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Stock Market & Retirement Planning

Found an old email from May 18, 2012 tonight to my financial advisor and wife.

What are thoughts of taking $5k in our securian account and investing
it into FAcebook?


Both thought it was a bad idea. Last time I listen to them.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
How much did Facebook stock fall after Zuckerberg's shenanigans last week? Does anyone know??
 
Northerner said:
How much did Facebook stock fall after Zuckerberg's shenanigans last week? Does anyone know??
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It was in the $184 range a week earlier before falling to $159 on Friday. It’s down pre-market another couple bucks.
 
Down day for the markets. Anyone buying or selling?

I need to put my 2017 & 2018 Roth contributions to work via a S&P Index fund.
 
Vortex said:
Down day for the markets. Anyone buying or selling?

I need to put my 2017 & 2018 Roth contributions to work via a S&P Index fund.
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Buying if it can hit certain numbers.
 
Vortex said:
Individual stocks or funds?
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Stocks in this instance. I keep funds in my IRA and might shift a thing or two, but most are S&P based.
 
JB said:
Stocks in this instance. I keep funds in my IRA and might shift a thing or two, but most are S&P based.
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I just jumped into more Cisco.
 
JB said:
I just jumped into more Cisco.
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Big tech got crushed today and people brave enough to buy when other flee often get rewarded. I'm sure you also know about the $0.33 discount on 4/5 when the dividend issues. Smart move. Schwab rates Cisco as an "A" stock...if that matters.

I pit a buy order in for EQWL so I'm hoping for a soft open which I don't think will happen. However, the order should fill during the next downward gyration.
 
Stock Market & Retirement Planning

Stock Market & Retirement Planning

Vortex said:
Big tech got crushed today and people brave enough to buy when other flee often get rewarded. I'm sure you also know about the $0.33 discount on 4/5 when the dividend issues. Smart move. Schwab rates Cisco as an "A" stock...if that matters.

I pit a buy order in for EQWL so I'm hoping for a soft open which I don't think will happen. However, the order should fill during the next downward gyration.
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Yup. It’s something in my portfolio so knew with the discount it was not perfect timing but the reduction was too good to pass up.

I’m a Schwab user too.
 
We hired a new FA and glad we did. Our current/old one never gave us clear line of site towards our financial and retirement future. It was always me having to contact him and ask questions and prod for strategy ideas. Quite infuriating.

New guy provided us a plan and said we will meet twice a year to review our portfolio, investment strategy, and make adjustments as needed based on lifestyle changes, retirement goals and whatnot.

Anywho - both my wife and I are back at maxing out both our pre-tax 401k and contribute into a Traditional IRA and convert that into our Roth IRA once a year. Feels good having some solid structure surrounding this and knowing what our options are.
 
The experts were wrong again about Apple. I big sigh of relief from me after they reported earnings yesterday as I was starting to believe the experts predicting the sluggish iPhone sales.

Apple saw growth and gained market share of the shrinking smartphone market. Sales of the iPhone X were brisk, despite what all the naysayers have been reporting in recent weeks. The stock is up almost 9% Since Monday morning. Their services business surprised Wall Street as well with 31% growth. Their $50 billion in annual revenue from their services segment by 2020 now seems likely and that number would make place Apple Services 60th on the Fortune 500 list.

5/5 update. Apple stock just had it's best week in 6 years no doubt helped by the fact that Warren Buffett just picked up another 75 million shares of Apple stock and now own's 5% of Apple.
 
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I'm really considering throwing some cash into the stock market. Which online trade sites do you guys recommend? I don't have a ton of money to throw at it, but I have a little chunk that i'd like to see if I can get it to work for me.
 
Bullfrog said:
I'm really considering throwing some cash into the stock market. Which online trade sites do you guys recommend? I don't have a ton of money to throw at it, but I have a little chunk that i'd like to see if I can get it to work for me.
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I have an Etrade and Charles Schwab account and both are very easy to use and have reasonable fees. I think you need only $500 to open an account with Etrade and there is no minimum with CS.
 
I use Schwab and enjoy it a lot.
 
