What are you guys investing in? Stocks, Bonds, Real Estate, Cars?

[Racer57]

I farm for a living and buy farm land when possible and I invest with Edward D Jones and Charles Schwab with low risk mutual funds with local branches that I can personaly talk too. This year has yielded 12%. The past couple years have been exceptional for investing, but its not always going to be this good. No way would I personally invest in real estate other than farm ground. There is too many things local, regional and national to go wrong.

[screamindriver]

I've got a few accounts with Edward Jones myself and the yield is about the same this year.. 12%.. Try getting that from other investment avenues that you don't need to babysit.. I also redirect funds to max out the yearly contributions for the Roth IRA for the tax free advantage....

[71-440]

I'm with Alan.....

[Plumcrazzy]

There are more ways to invest than can be imagined but one must be disciplined, find a trusted, experienced advisor and predetermine your allowable level of risk. You can allow more risk at a younger age because you will have time to recover if you suffer any losses. Folks can become giddy when the market (DOW) continues to rise and want to join the party but, all parties end. I had friends who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars during the last stock market crash because they couldn't face the fact that they were getting their butts kicked so they held on and got slaughtered. You know the story---I'll sell when the stock gets back up to $52.00---I'll sell when it gets back up to $46.00---and so forth. 401K's are wonderful--participate as much as you can--pre tax, post tax. There were times when I was getting 32% and 29% in my 410K and I loved it until I began to read about the dotcom bubble--scared me--moved everything to Prime Reserve--earned very little but lost NOTHING--unlike friends who went from $900,000 portfolios to less then $150,000.00 in less than a year. There are three things that will absolutely destroy an investor. They are:
GREED      GREED       GREED
1. Take some profits off the table at times.
2. Cut your losses--don't be bashful about getting out of a bad investment.
3. Diversify---not all your eggs in one basket
4. Do your due diligence---find out about what you are investing in
5. Always ask your advisor about fees!!
6. Always know about tax obligations.
7. If possible try to invest in products (funds) that are FDIC covered.
Look at all your investment opportunities. Explore alternative ways to invest. I dabbled in Commodities in the late 90's. Kind of interesting to strike contracts in corn, pork bellies, coffee, sugar, lumber, etc but it is a very fast moving system and one has to pay a lot of attention. Make your fortune or lose your a$$!! Did make a little money in Commodities but it was just to nerve wracking for me. Then started looking into precious metals--Gold, Silver and Platinum. Studied the long term history of Gold and got interested in investing. When the Stock Market is up, metals usually go down. When the markets go down people will run to metals for stability. From the mid 90's to the early 2000's I purchased one ounce American Eagle bullion coins (about $100,000.00 worth) for an average price of $304.00/each. Sold them all a few years back for $1,450.00 each. I am not extra smart I just try to be wise and informed. Good luck with whatever investment route you choose but always remember--HOGS GET SLAUGHTERED. 

[Chaos-N-Mayhem]

Car parts, as they only keep going up in value. Lol

[Bossgold]

we ...being the new baby boomers, were never taught to manage our money cause in the 30's to 70's our parents worked for companies that had pensions. Interest rates in the 70's and 80's was 12 to 13 percent. It was a time of no brainers.  Now we have to be educated, interest rates are low. it would be nice to park your money in CD's and get 4%...but that's not going to happen. The one bigger question is how much do you  need to save to retire? 1 mill, 2 mill, 3 mill, 4 mill????

[Cuda70-74]

This is a good topic and I get excited talking about finances. I don't know what im doing is right or wrond but here I go. I started 2 accounts for my unborn children and throw whatever money I can find in those accounts. I only use a credit card that has cash rewards to pay my bills so I can put the reward money into one of the kids savings accounts. We are all going to be paying  bills to live mind as well get paided for paying bills. I got ur regular roth ira,401k,stocks and bond accounts also. Every paycheck I also buy a stock. One great thing about real estate in America is you got 51 states to choose from and invest in. I want to buy more land and get more into commercial properties like multiplex and apartment buildings but thosw big dream are slow steady.

[dodj]

Individual stock picking is crazy to me, but I know a bunch of people who claim they are good at it.

