Latest responses to “June 2009: My Net Worth Update and Personal Finance Report” Copyright 2013, MoneyBlueBook.com 436760 2009-10-07T10:58:20-07:00 Greenman Ray, Correct me if I misread your statement about mainly putting your money in taxable investment forms. While IRA's are a good savings tool for most, for higher income earners who are self-employed ...please look into solo 401(k) plans. The contributions are much more favorable than an SEP-IRA. This plan was designed for small business owners like ourselves. Best wishes. ~ G 436640 2009-07-13T13:37:04-07:00 Journey You look great on paper. Congrats! 436680 2009-07-03T08:18:10-07:00 Bulldog Gin Co Raymond - Phew! Glad you didn't dump it all in the market in one go. Friday's decline was brutal. Prob I have with money sitting in the brokerage account is that my broker pays no interest compared to a regular bank. 436750 2009-07-02T19:08:32-07:00 Raymond Bob, Although I shifted substantial assets into my brokerage accounts in one fell swoop, the majority are simply sitting pretty as brokerage cash reserves. They remain un-invested. I don't plan to start investing steadily or seriously until the Fall at the earliest. Volume in the markets is incredibly light right now...and investors seem pretty uncommitted in terms of direction. Frankly, while I'm less pessimistic than I was at the start of this year, I don't really buy this sudden recovery at the moment. Beware these bear market rallies...they will pummel and leave you holding the bag if you are an active trader. 436650 2009-07-02T16:43:03-07:00 Bob Just curious, why move 90% of assets into the stock market in one go? Why not put invest in seperate tranches, just in case the market pulls back, like today with Dow down 223.32. Safer in tranches no? 436730 2009-07-01T16:10:48-07:00 AMH - Life & Annuity Quotes Retirement and estate planning are so often overlooked for some reason. Some of the most prosperous celebrities have passed leaving their estates in ruins for the beneficiaries. 436740 2009-07-01T12:24:29-07:00 Bulldog Gin Co Wow, that is quite a big jump invested in the stock market after a 35% rally. You feel ok with that? I wouldn't be able to take it, and have $340,000 in a CD at 4.2%, and already have enuf exposure through my company ($155,000) stock and 401k ($175,000). There's no way i can dump another $340,000 into the market. At 4.2%, the $340,000 will guarantee to grow to $420,000 in 5 yrs. I'm happy with that. 436720 2009-07-01T11:46:19-07:00 Eric Newton DoneToZen: An irony of making high-incomes is that the tax-deferred options typically close down to you over certain amounts. I'm actually close to the Roth IRA max income levels myself, and do everything I can to stay below that line to make the relatively meager 5K contribution to a roth. Raymond: You do know of the first-time home buyers' credit? 8000, adjusted by income between 75K - 95K. You can claim last year's income or this year's, I would suggest this year's, since you were out gallivanting around ;-) (if it wasnt for pleasure, i apologize) On the stock market, your probably right about a big pullback, I've got tight stops on my positions, and sometimes already they trigger off, which helps minimize risk, but also has the effect of not maximizing profit... ETFs will do you good, since the "big hand of government" keeps making big changes in the market, you can look at sectors of the market and pick ETFs (possibly leveraged, which is convenient) that invest in those sectors. Another nice thing about some ETFs, they are short... but ironically these guys wont drain your account if the market goes up, you can only lose the amount you put into it... quite different from regular shorting, where if you made a bad move, you could potentially end up owing a lot more than you risked. 436670 2009-06-30T16:31:25-07:00 MoneyEnergy How about cashflow numbers? Are those div-paying stocks you have? 436660 2009-06-30T12:00:48-07:00 Steve Brown So, Raymond, how old are you now? Seems like you very heavily weighted in stocks.