<p>Got a small amount of money (~$250K) to inverst for long term, say 20 plus years. What will be a better place?</p>
<p>Large cap US stocks, index funds or other mututal funds? </p>
<p>Want to buy mutual funds but the load seems high at 2.5%</p>
<p>Hint–never tell people who work hard for a living $250K is a “small amont of money”. It’s rude and obnoxious.</p>
<p>“load seems high at 2.5%”</p>
<p>Actually, that’s fairly reasonable. Ya know what’s even better? it’s right there in front of you to see. It’s transparent. You see it and there’s no guesswork. You probably can even see the operating costs as well. </p>
<p>Or would you rather purchase something where the costs are more hidden, say in the actual price paid for a stock and the price you buy it at? </p>
<p>Or would you rather buy a no load, yet pay high operating expenses for the 20 years?</p>
<p>Before you put the choice that gives you the cost upfront, where you can find them, on the backburner…look around. Are the folks that sell the others living on sunshine? Are they driving small economy cars because they don’t take a markup somewhere?</p>
<p>Fixation on one part of an investment usually allows you to get hosed on another part. </p>
<p>The NASD has several methods to compare choices to get an idea. plug in your information and it should help a bit.</p>
<p>But as I said, transparancy really helps in the long run. Everybody ends up making about the same money off investments, it’s just some are upfront and others a bit more sly about it. If I can buy a stock (lot purchase) at 50 and sell it to you for 70 but “charge no load” did I lose? When I call you and push a hot deal stock, is it hot or are we long on inventory? Or if you give me descretionary powers over your portfolio and I need to pump my transaction numbers a bit… </p>
<p>Everybody gets paid somehow. Figure out how you want to pay for your choice and decide if it’s reasonable.</p>
<p>Donate it to charity, you obviously have no concept of what a small amount of money is. Spoiled #$@%^&!</p>
<p>I’d recommend investing $20 of it for a good book on the basics of investing. Then invest another $1000 of it for an appointment with a financial advisor!</p>
<p>Why on earth would you come to a college admissions website to get advice from total strangers on how to invest a quarter of a million dollars? At the VERY least, find a personal finance forum to ask those questions, and even then, keep in mind that you’re getting advice from strangers who may be handing out incorrect information.</p>
<p>And by the way, Barrons is right.</p>
<p>And, this is the same guy who has several times described himself as “low income.”</p>
<p>"And, this is the same guy who has several times described himself as “low income.”</p>
<p>Yes, it is. The man who often complains about his professional accomplishments and, I believe, his educational history. I almost spewed on my monitor.</p>
<p>Maybe it was a typo. Maybe he meant to say $250. You people are so judgmental! ;)</p>
<p>Maybe he meant for financial institutions for free advice. This is not consider a lot of money to financial institutions, you need a certain threshold before they dole out free advice.</p>
<p>At my credit union, the floor for the “free financial planning advice, super big deal account privileges” is $100K. Find yourself a good credit union with “Personal Banking” services and take advantage of the financial planning and investing advice they offer.</p>
<p>I recommend that you invest it with me. The only rule is that you can’t contact me for the next 25 years, when I will return your principle and earnings. Fair? (Results not guaranteed.)</p>
<p>some of you are really mean.</p>
<p>This is a cafe for parents to talk about everything, right? Since some people like individual stocks and some like mutual funds, I am here to gather some opinions. </p>
<p>I am sure they are book about how to do an oil painting, but how many Picaso do we have so far? Reading abook is far far less benefiting than experiences here. </p>
<p>Please don’t look down on a poor guy like me. When I came to this country, I had $210 in my pocket and a promise of $420/month stipend. Sooner or later, I will not be poor not more.</p>
<p>You’re not poor now.</p>
<p>For example, post #3 is very helpful. My bank advisor told me about fees on not load funds. I am just not sure about that. </p>
<p>About fee based advisors in the area, we contacted a few but ALL of them said $600K net worth minimum.</p>
<p>I’m not a financial advisor, but my money (WAY less than yours) is in S&P 500 index funds. Dh’s money is more balaced in a 403b. I get it through USAA which is a great deal, but you have to have had a parent who was an officer in the US military (or have been one yourself.) Vanguard is probably where I would have gone otherwise.</p>
<p>Laserbrother,</p>
<p>You need to pay more attention to what others post. Many folks are leveraging their house or borrowing money to send kids to school. It will rub them the wrong way when you come on the boards crying the poor tale because you “only” have $250K in discretionary cash to invest.</p>
<p>Last I read the average household has less than $20K saved for retirement. You are not nearly as poor as you may like to think.</p>
<p>You need to diversify your investment. I would suggest 150k in an S&P index fund, 25K in a bond fund, 25k in a diversified International fund, 15k in a money market fund, 10k in a precious metals fund, and 25k in an REIT</p>
<p>Laserbrother, try Morningstar’s website for comprehensive information; they also have an extensive forum where you can talk (post) some of these things through with like-minded persons. I use that site often to verify what I think I already know, or what someone else tells me. I do see your challenge; you have too much to invest for the standard banker to be able to properly advise you, but, you don’t have enough to be considered a high net worth client, so private banking services are probably not appropriate. </p>
<p>I do agree 100% with gla, but, it really all depends on your personal goals, short and long term.</p>
<p>Oh, and congratulations on accumulating $250 K - but, you really need to see if you can quadruple it!!! :)</p>
<p>lb,</p>
<p>I think the problem is you wrote “small amount of money”. Maybe it’s a language barrier (but I doubt it), but if you just came on and said “I have $250K to invest”, folks wouldn’t get their ire up and respond “meanly”. It seems like you always want everyone to feel sorry for a “poor guy” like you.</p>
<p>GLA has a reasonable allocation, but I wouldn’t presume to set this for someone else without knowing the complete financial picture and understanding their investment goals. This is why lb needs a professional advisor (or needs to just give me all that money).</p>