Investment forums/advice

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drewmo

Feeling the Heat
Nov 20, 2006
360
Topsham, ME
Can anyone recommend a forum or other online avenue where I can do a little investment researching? I've taken a look at a few forums and they are either over my head or appear to be loaded with con artists.

Our situation is that we earn euro, but would like to start saving for retirement & college - both of which will likely occur in the United States. We don't have much at the moment to invest, but would be interested in something like a Roth IRA. I'm assuming because we don't draw any taxable income from the US, we would not be eligible. Just looking for a place to start, really.

Extra points if you can:
1. Guess what my New Year's Resolution is
2. Name the book my Dad gave me for Christmas.

Happy New Year all!
 
Drewmo: Good to hear you are interested in SAVING, instead of HOW TO SPEND. There are plenty of good sites to look at, but having read a ton of them, books, and talked w/ various investment gurus over the years, I think I have come to a rather boring conclusion: It is really very simple, if you follow the wisdom of some of the best long-term investors. (1) Time is THE VARIABLE that will do it. Make a simple spread sheet that shows some small amount of money which you can invest every year. The next cell increases your investment by a factor of, say, 1.08 (8% APR). In the next cell, add your small amount of yearly savings, and increase that new total by a factor of 1.08. Repeat for 30 yrs or so. If you aren't familiar w/ this, do it; it may amaze you. (2) Invest regularly, (monthly is fine) regardless of market direction or location. A couple guys got a Economic "Nobel Prize" type award for showing that market timing gets you a NEGATIVE 7% "gain". Forget what the market is "going to do next week, so I'll wait to invest." (3) Unless you want to spend your life studying companies, invest in indexed mutual funds. They are cheap (low operating expenses) and I DEFY ANYONE to find me a mutual fund, corn investment, stock, or whatever that will beat "the market" consistently for 20 to 30 yrs. Look up any of today's 50 "hot" mutual funds and see if they have beaten the S&P;500 for 20 yrs; I've done it time and time again, and there are precious few. The trick, of course, is to find them BEFOREHAND, not after the fact. Are you going to pick one of the 10% or so (I bet it's less, too) of the funds that beat the market, or one of the 90% that won't? If you find a mutual fund manager who will GUARANTEE you will match or exceed the market or he/she will supplement your holdings, please send their name. Good luck w/ that one. (4) Use your credit card like it is pouring nitric acid on your eye every time. Read John Bogle's books, or Peter Lynch; check out Motley Fool (if still around), Schwab, blah, blah. Read investment magazines for a while and you will see the same thing you see in hunting magazines; turkeys in the spring, deer in the fall, year after year. Been there, done that. I think it was Ben Franklin who said "I am more interested in the return OF my money than the return ON it." Be patient, and boring. A VP of Merril Lynch once showed me his portfolio allocation: 70% was in an S&P;500 index fund. Do you think he knows more about investing than me? Yep. I was delighted to see he thinks like me, but I wish I'd have met him 20 yrs earlier. With that diatribe, did I answer you question at all? Good luck. There is no magic to it; save instead of spend. j
 
Rich Dad, Poor Dad? Do you have Citibank office nearby? They can help you with investing on both sides of the pond.
 
Motley Fool is pretty much a con job (I'm a member, so take my word for it).h

Vanguard and Bogle will tell you a lot. You can't go very wrong by buying Warren Buffets stuff for a long run - BRKB, and you can buy some now and some later to "ladder" your way in.

In terms of market timing, they may not be such a thing, but there are certain trends that might help the money grow faster. Some of the smart money says nothing that is mostly based in the USA, and that even Europe may run out of growth steam. So some money in developing places like China, India and S. America may be a good thing.

I have liked energy (traditional and alternative) for the past couple of years, but can't say if that will continue in the future. Some folks say that "water" ETF's are also a decent bet...assuming that water is going to continue to be a tough thing to get in some places. It does seem like perhaps the last great cheap commodity.....still cheap to take a bath.....

Diversity......

For those who like a little risk, try some Google or Apple at current prices. Some growth left in both, especially Google. But probably a good idea to have stop losses (automatic sell points) if they drop.

Cash is really good these days also.
 
There is a fellow, Peter Schiff, runs an outfit called Euro-Pacific Capital, who has racked up a pretty decent record of late. (or so it's claimed) He is of the opinion that the US economy is in very deep trouble due to our high debt structure, and over reliance on fiat currency - his advice is to get out of Dollar denominated investments, and put money into non-US currency controlled, non US investments, largely services and commodity (espec. gold, silver and energy based) - a lot of the stuff he has said in the five years or so that I've heard about him has happenned or is about to (He was warning about the current mortgage industry problems years ago) so he might be worth listening to... If I had anything to invest, I'd be inclined to put at least some of it into his reccomendations.

Gooserider
 
What are you looking for general or specific advice? As for performance Sprott Asset Management in Canada has an excellent long term track record.
 
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