Investments? Instead of Savings

How to Invest Without Putting Money Into the Stock Market | The Art of Manliness

lol that article is awesome liberator

I am mainly onto high yielding stocks that yield at least 4% per annum. I have got several mutual funds and a small collection of luxury watches. If you are starting off, I would speak to a financial advisor and look at some high yielding mutual funds. There are mixed asset funds that yield 4 to 6% per annum.

I still don't have the funds but when I do, I plan to start up my own business in agriculture maybe. I really don't trust that much in banks, I know they are getting more from my money than what they give me back.

Any investment is good as long as the interest or return is higher than the inflation rate. Inflation is the killer.

You'll never get any type of growth by putting money in a savings or money market account (or even a CD). Now having written that, most financial planners will advise in having at least 6 to 12 months of living expenses saved up because emergencies do happen.

Everyone should have a financial plan; for most people who don't have one, going through the process of getting one is usually a very eye-opening experience.

What you should invest in should be based on your tolerance for risk, how old you are (time horizon), and what your life goals are.

I'm a big believer in diversification and investing my own money. I fired my money manager a few years ago and replaced him with a fee-based (no commissions) financial planner who had my best interests at heart.

I invest in real estate, individual stocks, bonds, mutual funds and I put my money in tax-deferred trusts such as a ROTH IRA first and then what's left over gets invested in taxable accounts.

Most money managers and mutual managers cannot beat most of the stock indexes (think S&P 500, Russel, Wilshire Indexes, etc.) so a good chunk of my retirement funds goes into index funds (bear in mind I still have a time horizon of 25-30 years before I even touch my retirement funds).

I'm also slowly building up a portfolio of small businesses that don't require me to be there to run them (think Subway, Carwashes, Small bars, etc.).

I also recommend meeting with both a CPA and a financial planner at least once a year in person and touching base with them once a quarter via phone. The tax laws change and new investments come up almost daily.

Your income, your expenses, your age, how risk averse you are, etc. will impact where and how you're going to invest your money.

I have a strong bias towards both real estate and the stock market, because you can easily make double digit returns if you know what you are doing. Investing in businesses that product cash flow is another place I like to invest in.

I hope this has been helpful.

RoD

And with interest-rates as they are now, who can blame you?

After such a useful and helpful reply from Rod, just above, I'm reluctant to "muddy the waters", but I've gradually been investing in real estate (in 2 different countries), over the last 2-3 years. It's not necessarily exactly "passive", though, and you need to know what you're doing. At the very least, you need to judge well by whom to be advised, if you're not familiar with the markets.


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If I had money I'd buy stock in Apple.