Whether to get into the market now and what to invest in depends largely on where you are with respect to retirement and how much risk you can tolerate, We’re in a retirement mode right now so our investments are heavily weighted towards income producing rather than growth. We only have dividend producing stocks, bonds, and fixed income ETFs. If an investment doesn’t pay at least 4% dividends we won’t own it. Our very diversified portfolio currently averages just under 5% annual yield. During the past several years our holdings have lost about 15% of their value but the upside is that our annual dividends have not lost a nickel. In fact they’ve gone up and none of our holdings have canceled or reduced their dividends. And with interest rates on the rise Bank CDs are now a good investment for those interested in FDIC insured deposits. We just converted a few junk bonds to CDs paying 5.25% APR with 6 month maturities. Something to think about if you’re a bit queasy about risk in the stock market.
As a retired person, I am less likely then I used to be to taking on significant risk. I have to confess that I am a conservative investor. I do not purchase aviation or high-tech stocks. I prefer stocks that can reasonably be expected to be around in 20 years. I doubt that people are going to stop eating, so a company like Campbell's Soup might be good (I don't own any, but I'll google it soon). I like railroads (the most efficient way to move things over land), but although I would love to own stock in the UP, it doesn't pay a large enough dividend for it to make a lot of sense for this retired person to own. My best is Exxon/Mobil which pays a great dividend. I have several of what I would call mid-tech stocks that do well, and I have a great mutual fund in which I am still investing.
Here we go -Bear market is officially over. SP 500 is up over 20% from the bear low. Hang on! Of course the Fed may screw it up... "The S&P 500 on Thursday closed above the threshold that marked its exit from the longest bear market since 1948. The large-cap benchmark rose 26.41 points, or 0.6%, to close at 4,293.93 on Thursday, marking a gain of more than 20% from its Oct. 12 low. Of the 14 bear markets since WWII, only two — 2000-’02 and 2007-’09 –– produced exits that saw the S&P 500 quickly slump back into a bear market by declining more than 20%. The Nasdaq exited a bear market on May 8, while the Dow exited its bear on Nov. 30" From Marketwatch.
Just an update. My Crypto investment of $10 (half of which was a gift from PayPal) is finally above water at $10.11. It was an experiment and never a serious investment. However, I'm looking at investing the ETF NANC, which mirrors the trades of congressional liberals. They've beat the market by quite a wide margin. Up 8% for the year and up over 35% for a full year. To be fair, ETF MAGA is up 5% for the year and 12% for a full year but it invests 80% in American companies. I'm just waiting for a dip to get my feet wet with some play money.
Interesting EFT's. lol NANC is the "Unusual Whales Subversive Democratic Trading ETF" and MAGA is "America First ETF" then there's: The God Bless America ETF is up 35% yty Democratic Large Cap Core ETF (tracks contributors) is up 28% yty Who comes up with these - wow and the SP 500 is up 25% yty Wait till the Fed drops the rates....
Just for comparison the first post was in March of 2020 with the numbers shown below the numbers from today 3-6-2024 Description Last Change (%) NYSE COMPOSITE (DJ) 17,801.042 131.5553 (0.74%) NYSE U.S. 100 INDEX 15,149.601 73.8374 (0.49%) DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE 38,661.05 75.86 (0.20%) S&P 500 INDEX 5,104.76 26.11 (0.51%)
Here's another one - car parts manufacture Modine - up 250% yty! why? because they have gotten into the data center business making the cooling equipment!
There is no question. Regardless which direction the market is moving someone is ALWAYS making money.
I keep pouring money in the daughters 529 college account, still nowhere where we were 4 years ago but it is rebounding and tax free. No other choice The college costs are out running amy gains Hopefully there are some scholorships since she has a 4.0. 1 1/2 years left until college so fingers crossed. What a wild last 4 years .
My daughter took as many dual credit classes as they offered and even took a few advanced placement tests. She entered college with enough hours to be a sophomore after one semester. Sounds like your daughter should be able to cash in on that too. After her scholarship and other KEYS (Ky specific lottery for good grades) funds were settled, they wrote her a check for going to college.
The 529 thing is a winner even if it doesn't perform that well as an investment. We had one for each of my daughters here in Washington, but my lovely wife who "knows better" decided Utah's plan was better, so we started investing there. Washingtons plans performed well, Utah's not so much. Anyhow at least that money is set aside for their education. My eldest is currently enrolled in private engineering school, where she is getting about 1/2 paid by scholarships. The other half is still a shockingly large #. She seems to be loving it, which is the most important thing from my point of view.
That's crazy. I worked at modine in Washington Iowa plant up until 2016. They were one of the last plants to be closed and sent to Mexico.
