Stock Market Investment Questions

[Jack_Tar]

I know a lot of you guys are successful stock market and commodities and futures inverters. With the current situation, what would be some good investments that you stocking up on? I'll be retiring from the Navy in a few years, but will need another job, and want to start investing now.

Thanks

[carnut4life]

If time is on your side and you don't want to be watching it all the time an S&P index fund might be for you. Historically they beat other stock investments 80% of the time and require little to no maintenance. I'm no money manager though so do your homework and stick to it, compound interest is an amazing thing after 20-30 years. Best of luck with whatever you decide Jack.

[Mulsanne Blue]

Whatever your goals are, now is the time to buy, IMO. It's unfortunate it happened this way, but this has been the dip most have been waiting on. Most sectors are currently down, except tech. My suggestion is to open an online account with low trade fees, and no-fee dividend reinvestment to gain share. Find a closed-end fund or ETF with a decent yield, 2-4%.

[COPO]

Suggest you have a look at the Vanguard site and read up on investing. The real key is your time horizon, goals, and risk appetite. As others have said, individual stock picking as a means to accumulate a retirement fund is highly risky.

Market is still down off Feb. highs, but has really risen considerably in April. Historically the market is actually still quite high and many company earnings are severely depressed from the shutdown, so perhaps its not a good time to dump a lot of money in the market. If your're a real gambler, airlines, cruise stocks, and oil stocks are still way down and have a lot of upside, but also many could go bust and you could be left with nothing.

The average person will be successful by consistently investing 10%-15% of their earnings each month over many, many years in tax deferred, low cost index funds like Vanguard S&P 500, and then supplement with some bond holdings and cash depending on your age and retirement goals coupled with some real estate ownership.

Since you're in the Navy and retiring soon, and the good news is you'll have a lifetime pension and I assume medical as well, so you're probably ahead of many Americans.

Thanks for your service.

[purple panther]

The market has moved up a lot on a prayer. be carefull and trade S+P support levels. You can find them on barchart. com. Friday the market broke the 2900 level

[JRSully]

Whatever products you consider, check Morningstar ratings. They are pretty good indicator and provide good insight. The Fidelity FBALX fund is very cheap and consistently performs pretty well. It's a good "buy it and forget it.." fund, very low fees as well

[Jack_Tar]

Looks like I have a LOT of homework, but now I have a place to start. Thanks for all the information.

[Vern B]

Most of the larger investment company’s offer actively managed funds which provides the services of professional investors at low fees. They will have an initial phone conference with you to test your risk tolerance, additional conferences are available as you find necessary. Most have a minimum to open an account and your contributions are invested in ETF funds. I like Vanguard because they typically offer lower fees.

Go to their website and look for actively managed funds

[L72copocamaro]

If you are not comfortable doing this on your own, interview financial advisors from different firms, find one you're comfortable with and let them guide you. You can change that as you gain more understanding and feel you are ready to do it on your own.