What do you have invested?

[Tani Coyote]

Many of us, provided we're anxious to be able to live comfortably in the future, invest in something - stocks, bonds, CDs, business, collectibles, accounts, IRAs, etc. - in order to ensure we can do so. Or maybe we just do it because we want a fat profit.

Either way, many of us have investments of some sort as part of the natural cycle of life.

So, what do you have invested/saved up, etc.? Of course, you can always choose to keep that non-disclosed, but that's no fun!

My stats:

-I'm unemployed, and what little money I make a year is from collecting loose change(I stoop for every penny I spot), and loaning out my money with 5% interest or so.

I also pocket the change from when I buy things for my parents, and pocket every bit of money sent out for Christmas/my birthday. This is why I hate when my grandparents send clothes rather than a good ole' 20.

-I just recently opened a stock account of 500 dollars, and it is valued at 486.21; 14 dollars was spent on commissions, so technically, I made a .21 dollar profit on what's invested. I'm off to a good start!

-I am making 20 dollars a year off of this due to dividends. 3/4 of it comes from Verizon stock, which I bought to make money, and 1/4 from Pepsi stock, which I bought to give me a financially-stable asset.

-I operate my loaning mini-business, and so have about 90 dollars in cash and 40 dollars in change. I intend to invest most of this into stocks.

-I own about 250 comics or so, and I mean doubles or triples of other comics I already have. My goal is to sell all of these and average a profit of 10 dollars for them; this money will promptly go into stocks.

-My Dad has agreed to give me 10 dollars a week to invest provided I manage the stocks well. So my stocks are guaranteed to grow at least ~500 dollars a year. Success!

Of course, I'm still unemployed, but I can fix that later. Until then, this will help give me a little extra money every year.

So, what do you have invested? You can be as detailed as you want, or as abstract as you want.

I've already outlined the many types of investments, so we all surely have something; the home is the most basic investment.

It will be interesting to see who here plans for their future and who does not.

 

[Onionsoilder]

I opened my Roth IRA a couple months ago, and put the max $5,000 in it. Right now it's valued at $5,700 from dividends/stock increases. I also have a CD worth a little over $6,000 that I'm probably going to cash in to put another $5,000 in this year as well. Full-time college student, so no job, but even though it's hard to put all that money away I feel it will pay off in the end.

 

[downtown]

I have a few thousand dollars currently tied up in the Public Employees Retirement System for Ohio and Louisiana. I plan on rolling both of these accounts into the 401K program my new company offers.

Any further investment is put on hold, as my main $$$ goal is to pay down my various debts (student loans, certification costs, moving costs, etc).

 

[Whomp]

I'm too old to disclose my net worth but we'll say it's comfortable. I've been investing since I was 18 and haven't stopped since. I've made an enormous amount of mistakes along the way but the successes were considerably greater. Being able to take considerable risks without fear of loss has been one of my greatest successes. Psychology doesn't come into my decision making. That said the early sacrifices, which were considerable, and keeping my eyes open for trends have allowed me to not be too concerned about money today.

My business has also grown 20x over the last 24 years so it allows for consistent disposable income and prodigious savings.

My investment discipline is based on a set of rules that I've learned over the last 30 years and don't deviate from. I've had some good mentors along the way.

Right now, I reasonably bearish so my equity allocation is 30% long, 20% short, 30% fixed income (mostly tax exempt except retirement plans where it's much more broadly allocated) and 20% alternatives. Under ordinary circumstances I am 70% long equities 10% fixed and 20% alternatives. Often, I'll go 100% equity, 20% fixed and 20% alternatives through leverage. I haven't included my real estate holdings which would make these allocations a bit different.

I feel pretty fortunate considering my humble beginnings.

 

[JohnRM]

I am currently drawing a 50% match on contributions to a 401k that my employer offers. Hopefully, by the end of the year, we'll be back up to 100%. Other than that, I have a few little things started here and there, but I am probably going to consolidate my investments into two or three accounts. I will likely maintain my 401k, open up another similar type of account, and maintain a low-yield, but safe account.

 

[Perfection]

I have a cruddy IRA from my work that I pay into. They do 50% matching up to a certain percent of my income, which I have maxed out.

I have a few shares of my dad's startup I'm helping out.

I'm also sitting on an amount of cash in a crapass savings account that probably makes sense for me to start investing more seriously.

Oh, and I have a Powerball Ticket, so if all things go according to plan, I'll a multimillionaire in 20 hours

.

 

[classical_hero]

What exactly is a Roth IRA?

 

[warpus]

I don't really have much invested, seeing as how I am but a simple Polish immigrant who came to this country with nothing, when i was 12 years old. Nothing but my dreams, my family, and my love for bacon.. and freedom. and a couple comics and clothes and stickers and a watch and some games.

I contribute 2.5% of my earnings to an RRSP every month; my employer contributes double that on top, which hasn't really started to grow over the 2 and a half years that I have had this job... not to mention that I went with the riskiest possible strategy (we are able to select what kinda things our money gets invested in, and I figured why not go with the riskiest, considering I'm just starting out and most of this isn't even "my money". So I view this whole RRSP as bonus money that's on top of my earnings, really. It took a giant hit during the recession (or whatever the hell happened), but doubled in value since and uhm yeah, I won't disclose how much it is.. It isn't much, you could probably get a nice hot tub for it... I mean, you're not allowed to take money out of that RRSP anyway, so you couldn't get a hot tub if you wanted to, but one of these days.. that hot tub will be mine.

