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Just like the title says. I recently sold my house and would like to do something at least vaguely intelligent with the proceeds of the sale with the end goal of growing that money to buy another house in a few years. I have a 401k with Fidelity, so choosing them may make some sense in that regard, but otherwise I'm at a bit of a loss.
What I'm thinking is that I'll be putting it into somebody's mutual fund and hope to achieve 5-10% on it until I'm ready to do something else with it. BUT... I have no real clue what I'm doing. My only investments previously have been 401Ks and some company discounted stock purchases. I'm unlikely to really invest in individual stocks, but maybe as a hobby with a small portion? So, it's possible that I may want to make a couple of trades a month and it looks like Fidelity is pretty cost friendly to that if I decide to do so.
Thoughts and opinions based on personal experience are welcome!
Investing is for the long term. If you need the money say within 5 years stay out of the stock market.
Investing in a 401k is no different than investing in your own taxable brokerage account with one exception. You get deferred taxes on the 401k. So you do have experience.
I would look toward the S&P 500 ETF for part of the money.
Investing is for the long term. If you need the money say within 5 years stay out of the stock market.
Investing in a 401k is no different than investing in your own taxable brokerage account with one exception. You get deferred taxes on the 401k. So you do have experience.
I would look toward the S&P 500 ETF for part of the money.
Need is a relative term. I technically don't need the money right now, which is why I'm trying to do something more with it than just toss it in my checking account. So, if my investments were doing poorly and I would cripple them by taking the money out, I simply wouldn't take the money out and would wait for them to improve. 5 years is a somewhat reasonable target for what I have in mind. I have no ants in my pants to do anything at all any time soon.
I've seen other discussion about the S&P ETF and that does seem like a reasonable way to go. Do you have any opinions of the various brokerages?
Do you have a local Fidelity branch in your area?
Otherwise, why don't you just open a Fidelity account and research which mutual funds you want to buy. You can buy them yourself. You can look on Fidelity website and read about various funds and buy what appeals to you. Why pay someone to manage your account? Having a managed account costs you money which could go in your pocket.
You can buy and sell yourself. You can buy a total stock market index account and leave it alone. If the market drops your fund will drop. Five years is a short time to try to make 6%. Prices are high now and I would recommend slowly adding rather than putting all your money in at once.
Prices are high now and I would recommend slowly adding rather than putting all your money in at once.
That is actually one of my biggest concerns. I was thinking about holding off until after the election before making any moves, but I'd like to get it in something before then. Are CDs even worth bothering with? Bonds?
Personally I split my retirement account and brokerage between companies. You just never know. Sometimes systems go down. And just me but I don't want all my money at one place. That would be a pain to lose access to or if something were hacked etc.
Fidelity is good for retirement. There are banks that have brokerage houses that are also as good as anyone else and they will often throw money at you for bringing your business there and give you nice perks for just babysitting your fund holdings.
Put it in a balanced fund like VBINX, if the stock market crashes so will the housing market, so it’s fine. Nothing wrong with choosing individual companies either, it depends on one’s judgement as to how that plays out. I personally like AMZN but with all these trade war talks, I would be cautious.
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