I'm 50, put max in IRA yearly,40k in checking,should I put some $ elsewhere to make $. I make 40k a year.?

Answer 1

My answer: You shouldn't be looking for such financial advise on Yahoo Answers.

Answer 2

OK ... very first thing ... pay off any credit card debt you have,
that is expensive.

Do you have a 401K?
If so, it is a good idea to contribute to that, and if there is any
kind of matching at all it is crazy not to take it up, that should
be your first priority.

If you can contribute to an IRA so it, in fact, a Roth IRA is
probably better if you make less than 100K or so.

Finally, it is good to have some money not locked down in
some kind of tax thing, and you can also put too much in
your retirement account. You did not say if you own or can
afford a house. The right house is a good buy under the right
conditions in the right market compared to paying rent.

Max in IRA yearly is not that much really, so you should look at some other kind of retirement account if you do not have the
option of a 401K.

That said, if you do not have 40K in a checking account, that
is about the worst place you can put it. At least put it in a
saving account, and that is not even good. Talk to your bank
about options for your 40K ... if you are nervous about tying
your money up or risk ... manage it.

Put some in a money market, or Ibonds, of tax-free bonds.
You have to educate yourself. One thing to do if you can find
it is to listen to Bob Brinker on the radio, he gets all kinds of
questions and if you cannot go to school or do not know where
to start his show is a good survey to familiarize yourself with
money. A little more basic is Marketplace Money on PBS.
Bob Brinker also has a web site bobbrinker.com .. .but he
charges to listen to the shows off the air - its kind of a rip-off,
so listen or tape them on the air and listen off the air if you
have to.

If you are not familiar with mutual funds learn about them before
you leap into paying possible big fees on the in or out side of
investing in mutual funds ... the key here is "no-load" ... not
front-load or back-load ... NO LOAD. Remember the mutual
funds most of them do not do as well as the market by itself,
so people buy index funds. Learn about this before you listen
to some know it all ... learn and decide for yourself, and be
conservative, you can get fleeced by a holes in fees or stuck
in investments, or someone can mismanage your money.

I also would not buy a financial advisor, there are thousands of
them out there and unless you know you can trust them many
of them are thieves.

Answer 3

Get that $40k out of checking and into Money Market Mutual Fund.

How balanced is your 401K? Most are not very good. Try to save 10% annually. Go to Vanguarg.com or troweprice.com and do a free retirement analysis.

Open a Roth IRA and put at least $2000 in an S&P 500 index fund. Without more details on your situation, I can't make any more suggestions.

Answer 4

Do you contribute to a 401k or some other employer program. if so make sure this is maxed out as well. sometimes employers match your contribution. this is free money. do not miss this opportunity.
Someone already said Roth IRA. If you do not have a roth stop contribution to your traditional and put it into a roth. as a matter of fact you can roll over your traditional into the roth. this takes about a year to convert but will be worth it in the long run. The difference is a roth is tax free when you retire. the traditional you will be taxed on at that time. Other wise you can go with mutual funds which are nicely diversified with out much management. You can get this through any brokerage house. You want a "no load mutual fund or index fund.

Answer 5

You are still young enough to take some risks. I've invested in the stock market but I did alot of research before I bought any. I don't believe in mutual funds. A lot of people lost their shirts on that one when we had the last crash. I buy individual stocks, 100 shares at a time, and I hold on to them when the market takes a dive. Eventually they go back up and I haven't lost any money. The key is to buy stocks that have a good history. I have Dell, Microsoft, IBM, Apple, Merck & Exxon. On the other hand my father has utility stocks that pay dividends. He adds this to his social security and pension. My stocks are all in an IRA rollover account so I don't have to pay taxes until I start withdrawing money. Most of my stocks have split 2 or 3 times since I started buying in the mid 90's so I have much more than I started with. The important thing is I taught myself and have not had a broker or anyone else make my decisions. If I make money or lose money I have no one to blame but myself. I would never risk someone else investing my money and possibly losing it. I got a subscription to Money magazine and started reading the Wall Street Journal at work everyday. If I can do it so can you. Good luck.

Answer 6

You are going at retirement as if you are 25 years old. At 50, you have to have your money working hard. Put at lease $30K of the $40K you are holding in checking, into real estate. INVESTMENT REAL ESTATE, is what you need.

Don't hold it for years keep moving it. There is an Unlimited supply of young adults that would like to buy their first house. With your assets, you could provide the down payment. You would get paid a good return on your money. Learn to flip houses.

You could gain an additional income just researching who wants a house in your neighborhood.

Answer 7

You should invest it. Money sitting in a checking account does not draw much if any interest. Most savings accounts don't give a great return. If you have $40k you should set up a portfolio of some sort to get a return. Even if you invest in bonds or cds, you would be getting more back. My advice is to get a financial advisor, not a yahoo answers adviser.

Answer 8

Well it sounds you are well off. However, the 40K in the checkin account disserves you hugely. Why not at least put most of it in a Savings account at say 3 to 5 %, lots of banks are offering that for SV accounts now (city, ING..)
There are also ETFs to consider. Just like mutual funds, but a little better returns.Here is a better but complex definition:
What are exchange-traded funds (ETFs)?
ETFs are funds that trade throughout the day over an exchange. Most ETFs track an index, such as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index or the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. Because they are passively managed, ETFs have low annual expenses. They are not closed-end funds, and the fund companies do not redeem shares for cash.
ETFs are generally valued at close to their net asset value (NAV), although they sometimes trade at a slight discount or premium.
They have grown in popularity in recent years because they give an investor the opportunity to invest in an index or sector without exposing him to the risk of a single stock. In July 2005, there were $252.3 billion in ETFs.

Answer 9

Put the 40,000 that's in your checking account to work for you. I would do a combination of investments with it. Money market, mutual funds, cds, etc. Since you are getting closer to retirement age, I would find safer investments though. But don't leaving it in your checking account. Infaltion is eating it up.

Answer 10

40K in checking? I hope it pays you interest. If not, you might as well give your money to the bank. I'm sure you're smarter than that. Do as you wish.

Answer 11

You should put as much away as you can. See if Vanguard Mutual Funds has a tax free fund in your state or some other tax-free interest bearing vehicle. If not, it's always a good bet to invest in any S&P 500 mutual fund. Vanguard has a good one and so does Equivest.