where is the best place to start investing?

Question

I am 37 and currently deployed and have saved all earnings for the last year. How can I catch up since I am starting late?

Answer 1

Since you do not have any previous experience and you are getting a late start, you have to be somewhat cautious. You do not want to suffer any major losses. All investments have risk and at times the risk can be extreme. And at times the losses can be extreme.

One method of reducing the risk is to select mutual funds with good investment records and invest in them. Another method is to utilize asset allocation. That means investing your assets in a diverse selection of investments and adjusting those levels of investment periodically to be certain that your investment allocations do not become out of balance.

A mistake made by many investors is to go for the home run and instead wind up striking out. That happens more than one might imagine. The common name for this is speculation.

Since you have a years worth of earnings, you are starting with a substantial sum. A sum large enough to provide you with some diversification.

A am not in a position to tell you what exactly to invest in. But I can give you some suggestions of what to consider.

The U S is not growing nearly so fast as several other countries of the world, so it might be to ones advantage to allocate a portion of ones assets to those countries where the growth is greatest ie China and India. There are mutual funds specializing in investments in these areas. For example several closed end funds are TDF, CHN, IIF, and there are others also. Both of those markets have recently had major sell offs and securities are more reasonable there today than a couple of months ago.

Another thing to consider is that the U S dollar is not doing too well against foreign currencies so diversification into stocks of other countries can reduce some of the risk of the U S dollar.

A recent invention has been the introduction of exchange traded index funds. These are funds that are closed end funds that mirror benchmark indexes. There are currently over 240 equity funds and more debt funds available. The idea behind these is that 70% of managed mutual funds underperform the markets indexes so if you can't beat them join them. These funds normally have lower expenses than mutual funds because they do not trade a lot of stocks. They come in all kinds of different flavors. For example: DIA, which represents the Dow Jones Industrial average and has expense ratio of 0.18%; EWJ, which represents the Japan index and has expense ratio of 0.59%; GLD which is an idex of the price of gold and has expense ratio of 0.40%.

Before you do anything, I would suggest that you go to your public library and check out a couple of books on investing. One book that is well reguarded I am told is "Investments for Dummies".

Yahoo finance has a lot of good data on mutual funds. And I am enclosing a link on closed end funds.

There is one final point to consider. That is that since the future is uncertain, it is always wise to have a portion of ones assets in cash equivelents. When the markets have risen a great deal the portion should be increased. When the markets have had a sell off the portion should be decrease. This is referred to as "buy low, sell high"

Answer 2

While you look for answers to this question, have your current savings in a high yield savings account such as HSBC, so your money is growing during your search. I also suggest you make retirement your first goal with your money. Using an IRA. If you plan to do your investing yourself, then go to the American Assosiation of individual investors where there is reliable information on the subject. But whatever you do, don't rely on paid subscriptions that promote their sevices. Do research on this topic, and get a better understanding of how to invest.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

Your Education! It's never too late for more education.

Whichever field you wish to invest in, real estate, stock market, commodities, bonds, options, a business...an specialized education is paramount. There are books at the library which will do wonders and open doors and eyes to the possibilities. There are also websites - marketocracy.com helps you papertrade stocks; - and others which abound in information. Look both at technical and fundamental stock analysis. Don't just use someone's system. Learn and invent one that works for you.

Answer 5

Mexico.

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Answer 6

here i m ... i'll show u how! in the money-market