Ask HN: What kind of personal financial investment do you do?

Post by khafra » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 4:58 PM UTC

tachibana wrote: post #156

khafra wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't municipal bonds paying better these days because of fear (justified or otherwise) that lots of them--especially in California--are going to start defaulting?

Quick SEC disclaimer... I'm not an investment professional; I'm just sharing my personal experience. It depends. Munis come in all flavors and sizes; the best ones IMHO are state-level "general obligation" (i.e. backed by state taxpayers) that do NOT fund revenue projects (this will make them taxable anyways). The second best ones, again in my IMHO, are classified as UTX ("Unlimited Taxation"), which gives the local…

Interesting, thanks. If I move to a state with income tax, or enter a tax bracket that warrants it, I'll definitely take a closer look at municipal bonds.

Post by kra » Thu, Feb 10, 2011, 11:59 PM UTC

tastybites wrote: post #90

rabidsnail wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your time horizon is too short. If you had left your money where it was instead of taking it out at the first sign of danger then it's likely you would have made it all back by now. There's a lot of volatility in the stock market (that's why the returns are higher than savings, money markets, etc), but the spikes and dips average out if you're thinking in terms of decades and not months. That's not to say that your s…

> Your time horizon is too short That's not really the point, I think the point is that I shouldn't have been investing in something that could evaporate on paper in 3 months. Either way, yes, the point is I'm a terrible equities/retirement investor and a better small business person. Everyone here has excellent reading comprehension, as I would expect on HN. > That's not to say that your startup isn't a better inves…

This is one thing that William Bernstein (I recommend his books) points out. You need to be able to calmly watch your portfolio halve in value and sit it out if you're going to be a buy and hold investor (or any investor, really). I have several friends who took their money out near the bottom of the latest crash and put it it cash or cash equivalents. It's the absolute wrong choice investment-wise, but it's understandable.

Selling before the bottom and buying before the climb is the right thing to do, but if you can do that, you're not spending time reading HN, you're either working hard as a trader or relaxing on your desert island.

Re: Ask HN: What kind of personal financial investment do you do?

Re: Ask HN: What kind of personal financial investment do you do?