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I was looking over my October statement for my Rollover IRA account and it is up 2.8%. This is the first time in a long time my funds have been increasing instead of going down or staying even.

So anyway, I was just wondering. Are you planning for retirement and if so do you mind discussing how?

I have not worked a permanent job in 12 months so I have not saved any money, but when I was working I was putting 5% away to a 401K which had no matching contributions. I invested into a index fund similar to S&P 500.
I also would buy 1 EE Savings Bond a month. I view savings bond money as "use in case of last resort" investements. I buy them, throw them into a drawer and if I ever lose my shirt I will pull them out cash them and buy a bus ticket to bumville.

TrailerParkJawa wrote:I was looking over my October statement for my Rollover IRA account and it is up 2.8%. This is the first time in a long time my funds have been increasing instead of going down or staying even.

So anyway, I was just wondering. Are you planning for retirement and if so do you mind discussing how?

I have not worked a permanent job in 12 months so I have not saved any money, but when I was working I was putting 5% away to a 401K which had no matching contributions. I invested into a index fund similar to S&P 500.
I also would buy 1 EE Savings Bond a month. I view savings bond money as "use in case of last resort" investements. I buy them, throw them into a drawer and if I ever lose my shirt I will pull them out cash them and buy a bus ticket to bumville.

By a careful mixture of market index funds, bond funds, and index funds in fields guaranteed to stay stable, if not grow. (These would be the essential sorts of things that people absolutely need, such as consumer staples, health care, or transportation.) And a traditional IRA comprised of CDs and money market funds.

GrandMasterTerwynn wrote:
By a careful mixture of market index funds, bond funds, and index funds in fields guaranteed to stay stable, if not grow. (These would be the essential sorts of things that people absolutely need, such as consumer staples, health care, or transportation.) And a traditional IRA comprised of CDs and money market funds.

Oh yeah, I forgot my condo. Homes are a big part of retirement in my neck of the woods. I have a Roth IRA as well. But I screwed up and changed from a perfectly okay fund to one that has been doing very poorly because I bought into some of the hype during 1999/2000.

I need to get mine started like mad...

I'm always looking for pointers.

EmperorMing wrote:I need to get mine started like mad...

I'm always looking for pointers.

If you have a hard time starting or being disciplined Id fully suggest using some sort of automatic withdraw program. I started my first mutual fund with 250 dollars and every month after that they took out 100 dollars out of checking. By putting money into the fund each month you buffer yourself to an extent from the ups and downs of the market. Pick index funds, dont try to pick single stocks unless you are totally comfortable with 100% loss. Most mutual fund companies have funds tailored towards the beginning investor. Check out or call companies like Dreyfus or Vanguard. Also, if you dont make a lot of money think about chosing a ROTH IRA vs. a Traditional IRA because the less money you make, the less impact a tax right off has.

saving for my future?:wtf:

Only thing I have done so far is put some money into canada savings bonds and some rrsp's,Geez my retirement isn't for like 43 years.:p

I am pretty set for retirement with the land my father left me when he passed and what my grandmother is leaving me.(Not that I want her golden oldie butt to pass on anytime soon.)

TrailerParkJawa wrote:

EmperorMing wrote:I need to get mine started like mad...

I'm always looking for pointers.

*SNIP*

Thanx for the pointers...

I use stocks and whatever is left of my retirement pension.

I plan to rob a bank when I'm 50.

Private retirement found in two diffrent banks about $100/m

And it is tax deductible here

Fopr a recent graduate I have a stupidly large nest egg - more saving for a house than for retirement, but it still helps.
It's from a number of windfalls - family dying, retiring, and finding money under their beds, but mostly from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.

I put the max quota per year into tax-free savings, and some in another high-interest savings account hwile the tax year rolls around. I see no reason to put any opf my earnings into that account while I have enough to invest in the tax-free accoutns next year, so I'm quite happy.

Right now my portfolio is extremely heavy in tech stocks, something which I have been trying to change over the past 2 years. Most of my investments outside of the market have been in real estate and low-risk bonds. Hopefully in the future when I can sucessfully sell most of my tech stocks I'll be able to branch out more, but for now I am stuck in a situation where 99% of my net worth is in the stock market.

I'm scared of the stock market, I'm not quite sure how reliable it all is.

InnerBrat wrote:I'm scared of the stock market, I'm not quite sure how reliable it all is.

Well it's especially bad for me since at one point about two years ago I could have retired without ever working a day in my life. Now...

Yeah, I'd stay out of it for now. Tech stocks are making a comeback, but it is still high-risk.

EDIT: I meant without ever working a day as a professional. I've had jobs since I was 14.

I smoke a lot and drive too fast. Live fast, die young, leave a good looking corpse and a mountain of debts.

Ok, totally kidding.

