Financial - Retirement - Stock Advice Thread

My wife and I recently started working with my dad's financial advisor. We should have did it a while ago instead of having our money sit elsewhere collecting pennies on the dollar... but my wife wasn't ready she kept saying. I told her my dad has been with this guy since I believe 1987 and he is doing very well. We finally decided to meet with the Financial Advisor over the summer and already have noticed our money/investments grow.

Edit: Also my employer has a 457 (Deferred Comp) and IRA Roth through them (well via Nationwide) so I'm in that as well as the retirement system.

Edit x2: Found that my Financial Advisor started in the industry in 1985 :eek: That's the year I was born lol
 
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I’ve had a financial advisor for a few years now. They manage my investments and give some pointers. They’ve also made recommendations for additional investments, which was quite a boon during the market run-up 2020 thru 2021.

It’s been helpful. Pay a marginal fee on the value of the accounts to have them manage those accounts. Getting a lot more out of it than I put into it.
 
It’s been helpful. Pay a marginal fee on the value of the accounts to have them manage those accounts. Getting a lot more out of it than I put into it.

I have a few friends that like to do the management part of their accounts themselves but I don't have the patience or desire to do that. I mean I have the time but it's not my thing lol
 
What's investing? lol

We have our Reg 401ks(wife's is a lot bigger since she started way earlier than I did) and then we have 2 saving accounts. One is a rainy day funds that has 3 months of mortgage payments, don't touch it at all. The other is an account we put in $1,000 a month on it. Usually use those funds at the end of the year to pay the property taxes and yearly house insurance bill and maybe vacation funds for the following year.

We both also have HSA accounts for are doctors bills and what not. Wife uses all those funds come year end and I basically just put money into it and rarely use those fund. Nice little chunk in there but can only spend it on certain items(doctors, medicines, contact, glasses.....).

We know we should be doing more with our funds, which we plan on doing that later this year. Since we decided to build a house about 2 years ago, all our funds have been going towards that so nothing was going towards investments. But that paid off a bit since we were able to get a big chunk of cash from selling our old house and put a little over 20% down payment on the new place and still get roughly a years worth of my salary(funny but sad since I get paid "low"). Some of that money went to a new fence, down payment on the truck, some furniture and dog bills.

We basically plan to cover living expenses and year end expenses, keep a rainy day account and keep a decent small amount in checking to cover monthly expenses. We pay everything with our credit card and usually can get around $1000 a year in cash back rewards each year. We also pay around $100 more a month towards the mortgage bill. Doesn't seem like much but at the end of the mortgage, supposedly, you end yup saving a large chunk of "interest" money. We might need to bump that up this year since the mortgage did grow quite a bit with the new house.

So def ill be looking into this thread at some point for some advice. I'm guessing the best way to go would be to get an advisor and go that route as it would not involve us too much.
 
One quick question....can you change from a regular 401k to a Roth IRA during the year?

Seems like most people are going with a Roth since the taxes are taken up front? I take it that its kind of a gamble since with a Roth you are paying todays tax rates whereas in a Reg 401k you pay the futures tax rates? Am I thinking that correctly?
 
The 401k and Roth IRA are two separate accounts. You can have both simultaneously and put money into them. I’d avoid transferring money from 401k to Roth IRA because you end up having to pay the taxes on the transfer.

The Roth IRA can put up to $7000 annually, depending on your adjusted taxable income (you can’t directly contribute to the account at higher incomes ~$150k single, $230k married). You would set this up outside of your employer 401k.

The 401k can get upwards of $20,000 contributed to it annually and most do pre-tax contributions. I know mine allows for post-tax contributions (Roth 401k) that’s an option you can set up when you’re putting in your contributions.

Having both accounts gives you an opportunity to mix those retirement funds being pre and post taxes to hedge your bets on either tax rates going up or down, or just mitigating overall taxable income later.
 
The Roth IRA can put up to $7000 annually, depending on your adjusted taxable income (you can’t directly contribute to the account at higher incomes ~$150k single, $230k married). You would set this up outside of your employer 401k.

I thought it was $6,500 in 2023. :think: Didn't know it was related to your adjusted taxable income.

Edit: Ahh 2024 it goes up to $7,000 :thumbsup:

Edit: Found the info you were talking about income. We aren't close to the $228k for 2023 lol

The 401k can get upwards of $20,000 contributed to it annually and most do pre-tax contributions. I know mine allows for post-tax contributions (Roth 401k) that’s an option you can set up when you’re putting in your contributions.

$22,500 in 2023 / $23,000 in 2024
 
I make sure to max out my Roth IRA and 457(b) every year but I get not everyone can do that but definitely contribute something.
I was told when you get a raise/promotion to bump up the contributions. Every little bit helps.
 
I’ve had a financial advisor for a few years now. They manage my investments and give some pointers. They’ve also made recommendations for additional investments, which was quite a boon during the market run-up 2020 thru 2021.

It’s been helpful. Pay a marginal fee on the value of the accounts to have them manage those accounts. Getting a lot more out of it than I put into it.

Is a financial advisor hired through a company? Or are they individual contractors or something?
 