I make extra money by renting out one of the bedrooms in my house to a friend, which brings in an extra $450 a month, and have plans to rent out downstairs . it's currently being renovated, but should be finished by september, when students arrive. If I can rent it out for $600 that with the $450 would pretty much pay for the mortgage, which would be sweet.

I also do side programming jobs, mostly web stuff, sometimes weird stuff that comes up, like perl, or sql, or whatever. If web jobs come my way I do them with my brother in law. He's a great graphic designer so we make a good team. So far the business has worked out okay - I think we still have a lot to learn.

On top of that there is a multi-million dollar investment in a South Korean vespene gas processing facility and my ownership of Baja Bean Co.

 

[JerichoHill]

What exactly is a Roth IRA?

A ROTH is a post-tax savings vehicle where money, up to 5K, can be contributed and any earnings the portfolio gains are untaxable, forever. There are income limitations.


I'm not quite as old as Whomp, but I also have a sizeable portfolio of investments. As I am younger, I am much more aggressive with equities. My portfolio consists of about 80/20 equity mix, but about 40% of the equity is overseas. I also run my own mutual fund which so far has consistently gained 10% to 18% in each year. Many of my stock picks were horrible, but many were home runs (see Netflix, Marvel).

I'm comfortably happy, looking forward to a yacht, ocean-faring retirement at 45.

 

[Godwynn]

Can I have a 401(k) and a Roth IRA at the same time?

Right now I only have a taxable trading account. Once I work at my job for a year I can open at 401(k). Can I still contribute the maximum $5,000 to the Roth IRA if I already have a 401(k)?

 

[Munch]

The sum of my worth is in a few savings accounts, but really is only just about equal to the sum of my debt anyway.

 

[Zelig]

My money is mostly sitting in savings at 2.1%, with a couple GICs, until I get a job and figure out how much money I need to spend to relocate and set myself up at my new location, and decide how much fun stuff I feel like buying.

I just recently opened a stock account of 500 dollars, and it is valued at 486.21; 14 dollars was spent on commissions, so technically, I made a .21 dollar profit on what's invested. I'm off to a good start!

No, technically you've lost $13.79.

I have a few thousand dollars currently tied up in the Public Employees Retirement System for Ohio and Louisiana. I plan on rolling both of these accounts into the 401K program my new company offers.

Any further investment is put on hold, as my main $$$ goal is to pay down my various debts (student loans, certification costs, moving costs, etc).

Yeah, it's almost never worth investing money while you've got outstanding debts.

 

[Whomp]

Can I have a 401(k) and a Roth IRA at the same time?

Right now I only have a taxable trading account. Once I work at my job for a year I can open at 401(k). Can I still contribute the maximum $5,000 to the Roth IRA if I already have a 401(k)?

Depends on how much you make and whether you're covered by a 401k (which you are not).

If you're covered by a 401k...
For IRA if you make less than $56k it's still fully deductible. The deduction phases out between $56k and $66k.
If you're not covered it's fully deductible regardless of income.
IRA's you can contribute to whether you're covered by a 401k or not it's boils down to deductibility.

Whether you're covered by a 401k or not...
For Roth IRA's under $105k you can contribute and phases out at $120k.

But this year you should make either a deductible IRA or Roth contribution.

 

[Godwynn]

Depends on how much you make and whether you're covered by a 401k (which you are not).

If you're covered by a 401k...
For IRA if you make less than $56k it's still fully deductible. The deduction phases out between $56k and $66k.
If you're not covered it's fully deductible regardless of income.
IRA's you can contribute to whether you're covered by a 401k or not it's boils down to deductibility.

Whether you're covered by a 401k or not...
For Roth IRA's under $105k you can contribute and phases out at $120k.

But this year you should make either a deductible IRA or Roth contribution.

Is it a major hassle to convert my current tradeable account into a Roth IRA? Taxes and such?

 

[JerichoHill]

Can I have a 401(k) and a Roth IRA at the same time?

Right now I only have a taxable trading account. Once I work at my job for a year I can open at 401(k). Can I still contribute the maximum $5,000 to the Roth IRA if I already have a 401(k)?

Yes. So long as your income is less than the maximum (about 100Kish for single filer, I think

 

[JerichoHill]

Is it a major hassle to convert my current tradeable account into a Roth IRA? Taxes and such?

Not if you ask Vanguard to handle it. They're a good company to start with

 

[Labtec600]

I just contribute to my company 401K. It's matched dollar for dollar for the first 2% and then 65 cents to every dollar for the next 5%. I came in when the market was going down, so I came in at a good time. I am at 90% stocks but just picked the "I will retire in XXXX, so manage my account" plan.

Outside of that, I try and throw a couple hundred into my savings account at the end of each month. I live off a check card.

 

[JerichoHill]

Yeah, it's almost never worth investing money while you've got outstanding debts.

This is not true. The interest rate on the debt and the various tax implications matters. I advise worrying little about student loan debt or fixed rate mortgage debt.

 

[Arwon]

Hmm. I guess I have my superannuation.

 

[Naskra]

I do a lot of "portfolio rebalancing". Which in my case means I've been furiously churning for the last few months -- mostly high-beta mid-caps and silver, lots and lots of silver. I buy an occasional HY bond; none with a maturity beyond 2014, these I regard as keepers. I have very few equities right now, getting longer VXX every week. I've stayed at least 40% cash for over a year.