by trading stocks too frequently. I'm a big believer in investing for the long-term. Don't buy a stock hoping for a short-term gain. One way that Warren Buffett recommends to invest is to stick to index funds that mirrow things like the S&P 500. There are no choices for the fund managers to make. They are invested in the stocks that make up that particular index. It also helps to know that most mutual funds do not beat the S&P 500 return.

01-15-2004, 05:03 PM	#5 (permalink)
HamiC Insane Location: USA	I'm kinda partial to www.investopedia.com It is very well organized and has lots of information. For your ESPP and 401(k) plan, check out... http://www.investopedia.com/universi...qualifiedplan/ If you have specific questions, I'd be happy to help. I've been working with these kind of plans for years.

01-18-2004, 04:53 PM	#6 (permalink)
Force 10 Had to leave this awesome space	So I've been working on my finance project for a few weeks now. so far, these are my two favorite sites: www.investors.com www.morningstar.com and a big thanks to HamiC for turning me on to this WONDERFUL wealth of knowledge: www.investopedia.com Just so you know.