Stocks/shares investments

I would advise you not go by yourself in the beginning. Find a professional and let him do the job. Make a good research though.

As a principle, never invest in money(letting them resting in an account).
I agree with the advises you got from other posters about stocks etc.
Also, investing in land is always a good deal. But again ,it needs some studying
 
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If you find a professional make sure you understand his trading technique. A lot of pros like the flip style of investing where you buy something with the intention of turning it over. There are two reasons for this - first they get paid on commission and second it is easier to be a trader than an investor (you don't have to understand the company short term and long term potential/risk; you are just buying selling based off of market movement.

I would advise you not go by yourself in the beginning. Find a professional and let him do the job. Make a good research though.

As a principle, never invest in money(letting them resting in an account).
I agree with the advises you got from other posters about stocks etc.
Also, investing in land is always a good deal. But again ,it needs some studying
 
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TBH, I trust the advice here and around the net (when filtered through an exhaustively sceptical barrier - which I'm pretty good at) a lot more than I would be likely to trust a financial advisor. I've never found money transactions or interest rates to be overly complicated or particularly difficult concepts to grasp - it's just that I never cared about the stock market before, so I have to learn the lingo and the basic rhythm of the market first.

My current conclusion - which is still subject to change - is as follows:

Get rid of car loan as the interest rate is too high.

Invest in index funds through an established platform with a low transaction cost.

Spread the investments within reason.

Be patient and don't panic if the market goes south.

Have a separate, smaller, investment account for risk taking - where I'm free to fuck up gloriously until such time as I decide if it's really worth taking risks.

Retire when I can live in comfort with little or no debt.
 
If you find a professional make sure you understand his trading technique. A lot of pros like the flip style of investing where you buy something with the intention of turning it over. There are two reasons for this - first they get paid on commission and second it is easier to be a trader than an investor (you don't have to understand the company short term and long term potential/risk; you are just buying selling based off of market movement.



Fully agreed. That’s why I said to make a good research.


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How realistic is it to expect a ~10% yearly return by doing relatively safe investments?

If I could manage that, my own homemade math tells me I should be able to retire in about 13 years :)

10% is doable depending on the market, depending how aggressive you get with your stocks/bonds ratio. Often investors will recommend putting in a percentage of bonds to even out the volatility you'll see with your investments (bonds usually, but not always, act as a counterbalance to stocks). The more heavily you lean on stocks, the greater increase you'll see over the long term, as long as you are brave and dismiss the dips in-between. Then when you get closer to your retirement date, you start moving heavily to bonds, to give you more of a "stable" return.

It's important to remember that the market average over the long term is 7%, so I would recommend doing your calculations based on that. There's also what's called the safe withdrawal rate, which means that taking inflation and market hiccups into account, estimate that 7% now, will be worth 4% at your retirement date (in other words, if you saved up 1 million, and was withdrawing 7% of that, your 70k a year would be worth closer to 40k a year at the time of retirement). And while 40k a year might not sound like a lot, also take into account that you will be in a lower tax bracket because you're not saving oodles of cash to retire, and if you have payed off a mortgage and debt, your living expenses are much lower.

This article explains the easy math to calculate retirement. If you just use an investment calculator, it only shows you numbers, not the full picture.
 
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TBH, I trust the advice here and around the net (when filtered through an exhaustively sceptical barrier - which I'm pretty good at) a lot more than I would be likely to trust a financial advisor. I've never found money transactions or interest rates to be overly complicated or particularly difficult concepts to grasp - it's just that I never cared about the stock market before, so I have to learn the lingo and the basic rhythm of the market first.

My current conclusion - which is still subject to change - is as follows:

Get rid of car loan as the interest rate is too high.

Invest in index funds through an established platform with a low transaction cost.

Spread the investments within reason.

Be patient and don't panic if the market goes south.

Have a separate, smaller, investment account for risk taking - where I'm free to fuck up gloriously until such time as I decide if it's really worth taking risks.

Retire when I can live in comfort with little or no debt.

Pretty much spot on! I don't doubt you do a lot of research before you execute. You'll do fine.
 
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This thread is the best thing I've seen on the internet all week.
 
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Anyone here make a killing in precious metals ever? My dad did but he bought a lot of gold and silver back in the 80's and 90's. He then sold a good amount of it when it hit its peak around 10 years ago or so. He has also invested heavily in stocks. He took a big hit on Black Tuesday in 87. But, like what was said here, he kept on buying when the market crashed and made all his money back and then some.

After he sold a bunch of gold and silver he gave me some of my inheritance early and paid off my house. I told him not too but he insisted. I would say it is too risky for precious metals right now but there may be similar opportunities out there.

I also retired at 43 and I'm very happy with that decision. I worked in a jail for 20 years and invested from day 1. I just could not see working in a jail and having to maybe fight with people 30 years younger then me :) So I did everything I could to retire after 20 years.

I also got a bit lucky because my wife has a very high paying job. She is 5 years younger then me and I helped her pay the bills while she was in college. She almost demanded that I retire after 20 years. So I very much believe in Karma. Do good things unto others and good things will happen to you.
 
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TBH, I trust the advice here and around the net (when filtered through an exhaustively sceptical barrier - which I'm pretty good at) a lot more than I would be likely to trust a financial advisor. I've never found money transactions or interest rates to be overly complicated or particularly difficult concepts to grasp - it's just that I never cared about the stock market before, so I have to learn the lingo and the basic rhythm of the market first.

My current conclusion - which is still subject to change - is as follows:

Get rid of car loan as the interest rate is too high.

Invest in index funds through an established platform with a low transaction cost.

Spread the investments within reason.

