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Ask HN: How would you invest money if you were 25 again?

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Re: Ask HN: How would you invest money if you were 25 again?

#31

Post by eru »

sireat wrote: post #29
eru wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK. In the Euro area you could not get such high rates on a savings account.

Actually, you could get very good rates, if your savings were in troubled Eastern EU country banks (denominated in Euros, and insured by the FIDC version of said country). Obviously, not as safe as Treasuries, but also much less riskier than say a random 3rd world bank. Wonder, how are Euro saving account rates in Greece these days..

Yes. Though I wouldn't include New Zealand in the list of random 3rd world countries.

Re: Ask HN: How would you invest money if you were 25 again?

#32

Post by mipnix »

eru wrote: post #12
lzw wrote: post #6

Normally, stocks are the way to go, but we are not in normal times. The best place for you to put your money that fits your requirements is bullion. Gold, silver or platinum, or a spread of all three. Right now, were in a high inflation environment, with the interest rates being forced down below the inflation rate. This is very similar to the scenario that created the housing bubble, only there is no longer a mania…

> Right now, were in a high inflation environment [...] Have you checked inflation figures recently?

I'm not sure that is correct.

The fear of inflation is there but the latest figures I am aware of put the inflation rate at below 1.0% (If you never need to buy food or fuel). Some even worry about the prospect of deflation.

Re: Ask HN: How would you invest money if you were 25 again?

#33

Post by mipnix »

It all depends on what your plan for the money is and when you might need it. Don't play with your living expenses. Don't play with your beer money.

Assume that what you play with will lose value-that is not what you are striving for but if you take that approach you're already a winner. You'll sleep better.

Pay yourself first. Avoid credit at ALL costs.

Live beneath your means:

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery." -Dickens

Have some money with which to make outrageous and stupid bets on the market.

Beyond that, there is no magic. Nobody knows what the market is going to do and if they tell you they do, clench your sphincter muscle.

Diversify. Everything in moderation...including moderation.

Cheers.

Re: Ask HN: How would you invest money if you were 25 again?

#34

Post by [deleted] »

richardw wrote: post #3

Seriously, stocks. Over the long term it'll do fine. The last 10 years has been a joke but it won't last forever. Focus on companies that pay an solid and increasing dividend, and don't sell them. That will force you to buy companies that you think will last. Some might not, so diversify. Read the book "Rule #1" - not a bad place to start. Except do what Buffett does - buy stocks that you won't sell (in general). If…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How would you invest money if you were 25 again?

#35

Post by ww520 »

fanboy123 wrote: post #26
eru wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for coming back with something real. I wish you'd posted that expanded version first. I also know, that a lot of people predicted in 2004 to 2006 that the housing market was overheated. But, you know, you always get bearish and bullish people at all times, and the market can stay irrational for longer than you can stay solvent. I did not invest anyway at that time: I did not have any money, being barely out of…

"Real Estate investment cycle is very long, 6 to 10 years, and very predictable. You are 25. There are plenty of time to catch a few cycles." I was not going to downvote because of disagreement. It sounded like shilling with no reason to back it up. I have no idea what you mean by predictable or how you have a timeline. You mentioned housing starts so I will assume you were specifically speaking to residential real e…

I don't know why the original comment was without reason. Real estate has long term predictable cycle was the main statement, which was specifically tailored for OP since he's 25 and has plenty of time to catch those cycles.

Your long ramblings are just justifying your fear of real estate market in the SHORT TERM.

There are so much about the topic that it's difficult to fit in these comments. That's why I said I wanted to pique people's interest and they can do their own research.

Re: Ask HN: How would you invest money if you were 25 again?

#36

Post by pyarriv »

eru wrote: post #31
sireat wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, you could get very good rates, if your savings were in troubled Eastern EU country banks (denominated in Euros, and insured by the FIDC version of said country). Obviously, not as safe as Treasuries, but also much less riskier than say a random 3rd world bank. Wonder, how are Euro saving account rates in Greece these days..

Yes. Though I wouldn't include New Zealand in the list of random 3rd world countries.

The term "Third World" was primarily used by the US government during the Cold War to refer to countries which were not aligned with the Soviet Union, nor with the US. It has nothing to do with the state of development a country is in although I am aware of its frequent erroneous use in the sense of "developing country". The "Third World" included countries such as Qatar, which, according to the International Monetary Fund, featured a GDP of $83,841 per capita in 2009 - ranking #1 world wide.

Re: Ask HN: How would you invest money if you were 25 again?

#37

Post by lzw »

mipnix wrote: post #32
eru wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Right now, were in a high inflation environment [...] Have you checked inflation figures recently?

