Investments strategy with new administration?

[gsganzer]

Sorry, but that makes no sense to me. His example is of a failed company. All investors who stayed invested in Enron till the bitter end , lost the same amount of money regardless of whether they bought shares as an employee or as a non-employee.

Maybe his message was actually meant to be related to shares in your own company ,that are tied to a retention date, or in lieu of other compensation.
Otherwise, a lot of companies give employees a discount on their stock, plus you’re likely to know if the company is healthy, so that’s an advantage to buying stock in someone else’s company.
You just don’t want to buy too much.
Diversity is all important

What he was referring to was folks that allow their retirement portfolio's to get too lopsided with shares in their employer's stock (whether those shares were gifted, matched, purchased etc.). People keep getting company stock and fail to realize their portfolio's lack diversity. Even if your company is healthy, that particular industry or market segment could take a downturn.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Personally I prefer mutual funds for many reasons. A conglomeration of stocks and bonds lowers ones risk.
John Bogle founded the first balanced fund, Vanguard Wellington just before The Great Depression almost a century ago and original investors lost a lot, except those who followed Vanguard's "stay the course" motto. Throughout the Depression Wellington paid dividends and since inception even accounting for initial losses returns have been over 8%. Modest, but stable.
The key is time. The best time to plant a tree was 30 years ago. Many people wait too late planning retirement when they should have started in their 20s-30s.
There are compound interest calculators online and see how $1,000 grows at 8%, 12%, etc. for 30-40 years. Try $10,000 initial (that's $27.39/day for a year), then add $5,000/year compounded.
There's a point at which the dividends and capital gains are phenomenal which can be used instead of reinvested (all or in part) which allows the investments to grow.
Diversify based on risk tolerance. There will always be ups and downs, overall excellsior!

 

[California]

I agree. I have always recommended paying cash to avoid payments when buying a vehicle

BUT, now it's different, IMHO, with the price of vehicles as they are and the way franchised dealers operate now it actually better for the customer to factor financing into the deal from the start, assuming you have good credit - ~800 or above, and you get the best rate. Keep your money invested.

Over on Reddit a car salesman explained why financing today, is better than cash:

Because the dealer receives a kickback, maybe $1k, from the bank because they will make a lot of money while you pay it down. So the dealer can afford to sell for less than if it were a cash sale.

He said review the loan terms carefully to assure there is no (rare) prepayment penalty. Then use your cash to pay off the loan after a month or two. You may get a nasty phone call from the dealer since he loses that kickback if the loan ends in a short time. Screw him, he didn't disclose this discount to you!

Also, that poster noted that the affinity programs - AAA, Costco, Amazon that provide a no-hassle discount, are all being paid by the dealer to steer business to them. Occasionally you can use that as the starting price to negotiate a slightly better price.

And he said don't go down the rabbithole of negotiating over the junk fees - upholstery spray, 'ceramic' car wax, document prep, fee fee. Just focus on arguing total price with the knowledge that the nonsense up-charges are where there is fat in the offering price. Finally, walking out can be effective. If the salesman chases after you or phones the next day there is still some fat in what they offered.


I maybe overdid it on my 99 Outback purchase. Went in Monday with my check and found 'Sergei doesn't work here any more'.

 

[DarkBlack]

Personally I prefer mutual funds for many reasons.

I prefer ETF’s over mutual funds. Same performance or better, and you can buy/sell anytime during market hours, not just after 4pm like mutual funds.
A lot of company 401k, and 403b plans unfortunately restrict participants to only mutual funds.

 

[WM75Guy]

Looks like the markets will have a bad day today.

 

[riptides]

Looks like the markets will have a bad day today.

View attachment 2368079

It's been "predicted" for a while.

One has either to ride it out, or find a safe space....somewhere.

I find it interesting that the "talk" of this futures downturn is some chip company in China saying they can do it cheaper, fast with less. Targeting Nvidia. So Nvidia drives/drove the entire market? Odd.

 

[Hay Dude]

How I bought my first house.

I was working in a job where I had to work Overtime and I also got hazard pay when on certain bases.
I had that money got directly into a separate bank account.
It all adds up and after three years had a downpayment ready, still single at the time.
I bought a fixer upper. Worked with a guy who had a job in maintenance and we redid the back of the house, stairs and down stairs bathroom. I bought the materials, did all demo. The tow of us reassembled, he did the final finishing , which I am awful at.

