Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with finance and investment

Use cash to start a business or for a down payment on a home.

mintchip — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:40:50 -0800

Use cash to start a business or for a down payment on a home. I have been interested in having my own business. I have read business magazines for years and have even had a couple of small service-based businesses that I ran part time. No big bucks there but a rewarding experience.

Recently I've been considering trying to start a business for real. I have a small sum of cash (between 10-20k) I've been slowly saving for a home down payment.

It's a tough choice. Since I need a home to live in, buying one would mean an investment in my future and security. However, chances are that I won't get rich working for a private company. In fact, it's quite hard to get ahead nowadays with most of the good middle management positions gone. Meanwhile, most of the people I've known who did quite well for themselves did it by owning their own business.

I'm not saying it's easy. I'm just thinking that owning a business seems like my best shot at getting ahead, and it also happens to be a genuine interest of mine. At the same time, starting a business is a huge risk (I think it's something like 4 out of 5 fail within 5 years) and I could lose the money as well as a lot of time and energy.

I believe I have many of the qualities that would contribute to success in business. But it's hard for me to know if I have all of them.

What's your take? How have those of you who have been in a similar position weighed the pros and cons of such a decision.

The best books , articles , gurus etc you have come across that can actually integrate most or much of the information out there, for investing purposes and for separating the signals from the noise.

cluelessguru — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:52:12 -0800

The best books , articles , gurus etc you have come across that can actually integrate most or much of the information out there, for investing purposes and for separating the signals from the noise. We are drowning in information overload. Too much noise is drowning out the signals that can be useful.

One of the best books I have recently come across that have helped me separate the noise from the signals include:

* The either/or investor : how to succeed in global investing, one decision at a time / Clark Winter.
Publication Info. New York : Random House, c2008.

* Another book that you might find helpful is "Real World Economic Outlook 2003" edited by Ann Pettifor. But it has different authors and not integrative enough.

Do you know of any other books , authors , bloggers, columnists, magazines, radio shows, tv shows, courses , seminars that can integrate most of the data points in the real world and help an investor separate the signals from the noise?

So that I am NOT behind the curve like most central bankers and economists and financial journalists?

This is actually NOT a question about who might be right about where the economy is going. This is about finding writers and commentators who can connect the dots better than most and are ahead of the curve in terms of the current financial crisis and who can also give an integrated picture overview of the financial world so that I don't waste time listening to noise making machines the likes of Jim Cramer on CNBC.

Thanks a million.

Swiss bank accounts 101, or something different?

xanthippe — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:56:54 -0800

Where should I keep my money (to protect it from the US economy)? I'm American and it's in US$, but I don't live there and don't have any good reason to keep it there. I don't have that much, but am about to receive an inheritance, which is why this is an issue. Let's say that about half of what I receive will be in either cash or liquid assets, and half will be in Beneficial IRAs (the amounts are significant to me, but probably wouldn't make an international financial planner/accountant blink).

We all know about the US economy. The relative value of the dollar is decreasing, we can count on some inflation, the stock market, etc. etc. I plan on either investing or saving most of my money, but I am unlikely to ever use it in the US (I'm actually thinking about buying a flat in Europe as an investment right now). I may use a small chunk of it for some traveling/living expenses in the near future, and would generally prefer to have all of it secure but accessible and earning some income.

I realize that selling securities/investments/etc. that are part of the portfolios these assets consist of (some of the liquid assets and some of the IRA) will lock in my losses now; however, I'm also concerned that, even if the value recovers over time, the long-term depreciation of the dollar and the effect of inflation may negate any rebound. Is there any real advantage to not moving these assets out of the US (i.e. out of US banks, the US investment market, etc.) right away?

If I do move my money abroad, how should I actually do this? What are the logistics? And where to: Swiss bank account? Investments? What currency should I go with? I may have the option to invest the assets of the Beneficial IRA in foreign markets; should I think about this, or just cash them out, take the penalty, and run with the cash? If I can invest the contents of the IRA internationally, does that really preserve it from the US market?

