9/3 Hi motd. I'm in my mid 20s and I have about $35K cash. I already
have a decent place to live and I have a car, thus I don't want to
spend my cash on anything other than investments. What is a good
investment strategy for someone like me? Thanks.
\_ How soon might you need to use the cash? I'd think about buying
property, although the timing is not so good right now.
\_ in the long term, just dump all your cash into QQQQ and/or SPDR
electronic index fund. If you want be a bit more advanturous,
you can spend 1/4 or 1/3 on GLD, then the rest in index fund.
Don't wait on the side-line for too long, don't try to pull money
out when the market moves ups and down.
\_ How did you come up with 35K in cash while still in your mid-20s
and presumably saddled with a mortgage? Are you a hooker?
\_ Yes, I am a hooker. -hooker
\_ It makes sense if you assume this person is renting, even better,
a room in a house, even better, sharing a room, even better, got
the car as a gift/used from parents. Even if you didn't invest,
you could have much more than $35K in savings if you were frugal.
How many 26-year-olds do you see wandering around with a mortgage
(even interest-only) without parental assistance or special
circumstances?
\_ It's called "not living in California". A 90,000 dollar
condo is not out of reach for a 26 year old.
\_ Wow. A wonderful 90,000 dollar condo in the middle of the
paradise that is Oklahoma. Your life must be wonderful.
\_ Or maybe she is a hooker.
\_ One can only hope so. -John Karr
\_ Depends on how cautious you are. It might be a good idea to get
a short term (3-mo) CD for part of the money b/c interest rates
on CDs are now about 5%.
\_ Depends on how cautious you are. It might be a good idea to get
a short term (3-mo) CD for part of the money b/c interest rates
on CDs are now about 5%. I would put the rest into Mutual Funds
or QQQQ.
\_ I know nothing about finance, and had never heard of QQQQ, so I
looked it up. Looking at the following graph:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=QQQQ&t=my
I'm perplexed as to why anyone would want to invest in that.
Can someone explain?
\_ as scary as it may sound, but this is about as good as you
can do. FYI, a money manager who can consistantly beat the
market by 1% is considered pretty good.
\_ QQQQ is an index fund that tracks the Nasdaq. To the extent
that the U.S. economy has growth prospects, the Nasdaq is
a fairly safe bet. -tom
\_ So are you saying that the graph in the above link is
wrong? If you had invested almost any time in the last
six years, you would lose money. Or at least that's my
interpretation of the data.
\_ If you are in your mid 20s and you don't need the
money in the short term, the stock market has
traditionally been the best place to keep your
money. You need to have a longer time horizon than
5 years. -tom
\_ I disagree. If one invested in late 2002, one would
have made a decent amount of money. I certainly did.
The other things about QQQQ is that it is not a long
term investment. It is preferable to trade somewhat
regularly to realize your gains.
BTW, I meant to say you should put the remainder
into QQQQ and Mutual Funds (not 'or'). Mutual Funds
provide much more long term stability, but the returns
(on ave.) are not as good as trading QQQQ frequently.
I personally hold a few "growth" or "tech" mutual
funds, a few bond funds and a few mixed funds in
addition to a limited number of QQQQ b/c I am a very
risk averse investor.
\_ Mutual funds has higher cost. ETF like QQQQ and/or
SPDR is still the best bet.
\_ "Best bet" is relative. QQQQ or SPDR have some-
what more volatility than bond funds and some
conservative "growth" funds. If one is risk
averse, mutual funds are safer, which (imo) is
worth the marginally higher cost.
\_ not if you're in your 20s and don't need the
money right now. -tom
\_ I disagree. I have been a conservative
investor all my life (starting at age
18). I may never become a millionaire,
but I have also never lost any money
on my safe investments (I even made an
ave. of 8% during the bust years). To
me, the feeling of security is worth
much more than the potential "upside."
Perhaps to you it is not. One size does
not fit all.
\_ mutual funds aren't any safer than QQQQ.
-tom
\_ most do not have so much Tech.
\_ I have been an agressive investor for
6 years and I just made my first million.
You should be a millionaire by the time
you retire, at the very least.
\_ You are also a bad speller, and motd
entry over-writer.
\_ FLPSX. I used to invest on FDGFX, until I realized that FLPSX was
doing better in both boom times and bomb times. So I switched over.
\_ Want to put you in touch with a financial advisor? |
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