Be patient and don't panic if the market goes south.

Have a separate, smaller, investment account for risk taking - where I'm free to fuck up gloriously until such time as I decide if it's really worth taking risks.

Retire when I can live in comfort with little or no debt.
I think that's a good start.

If you can keep adding money to both investment accounts each month then you are likely to grow your investments passively as well as actively. You can set a ratio for every month as to decide if you want to put more or less in the risky one.

I have been trying to put the maximum I can every year and it's grown quite well. It's about remaining consistent.

However my company now matches my pension contributions up to 10% so I have less disposable money to invest with. Although they do serve the same purpose.

I recommend diversifying as much as you can which includes properties at some point.

The way it often works is:
Stock market does well then bonds dont
Bonds do well then stocks don't
Property is different but usually quite stable with high dependency on location

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However my company now matches my pension contributions up to 10% so I have less disposable money to invest with. Although they do serve the same purpose.

Damn, 10% is nice.

And on a side note for everyone else wondering, you should ABSOLUTELY invest whatever your employer will match to their max. It's free money. If you're not already doing it, but have the option to, do it yesterday. You're basically turning down a raise if you don't.
 
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Anyone here make a killing in precious metals ever?

I think the general idea is more that this is a safe investment in value. So it's not about making money but about not losing value.

Gold was a safe bet to put your money in, and to not lose due to inflation. In addition when the market crashes, people will turn to gold and the gold price rises. So you have some diversification.

Well, that was kinda the idea at least until recently:
Gold-Price-Development.jpg


Personally I bought metals when greece started to crumble and everyone suspected that the market could go to shit.
But instead if rising metals actually crashed badly.
I mean you never lose everything of course. As it costs some money to mine gold, you can be relatively sure, that it will at worst balance out at this price point.
 
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As an avid Boglehead, I would say that Caddy has nailed it here.

There's a good Bogleheads wiki at https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Main_Page

(If you do not know who John Bogle is, he's the founder of Vanguard.)

Only about 5% of stocks each year beats the market. And the composition of those 5% changes from year to year. No active fund manager is able to pick those 5% consistently year after year. Which is why I invest in index funds. With these funds, I *know* I'm very likely to be holding that 5% of stocks every single year.

A big killer with active mutual funds are fees and expenses. The opportunity cost can run into the hundreds of thousands over a lifetime. By using passive index funds, you greatly alleviate that problem.

I would suggest starting out by by looking at something like a target Vanguard fund, review the funds composition and asset allocation, to give you some ideas. There is no need to complicate it with more than 3 or 4 funds at the most.

https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/target-retirement/#/

For example, I'm invested in a S&P 500 index, a total international stock index, and an intermediate bond index. No need to go crazy and slice and dice. The key is to STICK with it, year and year.
 
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Yes Vanguard is pretty much king in the US for index and ETFs. Unfortunately their Canadian offering is not as attractive. TD E-series seems to be the one to choose. Fortunately my employer offers funds even cheaper. Tangerine has excellent portfolios in Canada too. A little on the expensive side by going over the 1% MER mark, but they’re all rebalanced automatically every quarter, and have 4 simple stock/bond ratios. I use them for my shorter term tax free savings, but they’re excellent for anyone wanting to start in Canada since they’re Fire and Forget index investments, and you can always move to the cheaper ETFs when you build up some decent net worth.

I know nothing about the international over-seas offerings though. If anyone else does let me know. I’d be interested to see what offerings are in different parts of the world and what banks are charging for index and ETFs
 
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Even I'm learning things :) thanks all.
 
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LOL, love the Bitcoin advice! I was actually a financial advisor of sorts for a while. I probably put about 1% of my net worth into coins in 2013 and it easily makes up 50% of my portfolio now, which, granted, is okay but certainly not much. Anyway, while that has been a great investment, I have seen one significant crash already and you should never invest anything in it that you can't afford to lose!
 
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How realistic is it to expect a ~10% yearly return by doing relatively safe investments?

If I could manage that, my own homemade math tells me I should be able to retire in about 13 years :)

I forgot to mention the fund I recommended is doing better than that on average since 1988. Of course historical returns are no guarantee of future returns.
 
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However my company now matches my pension contributions up to 10% so I have less disposable money to invest with. Although they do serve the same purpose.

Maybe this is a language thing, but what does the above mean - exactly?

In Denmark we have this thing called folkepension (public pension) - which is something everyone has a right to, whether they have a job or not. It's part of our social security system - which is supposedly among the best in the world.

But we automatically pay a small contribution directly from our monthly pay - which will make our final pension higher.

Is this a similar thing or?

Also, I don't think it's possible to invest any part of my "forced pension" - though I'm not sure. Will have to check that out first.
 
Maybe this is a language thing, but what does the above mean - exactly?

In Denmark we have this thing called folkepension (public pension) - which is something everyone has a right to, whether they have a job or not. It's part of our social security system - which is supposedly among the best in the world.

But we automatically pay a small contribution directly from our monthly pay - which will make our final pension higher.

Is this a similar thing or?

Also, I don't think it's possible to invest any part of my "forced pension" - though I'm not sure. Will have to check that out first.

Over here, employers get deals on mutual funds, and usually have a special retirement fund set up for employees. Often they will match a certain amount that the employee will put away for retirement. Mine for instance, matches up to 4%. So if I put away 4% of my paycheck into a bunch of selected stocks and bonds (that i get to select from their plans), then my employer will double that amount automatically.

There's also a government supplied pension plan or social security (which is probably similar to the folkepension you have) but it's very small and not worth much (unless you work in a gov. related field, then it's much better). The one offered to you is probably much better then what we have here.
 
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