Kamala Harris: Balancing Loyalty and Change in Her Bid for the Presidency

[Johnniey]

I've never been an investor and haven't a clue what to do.

20 years until I want to retire so now time to plan for a pension. I've been in Thailand over twenty years so will not get a pension from my own country.Kids grown up so got a little more cash to put away.

Mutual Fund or Gold

What is the easiest way to buy mutual funds? If I started buying some with say 10%+ of my monthly salary would I have like a relatively same monthly salary when I'm retired?

Is it best to go to a bank or some other place like ING.

I'm thinking that buying gold is easier but heard that it is the highest price it's ever been.I would feel safer with gold than with Thai companies.

Advice greatly welcome and appreciated

Johnniey

[thrilled]

i invest with charles schwab.Mutual funds took quite A hit from the october 07 high.What I do I buy stocks from good companies that pay quarterly dividends.Companies like proctor and gamble,phillip morris,Chevron,just to name A few.That way I get approximately 4-8% interest every year from the dividends.Many mutual funds don't pay dividends,or you'll get charged so much A year for maintenance fees etc.Message me I will send you some info on investing.

[thrilled]

Oh as far as Gold goes,some say in is under valued.Some say that it's A bubble.They say only invest 5-10% of your total amount in gold.I own A few baht in gold,but I don't go crazy about it.

[cocopops]

The state of the art "mainstream" answer to this question ("I've no clue about investing! Given that and the fact that I don't want to retire poor, what is the smart play?") is a portfolio built out of index funds purchased over a period of time. William Bernstein has three books out that go into the details. And his website recommends other good books too: http://www.efficientfrontier.com/

[PoeDogg]

Check this guy out:

www.DayTradingRadio.com

http://www.youtube.com/user/DayTraderRockStar

I have been following him since March 2009 after getting my ass kicked in the crash. His trades allowed me to regain my losses by Feb. 2010.

He has been trading fulltime for 18 years, and makes constant returns (only had two loosing months since I started.

As far as I can tell, he trades with about $300k.

Here is my strategy for following his trades.

In my "live" trading account I buy 1/3 to 1/2 of what he buys depending on my feelings in the market.

In my IRA (401K) account I spend 1% of my balance on each trade he makes, and I also risk 1% on his "10 for $1000" weekly stock pics.

You could easily log in after/before the market closes/opens and enter in your trades thru your broker, and/or enter in the "10 for $1000" orders on Monday (Thai time) and forget about it until the next Monday.

Or if you have the time, leave the website open and follow each of his trades live.

He has a free trial, and if you decide to follow him let me know.

Message me your email and I send you a spreadsheet that I have set up with formulas to help with the "10 for $1000" watchlist.

Oh, he broadcasts on weekdays at about 8pm to 3am Thai time. (9am-4pm New York time)

P.S., my mutual fund (Principal) is STILL down 25% since I started in 2007.....even after a year+ long bullmarket.

I can do better than those “professionals”, so am in the process of having the funds transfered to my trading broker.

Good luck!

[asiawatcher]

I lost my entire 401k nest egg by mismanagement and failure by the insurance company holding it. My fund was mandatory so how do I get back 20 years of my life savings?

I find 'investments', brokers and mutual funds all a crap shoot at best. Right now I save, pay cash and invest in hard assets such as real estate. Stocks may be more liquid but they are dangerous. Real Estate over time usually enjoys 100% growth on average over 10 years. That is sufficient for me and when the time comes will cash one or two out to continue be able to retire in comfort.

If you know nothing about investment - don't gamble. Play safe and don't pay (from experience) 5% commissions of funds invested then 5% a year to mismanage your wealth or even lose it! My take on it anyway.

[Tropicalevo]

Just some observations.

Investments in stocks,shares, mutual funds, futures etc are nearly always under the spell of greedy people (the fund managers/brokers/advisers etc) who usually still make money whether you profit or not. Yes I know that this may not be the case 100% of the time but.....

Any financial crisis, national crisis or even International crisis will almost certainly adversely affect your investment. (International terrorism is now a part of our life.)

However, people generally always believe in the power of gold. It is doing well because the others are not.

Gold is not normally a high flier, and can be a gamble if you are looking for short term gains, but it is usually a steady measure of the state of the world.

Maybe look at prices of gold now compared to 20 years ago? or prices 10 years ago v 30 years ago and so on. (As 20 years is your target.)

Personally I keep my assets in safe chained to a big black hungry dog. (Having listened to the advice of Governments and professionals over the years there is not much left in the retirement pot anyway.)

[Tropicalevo]

I lost my entire 401k nest egg by mismanagement and failure by the insurance company holding it. My fund was mandatory so how do I get back 20 years of my life savings?

