[ATrain]

I don't think this topic has ever been discussed before, but does anyone on here ever invest money into stocks/bonds/CDs/gold? Recently I just bought 100 shares of Bank of the James stock when they did that common stock offering and another 100 shares of Old Dominion National Bank which is opening soon in North Garden near Charlottesville. Anyone else get involved in stuff like this?

[PAmedic]

I invest as heavily as I can afford to at this point. My portfolio is thru Smith Barney- my financial advisor selects mutual funds which other managers buy and sell. A couple ideas for you:

1. Start investing NOW, while you're young. A Roth IRA is a good way to start, even a traditional IRA

2. The key is to diversify, when young- you can handle a more aggressive approach but as you age and/or accrue family and other responsibility, you need to go with a more balanced portfolio. I have quite a few funds at this point, some aggressive growth, a couple Oppenheimers, and a few others (Balance Funds, etc).

3. I would recommend you sit with a legitimate financial planner to come up with a plan specifically for your needs.

4. I would also strongly recommend you avoid "day trading"

[El Scorcho]

When you have kids, you may also want to look at Roth's for them, as well. They're a great way to build a small fortune for your kids while keeping Uncle Sam's hands out of it. They have to either be of working age, or you have to be below a certain income level, but if you meet either qualification, they're a really smart move. Also, they're raising the maximum tax-sheltered per-year gift contribution toward your children this year, if I remember correctly.

[LUconn]

While you're young it's easy if you're just thinking about retirement. If you're under 30, go to vangaurd and get the highest risk mutual fund they have. You have the time to not be conservative, where as someone close to retirement can't afford to be anything but conservative. Vangaurd doesn't have all kinds of made up service fees taking from your money and you can do it from their website so you're not paying a financial advisor. Also, if you have a savings account at your local bank, get rid of it. Get an account at emigrantdirect.com or one of the orange acounts at ingdirect.com. You can transfer funds from your checking to these accounts within a couple business days and you make 5+% most of the time. Not the lame .000005% at physical bank. And it's FDIC insured so there's no risk.

[Fumblerooskies]

I have a kid in college...
...I don't have the $ to invest.

[jcmanson]

If anyone is going to invest at ING let me know because you can get $25 and I can get $10. The service is great just let me know, and I will get you some info

[LUconn]

not to ruin your pitch but they pay the least of the online banks right now. But the rates fluctuate so who knows.

[jcmanson]

The others that I looked into seemed to have some type of hidden fees behind them. Whether it was a limited number of w/ds or a minum balance, etc. ING charges doesn't charge for anything.

[LUconn]

I went with emmigrant direct. It's at 5.05% and I applied for a CC with them too. I get 1.5% cashback every 6 months. It's not that much but hey, I guess I'm only paying 98.5 cents on the dollar for everything. It'll add up eventually I assume.

[RubberMallet]

i'm with oppenheimer and just moved from individual funds to allocaction funds...which are like the mutual fund of mutual funds.....

i am doing 2% better in these than i was in the oppenh. global market fund and mainstreet fund..... i work soley with oppenheimer but i assume many other funds do this as well...

[PAmedic]

I'm up just about 11% over 5 years now with a pretty well balanced portfolio- so again, I say- difersify.

[Ed Dantes]

I have a 401(k) through my employer (technically a 403(b) because I work for a non-profit company, but let's not parse words), and they match up to 4% of my salary on the money I put in.

Most people put money into it and that's the end of it. Usually, the people we invest with (Fidelity) just throw it into something like the Fidelity Freedom 2040 fund, which is designed with people who plan on retiring circa 2040. Basically, for the first part, it'll try to maximize your returns, and then as 2040 draws near, it'll invest in safer things (such as government bonds).

My goal is to beat the 2040 fund. So far, I've had success, but I've really diversified my portfolio to include funds such as...

International Markets
International Small Caps
Emerging Markets
Europe
China Fund
Real Estate
Gold (yes, you can invest in gold without actually purchasing gold)
Energy (read: gas... although my time reaping that has passed)
Telecommunications
Utilities
Leisure
Government Bonds
Health Care
Nasdaq
US Equities...

So far, my Year-to-date return on all this is 0.5%.

And the 2040? 0.53...



Dang it!

[Cider Jim]

I have a kid in college...
...I don't have the $ to invest.

Make the kid go to LU and he/she gets free tuition!

[PAmedic]

I work for a 501 c3 corp as well- we offer a 403b but do NOT match, therefore: my Roth IRAs.

good concept though, and if you're employer matches that's a great way to go.

[Sly Fox]

Watch, Fidelity ... if you diversify your portfolio too much they start putting these $20 surcharges on all of your accounts.

[krh44]

Atrain
Is the Old Dominion Bank the one that is going to be opening in Stuarts Draft?

[ATrain]

They might be opening a branch there...but the address I've gotten is North Garden.

[RubberMallet]

I'm up just about 11% over 5 years now with a pretty well balanced portfolio- so again, I say- difersify.

thats not too shabby with 01 and 02 in there....

over the past 3 years i've been lucky and have done 17%...that allocation fund did 19%


its also nice that our employer matches up to 4%....

[PAmedic]

you're telling me!

I actually lost 2 % those years, so factoring that in, I've REALLY had a good run

I'd be happy w/ 7 - 9% to be honest

[Sly Fox]

2001 alone wiped out half of my 401k fund. Thankfully the numbers have rebounded considerably.

[RubberMallet]

those who still have a good 20-40 yrs left before they start pulling money out should be happy about the downslides....sellers are the ones to be concerned...buyers should be happy, stocks are much lower....thus allowing you to get more for your money

[PAmedic]

yup- buy buy buy

esp health care related stuff.