Can you help me on my investment strategy? What do you suggest I invest aggressively into?

Question

My Husband is 53 and I am 10 Years Younger. During our 20-year marriage , I have been in and out of the workforce , raising children, and getting my PH.D. in economics. Now I plan to return to full time employment. I am essentially just getting my career under way as my husband approaches the completion of his. None of the retirement seminars address the issue that not all husbands and wives are the same age, nor do they retire at the same time.

Answer 1

With a Ph D in economics, I do not have to explain that India and China are running circles around the U S economy. There are some good vehicles to allow you to invest in their economies.

IIF is a closed end fund that invests in India. I do not really consider it an aggressive fund but most investors would because India is considered a developing country. There is another closed end fund that invests in india--INF. I do not recommend this fund at current prices because it is selling at a 10% premium to net assets.

There are 3 closed end funds that invest in China. TDF, CHN, and GCH. There are also 2 index funds that invest in China. PGJ and FXI.

Agressive is ok but you do not want to bet the farm on agressive. Too much risk. SWZ is a closed end fund that invests in Swiss companies, very large Swiss companies.

EF is a closed end fund investing in European companies.

PENNX is a mutual fund investing in small cap companies.

All of these have long term growth rates of greater than 10%, some much greater.

Do you and your husband have Roth IRA accounts?

Answer 2

Go find a financial planner - preferably fee only. (CFP is the designation to look for). Get a comprehensive financial plan done that looks at Retirement, Risk Tolerance, Insurance, Estate Planning, and Investment Planning as part of an overall plan.

Make sure you walk away with an Investment Policy Statement. This is a document that you and your planner will use to create your portfolio. It will contain information about your risk tolerance, model asset allocation, asset class preferences and risk / return expectations for the portfolio. This is what you will use to make future investment decisions, but more importantly, this is what you will use to judge the success/failure of your portfolio in the future. It is also what you will use to hold your planner and money manager(s) responsible for deviations from your strategy - and may ultimately help determine when it is time for a change.

Answer 3

You are young enough to be seeking growth. If can do an IRA go for Mutual funds now. If maxed out on retirement for 2006 then open an investment acct & park money in short term bond funds or Reits til Jan. Inflation a risk so IAU (gold etf) will be 1 item that can be picked up now (no cap gain distribution in December). RRE (close-end reit fund at a discount) & some index funds like EFA solid for Jan. Have to focus on younger spouse as want both to make it through to the goal of solid retirement. Avoid annuities (high fees) & only term life if needed. [e-mail] if qs

Answer 4

I would suggest you look at all the different sectors of the market, and see what appeals to you...unfortunately figuring out your investment style is something that you can't pick up by reading a book.
I would say that if you are concerned about security, to stick with big blue chips or the QQQ stock which is essentially an index fund. These are less riskier than individual stocks.

Answer 5

Try not to be too aggressive. You don't really want the volatility of aggressive funds or stocks. Diversity is the key. My suggestion is to put some away in Large cap, mid cap and russell 2000 funds and some in high interest deposits like ING or HSBC online accounts. You may also want to take a look at DRIPs (dividend reinvestment plans). Spread your eggs....

Answer 6

First of all, I would not start here looking for answers to your questions. I would take some ideas from here and take them into consideration because every persons situation is different. My advice to you is to go and make an appointment with a financial planner at some local business. This would be the best way to start. Maybe stop by an accounting office and ask them for advice.

Answer 7

I think the best advice on investing is to buy what the best traders are buying. This is the idea behind the site,
http://www.top10traders.com - this is a free site that lets you create a portfolio of stocks with $100,000 in "play" money. Each day the site ranks the best performing portfolios, so you can see how your picks compare against those of other investors. You can also read investing posts from the best traders, as well as share your own investing ideas.

Here are this month's best traders:

http://www.top10traders.com/Top10Standings.aspx

Good luck.

Answer 8

Use Index fund from Vanguard. You will not regret it. Use wide variety of index fund, for instance, International, Russell, S&P, etc. Check out www.vanguard.com for more info or call 1.800.662.ship. They wil help you out. If you want to play safe, use dollar cost avg method. Put money in money market fund and have money transferred to index funds every month. This way, you will benefit from ups and down of the market.

Answer 9

I would start at Vanguard.com. Complete the risk analysis questionaire and see what they suugest based on your answers. Have your husband do the same independently.
You can then base your strategy on the results.

Answer 10

Assuming you're an prolonged term investor, now's the time to start searching for deals interior the inventory marketplace. maximum persons think of that circumstances like those are whilst human beings ought to avert the inventory marketplace yet certainly, those are the final circumstances to start or enhance making an investment. you're able to desire to be reasonable however. you need to purchase a "good" inventory on the instant and as the marketplace is interior the crapper, that inventory ought to flow nowhere or down somewhat greater. despite the fact that, you're able to desire to understand that the financial gadget will recuperate. save asserting that to your self. it extremely is going to recuperate. it consistently does. that's how economies artwork. so as that inventory you purchase on the instant for say $a hundred ought to dip to $ninety yet then shoot as much as $a hundred thirty (or regardless of) whilst the financial gadget recovers. maximum persons mistakenly have self assurance that they are going to easily wait till the financial gadget improves previously they make investments interior the inventory marketplace. the errors with that questioning is that the inventory marketplace rises in anticipation (significant) of the financial gadget recovering. I.e., the inventory marketplace doesnt look ahead to "good" financial information to look previously it rallies. It rallies in anticipation of excellent information coming say 6 months from now. meaning you pick for to purchase whilst issues seem dire. there is an previous addage on Wall street: "whilst they're crying, you ought to be finding out to purchase!"