Stock Market & Retirement Planning

Stock Market & Retirement Planning

sleuth said:
We hired a new FA and glad we did. Our current/old one never gave us clear line of site towards our financial and retirement future. It was always me having to contact him and ask questions and prod for strategy ideas. Quite infuriating.

New guy provided us a plan and said we will meet twice a year to review our portfolio, investment strategy, and make adjustments as needed based on lifestyle changes, retirement goals and whatnot.

Anywho - both my wife and I are back at maxing out both our pre-tax 401k and contribute into a Traditional IRA and convert that into our Roth IRA once a year. Feels good having some solid structure surrounding this and knowing what our options are.
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I’m curious why you are maxing out a Traditional IRA and then converting to ROTH? Seems like an unnecessary step. Unless you are back door ROTHing.
 
TheHeez said:
I’m curious why you are maxing out a Traditional IRA and then converting to ROTH? Seems like an unnecessary step. Unless you are back door ROTHing.
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Yes backdoor. We're over the AGI and ineligible for Roth contributions.

We're actually meeting with him again in July and want to ask if we should instead contribute to a Roth 401k versus backdoor roth IRA.
 
sleuth said:
We hired a new FA and glad we did. Our current/old one never gave us clear line of site towards our financial and retirement future. It was always me having to contact him and ask questions and prod for strategy ideas. Quite infuriating.

New guy provided us a plan and said we will meet twice a year to review our portfolio, investment strategy, and make adjustments as needed based on lifestyle changes, retirement goals and whatnot.

Anywho - both my wife and I are back at maxing out both our pre-tax 401k and contribute into a Traditional IRA and convert that into our Roth IRA once a year. Feels good having some solid structure surrounding this and knowing what our options are.
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My wife has never really liked our FA so we are now shopping for a new one as well. Our relocation from California to Minnesota will be complete in a few days and it gives us a good excuse to find someone new. I've sent out some email inquiries to FA that come recommended from friends and also a few to some that made the Barron's Top Advisor rankings by state. We've been with our current FA for about 4 years but I do agree with my wife that we can do better.
 
Stock Market & Retirement Planning

Stock Market & Retirement Planning

sleuth said:
Yes backdoor. We're over the AGI and ineligible for Roth contributions.

We're actually meeting with him again in July and want to ask if we should instead contribute to a Roth 401k versus backdoor roth IRA.
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You can contribute more if using backdoor. Because it’s a non deductible IRA it allows you to max the pretax, then also access the ROTH through the backdoor. Cool option if it fits.

I’ve only got one client that uses it. Most have IRAs that make the contributions not get full ROTH treatment. See pro rata rule.
 
We just dumped our guy and went to a small fee only firm. All of the people in the firm have the CFP certification and either a CPA or a CFA designation. In addition, there are two PhDs on staff one that teaches finance, and the other accounting at the local university. I sleep better not being the smartest person in the room, when it comes to my finances.
 
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TheHeez said:
You can contribute more if using backdoor. Because it’s a non deductible IRA it allows you to max the pretax, then also access the ROTH through the backdoor. Cool option if it fits.

I’ve only got one client that uses it. Most have IRAs that make the contributions not get full ROTH treatment. See pro rata rule.
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Yes and thanks.

Deciding what our future investment vehicles are. Considering real estate and rentals to increase cash flow and generate a nice passive income.

Sounds like you're in that line of work - may I ask what you consider the first 3 investment steps? I would guess maxing out ones pre-tax 401k is everyone's first strategy.
 
see Callaway just hit a 52 week High on low volume.
 
Finally started to get serious about our non-retirement savings and met with a financial planner to run some scenarios. Good news is thanks to the really generous match we get in the work plans and starting really early we're more than on track for retirement - even without taking into account social security, retiring before 60 seems likely.

Set up a Betterment account today to start stashing some money away for some stuff we'd like to do in the mid-long term, including a vacation home. Not someone who's really into active management, so it's a nice middle ground where I can set risk and just put money away.
 
Good for you MP. Always nice to find out the decisions you are making are paying off.
 
I should probably find a good financial planner, I'm not getting any younger and I know I'm not even close to being on the right track. It's extremely intimidating because I know very little about financial markets, or how to vet the right financial planner.
 
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