Investments strategy with new administration?

[jyoutz]

I have a large portion of my retirement funds in the federal Thrift Savings Plan, from my 30 years as a postal employee. Last year, my rate of return was 20.98% using the "C", "S" and "I" funds, all stock funds, no bonds or fixed rate funds. So far this month. I am up 4.08%
Official TSP rates of return:
Year G Fund F Fund C Fund S Fund I Fund
Inception date 4/1/1987 1/29/1988 1/29/1988 5/1/2001 5/1/2001
1 year 4.40% 1.33% 24.96% 16.93% 4.27%
3 year 3.87% -2.30% 8.90% 2.61% 2.03%
5 year 2.78% -0.24% 14.48% 9.88% 5.07%
10 year 2.52% 1.49% 13.09% 9.52% 5.63%
Since inception 4.65% 5.25% 11.17% 9.33% 5.01%

I do too, but I’m considering an IRA rollover.

 

[jyoutz]

Eddie,
I think TX land is the best investment a person could have. Not being political, but I think land in a southern or "red" state is solid, for years to come.

I think the Covid pandemic started (or accelerated) a movement and mass migration to areas with less government intrusion. The first to move were those that were retired, that weren't relying on employment opportunities. But now you're seeing businesses, not just people moving to red states. I look at all the building in states like TX, AZ, OK and it's incredible.

Just look at land prices in TX. They're up 4x from pre-pandemic levels and are still rising.

Climate probably is the most significant factor.

 

[California]

I worked on Wall street for 15 years.

I have so , so many stories.

Please tell us more!!!

GameStop action behind the curtain?

 

[Snobdds]

For those in the cheap seats...this is how tariffs work. They force companies to bring back manufacturing. It might be a good strategy to get back in the market to ride the wave of earnings to come.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1882147964199850161

 

[Snobdds]

I think investing in a bomb shelter might be the best option.

How can I help this along?

 

[bcs001]

I cant agree more with those who recommend taking control of your own investments. I too fell into the financial advisor hype that they would be your best choice for growing wealth but learned the hard way no one looks out for YOU better than YOU. It can be scary and intimidating at first but once you begin to educate yourself, figure out how to use the easily available resources and start paying attention to your own accounts, it becomes second nature and very satisfying. Self directed investment accounts with Fidelity include access to financial professionals that can assist with long term planning if needed.

I chose to subscribe to a service that makes recommendations including exit strategies and educates you as to why they were made. If it fits your overall investing goals (aggressive growth, dividend income, new technology, etc.) then you chose how to implement it. This has now become my very profitable part time job and the learning continues into retirement.

 

[kenmbz]

Please tell us more!!!

GameStop action behind the curtain?

There was a whole movie on Gamestop, it pretty much covered this.

 

[California]

There was a whole movie on Gamestop, it pretty much covered this.

Thanks. I never heard of it. The Big Short is my favorite in that genre.

 

[gsganzer]

So who uses an advisor vs self management? I recently inherited an account, along with an advisor. I still have my own accounts which I have always done myself, and now I'm trying to compare, though at this point I only have 4 months to compare against. My account is 2 ETFs and 3 stocks. The managed account is 45 different holdings. Seem like that's just over-complicated. My account is performing a bit better overall, but market has been generally good, it's easy to make money when the market is good. I do see that when we have a bad day, my account also has a worse day lol. I've just put money away and hoped it be there when I get old... now as I do get older, I'm a lot more interested in trying to learn how to maximize returns.

I think the term Financial Advisor is broadly used, but in fact there are many differences in the details of what the "advisor" is actually doing. You can have a broker, financial advisor, fiduciary, accountant or financial planner and probably a number of other titles and/or roles.

In our case, we originally had our accounts with Merrill Lynch and had their financial advisor manage our accounts. Ironically, this advisor was also a "fiduciary". I say ironically, because in this scenario, the advisor would probably have a loyalty to their employer and try to push you into things that make their employer the most money, but are also expected to always be working in your best interest as a fiduciary. The different "hats" the person wears are conflicting. We had an advisor that earned us very respectable returns. But, without proper controls, this can very much be like putting the fox in the henhouse. The thing this lacked, was the 30,000 foot view of our entire lives, including financial picture, insurance, taxes, trusts, healthcare, goals, elder care, bequeath to our kids etc.

We moved our money to a CFP who is also a fiduciary, who also happens to be a family friend that has navigated a number of family members into/through retirement. They look at the entire picture and work for our best interest. They don't directly manage our money, but they oversee those that do. Same withour insurance, taxes, etc. They moved our accounts to where we pay lower costs and they can be easily manipulated to get the most gains at the optimal risk for our situation. In addition, we're much more able to integrate our investments and distributions to our complex tax picture. In addition, this scenario has also advised on other risks/costs, such as insurance etc.

I think like some others have said, as far as the investment side, you can probably do equally as well putting your portfolio into Fidelity or Vanguard as you can getting a broker at one of the investment firms. Most of these accounts are algorithm driven anyway, based off of a large questionnaire that then determines the investment strategy.

But you might have more needs than that, like in our case.

 

[orezok]

How can I help this along?

Send money (which you seem to have too much). $100,000 should build a nice one