I currently live, work and have a bank account in Oman; the local currency (as in most GCC states) is pegged to the US dollar. There has been lots of talk about unpegging the currencies, or re-pegging them to the Euro (Kuwait already unpegged theirs). I'm no economist, but things seem pretty stable locally, and it seems to me that if I exchanged all my dollars for Omani rials while they are still pegged - i.e. the value of the dollar has not decreased against the rial as it has against every other world currency that is not pegged to it - that I could stand to benefit immensely from this transaction by either maintaining the value of my money in rials if the currencies are unpegged while the dollar drops, or even seeing it increase for the same reason. Is this foolish or a good opportunity?

I don't have a long-term commitment to Oman, however - it's just where I happen to be living right now. I don't have a long-term commitment to any place, and specifically not to the US (despite my citizenship). I'm essentially a nomad (though I may well stay where I am forever - only time will tell). So the real question is, for the long-term, where should I make my "financial home" - where should I maintain my savings and investments not knowing where I will be living for the foreseeable future? How can I educate myself about this?

I don't know what to ask more specifically because I have never had to deal with finances in excess of a few thousand dollars before, so any advice as to where to start and how to prepare myself for this kind of decision-making will be appreciated. I need to 1) protect my money from the US economy (maintain as much of its value as possible regardless of where it is invested/what currency it is denominated in); 2) make money if possible by investing/earning interest; 3) ensure that I am not vulnerable to taxation/residency or citizenship requirements for any country I keep my accounts in/maintain my investments from.

How will the credit crisis affect the tech industry?

jacobian — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:02:05 -0800

How will the current credit crisis and bank failures affect the tech industry and particularly the availability and quality of venture capital? I'm working for a tech startup, and as a geek many of my friends are doing the same. I've been carefully reading the analysis of the failures of Bear Sterns, AIG, Lehman, et al., and trying to work out how they're going to affect us, particular with regards to venture capital investments.

Last time we had an economic "incident", it ended with a (temporary) stoppage in venture capital availability, which led directly to many folks like me losing their jobs. This time, the economic instabilities aren't the tech industry's fault, but it seems the general drying up of the credit markets could have the same effect.

Has anyone been looking at the effect the mortgage/credit crisis is having on the tech industry and the venture capital system? Anyone have any predictions?

Credible returns on investment in virtual world finance?

vizsla — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:30:37 -0800

Anybody have experience in investing in virtual world banks/businesses/markets (such as those in SecondLife.com etc)? Do they provide a serious way of making a sensible risk/reward on five or six figure investments? I have found discussion of investing in virtual worlds in this article for example which concludes its very high risk but maybe someone has heard of a viable diversification strategy out there?

Resource for evaluating past stock recommendations?

ibmcginty — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 07:10:23 -0800

Is there anyone (especially online) who's collected reasonably well-informed stock picks from, say, 2, 5, or 15 years ago and explained why the recommendations did or did not work out? Is there a better way to track that stuff down than hunting around for old articles on financial websites? It seems like making the effort to learn from mistakes in the past would help guard against over-optimistic, irrationally exuberant picks today.

Which source of $$$ to use for medical school?

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:46:53 -0800

Paying for medical school -- which money to use? I'm starting medical school in Canada in September. I've got about $50k in US mutual funds and treasury bills, $15k in a Canadian RSP (which can be used to pay for education if repaid at a certain point), and the banks are offering a line of credit at prime + 1%.

The question is: how do I start paying for school and living expenses? Withdraw and use the investments, and then move to the line of credit when they're exhausted? Use the line of credit, and wait for the investments to grow in order to repay the LOC? Are the investments likely to grow in the next few years? Buy lottery tickets?

FX gives me a headache

barrakuda — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:46:02 -0800

I am permanently moving from the US to Europe in about a month. I have about $50K in savings in HSBC high (and ever-falling) interest account. I am at a loss as to what to do with this money. Money-savvy Mefites, please come to the rescue. So I have all this money sitting in savings. For the next four months my salary will continue to be paid in dollars. I am a horrible, albeit charming, investment ignoramus. On one hand, I feel terrible about converting my savings to euros, on the other I don't know whether I want to leave my money in the States especially if the dollar is to further depreciate against the euro. I considered buying an apartment in Washington, DC and renting it out; but I wonder if there are other means of managing my hard-earned money and assuring that it will not loose its value. Ideas? Comments? Anyone? Bueller?