I find 'investments', brokers and mutual funds all a crap shoot at best. Right now I save, pay cash and invest in hard assets such as real estate. Stocks may be more liquid but they are dangerous. Real Estate over time usually enjoys 100% growth on average over 10 years. That is sufficient for me and when the time comes will cash one or two out to continue be able to retire in comfort.

If you know nothing about investment - don't gamble. Play safe and don't pay (from experience) 5% commissions of funds invested then 5% a year to mismanage your wealth or even lose it! My take on it anyway.

Sorry asiawatcher - you typed quicker than me. My heart does go out to you and the millions of others that took "good professional advice'. I just tried to be a bit more positive in my thoughts to the OP

[SantiSuk]

Asiawatcher

Make a broad spread of investments by asset type (equities, bonds, metals, agricultural commodities, property and cash) and geography and don't follow any advice that encourages you to buy one class of assets only. 'Buy property don't buy shares' - very bad advice. Equities have done better than property in many decades over the last millenium, it's just that property has done better than equities in the last one (maybe 2) decades. You will soon find that short run history is no guide to the future but longer run history does provide an excellent balance to your thinking.

Insofar as equities are concerned you are on the right track buying mutual funds (index trackers or non-index trackers). Exchange traded funds also have a place. Do not try to pick individual stocks, unless you know something about a particular industry or company. If you do want to dabble beyond that for fun there is certainly fun to be gained but only invest small amounts to start as an experiment.

So go for a broad geographical spread. In times past Western investors were told to invest with a heavy weighting to their home country so a typical allocation of equities for a Brit would have been 60% UK, 20% EU, 10% US, 5% Asia, 5% other. That was assumed to be lower risk. However, now there is much greater appreciation that holding high weightings of older economy stocks is actually higher risk in the long term. Also you are living in Asia so you should have a much higher weighting in Asia - there is a danger that a Western based portfolio will do ok in the West but when translated into Thai baht for everyday spending in the future it will show much lower growth. It is ridiculous to avoid Thai stocks when you are based in Thailand - don't believe the whiners on TV, who seem engrossed in the 'everything is terrible here' kind of crap that will make them miss out on what is currently one of the more vibrant and rapidly expanding economies in the world (and its just my opinion that this will continue unless we get civil war).

Everyone has a personal view on correct equity weightings. Having lived here a couple of years and now intending to stay here long term I am shifting the balance of my own portfolio to the following:

Equities 50%

Bonds 10% (Most people my age would go for a much higher weighting but I do not need to live off my investments for 15 years yet)

Agricultural commodities 5% (I use ETFs)

Metals 5% (I use ETFs)

Property (excluding my own living accommodation) 10% - most people would have more than this but I am unconvinced the long run bubbles around the world have fully worked through

Cash 10%

My target geographical allocation (for the total of all classes except cash and property which I keep in the UK as 'my everything goes tits up' failsafe) is as follows:

UK 25% (only a Brit would do that)

EU 15%

US 15%

Japan 10%

Thailand 10%

Other Asia Pacific including Aus/NZ 15%

Non Asia Pac Emerging Markets 10%

I have some bad news now. 10% of gross salary for 20 years will not be sufficient to give you a continuing salary of the same amount in retirement unless your target retirement age in 20 years time is age 80 say! In fact it is way way short. In very very general terms I would say that you need to invest 15% over a 40 year career to achieve half your final salary as a continuing income in retirement at age 65. Most people can and do easily survive on half their final salary once retired.

If you are any good at maths and spreadsheets you can do your own calculations. It depends on projected real (inflation eliminated) investment returns on which everyone has there own views. My long run projected real rate of return would be 4% - this has not been achieved in the last 10 years of my investing (more like 2%) but was well over-achieved in the two decades before that (more like 7%). A gross salary of $10,000 would give an annual investment of $1,000 if you only invest 10%. The resulting retirement pot would be only $30,000 in todays money - 3 year's salary.

Planning to live without a home country state pension in a country where there is little prospect of working for extra money in retirement and where there is no available safety net is not a great idea. If you are hooked on the idea of retiring in Thailand then you are going to have to save much harder than you expected, probably for longer than you expected, do some work in your home country post retirement and then survive in Thailand on much less than you expected.

Sorry to be such a harbinger of bad news but it financial naivety abounds with those with the allure of Thailand in their eyes - which is why there are so many struggling falang pensioners here and probably why there are so many whiners on TV.

Edited October 1, 2010 by SantiSuk

[SantiSuk]

Sorry Asiawatcher - that came across as a bit heartless at the end. I am really sorry you were shafted by a financial institution and I'm not accusing you of naivety as clearly you have good savings intentions and know that you need advice.