It depends. Places like Edward Jones, Fidelity, Merrill Lynch offer services you can have an advisor. You also can work with smaller local firms, or individuals.
 
I don't even think I have a Roth IRA; I'm enrolled in TRS (Teachers' Retirement System, or Texas Retirement System for non-educators) and I think that's some other thing.


...Should I have a Roth IRA :eek:
 
interesting about the roth ira and 401k, basically 2 different retirement savings? i dont believe canada has 2, just rrsp ( registered retirement plan ) which i believe is similar to the 401k.
"The RRSP contribution limit for the 2023 taxation year is 18% of earned income you reported on your tax return in the previous year, up to a maximum of $30,780."
you get taxed on withdrawals

we invested our house money in june and so far have made almost 8k off of it. we're locked in for a year so i think if we took any money out of the investment before the year is up we do not collect the interest.

best advise is get an advisor for sure. unless you know this stuff, but chances are if you're asking questions in here you dont know anything lol. i know nothing, i just know im making money, dont own a house and pay 4k in rent.
 
I don't even think I have a Roth IRA; I'm enrolled in TRS (Teachers' Retirement System, or Texas Retirement System for non-educators) and I think that's some other thing.


...Should I have a Roth IRA :eek:
Sounds like what you have is a form of a 401k....I didn't read to much into it.

Here at the retirement system, we work each day to fulfill TRS’ two core responsibilities – to deliver retirement, health, and related benefits that have been authorized by the Texas Legislature, and to manage the trust fund that finances member benefits.

Along with contributions you make to TRS throughout your career as an active member, the Texas Legislature and school districts also make contributions to help fund your benefits.

As a member, you can count on a strong team to manage your contributions before and after retirement. Freedom from making investment decisions and protection from investment risk means when you retire from TRS, you will benefit from a stable income stream in your defined benefit annuity.

I would think getting your own 401k or having your employer auto deduct into your own 401k wouldn't be a horrible idea. Basically its like a savings account that can vary depending on the markets and you can't access the funds until you are 65. You put money into it to make it grow and the 401k administrator/company you choose, invests that money for you in a non aggressive manner(but some companies let you choose the strategy).

It's def not going to make you rich....but helps to get a monthly income after you are retired. By no means is it a "get rich" type of investing but it would go nicely along with social security payouts once you retire.

I think it's nice to be able to spread out a portion of your pay into 401k and other investment means, just so you don't have it all in "one basket". As long as you can live with a portion of your paycheck being "gone" before you even get it.



On a more personal info sharing....my 401k has earned me only $1980 so far for 2023. This is on top of what I contributed into it and what my employer matches and puts in my 401k account for me. You can see, not a whole lot of money there....I'm sure people out there are making $1900 a week, a day or whatever from investing in other ways.
 
my 401k has earned me only $1980 so far for 2023
Dow traded pretty much sideways up until November and then shot up. It’s showing like 13% gain for the year, and that is really all from the last 6 or so weeks.
 
My investments are up 20-25% this year, mostly in the most recent run up the last 6 weeks or so. Makes me think we’re riding the fast money bubble before stuff goes to crap next year. Either inflation goes back up when the Fed drops interest rates too soon, or things start to show recession is coming in. That’s just my personal assessment.

I’ve been chicken **** to use non-traditional make money quick schemes or property investments. I remember a conversation with a few buddies back in 2011 and 2012 on building a computer with dual GTX 680 video cards so we could so-called mine these things called “Bitcoin blockchains”. And another conversation with a barista friend in 2016 when I was building a PC with a 1080 video card, that I should use it to mine Etherium and a few other cryptos because Bitcoin was starting to do really well…
 
My investments are up 20-25% this year, mostly in the most recent run up the last 6 weeks or so.

And another conversation with a barista friend in 2016 when I was building a PC with a 1080 video card, that I should use it to mine Etherium and a few other cryptos because Bitcoin was starting to do really well…

I think I'm around 23% this year for mine.

I still have you old GTX 1080 :thumb: It's in the closet though lol
 
investments are up 20-25% this year
Do you pick your stuff, or do you use a company through your work, or? Does your employer give you price discounts to buy your own company stock? I know some businesses do that for employees to invest in their own stock. I see Boeing is up like 35% on the year.
 
I have an advisor to pick my stuff - I’m too lazy. We meet a few times a year and if there’s an opportunity, I get a phone call or email. That’s outside of work. Advisor gets 1% per year. Account minimums of $10k.

Back at the low in 2020 I had my guy pick up a handful of big stocks (Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, J&J). Ride or die on MSFT, AMZN, AAPL the last few years. I think I have $10-15k of Boeing (BA) stock. We get it at a minor discount and have trading restrictions on it so I only have a bit. Also had some losers - Disney held on too long - barely broke even. Discovery has been a dud @ -50%. DocuSign has lost 50% too.

Mutual funds, ETFs… Franklin Dynatech (FTDRX) has been my best mutual fund nearly doubling in the last 3 years. Have a couple others up 40-70%.

I picked out the mix for my 401k and would have to look at what my mix is in that account because I can’t remember.
 
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