Selling out

[Dr_Snooz]

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about this... I don't have much money but I would like to start investing it in a way so that I can at least take care of myself when I can no longer work.
Any suggestions on a good website or book to start educating myself?

Most of the investment houses have good education on their websites. Here is Fidelity's. First thing you should do is establish a rainy day fund to provide ready cash for big, unexpected expenses. You don't want to invest something, then have to pull it right back out because the refrigerator broke. If you want to play it straight, open a cheap account at Vanguard or Fidelity. Whatever extra you have, stick it in an S&P 500 index fund (asset allocation funds are also a good choice, if they aren't too expensive). When you get that to somewhere north of $25k or so, you can start branching into more specific funds. At that point, you want to invest according to an asset allocation model. Depending on your risk tolerance and time horizon, you'll have x% in stock funds, y% in bond funds and z% in international funds. Each year, you will rebalance your portfolio to get back to your target asset allocation. Stay with index funds as much as possible. The expenses are low and very few funds beat the index funds over time. When you get to $100k, you can look into investing in individual stocks but its probably not worth the bother. Stick with Vanguard or Fidelity. All the other shops are corrupt and end up in the news regularly for stealing people's money.

That's the standard Wall Street wisdom. Personally, I'd say avoid banks and don't go near the market if you want to keep your money. Remember, I worked for a big Wall Street bank in their compliance department for 8 years. I was licensed to give investment advice and sell securities, so I'm not just talking out of my hat.

Right now, I recommend buying land in remote places that you can grow food on. Keep only cash on hand. A lot of people are buying gold but I'm not convinced that's a good investment now. Only put in banks what you feel you can lose should the bank go poof in the night. Instead, spend your surplus on tools and equipment to make your homestead work and provide for yourself when the SHTF. Learn to grow a garden and keep chickens. Get to know your neighbors. Avoid Wall Street come ons. They'll try to sell you the latest bubble and take all your money away.

I tried to condense that down (I know it doesn't look like it). If you have questions, PM me.

[nswst8]

Good sound advice, this is what I was hoping that would come out of this thread. People are interested in getting onto a sound financial path they just don't know where to begin. Like me when I started. My bank is USAA it is a primarily military members only bank. I hope I wasn't implying that the general banking community was a place to put your money. My apologies for any who thought I was referring to the banks as an investment proxy.

[nswst8]

at least 7.

i'd say you put yourself more inline with libertarian views, but most conservatives would say that of themselves. I don't identify with any party but i would never vote republican just based on the social issues of late. I don't think the government should tell anyone what to do or who to take care of. But then again i know that's an unrealistic demand so i abstain from most political processes.

i'm ok if you want to stock pile gold, i'll keep stock piling guns, ammunition, water, and rations. deal?

At least you didn't as many as the goverment could with your money. LOL

I stock pile most everything for a rainy day.

[stat1K]

i didn't understand the first sentence phil. and yes stock piling is good. and yes snooz' view is directly in line with my own. but me and him tend to agree on a lot despite outward appearances.