Are Independent Financial Advisers worth it? (UK)

hatmandu — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 09:25:11 -0800

I'm in the UK. My wife has contacted an IFA. They want to charge us £270 for an initial meeting, which will be reduced by 77% if we proceed with a pension product (for me, self-employed) they recommend; or, they will produce a full report for us which will cost in excess of £1600. Are they getting money for old rope? How hard do they really work for this money? Are they worth seeing? We're not millionaires - we earn decent but unremarkable amounts, and that sort of fee would dent the savings we're trying to protect. What are your experiences?

Good/bad/indifferent time to buy in to China funds?

stavrosthewonderchicken — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:27:11 -0800

Investment timing: what do you think of the timing at the moment for dropping money into China funds, or BRICs? I'm very much on-board and up-to-date on the impending recession (or worse) in America, the ongoing housing collapse, the devaluation of the dollar, and growing credit woes, for what it's worth. I'm also aware of the need to carefully investigate the fee structure of any potential investment. I am fairly risk-adverse, but wanting to diversify and see if I can bring in a little higher average rate of return over the whole portfolio.

The wrinkle here is that the currency I'd be buying in to a fund or funds with would be Korean won. (Let's say, if it's germane, that I'm thinking on the order of the equivalent of tens of thousands of dollars, currently making about 6%, basically zero risk.)

The ones I'm looking at (although I am very much aware that 'past results are no guarantee of future performance') have averaged a 60%-100+% return in the past couple of years. Needless to say, that kind of thing is tempting indeed.

Any hard info, links, or just opinions would be most welcome, as I'm still far from fully-versed in this stuff.

Investing in Youth Projects

divabat — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 23:58:46 -0800

As a young person, how do I invest in youth projects? I'm fascinated and passionated about youth projects, and would love to invest financially in as many projects as possible. Being a young person myself, I know how hard it is sometimes for young people to receive funding and support for their work, so I want to help them the best that I can.

I'm not interested in earning money from this venture, though I certainly don't mind doing so! I don't have a lot of money but am willing to spend up to AUD$100 or so (depending on the project). I was hoping for some sort of social investment fund that gave money to young people (sort of like a youth-oriented hedge fund) or a youth "stock market" but I haven't seen such a thing yet.

Some things I'm doing:

* Buying products and services from young entrepreneurs (especially my friends)

* Donating to causes and projects founded and run by young people

* Joining organizations for young people

* Write up and promote youth projects (doesn't involve my money directly though)

What else can I do to provide financial support to young people?

(Location reference: I'm based in Australia and am particularly vocal about Malaysian youth since I'm from there, but I'm open to supporting any young person from anywhere.)

You take the high load, I'll take the low load

doctorcurly — Tue, 15 May 2007 10:38:15 -0800

My 401k retirement plan through the company I work for is managed by Fidelity Investments. I have read recently that a "high-load" mutual fund will often return poorer yields than a "low-load" or "no-load" mutual fund. How do I find out if my plan is high-load, low-load, or no-load?

Investment options for the young and the restless?

killdevil — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 11:03:32 -0800

A friend needs to find a good place to park some money that will ultimately be used for house down-payment purposes. Help me come up with a few good investment options. My friend has around $100k sitting in a low-yield savings account. It pains me to see the cash left there when better options are legion.

Key points: the money will be invested for around 1-3 years. I think one or two good mutual funds would be a reasonable choice, but am not really an investor myself so I don't have specific funds or fund families to which I can point my friend.

Other options are welcome, of course, provided they are relatively conservative and are low-maintenance (i.e. they do not require active monthly monitoring; keep in mind that my friend is relatively young and is not an experienced investor).

Thanks!

