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Where's the button for "All of the above?" Haha, not like I am loaded, but diversification of assets is the way to go. I have money allocated to stable stocks like national banks, 401K, IRA, savings accounts, and real estate (primary residence). I'm pretty happy with my investments at my age, but I also have a tendency to blow money on a lot of junk... like mathjak107. I like his answer the best!
I should have clarified my question, sorry. I was wondering where MOST of your money is going. I think we all diversify, but ultimately we all lean toward one investment more than the other. I personally have about 75% of my 401k in international funds. I've been making more than 15% every year for the last 4 years. The least I made was 15.x, the most I made was 32.x%. No I'm not some sort of maven, I just applied simply logic. As long as GWB is running things into the ground here, my money is better invested there, there being UK and Asia. The rest is in a few select common stocks and savings.
**Note, if you're over 50, stay away from the international funds. No more than 10% if you must. I'm not young, but younger than most I can gamble a bit at this stage of the game. Once I can get my 401k up to 100k or so I'll be moving over to the conservative side of things looking for 5-8% gains instead.
I guess I'm pretty conservative. I should've gone with the answer,"What money", but seriously, I prefer CDs and savings and government bonds. Right at the moment the I bonds are doing AWFUL, but have been running between 7 and 8% in the past. Guess I just don't have that much extra to risk losing it in the stock market. Oh yea, and we do have a bit in our employee retirement funds.
For me my choice was to pull out of stocks for the most part. I still have one managed fund, but the rest I liquidated carefully. I lost a lot of money in the 2000 stock market crash and all of my stock options went from $136/share as a high to $4 with a $76 option price (tell me my o-ring didn't contract! ) I got over it though. Big deal. That's life. But I learned a lesson, and that was not to keep all my assets in a risky basket. I was one of the lucky ones who bought homes and sold homes at the right times. My last one netted me almost $250K. I already had substantial savings as well. So, I paid cash for my new home. My thought was...no more throwing money into "investments" right now. I realize they may pay off, maybe even handsomely (like I wanted to buy gold last year at $320 an ounce in June of 05 but talked myself out of it. I was going to buy 100 ounces. Well, I could have made a lot of money had I done it. Oh well. I didn't! Now it's twice as expensive and out of reach for me. Instead I figured...get bases secured. Pay off the house. That's the biggest monthly expense in my experience. Now I don't have any payments for anything. No debt. No credit card debt, no equity loan debts, no auto debt, no nada debt...and I'm not extravagant. I will continue to save money though going forward as I can and when I feel it's an amount I can afford to gamble, take risks here and there in investing.
Paying property taxes and homeowners insurance for homes in Florida !
I feel Ya Pain.......
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I can gamble a bit at this stage of the game. Once I can get my 401k up to 100k or so I'll be moving over to the conservative side of things looking for 5-8% gains instead.
Guess I just don't have that much extra to risk losing it in the stock market. Oh yea, and we do have a bit in our employee retirement funds.
) I got over it though. Big deal. That's life. But I learned a lesson, and that was not to keep all my assets in a risky basket. I was one of the lucky ones who bought homes and sold homes at the right times. My last one netted me almost $250K. I already had substantial savings as well. So, I paid cash for my new home. My thought was...no more throwing money into "investments" right now. I realize they may pay off, maybe even handsomely (like I wanted to buy gold last year at $320 an ounce in June of 05 but talked myself out of it. I was going to buy 100 ounces. Well, I could have made a lot of money had I done it. Oh well. I didn't! Now it's twice as expensive and out of reach for me. Instead I figured...get bases secured. Pay off the house. That's the biggest monthly expense in my experience. Now I don't have any payments for anything. No debt. No credit card debt, no equity loan debts, no auto debt, no nada debt...and I'm not extravagant. I will continue to save money though going forward as I can and when I feel it's an amount I can afford to gamble, take risks here and there in investing.