Most of the people I know that picked their own stocks lost money.....

[Cuda Cody]

Well, I picked up some PG&E stock (PCG) last month and rode the wave up to double my money.  Also picked up about 20% profit when I bought and sold US Silica.  Taking those profits and going to buy some IT / cloud based REIT's because a few of them seem on sale and I would like to go long on them with the good dividends they payout.

As for ROTH IRAs or Traditional IRAs, I can't have them due to our income level. 

I'm trying to build a base of stocks and REITs that I can hold for a long time and collect dividends.  I might put a few ETF's in my portfolio too.

Anyone have thoughts on these 2 stocks?

GE?

OXY?

[Skid Row]

With the current state as it is, I'm investing in (P P P) Powder, Primers and Projectiles!

[fc7cuda]

OXY is favored by Warren Buffet and with Icahn making noise I'm surprised it has not surged.  I'm waiting to get in on the next retreat to the 36-37 range.  GE has rebounded and was very tempting afew months ago when under $10.  Maybe throw alitte at it, but still risky future for the company.  If your are looking long, all the THC companies are at lows now, there's a ETF symbol MJ that has a good dividend yield now, and will rise once the sector matures out. No dividend on HMMJ.TO now but really tempting at under $10 a share.

I really like QRVO and SWKS with the next transition into 5K LTE, and I own 1 of them(disclosure)

Really long I think AMZN, MSFT, and APPL will continue to grow and dominate.  best of breeds stocks. 

[JonH]

Well, I picked up some PG&E stock (PCG) last month and rode the wave up to double my money.  Also picked up about 20% profit when I bought and sold US Silica.  Taking those profits and going to buy some IT / cloud based REIT's because a few of them seem on sale and I would like to go long on them with the good dividends they payout.

As for ROTH IRAs or Traditional IRAs, I can't have them due to our income level. 

I'm trying to build a base of stocks and REITs that I can hold for a long time and collect dividends.  I might put a few ETF's in my portfolio too.

Anyone have thoughts on these 2 stocks?

GE?
OXY?

Well, when you started this thread I thought you were really looking for advice. After reading this post, I don't think you need any advice from a bunch of car guys! Sounds like you have it under control...

[Cuda Cody]

If there's something I've learned a long time ago it's that I can always learn something from anyone.  Bet there's a lot a lot of car guys on here that know more about investing than I do.... and I hope to learn from them.   

Well, I picked up some PG&E stock (PCG) last month and rode the wave up to double my money.  Also picked up about 20% profit when I bought and sold US Silica.  Taking those profits and going to buy some IT / cloud based REIT's because a few of them seem on sale and I would like to go long on them with the good dividends they payout.

As for ROTH IRAs or Traditional IRAs, I can't have them due to our income level. 

I'm trying to build a base of stocks and REITs that I can hold for a long time and collect dividends.  I might put a few ETF's in my portfolio too.

Anyone have thoughts on these 2 stocks?

GE?
OXY?

Well, when you started this thread I thought you were really looking for advice. After reading this post, I don't think you need any advice from a bunch of car guys! Sounds like you have it under control...

[captcolour]

Won't help Cody but here is something I've learned as I approach retirement.  In your younger years, to me it makes the most sense to invest in 401Ks and traditional IRAs as it reduces your tax burden when you are younger and likely need more available cash.  Perhaps when you reach 45 or so, it may be wise to take some of that money going into 401Ks and traditional IRAs and starting putting into a Roth IRA.  Roth IRAs are after tax investments but grow tax-free.  This becomes important when you reach age 70 and have to take the required minimum distributions.  That applies only to the before tax investments in 401Ks and traditional IRAs.  So at age 70, the money in the Roth can sit and you can take it tax free whenever you want and however much you want.  Just something to think about.  I'm not a tax attorney nor a financial advisor so I might not know what I'm talking about .

[wldgtx]

Diversification has been the key for me over the years.

Real estate, 401k, mutual funds, stock portfolio (heavy diversification), IRA, ESPP

My wife and I have tuned our living to survive on 40% of my pay, that allows us to save significantly, pay taxes, but also invest to the future.