Investing

[Anonymous 1]

I know little about the stock market and how to invest money. I can't say I'm drowning in cash or anything crazy but I do have a 401k that I just let the company manage (although we can handle it ourselves if we want to) and about 20k in savings beyond what I need for normal living expenses. Should I be thinking about investments at this point? If so, how do you learn how to do it?

[MonarchMom]

Since you have a 401K I would start there. Take a look at the choices you have and what form is the default contribution made by your company, is it company stock? or fund of some type. There should be an online resource that shows you the past performance of each option and the expense ratio (what is charged to manage the fund). If there is a choice for an index stock fund, or target dated fund, those are typically the best options for low cost - which means more of your money is invested and growing.

You can take an adult education class, or read a book that is geared toward entry level to get familiar with basic terms and concepts. I like Jane Bryant Quinn, her approach is simple and understandable:

Andrew Tobias also has an easy to follow book to get you started:

[Anonymous 1]

Since you have a 401K I would start there. Take a look at the choices you have and what form is the default contribution made by your company, is it company stock? or fund of some type. There should be an online resource that shows you the past performance of each option and the expense ratio (what is charged to manage the fund). If there is a choice for an index stock fund, or target dated fund, those are typically the best options for low cost - which means more of your money is invested and growing.

You can take an adult education class, or read a book that is geared toward entry level to get familiar with basic terms and concepts. I like Jane Bryant Quinn, her approach is simple and understandable:

Andrew Tobias also has an easy to follow book to get you started:

Thanks for the advice and some reading suggestions! I've checked out the second one from my library but the first one they didn't have so I ordered it.

[Anonymous 1]

Since you have a 401K I would start there. Take a look at the choices you have and what form is the default contribution made by your company, is it company stock? or fund of some type. There should be an online resource that shows you the past performance of each option and the expense ratio (what is charged to manage the fund). If there is a choice for an index stock fund, or target dated fund, those are typically the best options for low cost - which means more of your money is invested and growing.

You can take an adult education class, or read a book that is geared toward entry level to get familiar with basic terms and concepts. I like Jane Bryant Quinn, her approach is simple and understandable:

Andrew Tobias also has an easy to follow book to get you started:

Thanks for the advice and some reading suggestions! I've checked out the second one from my library but the first one they didn't have so I ordered it.

[Anonymous 1]

Since you have a 401K I would start there. Take a look at the choices you have and what form is the default contribution made by your company, is it company stock? or fund of some type. There should be an online resource that shows you the past performance of each option and the expense ratio (what is charged to manage the fund). If there is a choice for an index stock fund, or target dated fund, those are typically the best options for low cost - which means more of your money is invested and growing.

You can take an adult education class, or read a book that is geared toward entry level to get familiar with basic terms and concepts. I like Jane Bryant Quinn, her approach is simple and understandable:

Andrew Tobias also has an easy to follow book to get you started:

Thanks for the advice and some reading suggestions! I've checked out the second one from my library but the first one they didn't have so I ordered it.

[Linda_Runs]

We have been investors for just short of 20 years now. We find that mutual funds have worked the best for us.

Some things to research are the fees that a wealth management company will charge and their track record. Be prepared for the longer haul. While the markets may slide some days or week, over time they always go up. When the markets dipped quit low about three weeks ago, we invested even more while many shares were down. Buy low and hold on.

[MonarchMom]

We have been investors for just short of 20 years now. We find that mutual funds have worked the best for us.

Some things to research are the fees that a wealth management company will charge and their track record. Be prepared for the longer haul. While the markets may slide some days or week, over time they always go up. When the markets dipped quit low about three weeks ago, we invested even more while many shares were down. Buy low and hold on.

Most "wealth management" companies want a minimum of 100-500 K to start an account, and the fees are not worth what they can do for you. Few can outperform an index stock fund or balanced mutual fund after you subtract the management fees and expenses on the options they push.

If the 20K is after tax money (you already paid income tax on it the year it was earned or received) then putting it into a ROTH IRA at a low-cost company like Vanguard or Fidelity is a great option. They can walk you through the steps and you can do it all online. If you don't qualify for an IRA because of income limits, start with a balanced mutual fund or index stock fund they offer.

[Deleted User 670]

Schwab also caters to the small investor. You might want to talk to them too.

[Linda_Runs]

We have been investors for just short of 20 years now. We find that mutual funds have worked the best for us.

Some things to research are the fees that a wealth management company will charge and their track record. Be prepared for the longer haul. While the markets may slide some days or week, over time they always go up. When the markets dipped quit low about three weeks ago, we invested even more while many shares were down. Buy low and hold on.

Most "wealth management" companies want a minimum of 100-500 K to start an account, and the fees are not worth what they can do for you. Few can outperform an index stock fund or balanced mutual fund after you subtract the management fees and expenses on the options they push.

If the 20K is after tax money (you already paid income tax on it the year it was earned or received) then putting it into a ROTH IRA at a low-cost company like Vanguard or Fidelity is a great option. They can walk you through the steps and you can do it all online. If you don't qualify for an IRA because of income limits, start with a balanced mutual fund or index stock fund they offer.

We are with BMO Wealth Management. There are not set fees but it is percentage based. The more money you have in your funds, the less the percentage. If a person is investing less than 100K, I would not recommend a wealth management, but if you can build it to over 300K, it works well. Our investments recently have been good with this company.