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

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.

At 4.2%, the $340,000 will guarantee to grow to $420,000 in 5 yrs. I’m happy with that.

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.

Well I’m self employed. I don’t have a matching 401k plan available to me through an employer. While I do contribute regularly to my IRA accounts, the contribution amounts are rather limited for me. Thus the vast majority of my savings go into bank accounts and index funds rather than tax deferred retirement accounts.

Currently I run a few small businesses from my home office and have not yet set up my own SEP IRA account system. Perhaps I will in the near future.