I have two IRA's that I try to contribute a little to on a regular basis. If you have a sem-regular income, you might be able to set up a regular payment to your IRA through your bank.

And when you're working full-time/perm again, get that 401k going again. Easiest way to forget you're saving for you future.

Either way, try to set aside $20 a month right now. Even at your age (30ish), the money will slowly pile up over the years. As you can afford more, give more.

Oh, when I had a 401k (and I'm no financial guru!!) I spread the investments around roughly 35/40/25 between bonds (capital protection, slow steady growth); various index funds (growth and diversity), like utilities, s&p, international funds; and agressive funds (small companies, tech funds), respectively. Seemed to work pretty good; my 401k always made money, even when the Dow was at 7000 after 9/11. It didn't make much, mind you, but it didn't lose any either.

hmm... i bought a whole bunch of stocks for 2000 Euros a couple of years ago. i haven´t checked for ages but they´re still down to something like 300 Euros. i gotta check it again some time. i gives me a good self ironic laugh everytime i do so.

I'm about to spend more than half of the money I have put aside in a new mountain bike.

I have a slowly, and I mean slowly growing RRSP fund stashed away. I made a killing in the tech market about 4 years (thank you RIM & Celestica) ago then cashed out everything and stuffed it into bonds where it's getting a percent or 2 of interest. I also inherited a car sized chunk of money when my uncles passed away. That chunk's sitting in my savings account for emergency use only. I haven't contributed anything in the last 3 years though, a combination of laziness and spending a bit too much, but I plan to fix that as soon as I get a job in my field and the money starts rolling in.

Retirement? Whats that?

MKSheppard wrote:Retirement? Whats that?

I can retire when my Age + Years Worked equals 80. I'm 33 now, with 3 years worked. I've got some time to go.

By then, there won't be Social Security, so why bother?

TrailerParkJawa wrote:I was looking over my October statement for my Rollover IRA account and it is up 2.8%. This is the first time in a long time my funds have been increasing instead of going down or staying even.

So anyway, I was just wondering. Are you planning for retirement and if so do you mind discussing how?

Was paying into a mutual fund and IRA through USPA - IRA. Stopped paying into it about a year and a half ago, but the money is still sitting in the accounts. Once one of our loans is paid off, we'll resume investing. In seven years, I'll be eligible for retirement from the Army (assuming I don't eat a bullet or something in the meantime)...

TrailerParkJawa wrote:

GrandMasterTerwynn wrote:
By a careful mixture of market index funds, bond funds, and index funds in fields guaranteed to stay stable, if not grow. (These would be the essential sorts of things that people absolutely need, such as consumer staples, health care, or transportation.) And a traditional IRA comprised of CDs and money market funds.

Oh yeah, I forgot my condo. Homes are a big part of retirement in my neck of the woods. I have a Roth IRA as well. But I screwed up and changed from a perfectly okay fund to one that has been doing very poorly because I bought into some of the hype during 1999/2000.

Gah, how strange is this. I forgot my condo as well. When I was moving out to where I am now, I considered renting an apartment, and buying property. In the end, I decided that buying something I could build equity on for the next five or ten years beat throwing money into the black hole that is renting.

InnerBrat wrote:I'm scared of the stock market, I'm not quite sure how reliable it all is.

Though individual stocks can be risky, investing in the market as a single entity is an excellent way of earning money over the long-term. Though you may have these dips and drops when looking out over a couple of years, one will note that the market tends to keep growing over the course of five or ten or twenty years.

In other words, if you're looking to invest in the stock market without exposing yourself to the risks associated with picking a handful of companies . . . go with an index fund, which takes into account all the companies in the stock market.

Currently I have a 401k that will soon be rolled over into a 403b as the retirement program I have through work changes.

I also have some US savings bonds but they are more of a extra way to save cash that I bought back when I was in the Navy.

Assuming I ever retire, this is how my portfolio will look:

100% of the portfolio would be in stocks, as I have no responsibilities (no kids, no home, etc.) And I intend to pay my college as the bills come in.

Minimum of $2,000 a year would go into the portfolio. In reality, I'd like 10% of my income to go into my retirement plan, but I don't now how workable that will be, so $2,000 is a good number.

35% of my portfolio will be in sector funds, 35% into small cap stock funds, and the remaining 30% into Blue Chips or large cap stock funds. That should average out to a 12.67% rate of return. Over the lifetime of the investment (assuming I die at 85 years old, which I don't intend to do), ever dollar invested will return $446.72, compensating for inflation and before taxes, maximum. After taxes it'll be around half of that. So if I invest $2,000, I'll get about $450k back.

But my goal is to have myself stuck in hibernation (or something equivalent) for 100-200 years, so when I finally come out of the freeze, one dollar will be worth between $8,000 and $62,000,000 (with inflation, and before taxes). The legality of doing this, I don't know. But I believe there are ways, probably by handing it over to a major lawfirm or something.