<p>I keep hearing that now may actually be a good time to start looking into stocks, especially if you are in it for the looong haul. I heard some money guy on the radio say that he is buying stock now, for his grandchildren’s college fund. This is intriguing, but since I know less than nothing about finances, I wouldn’t know where to start. If you had a good chunk of change, say $50,000, what would you put it in? Stocks, or something else? I’m thinking gold bricks or real estate.</p>
<p>Chinese manufacturing companies, but find a good advisor.</p>
<p>50K after taxes? $32,000 to make up the difference between 4 years at Son’s first choice school and his second; balance in D’s college fund.</p>
<p>I would stash it in a money market account that is liquid. You would at least earn 3% interest and if your circumstances change suddenly the money will be accessible.
The stock market is the last place I would go right now, unless the money is sheer “mad money”.<br>
I don’t think real estate is at the bottom right now and if you already own a home you won’t get great tax incentives.</p>
<p>If I were a first time home buyer, I would use it as a down payment on a place, with the $8k credit this year (and this year alone), my $50k would be worth almost $60k!</p>
<p>I would pay off my HELOC and my kids college loans. Then we’d be debt free.</p>
<p>I like miners that sell their products to China. (China is buying these miners too!) But it’s an extremely selective market right now. IMHO, if you don’t know WHY a particular equity will rebound, don’t buy it! General Electric at $5.73 this morning? Yikes.</p>
<p>I’d put it in a money market and use it to pay next year’s college bills. :-)</p>
<p>I would save it 90% of it and spend 10% on a nice trip to Hawaii.</p>
<p>Create the mother of all pizzas</p>
<p>One word: vinyl.</p>
<p>Ask yourself the following questions?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Excluding the 50k, do you have enough income for your expenses and an emergency fund ( at least 6 months of living expenses)</p></li>
<li><p>If you’re investments lost 20k, would you stay the course?</p></li>
<li><p>Do you plan on not touching this money for at least 15 years?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If you answered yes to these questions, investing is suitable. But you should buy mutual funds, not stocks. You are not qualified to pick stocks, and most people on this board aren’t either.</p>
<p>I would suggest 40 percent US Large Cap. 15 Percent US MID CAP 15 percent US SMALL CAP. 10 Percent 10 Percent Pacific Asia. 10 Percent Emerging Markets. 10 Percent European Markets.</p>
<p>Newtonian, you’re darn right I’m not qualified to pick stocks, nor do I have the attention span, or the stomach! Your very specific suggestions sound intriguing except I don’t even know what most of those words mean – yet. It’s time I started educating myself. I’m a reasonably smart person, I went to college, I can learn this stuff. Anyone recommend a good book, article, magazine for a newbie?</p>
<p>cartera – vinyl? </p>
<p>I guess what got me wondering about all this is what everyone else is wondering, which is how to retire eventually in a graceful fashion. With so many people whose retirement funds have been cut in half or worse, especially those near retirement age, what recourse do they (we) have? 50K will only go so far without some good planning.</p>
<p>If you ask 20 people how they invest, you’ll get 20 different answers, part of it has to do with culture and part of it with risk. The volatility of the stock market and my parent’s inherent mistrust of big business, means my parents avoided stocks all their life. They only invested in tangible assets like real estate (Lucky for them they lived in Southern California, which means they’re rolling in dough"</p>
<p>If you want to read a book about finance, first know the following. Stay away from Suzie Orman or Jim Cramer or any of the d-bags on CNBC. They don’t know ****, they’re for entertainment only.</p>
<p>What kind of book do you want?</p>
<p>Do you want a broad book at personal finance, which addresses everything from wills to insurance policies, to stocks, or do you just want a book about investing in stocks?</p>
<p>Even though you don’t know for sure, when do you plan on retiring.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It depends on their situation, but in general if you’re near retirement and you lost half your money, that person is a pinhead or never hired a advisor or bothered to read a book or wanted to be greedy. The reason why I say this is that the stock market dropped around 50 percent. If your equity investments are your main source of income a simple, but not always rule of thumb is (age =percent in bonds), so a 65 year old should have between 45 to 65 percent in bonds. Since bonds actually went up a few percent, they should have only lost between 17 to 27 percent.</p>
<p>continue helping with tuition and living expenses…</p>
<p>or i’d travel and drink fine wines…</p>
<p>what to do? what to do?</p>
<p>wait, this is about investing, so let me think…</p>
<p>I would say to find the companies that you believe in. Companies that are right now at bargain prices. On the other hand, I think it’s pretty hard now to know for sure which companies are going to still be standing in a few years. I’d probably sit on it for just a while…I think the recovery (when it does begin) will not be quick so there is still going to be plenty of time to find some great companies.</p>
<p>good luck!</p>
<p>And if any of you thought the tv bloviators know anything</p>
<p>[CNBC</a> Gives Financial Advice | The Daily Show | Comedy Central](<a href=“The Daily Show with Trevor Noah - TV Series | Comedy Central US”>The Daily Show with Trevor Noah - TV Series | Comedy Central US)</p>
<p>Watch Larry Kudlow and Jim Cramer and the other hacks on CNBC.</p>
<p>Vinyl is the new plastic - or maybe it just is plastic. I saw that vinyl records are making a huge comeback - they are saving some of the mom and pop music stores. Some new vinyl records have - guess what - a free CD inside.</p>
<p>I’d buy a cozy little condo on the water in Palm Beach, FL</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.keyes.com/search/properties/residential/details.aspx?ListingNo=4047701]Link[/url”>http://www.keyes.com/search/properties/residential/details.aspx?ListingNo=4047701]Link[/url</a>]</p>
<p>Take a wonderful family vacation because we haven’t had one in years and then hide the rest under my mattress so that my estimated EFC remains low. I’d use that money to offset the lost income we’d have because ds finally opened that 403B.</p>
<p>I’d pay off my bills and put the rest in my savings.</p>