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Ask HN: I have $450K cash, what should I do to maximize my return?

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451–460 of 509 posts

Re: Ask HN: I have $450K cash, what should I do to maximize my return?

#451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you support censoring technology topics on a technology forum?

Yes, when it's nothing more than a bunch of shills potentially convincing the naive into buying into their pyramid scheme.

have you read the whitepaper? Bitcoin solved doublespending and is the best implementation of digital cash in a long line of innovation. in a way all monies are pyramid schemes. You don't think maybe you're being naive for dismissing a clear breakthrough?

Re: Ask HN: I have $450K cash, what should I do to maximize my return?

#452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you actually think there was a lot of volume for Bitcoin at 20k? A handful of people even bought Bitcoin at the 20k level. It was only trading at prices that high for a few hours

Yes I do. Significantly more so than the weeks/years since. There was weeks and weeks of heavy volume, as it declined to $3000. If you bought over $10k, you've had money tied up doing nothing for 2.5 years in nonsense. Prices don't go parabolic like that unless dumb money gets involved, and subsequently wiped out. https://www.tradingview.com/x/73konLcD/

your chart has a couple candles, but doesn't address my point that very little volume was transacted at 20k. People aren't going to stop storing value on the Bitcoin network, so I suggest you lighten up

Re: Ask HN: I have $450K cash, what should I do to maximize my return?

#453

Personally I would hold the cash until there is blood in the streets. That is the time that fortunes are made. We arent quite there yet, possibly next year. In 2000 investors were screaming at buffet because he was sitting on billions in cash. They were saying he had lost his touch, he should pay a dividend etc. Then in 2001 the crash happened and he was able to get some great deals. The time to buy is when everyone…

> We arent quite there yet, possibly next year

The fact that a lot of people think this gives me confidence that it isn't going to happen anytime soon. I'll get nervous when the rhetoric is "The market is looking great for years to come!", like back in 2005/2006.

Re: Ask HN: I have $450K cash, what should I do to maximize my return?

#454

Just skimming some of the replies here makes me think you will get better advice on the Bogleheads forum [1]. Despite the minimalist appearance it is actually a great place to get sensible financial advice. I would start with the wiki page on managing a windfall [2], then search through older replies to similar questions. This kind of question gets asked there a lot, so there should be some recent threads. [1] https:…

Bear in mind Personal Finance is pretty conservative. Depending on how much time you have in the market you can take some more aggressive bets. I'm not suggesting r/WallStreetBets style investing but something like a risk parity adjusted pairing of 3X leveraged S&P with 3X leveraged treasuries can yield dramatically better returns over time [1]. I'm not recommending it per se, to each their own risk tolerance and res…

I don't think you can deduct the interest on the margin loan. The rules are fairly simple. The margin loan funds must be used for investment and not for use. Putting a down payment on a primary residence is certainly personal use.

Re: Ask HN: I have $450K cash, what should I do to maximize my return?

#455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're conflating index funds with S&P 500 Index funds, though. You can buy an index fund with _zero_ tech stocks. You can buy something like VINIX which has considerably less weight on the BigN tech firms.

The VINIX is down 3% YTD while the rest of the market ballooned. Looks like we "picked stocks" by picking the indexes here, too? I just don't understand the insistence on indexes. We're afraid of picking stocks that go bankrupt? We work in tech, and a lot of us are science nerds. Surely we can pick names based on how we think those technologies are likely to be successful. We have access to a lot more information tha…

It's not about the amount of information you have, it's about the amount you have _relative to other investors_. In the era of algorithmic trading where companies are spending millions to get information milliseconds faster, the extra information you have by working in tech and being a science nerd is meaningless.

Re: Ask HN: I have $450K cash, what should I do to maximize my return?

#456
I have read all the comments here, and although the 8-12% per year returns you might get from the stock market are tempting, my investment strategy has always paid off by at least doubling but usually tripling my money every 3 months... buy low and sell high. examples: buy a house in gated community or on the water on a tax auction or foreclosure auction offered by the court house and never bid higher than a third of the appraisal value on any deal, then sell it for what its worth on zillow. number two, buy jet airplanes or helicopters on auction sites and same thing never bid higher than a third. The reality of these auctions is once you bid higher than 50-100k, the small fish drop off and you either win or its a much smaller bidder pool. you're more than likely to win deals that are 5x to 10x cheaper than what they go for on the retail market.

Re: Ask HN: I have $450K cash, what should I do to maximize my return?

#457
#1: go buy those night vision goggles you've always wanted and take a vacation. Life is short and you should have some fun. Once that's done, do the below:

Expect inflation over the next 10 years, so keep the land & real estate investments (good hedge against inflation). Also, there are strategic ways to use these for tax purposes...talk to a good tax lawyer.

Treat 10% as "gambling" money with investments. Try to pick some stock market sleepers.

Spread 60% across a few American Funds and/or Vanguard selections, depending on your risk tolerance. Also, max out a Roth IRA every year starting now.

Keep 7-10% in a savings account that's accessible for emergencies.

Put 7-10% into bond funds.

Take whatever's left and put into a down payment on more real estate, either for a personal property or investment property.

Re: Ask HN: I have $450K cash, what should I do to maximize my return?

#458
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dividends are left-pocket right-pocket. Dividends can help you psychologically, but in a way, it’s like forced selling once per year or per quarter. Edit: if it helps you to invest, by all means, do it. But since dividends are mostly psychological, there is no point in limiting your stock picks to companies with a high dividend.

On the other hand, companies with long histories of sustained and rising dividend payments also tend to outperform the S&P500 in terms of total return (dividends + capital gains), and do so with lower volatility. Reasons include having a business that is profitable and stable enough to sustain such payouts and a management culture that appropriately balances shareholder interest (by paying dividend) against the long-…

Counter example: Apple. Low dividend, but all other check boxes apply.

Re: Ask HN: I have $450K cash, what should I do to maximize my return?

#459
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dividends are left-pocket right-pocket. Dividends can help you psychologically, but in a way, it’s like forced selling once per year or per quarter. Edit: if it helps you to invest, by all means, do it. But since dividends are mostly psychological, there is no point in limiting your stock picks to companies with a high dividend.

it's not psychological at all. Dividends give you returns that can be reinvested in whatever you want, so it helps with diversification. Now, in the US companies have muddled the field so good dividends don't mean much, but it is still useful to remember this.

You can sell shares of a no-dividend company and reinvest the money in something else.

Re: Ask HN: I have $450K cash, what should I do to maximize my return?

#460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So does an equivalent increase in the share price of the underlying

Not really. Share buyback may be an advantage, but it doesn't necessarily reflect on the price of the stock. In other words, a company can buy its own stock and price can fall anyway (see for example GE). This cannot happen with money deposited on your account.

You’re conflating daily price action and the balance sheet. From a pure financial perspective, the stock price is reduced by exactly the amount of the dividend and nothing is reduced if a company doesn’t pay a dividend.

Everything else is the typical movement of any stock, that of course can be detached from reality. The thing is: people are way too focused on the dividend part as if this was the only valid way to investing.

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