If you had 1/2 million dollars to play with, what would you invest it in at age 42?

Question

? I'm pretty agressive myself.

i use term play loosely...i'm an investor but very agressive.

zebra....im not that OLD!!!! 35% bonds? no way......maybe if I was 65

Answer 1

Hard to say. I have not been 42 for a lot of years. Would you be interested in what a somewhat older gentleman would invest his half million in. 80,000 in Chinese stocks. 70,000 in Indian stocks. 20,000 in European stocks, mostly Swiss. 200,000 in large cap dirt cheap U S growth stocks such as JNJ, LOW, BAC, MMM, MET, etc. 60,000 in small cap stocks. 30,000 in oil stocks. The rest is interesting speculations.

Answer 2

I would Invest some of it with me. I have a new investing idea that will bring you back 5%10% every time you invest. and the time frame of the investment is about 15-30 days. there is no risk to your capital what so ever, which is the best part. I have a start-up which I am looking for a few investors or one good investor to come in as a partner to help push my company in to the next stage. You said you were an agressive investor, it doesn't get more agressive than a new a idea.

I am looking for around $50,000 to get the ball rolling.

Email me if you are interested, and I think a agressive investor like your self would be very interested in this investment.

email me at [e-mail]

Answer 3

I'd do a BIll Gates and a Buffet with 10% of the half million dollars and invest the amount to help improve the lives of children /people in an undeveloped country like the Philippines. If given wholeheartedly, the amount you invest to improve the lives (education, health, food, etc) of Filipinos will be returned to you a hundred fold in the form of other blessings from the Lord. As Jesus said, "For if you give, you will get! Your gift will return to you in full and overflowing measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use to give -- large or small -- will be used to measure what is given back to you." (TLB, Luke 6:38) . If you are
interested, our foundation can assist you in helping the Filipinos.

Answer 4

I'm in a similar situation, so here's what I did: first, subscribe to the Hulbert Investment Letter (through marketwatch.com), which tracks the performance of investment-advice newsletters. From that I could find out which few investment advisors had a record better than no-brainer investing (i.e., better than buying and holding an index fund).

I ordered trial subscriptions to several newsletters that Hulbert ranked highly. In the end, I decided I liked the method of the long-running newsletter "No-Load Fund-X" (www.fundx.com). They use a weighted formula on recent performance data to rank funds, so nobody's opinions or predictions enter into their system. Their approach gives clear indications of which funds are suitable for buying and when they are suitable for selling.

Their approach is based around being fully invested, which is fine for someone in his 40s. I've been using NLFX for about 18 months now, beating the market average by several points in '05 and '06. Most gratifying.

Answer 5

Assuming of course that this isn't your retirement money and you are still fully funding your 401k....

Me personally? I'd put about 100k into tax free municipal bonds. (Gotta have vacation money each year)....

Then I'd put 100k in a Brokerage firm...Merrill Lynch. If they're making money then I'm making money and they always make money.

The rest I would split amonts 4 other stocks. Which ones? Only local ones...example. I'm in seattle so I would invest in Columbia Bank, Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks. Iwouldn't go more than 4 and I would always stay local. Gotta have enough in there to capitalize on the upmarkets and I don't always have time to research but I always read my local paper and watch my local news...thus I keep abreast of current events. Go in and out of those 4 and focus on them...that way when it starts to slide or if something doesn't look right, I can get out and wait out that company's slump. They are in different sectors so no overlap and there is a good mix of growth and dividend paying stocks there.

Answer 6

First you need to determine what you want that money to do for you; i.e., how much income you want it to generate each year, and how much capital appreciation you want from it yearly. And how much risk you are willing to take for the next 10-15 years.

I would invest in high quality stocks and No-Load mutual funds.(Growth funds, Value funds, International funds, Large cap, Mid cap, Aggressive Growth, etc.) Make sure you are diversified, and invest your half mil gradually, like 10k per month for 50 months.

Being aggressive, you probably can put 10% (50k) in Technology stocks. Go to your local library and look at Value Line. Or S&P Outlook. You will get some good ideas in those.

Answer 7

If I were 42 and agressive I would put 250K into a mix of mid-cap, foreign, and energy mutual funds. 150K into a fund of hedge funds. The final 100K I would definetely put into Forex.

I am currently achieving very good results with a Forex hedging strategy. I don't see why you couldn't do the same thing.

Wishing you a prosperous 2007.

Paul

http://www.teampip.com

Answer 8

Good rule of thumb: subtract your age from 100. That is the percentage of your total investments which should be devoted to equities. For example, subtract 42 from 100... so 58% of your total wealth should be in equities.

Answer 9

I'd buy a commercial office building and run a triple net lease. Network with a few local contractors and store their numbers in my cell. Go on long-term vacation and if the tenant calls with any problems, just call the contractor.

Answer 10

Age 42 is still fairly young in my book. 60% stocks, 25% bonds, 15% cash. Good luck.