RSS feed to track an investment portfolio?

electric_counterpoint — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 08:18:14 -0800

Looking for a site where I can enter a portfolio (stocks and funds) and generate an RSS feed that gives daily breakdowns of how each stock is doing. I'm a very hands-off investor, but I have some high-risk stuff and I'd like to make sure my IRA doesn't take when I'm not paying attention.

I've seen this thread, but I'm hoping in the last year something's changed online. I'd rather not do individual feed subscriptions for each stock in the portfolio, but rather get one update a day at markets' close telling me what's up. The more options, the better, of course.

I remember reading about one new site about a month ago. It was about investing, but with a social/community aspect. Very web 2.0, and it was the first thing I thought of when this question occurred to me. But, I can't find any reference to it now. In case this will generate the RSS I need, can anyone help my memory?

how do I calculate my 401K return?

dy — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 11:20:49 -0800

I've been scratching my head this whole morning, trying to figure out how my 401K is doing, my own account per se. The personalized rate of return on my statement takes into consideration other factors that don't really apply to me, and thus I think it's not a true indicator of my account performance.
I tried to find an MS Excel function to do this; so far, I have not had any luck. What I want to find out is the average return per week or per quarter given these known numbers on my statement:

1. a beginning balance in dollars (B)
2. an ending balance (E)
3. number of weeks contributed in this quarter (N)
4. weekly contribution amount (W)
5. total quarterly investment additions (W x N)

FYI, the contribution is made on a weekly basis for a same amount. It's 100% vested and is invested in one plan. What is the formula to calculate this weekly return? Thanks a lot.

how do I find a great financial advisor?

krautland — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 12:00:59 -0800

my new employer is offering a 401k package via fidelity investments that is, dare I say it, overwhelming to me. I am especially bothered by the fact that the only advise available on said fidelity investment choices is via the nice folks from fidelity investment. so I looked for financial advisors - but how to judge them? how should I know that whoever is passing themselves off as knowledgeable actually is just that? I want to get good advise but I don't know where to look. any ideas what I should do?

oh yeah, if it matters: I am in my late twenties, single and just moved to chicago. I graduated two and a half years ago and already am well in the top 5% income bracket, so I think I can take a couple risks with my 401k. but again, I am clueless and that bothers me...

What should I do with ym insurance settlement?

SweetJesus — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 07:34:19 -0800

What should I do with my insurance settlement money? I got hit by a hit-and-run driver about two years ago, and I've finally settled with my own insurance company for somewhere around ~80,000.

I'm 24, I've got very little debt, and very little idea about what to do with this money besides some nebulous idea about "investing" it. If you had 80,000 fall into your lap, what would you do?

stock portfolio code

hubs — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 14:25:44 -0800

Does anyone know where i can find code that will display my stock portfolio on my personal website? I have found several services that will track your portfolio for you. But, I would like to display my portfolio on my pesonal website (for all to see). Ideally, it would update everytime the page is loaded with real-time or 20-minute-delayed data. There has got to be an easy way to do this with RSS feeds or something but i'm not savvy enough to figure it out and think that someone must have already done it. but who?

how best to do recurring birthday investment for my god-daughter?

johoney — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 13:42:01 -0800

How best to invest $100 every year for my god-daughter...S&P, favorite stock, CD? I'm Irish living (temporarily) in the US, my god-daughter is French/Irish living in Paris. On her first birthday two years ago I started the tradition of giving her $100. Never got around to deciding the best investment...so for the moment she is receiving cash.

I am looking for a long-term accumulation of this fund that reduces the tax liability. I would also like not to have to declare this tax and suspect this can be done by reinvesting any dividend in the case of a stock or bond so that the tax is paid when she receives the money or sells the stock.

Perhaps this can be best done by investment schemes run by the French government?

Thanks a lot for any advice.

Unloading a loaded mutual fund

acoutu — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 12:03:16 -0800

FinancialFilter: Should I sell my DSC mutual funds now or later? I have some mutual funds that have deferred sales charges. About half of them will be free of the 3% DSC at the end of 2006. The remainder expire in 2007 (those carry 4.5% blended rate DSC right now).

