Investing Your Money
From time to time someone asks for my thoughts on investing.
Personally invest all savings in the stock market.
Current holdings from largest to smallest amount, all ETFs
(exchange traded funds) except Apple and Amazon:
VTI
AAPL – Apple
SDY
AMZN – Amazon
QQQ
SPY
HDV
DIA
VIG
IVV
IWM
…
Investing in individual stocks like Apple and Amazon adds some “gambling” excitement, their value varies daily much more than ETFs.
ETFs contain a group of stocks.
They’re similar to mutual funds but have lower service fees because they’re not actively traded by fund managers, they are mostly “buy and hold.”
…
The stock market is risky with many ups and downs, sometimes there are big downturns including during the 2008 “Great Recession,” and the recent Covid-19 pandemic.
The attached VTI chart shows the history of the price of a VTI share since its inception in June 2001.
On October 19, 2007 VTI per share price peaked at $77.50
On March 6, 2009 it bottomed at $34.11
A $100,000 investment in VTI in October 2007 was reduced to $44,000 in March 2009.
Many were frightened and sold out of the stock market.
Those who held and continued to buy throughout the recession made big money.
Today the VTI share price is $225.31, 6.6 times higher than $34.11
An investment of $100,000 on March 6, 2009 would be worth $660,000 today.
…
The historical average for the overall stock market is an annual increase of about 7%.
Generally, the stock market growth rate is the growth rate of the economy, plus a premium few percent for risk taking.
…
Personally don’t recommend using a financial advisor.
They cannot predict the stock market prices any better than random choice.
The combination of the millions of people daily buying and selling in the stock market and thousands of market analysts assure all stocks are always correctly priced.
Many people take comfort in using an advisor and they pay fees for that comfort.
There are only two ways to “beat the market” – be lucky or break the law.
The best way to buy ETFs and individual stocks on your own is to have an investment account with a brokerage company such as E-Trade or with a big bank.
…
Personal bottom-line advice is if you can live with the short-run risk of a stock market downturn invest in a broad stock market ETFs such as VTI, SPY, and DIA.
….

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  Picture 240805 Cooling off after exercise, weight at 165 pounds. Got to 160 pounds five years ago and have been bouncing between 157 and 168 since. Common sense ways to lose and keep off weight are eat right and light and get lots of exercise. Main exercise is walking, do 1~2 miles most days. Over career worked as a salesman in the steelmaking, fasteners, and auto manufacturing industries, lots of travel in U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Japan. Over the years have visited every U.S. city with a major league, MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, sports team except Sacramento, have gotten as close as Travis Air Force Base. Often traveled on Sundays, much time on the road so could not eat right and get enough exercise so got heavy, up to 200 lbs. Was on commission and made enough to retire early, eat right and light, get enough exercise, and now spending most time reading and writing. Our Wick branch goes back to the brother of owner of Wick House in Morristown New Jersey and on back to Staines England. Have
Read more
  From article What 10 Years of U.S. Meddling in Ukraine Have Wrought (Spoiler alert: Not democracy). Aaron Mate. April 30, 2024. Section 2. Seeking to capitalize on the unrest in Ukraine in 2013, U.S. figures including State Department official Victoria Nuland, Republican Sen. John McCain, and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy visited Maidan Square. In a show of support for the movement’s hardline faction, which went beyond supporting the EU trade deal to demand Yanukovych’s ouster, the trio met privately with Tyahnybok and appeared with him on stage. The senators’ mission, Murphy said, was to “bring about a peaceful transition in ukraine.” … The Maidan Movement’s most significant U.S. endorsement came from then-Vice President Joe Biden. “Nothing would have greater impact for securing our interests and the world’s interests in Europe than to see a democratic, prosperous, and independent Ukraine in the region,” Biden said. According to Andrii Telizhenko, a former Ukrainian gov
Read more

HAT Manifesto Part 1/3 - Rubric Cube - 240804 revision

Image
  “The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system that is not working. To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds.” - William James “All experience has shown mankind are more disposed to suffer,while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.” - Thomas Jefferson “Wherever good fortune enters, envy lays siege and attacks it. And when it departs, sorrow and repentance remain behind.” - Leonardo da Vinci “Struggle is the indispensable accompaniment of progress. If men were entirely social, man would stagnate. A certain alloy of individualism and competition is required to make the human species survive and grow. Without qualities of an unsocial kind men might have led an Arcadian shepherd life in complete harmony, contentment, and mutual love. But in that case all their talents would
Read more