Maybe some others can benefit from your experience with your retirement plan and make sure that their long term futures are broadly diversified by financial provider as well as by asset class and geography

[xylophone]

An excellent post Santisuk with some very good points for the OP, esp as he knows little about investing.

As for gold, well it is for speculators mainly as in real terms gold's value now is just below that of 29-30 years ago, so it wouldn't even have acted as a hedge against inflation!! And individual stock picking and trading can be fun and make money but best if a little money is set aside as "play" money (ie that which you can afford to lose)and use only that, with the rest diversified and mainly in index trackers.

[chainarong]

Looks like you are in for the long term , as a matter of interest , if you brought gold in 1978 you would have made a loss at todays gold price , (due to lots of financal stuff ) which is the highest its ever been, investments can be made anywhere in the world these days ,you need good advice , try Hong Kong, lots of finance expats, its got good regulations and cheap tax , look around , there's also good advice here in Thailand by expats, always use expats in talks, most of the safe countries ie US, Aust, UK, NZ have high tax structure, offshore syndrome,and are a pain in the butt to do business in, good luck.

[Naam]

Neither!!

Mutual funds always take their 1%-3% even if the fund does not make money, and, after the 2008 crash, it highlighted how you can not count on paper. Gold is high, and has only a few industrial uses.

I have 20 years till retirement, and am stacking silver and palladium. My silver is up 56% and my palladium is up 31%. These two metals will play a big part our future, and palladium is trading at half of its high. Its on SALE!!!

if you don't trust paper how much physical silver can one stack and were does one buy physical palladium?

[flying]

Neither!!

Mutual funds always take their 1%-3% even if the fund does not make money, and, after the 2008 crash, it highlighted how you can not count on paper. Gold is high, and has only a few industrial uses.

I have 20 years till retirement, and am stacking silver and palladium. My silver is up 56% and my palladium is up 31%. These two metals will play a big part our future, and palladium is trading at half of its high. Its on SALE!!!

if you don't trust paper how much physical silver can one stack and were does one buy physical palladium?

I dont own Palladium but back in mid 2009 I was watching it & wished I had.

You can buy it at APMEX in the US....Maples, Chinese Pandas etc as well as bars

http://www.apmex.com/Category/506/Palladium.aspx

Edited October 1, 2010 by flying

[Johnniey]

Yes, where does one buy palladium and is it safe(sounds radioactive).

Thanks to all that replied with some good advice.

So Mutual funds take a percentage even if they lose - bastards.

It's all a big gamble really - I know a couple of guys who saved a lot all their working life and died in their 60s. Something that should be thought about.

Santisuk - great information - thank you- I think you misunderstand me - Thailand has been my home for 24 years and actually I will get a small pension from the Thai goverment - not much but 3 times what I pay(800 baht) so 2400B a month or 29000 a year, which will be 40 odd years when I retire.I have the option to take a lump sum. There are many ways I can work for extra money in retirement - teaching and some other things. Also my kids will look after me as this culture encourages.

I surprised that for someone who knows a lot about investing only eared 2% over the last 10 years - maybe I'd be better just putting money in the bank?

Thrilled- thanks - I'll message you

[flying]

Yes, where does one buy palladium and is it safe(sounds radioactive).

:lol:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palladium

Actually you could have bought 1 oz Palladium coins or bars in mid 2009 for low $200 + premium of $40 or so

It is today at $577 for that same 1 oz coin

[Naam]

Neither!!

Mutual funds always take their 1%-3% even if the fund does not make money, and, after the 2008 crash, it highlighted how you can not count on paper. Gold is high, and has only a few industrial uses.

I have 20 years till retirement, and am stacking silver and palladium. My silver is up 56% and my palladium is up 31%. These two metals will play a big part our future, and palladium is trading at half of its high. Its on SALE!!!

if you don't trust paper how much physical silver can one stack and were does one buy physical palladium?

I dont own Palladium but back in mid 2009 I was watching it & wished I had.

You can buy it at APMEX in the US....Maples, Chinese Pandas etc as well as bars

http://www.apmex.com/Category/506/Palladium.aspx

and then ship it to Thai customs?

[flying]

I dont own Palladium but back in mid 2009 I was watching it & wished I had.

You can buy it at APMEX in the US....Maples, Chinese Pandas etc as well as bars

http://www.apmex.com/Category/506/Palladium.aspx

and then ship it to Thai customs?

I wonder?

From their FAQ

Do you ship outside of Canada, Europe and Australia?