When I got married, the wife and I redid the basement, then replaced carpets etc. and sold the house for more than double what I paid.

This is also how my Friends kids currently bought their houses, the money funneled into a 2nd account can really help.

As for ESOP , I did that with one company that set a discount price on stock. So it would have to really go down to have an affect. Had to leave it for 2 years.
2 years after I left I cashed all of it out and did ok, that front discount really made a difference.

I was offered set price stock in another company I worked for, did not take that one.
The company was doing some stupid contract bidding.
The stock was close to worthless before they got sold to another company, so dodged a bullet just by thinking through how they were doing business wise.


I did get stung once in another company where the vestment was three years for the 401K matching. I left after 3.5 years, only to find out the new owners had a 5 year vestment and I lost close to 20K (market had been way up on those 3 years).
That's when I found out that the terms could change.

I just sold my home of 16 years for double what I paid in 2008.
Bought it during a terrible RE market for sellers/great for buyers, so that helped.
Now I am a buyer again. That’s the bad part.

I got to asking myself…..”could I afford to buy my own house that I just sold?”

Nope. Even though my wife and I have greatly increased our incomes, I could not afford to buy my home I just sold.

Seems crazy, but I’m just one example that Americans are falling behind.
And I have done well investing. My retirement is all set, have great retirement diversity. Real estate prices in MY area are insane.

 

[tradosaurus]

Over on Reddit a car salesman explained why financing today, is better than cash:

Because the dealer receives a kickback, maybe $1k, from the bank because they will make a lot of money while you pay it down. So the dealer can afford to sell for less than if it were a cash sale.

He said review the loan terms carefully to assure there is no (rare) prepayment penalty. Then use your cash to pay off the loan after a month or two. You may get a nasty phone call from the dealer since he loses that kickback if the loan ends in a short time. Screw him, he didn't disclose this discount to you!

Also, that poster noted that the affinity programs - AAA, Costco, Amazon that provide a no-hassle discount, are all being paid by the dealer to steer business to them. Occasionally you can use that as the starting price to negotiate a slightly better price.

And he said don't go down the rabbithole of negotiating over the junk fees - upholstery spray, 'ceramic' car wax, document prep, fee fee. Just focus on arguing total price with the knowledge that the nonsense up-charges are where there is fat in the offering price. Finally, walking out can be effective. If the salesman chases after you or phones the next day there is still some fat in what they offered.

Or just buy a Tesla and avoid the dealership mafia network altogether.

 

[tradosaurus]

I just sold my home of 16 years for double what I paid in 2008.
Bought it during a terrible RE market for sellers/great for buyers, so that helped.
Now I am a buyer again. That’s the bad part.

I got to asking myself…..”could I afford to buy my own house that I just sold?”

Nope. Even though my wife and I have greatly increased our incomes, I could not afford to buy my home I just sold.

Seems crazy, but I’m just one example that Americans are falling behind.
And I have done well investing. My retirement is all set, have great retirement diversity. Real estate prices in MY area are insane.

Interesting. You sold your house in 2024? So what is your plan for a house?
I would never sell our house and property that we bought in 2017. 45 acres and a house that we have upgraded.
It's worth millions to me.

 

[Hay Dude]

Interesting.

Easy for you to say. I thought it was a pain in the azz, Trad. Nothing worse than moving.

You sold your house in 2024?

Yes, it was too big. My wife and I want to downsize our home and buy one geared more towards pre retirement.

So what is your plan for a house?

I am pretty well connected, in my little town. I have a friend who owns several rental homes and I am in living in one of them. We planned to wait until a small farm comes up for sale, but prices are extremely high and so are interest rates. The house we are renting is very nice, so we don’t feel any pressure to get out.
I’d like to wait until interest rates return to a more favorable level, but that could also drive up real estate prices even further.

I would never sell our house and property that we bought in 2017. 45 acres and a house that we have upgraded.
It's worth millions to me.

Thats what my previous home was like. We loved it, but we sensed the market was peaking. My Mother in law had just passed and she was part of the reason we held onto our home. Not to brag, but I have the cash (mostly from the sale of the home) now to live mortgage free for the rest of my life. We are thinking about investing in a farm, but that would mean a mortgage.