I'm not sure that is correct. The fear of inflation is there but the latest figures I am aware of put the inflation rate at below 1.0% (If you never need to buy food or fuel). Some even worry about the prospect of deflation.

The CPI is not inflation, it is government propaganda. Even it has shown %20 inflation in recent years if you read the report and do the math, rather than listen to the talking heads on CNN. Impossible to have monetary deflation when the money supply is expanding.

Re: Ask HN: How would you invest money if you were 25 again?

#38

Post by lzw »

Retric wrote: post #8
lzw wrote: post #6

Normally, stocks are the way to go, but we are not in normal times. The best place for you to put your money that fits your requirements is bullion. Gold, silver or platinum, or a spread of all three. Right now, were in a high inflation environment, with the interest rates being forced down below the inflation rate. This is very similar to the scenario that created the housing bubble, only there is no longer a mania…

Don't buy Gold it's in the middle of a huge bubble right now.

Gold will be in a bubble when my mentioning it doesn't always produdpce someone like you saying it is in a bubble.

Bonds are a massive bubble that has expanded since 2008 enormously. Rates are at historical lows and the amount of new issuance is at historical highs.

You'll forget about it when it happens, but the next bubble to burst, by 2012, will be the bond bubble. The rest of the world can only buy so much, the fed is printing and buying it's own auctions under the table, and when interest rates have to rise to try and make them attractively, current bonds will crash, most of which are short term and the government is surviving by rolling them over every couple of months...... It's a massive cluster fuck just waiting to happen..... Actually, now that i think about it, I need to figure out a way to short bonds with leverage. Maybe put options on a bond ETF?

Re: Ask HN: How would you invest money if you were 25 again?

#39

Post by lzw »

vabmit wrote: post #18

I'd invest in a way that didn't consume thousands of hours worth of my time. I'd do what Mark Cuban recommended people like those found on HN (young entrepreneurs who want to launch a start-up) do: 6 month term back CD's: http://blogmaverick.com/2010/08/20/the-stock-market-is-still... When I was in my early 20's the president of a start-up I was working for (whom was a former professional stock trader) essentially ga…

Stock investing takes maybe 20 hours a year of time. Meanwhile, those bank CDs are going to not let you keep pace with inflation.... If You had used bank CDs anytime in the last decade you would have lost money in real terms.

I am amazed that people are so ignorant of history that this kind of dumb ass advice gets offered and people think it is so wise, and of course the dumbasses who know nothing of investing or economics mod it up.

Reminds me of the responses I've gotten in the past when I tried to share how much success I was having investing myself-- was told that it was better to leave it up to a broker or fund manager because "I'm and expert bin programming ,they are experts in finance". I was shocked that people were proud of their ignorance.

Re: Ask HN: How would you invest money if you were 25 again?

#40

Post by lzw »

eru wrote: post #12
lzw wrote: post #6

Normally, stocks are the way to go, but we are not in normal times. The best place for you to put your money that fits your requirements is bullion. Gold, silver or platinum, or a spread of all three. Right now, were in a high inflation environment, with the interest rates being forced down below the inflation rate. This is very similar to the scenario that created the housing bubble, only there is no longer a mania…

> Right now, were in a high inflation environment [...] Have you checked inflation figures recently?

You are so ignorant, you don't even know what inflation is. Yet you respond with this snide statement, so confident that, by repeating the nonsense you heard from the airheads on tv that you have sure, shown me!

If you'd made an argument, or thought for a second about why i would say inflation was high, then you might be worth considering as someone capable of learning or thinking. No, you didn't. And at least two equally ignorant dumb asses up voted you and down voted me.

Yet if any of you had picked up a paper in the last decade you would have seen the federal reserve talking about their inflationary monetary policy, or "easement" or "low interest rates" all of which are admissions that they are inflating. Or the ever increasing, massive deficits that our government has been running up. You thinking that money came in taxes? If it had it wouldn't be deficits. You think it grows on trees? Even if it did, it would still be inflationary. How stupid are you? Record deficits and there's no inflation? Really?

Frankly, when I am constantly reminded, not only of the mass ignorance of americans, but of the steadfast determination to hold onto that ignorance, and to attack anyone who attempts to enlighten you, well... I kinda start to get gleeful at the catastrophe that is going to befall you very soon. I spent much of the last 10 years attempting to enlighten people about the housing market, and I made a fortune when you wouldn't listen, and when you made nonsense responses like you just made to me.

Now I see the bullshit NPR is feeding you about the 2008 crash, and I see you being set up to be shorn again.

Baah baah, stupid fucker.

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