Yes. We are currently conducting trial orders to many countries around the world. Please contact our international department at [email protected] for more information.

[Naam]

I dont own Palladium but back in mid 2009 I was watching it & wished I had.

You can buy it at APMEX in the US....Maples, Chinese Pandas etc as well as bars

http://www.apmex.com/Category/506/Palladium.aspx

and then ship it to Thai customs?

I wonder?

From their FAQ

Do you ship outside of Canada, Europe and Australia?

Yes. We are currently conducting trial orders to many countries around the world. Please contact our international department at [email protected] for more information.

of course they ship. reason: they give a flying fart whether the client at the receiving end has problems with customs or not.

[Naam]

Yes, where does one buy palladium and is it safe(sounds radioactive).

:lol:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palladium

Actually you could have bought 1 oz Palladium coins or bars in mid 2009 for low $200 + premium of $40 or so

It is today at $577 for that same 1 oz coin

but if you bought in february 2001 a bunch of 1 ounce palladium coins for high $ 1,075 plus premium you dilute your Chang with 50% tap water or forego Chang completely.

[xylophone]

To be brutally honest it is extremely difficult to advise someone these days in light of this recent financial crisis, not to mention the tech stock crash in 1999 because looking back from this particular point a lot of what was perceived as conventional investing wisdom would seem to be on shaky ground.

If you look at shares, you would probably find that you would have made nothing over the past 10 years, perhaps even longer if you had your money in a diversified mutual-fund portfolio(esp one charging high fees).

After the property bubble has burst, looking back over the same period of time you could well be left with negative equity if you had invested in property as your sole investment.

Gold, really something for speculators, and if you had decided to pile into it in the early Eighties, you would be looking at a loss. I'm not sure about silver, however one post as mentioned that had you bought Palladium at one particular time you would now be staring at a loss of around 50% on your investment.

So where is the everyday investor to go??

The basics of investing were that you would diversify your portfolio across all of the asset classes, in many cases across countries/markets, and commodities like gold would form a very small part of it.

On the subject of fees, at one time it was quite common for fund managers to charge 3%, perhaps less perhaps more, however with the rise of funds which track an index, especially in the USA, the management fee could be in the region of 0.5%.

Looking at the long-term (90 yrs), advisers were always taught to explain that on average, tracking for example the MSCI (USA) has brought returns of around 11% per annum so there was some comfort in that. As it has been some time since I was involved in this area, I would have no idea what the past 90 years of investing would have bought, when including the recent crisis.

Suffice it to say that Warren Buffett has made his millions, and millions for many others, by adopting a fairly simplistic approach in which he (broadly) buys premium stocks, and holds them. He also will not invest in anything which he does not understand, and that is why his fund did not suffer badly when they tech/IT stock crash came.

I still believe that a diversified portfolio is the "safest" way, however folk may want to be more selective as to which markets they invest in. I do remember many years ago that China was considered an "Emerging Market" and very few fund managers would have exposure to the market, and now look what has happened.

For the long-term, one could still put together a diversified portfolio with the help of an experienced adviser and perhaps choose the markets carefully, choose the asset classes carefully, perhaps put aside a small "speculative" amount to invest in commodities, and the same for some individual shares perhaps in a chosen country.

Running alongside that could be a small amount of money in which the investor decides to play the market with a share trading account, but only with money considered "play money". This way you will get even more diversification than that which was originally meant by the term.

Just a few thoughts for what they are worth.

[Naam]

Just a few thoughts for what they are worth.

excellent thoughts!

[Naam]

"Palladium is totally safe, and a beautiful metal."

an asset which does not provide any currrent yield such as interest or dividends and which can lose and has lost in a relatively short time 50% of its value can not be labelled "safe". period!

[Naam]

"Palladium is totally safe, and a beautiful metal."

an asset which does not provide any currrent yield such as interest or dividends and which can lose and has lost in a relatively short time 50% of its value can not be labelled "safe". period!

Safe as in NOT radio active, as that is what he mentioned. As far as an asset goes, yes, nothing is "safe" in these turbulent times.

OOPS VIBE, i did not read the link :jap:

[cloudhopper]

I would have to say some land that is paid off here that can grow food and support a goat and some chickens, along with a well fortified semi-underground bunker would be what I consider safe, and is on my list of "things to do".

I don't know where "here" is so I can't comment on the underground bunker but the rest of it sounds like a good investment to me.

[MisterMan]

Forget corporate America. I had a small account with Smith Barney .. now CHarles SCwaB Smith Barney and got charged outrages fees for low funds. This was not the case when I started the account.

I will never invest with a financial institution again.

Who wants to support Philip Morris or Procter Gamble?

I am also curious about gold