I've held these funds since 2000. They haven't gained at all since then, since some sustained enormous drops in the post-9/11, post-Nortel world, offsetting everything else. A CFA I know recently suggested I sell my funds and put them into ETF. I had been planning to put my funds into ETF when all the DSC expire. However, this guy (who has only a casual acquaintance and nothing to sell me) said that, if I sell and lose the DSC, I'll make it back on the ETF returns, since they have no MER (management expenses).

I know it was stupid to buy funds with DSC. But the financial planner who originally sold these funds was a close friend who convinced me these funds would provide higher returns than the no-load funds at my bank. He also provided incorrect information about when the DSCs would expire. I recognize all this as a mistake now, and so please don't feel a need to lecture me on my stupidity.

What I really need is to know whether I should sell now or wait till some or all of the DSC expires. It's not a small sum of money, so I'm not dickering over $25.

How is $50k spent in the best possible way among a several debts and a paltry savings?

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 22:24:05 -0800

Say you come into $50k out of the blue. What's the best thing you can do with it, financially speaking, when you have a couple mortgages, some minor debt, small savings, and even smaller retirement? Which to attack first? Things that the money could go towards:
1. About $50k of a second house mortgage currently at prime rate plus 1%
2. About $25k total of car loans plus school loans (no credit card debt of any kind)
3. Savings usually hovers between $5k and 10k
4. Lifetime of retirement savings into 401k is probably $25k so far (I just turned 30).

I'm curious if I should pay off my car/school debts and continue paying down a mortgage that gives me tax-deductible interest (the car and school loans don't), should I continue paying all debts and invest it hoping to exceed any interest on debts (average interest on car/school debt is only about 5%), put some into IRAs, or do I do a mixture of any of the above?

My gut feeling is that while I should pay off my second mortgage and own a full 20% of my home, it seems like I could take better advantage of some tax breaks doing other things.

How do I invest leftily and lazily?

gurple — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 13:41:24 -0800

How can I find a financial advisor who specializes in investments that are in tune with my lefty sensibilities? My investment guy will only reluctantly agree not to buy any Wal-Mart. I want to go beyond that -- I'm awfully darn liberal, and I figure I ought to put my money where my politics are. I can afford to do less well in the market in order to feel better about where my capital is going.

But I'm lazy. I know from experience that I won't do it if I leave it up to myself, and I'll just have a bunch of cash in my checking account. I need someone who will handle everything for me, and just let me know when they move my money around.

Are there investment firms that specialize in progressive investments, or at least "socially conscious" investments? Or tools for finding such firms?

If geography matters, we're talking about the Seattle area.

Financial account aggregators that do charting?

rkent — Mon, 24 Jan 2005 13:23:37 -0800

Does anyone use any online finance/investment account aggregators that do charting? I like the "money manager" at Yahoo Finance, but it's shutting down on Feb 1. (more) I also use Yodlee's "OnCenter" directly (Yodlee does the back end for a lot of aggregators like Yahoo Finance), but it doesn't do charting. My ideal would be a more or less direct replacement for Yahoo Finance, but anything with credit card and investment account tie-ins, and charting/graphing, should do. It would be great if it was free, but let me know if there's anything really outstanding for a monthly fee. Thanks for any suggestions.

Economics Question

specialk420 — Sat, 20 Nov 2004 08:05:33 -0800

"The Fed chief also seemed to be practically guaranteeing higher interest rates, saying that investors who weren't hedged against a rise were "desirous of losing money."."

these questions have been asked before, but any further thoughts on a hedge for dollar positions and increasing interest rates?

Where do SEC fines go?

Fupped Duck — Tue, 18 May 2004 05:35:52 -0800

So Lucent got fined yesterday, to the tune of mamny millions of dollars, byt the SEC for the criminal euphemism of Account Irregularities.
Like other high profile SEC investigations, why do they always mention the fine, but never discuss where the funds go?
Are they used to offset the defrauded investor's losses? Or does the gov't turn the investor's loss into it's gain by keeping the fine for its own purposes?