Title: Gatlins Stock tips and money advice Source:
[None] URL Source:[None] Published:Feb 5, 2018 Author:Hopefully Gatlin Post Date:2018-02-05 18:32:47 by A K A Stone Keywords:None Views:19634 Comments:167
You wanna get rich? You just might if you follow this advice.
First - don't invest in anything you do not understand. You probably do not really understand Bitcoin. Scarcely anybody does. Don't invest in that sort of thing.
Second - remember taxes, and remember that the "net gains" tables that are sometimes provided showing you gains net of taxes hardly ever include state taxes, or city taxes, both of which are over and above the federal taxes. Do the calculation yourself of what $100 gain will leave YOU with, after federal, state and local income taxes OR short term or long term capital gains federal, state and local taxes OR federal, state and local taxes on gains on commodities (25% federal tax on gains in gold held, for example) OR taxes on dividends, OR Taxes on interest. However you're going to make money in the investment, you're going to be taxed. To properly compare one investment to another, the number that really matters is what you have left in your hand after taxes.
Third - Remember transaction costs. It costs money to sell a security, and more money to buy another one. Every time you change positions, you pay an exit fee and you pay an entrance fee.
Fourth - Remember "loads" on mutual funds, and management fees. Understand how the financial manager will pay himself every month out of your money in any managed product.
Fifth - Remember tax-advantage investments like IRAs and 401(k)s, but also remember the disadvantages of such structures: you money is trapped, and your options are limited.
Example: You're probably better off buying a 4.4% municipal bond and holding it to maturity than you are buy a 7% corporate bond and holding it to maturity.
First - don't invest in anything you do not understand. You probably do not really understand Bitcoin. Scarcely anybody does. Don't invest in that sort of thing.
What a silly comment. After reading this one sentence of your entire rant, I decided to comment as you are making HUGE assumptions while simultaneously making reality out of wild hubris.
Anyone that takes you for an investment advisor needs a beating.
After reading this one sentence of your entire rant, I decided to comment as you are making HUGE assumptions while simultaneously making reality out of wild hubris.
Anyone that takes you for an investment advisor needs a beating.
I was quoting somebody without attribution. I'll give the attribution this time:
“Never invest in a business you can’t understand.” - Warren Buffett
Pretty sure that bit of common sense from Warren Buffett is not wild hubris.
Likewise, pretty sure that anybody who read the moderate language and thoughtful suggestions I put into my series of writings here would not call what I provided a "rant".
Mine has an effective interest rate of 1.392%, so if I can earn a steady fixed rate of after tax return of greater than 1.392%, it does not make sense for me to pay that particular debt off at any greater speed than I do.
As inflation kicks in, the cost of paying back the mortgage over time decreases further and further, because when inflation is above 1.392%, the value of the principal invested in the house shrinks with the 2002 dollars that bought the place, but the eventual resale value of the property rises.
Mine has an effective interest rate of 1.392%, so if I can earn a steady fixed rate of after tax return of greater than 1.392%, it does not make sense for me to pay that particular debt off at any greater speed than I do.
I operate on logic.
Smart move....my son operates with the same logic on his home mortgage.
I have paid no interest on anything since I bought a Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham in 1968 and then a mortgage on a home in 1975 which was paid off by 1980. It was a pretty high interest rate as I remember and I wanted to get rid of it just in case my trading headed South and I felt better being totally debt free.
My credit cards charge no interest when payed in full each month....as I do with automatic payments.
Not bragging....just reinforcing your technique and adding a bit of personal info.
Good job posting and you are being most informative....keep it up and let folks take what they will from them.
Smart move....my son operates with the same logic on his home mortgage.
I have paid no interest on anything since I bought a Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham in 1968 and then a mortgage on a home in 1975 which was paid off by 1980. It was a pretty high interest rate as I remember and I wanted to get rid of it just in case my trading headed South and I felt better being totally debt free.
My credit cards charge no interest when payed in full each month....as I do with automatic payments.
Not bragging....just reinforcing your technique and adding a bit of personal info.
Good job posting and you are being most informative....keep it up and let folks take what they will from them.
I figure that a house, in particular, and apart from all other consumer goods, has considerable economic advantages to it. For starters, we have to live SOMEWHERE, and after taxes, lodging is the second greatest expense, so I may as well buy an appreciating asset to live in. The Trump tax reform diminishes somewhat the tax advantages of owning a home you live in, but it's still a better deal than renting.
By refinancing and negotiating (bitterly) at the depths of the housing crisis, I refinanced the house at an astonishingly low interest rate.
So, the house appreciates, the value of the principal borrowed shrinks with inflation, and it is significantly more advantageous to me both because of an interest rate below the inflation rate, and a growth in value of the property above the inflation rate, to string out the repayment as long as possible, the full length of the mortgage.
School and fencing travel and training, and soon enough, college, devour the bulk of disposable income right now.
Obvious things such as having an airline mileage card, running everything through the card and paying off the balance before interest is assessed help. If I do have to pay interest on a credit card because of those training and travel expenses, then so be it - time runs on, and some things are on a fixed schedule that has to be met, and that is more important than not paying a month or two of interest. But all in all I run a zero balance. If I have to stretch something, it will usually be medical bills, as they don't charge interest. Everything gets paid in the end.
I don't have much excess income after school, fencing and travel are taken into account. And such as I have needs to be liquid, because success in the sport means MORE travel. That's not a forever thing - it will pay for college, at least partly, or at least greatly ease entry into a top college. I am grateful to have the job I have, which pays enough for us to keep it all going. Other countries subsidize their young athletes. Ours does not until the collegiate level.
When the excess starts to really flow in in a couple of years, I'll update (but not tear down and rebuild or expand) the house, update the mechanicals, and make the garden really nice. That may be a French thing, but I look out on that green and somewhat mossy half-acre back yard, and I can see it filled with flowers, and how much more beautiful that would be - which means that we'd use it more and have people over more often to enjoy it.
Then it will be time to invest in securities to provide an extra margin in retirement.
Having suffered really terrible loss in the past (due to theft, not bad investment), I have to invest cautiously and conservatively if I want to be able to retire. Can't afford to gamble much with this opportunity.
But because shit happens, I have to plan life as though it were just going to be lived on Social Security, then everything in excess will be a blessing.
