Anyone here got any experience with stocks?

[BoringSupreez]

So I've got an itch that may lead to either one of the best decisions I'll ever make, or the worst. I've got a fair bit of money saved up in my bank account, and I'd like to put it to work.

As it sits right now, I lose a little money every year due to inflation. My $100 this year is the equivalent of $99.30, and this has been happening to me for about 4 years now. If I just keep saving my money in the bank, I'll lose thousands of dollars to inflation by the time I retire (assuming the USD continues its 114-year downward trend). Whereas, if I put my money in a situation where it earns a little money each year, even just a little, I'll be ahead of the game.

Have any of you played the stocks before? Any tips you might have to share so that I don't undo months of work for no gain? I don't have any delusions of finding the "next big thing", except by accident, but I'd like to be smart about this.

[ElkinFencer10]

So I've got an itch that may lead to either one of the best decisions I'll ever make, or the worst. I've got a fair bit of money saved up in my bank account, and I'd like to put it to work.

As it sits right now, I lose a little money every year due to inflation. My $100 this year is the equivalent of $99.30, and this has been happening to me for about 4 years now. If I just keep saving my money in the bank, I'll lose thousands of dollars to inflation by the time I retire (assuming the USD continues its 114-year downward trend). Whereas, if I put my money in a situation where it earns a little money each year, even just a little, I'll be ahead of the game.

Have any of you played the stocks before? Any tips you might have to share so that I don't undo months of work for no gain? I don't have any delusions of finding the "next big thing", except by accident, but I'd like to be smart about this.

I don't have any experience in stocks - I don't make enough money to feel comfortable with high-risk investments - but I put some every month in a Roth IRA. It's taxed when I put it in rather than when I withdraw it, and it earns 1.5% interest every year. It's not like I'm making money hand over fist off interest, but that's more than enough to make up for inflation and still grow a small bit.

[Exhuminator]

I lose a little money every year due to inflation. My $100 this year is the equivalent of $99.30

The safest thing to do that keeps your money from deflating, is not to stuff it into risky stocks, but rather a money market. You won't get much of a return, but you will get accrued positive upticks. Money markets are the best bet to inflation proof your savings because of this.

http://www.investopedia.com/university/ ... arket1.asp

Roth IRAs are good for long run savings. They have advantages and disadvantages. The best advantage is that they are tax free if you do it right. That's why they are so good for long term retirement investing.

http://www.rothira.com/what-is-a-Roth-IRA

I split my retirement savings 50/50 between a money market and Roth IRA personally.

Edit: Furthermore I recommend you get an actual accountant if you've got some serious money to do something with. A real life professional can help you find the best solution for your own personal needs more than the internet can.

[samsonlonghair]

So I've got an itch that may lead to either one of the best decisions I'll ever make, or the worst. I've got a fair bit of money saved up in my bank account, and I'd like to put it to work.

As it sits right now, I lose a little money every year due to inflation. My $100 this year is the equivalent of $99.30, and this has been happening to me for about 4 years now. If I just keep saving my money in the bank, I'll lose thousands of dollars to inflation by the time I retire (assuming the USD continues its 114-year downward trend). Whereas, if I put my money in a situation where it earns a little money each year, even just a little, I'll be ahead of the game.

Have any of you played the stocks before? Any tips you might have to share so that I don't undo months of work for no gain? I don't have any delusions of finding the "next big thing", except by accident, but I'd like to be smart about this.

A couple points here:
-Moderate inflation is good for the overall economy. This is intentional by design of the federal reserve bank. Yes, it is all but assured we will have inflation next year and the year after that too. If we don't, something has gone wrong.
-I don't invest... because I don't have any money. If I did, I would invest in a low-risk index fund with minimal fees.
-Don't take investment advice from random-ass nobodies on the internet.
-Instead, Look up "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing" by John C. Boogle (retired CEO of Vanguard). He explains a realistic investment strategy in plain english.

[ElkinFencer10]

If this fucking ice ever melts, I'm going to go the credit union after work one afternoon and ask about interest options for CDs. I've got about $5600 in a savings account from a CD that my grandmother had in my name when I was born that I want to do something with. My default plan was funnel that into my retirement account little by little (since there's a yearly contribution limit), but if I can get a long-term CD that pays a higher interest rate, I'm going to do that. CDs don't give out a lot of interest, but they're also extremely low-risk, especially if it's insured by the FDIC.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Buy and read this book or this book. They will tell you everything you need to know to invest your money wisely and to start saving for retirement.

[Tanooki]

Not sure how it would play out now, but as a baby through college (and a little after) I had a nice mutual fund account that got its earnings from various stocks.

When the market was going nuts in the middle and back end of the 90s before that dot com implosion I reaped the benefits of that account as it paid for my college tuition and books every semester and still came out a little ahead after the fact. The only reason it's gone is that back in 2003 when I moved to KY the job I had setup was rudely pulled out from under me AFTER I moved, so I lived off a like $5K until I ended up getting another job right as it was on its last few dollars.

I imagine if you found one, I think mine was Travelers as I remember the little red umbrella on the logo, and put a little aside each month on top of what you already would put in there, it could do pretty good. Just be sure to have them sit in slowly growing lower risk stocks so it doesn't tank. A mutual fund can rake in a lot if you play the risk end of the market but you could lose it too, but on the safe side that slowly grows it'll do so at a better rate than some lousy bank and /or credit union on a CD (as I've had those too pre-bank collapse (lehman) era. I think credit unions pay better to a level much like the old CDs do or fairly near it, but banks pay crap, about what old savings accounts did which now don't even pull like 1% which is a joke.

[Ivo]

A quick and very good solution is to buy ETFs/index funds.

You can google for specific portfolios, there are fairly standard super simple ones where you have a percentage of a bond ETF (like BND) and the rest in a equities ETF based on the S&P 500 or similar (like VOO).

Then you rebalance it as you age and get closer to retirement (more bonds, less equities) and as you rebalance it you automatically buy low (and potentially sell high if it gets very unbalanced).

This works because if you are at an age where you want 60% equities and 40% bonds, and equities are cheap, when you add funds to your portfolio you are buying more equities than you would compared to when equities are high.

[mjmjr25]

Money markets are good if you are a conservative investor. You'll make more than you lose to inflation and it's low risk - it's definitely better than what you are doing now.

You can also do a bank CD (Certificate of Deposit) if you want something super simple that you can do at any reputable bank or credit union. These USED to be great options and pay a return of 3-6%. Those days are gone - now it is 0.5-3% depending on which bank and for how long you commit to stocking it away (the longer the term of the CD the higher the return rate). It is also better than a generic savings account.

For myself - I have a 401K through work and have been putting into it since I started right out of high school, so 18 years now. I'm extremely conservative and 75% of my investments go into a "guaranteed" fund - these are also called "stable" funds and "guarantee a set rate of return" - usually around 3-4%. You never have any real risk. It stings when someone says "my 401K made 18% last year" and yours made 3%. However, that sting goes away very quickly when someone says, "My 401K lost 9% last year" and again you can say, "Mine made 3%."

I also invest in metals (palladium, silver, gold, and platinum). It's very easy now - you can buy them from any number of reputable online retailers - you can even get them on ebay. They are pretty reliable and in any economy they will have value. If you have $40 sitting in your paypal, just randomly buy (2) ounces of silver off ebay. Quick and easy. They make them collectible as well by doing different imprints, etc.

[Blu]

BoringSupreez, I'd echo a lot of what has already been shared.

I have a 403B for the University I work at (Just think 401K for Public Employees). I also have a Roth IRA. Beyond that, we're trying to figure out what to do beyond the CD's and emergency savings we have stashed.

Don't know how long you plan on sticking in the Air Force, but if you do 20, you'll have that edge of retirement, provided the Federal Government stays in the business of issuing out pension plans to its military retirees. That's a nice chunk of change, if that's the path you end up going.

If that's the route you go, great. But if you're looking to invest, I'd first calculate what sort of risk you're willing to tolerate then invest accordingly. A good rule of thumb I see a lot of people use for people accepting of risk is: 110 - Age; then that's how much you invest in equities, the remainder invested in bonds. I still have much of my working years ahead of me, so I have 80% invested in Equities and 20% invested in bonds. You'll have to find out what works for you.

The best advice I could give is opening a Roth IRA. You could even jump into a "Lifecycle Fund" which gradually changes from equities to guaranteed income as you grow older, which is nice if you want a set and forget style of investment. If you decide on doing more of the custom portfolio, have a nice mix of small-capital, large-capital, international, and a high-yield bond of some sorts.

Don't ever worry about timing the market, it never pays off. The most important point is that there will be bad years and good years, and the power of compounding interest. This is the riskiest year so far from what it seems to be the start of a downward/bear market year, but given that you're fairly young, it will pan out.

Grab a book, like Personal Finance For Dummies or A Random Walk Down Wall Street like was mentioned. Knowledge is power!

Or you could go the route of investing in retro video games. They'll certainly appreciate over time and you can have fun with them in the process.