How would you invest $100,000 with 10-15 years of investing horizon?

Question

Would you invest in real estate, mutual funds, stocks, S&P 500 index? or a mix of all.

Answer 1

With 100k you have enough capital to acquire a very diverse portfolio of investments except for real estate. It is a good idea to diversify so here would be a reasonably good plan.

10k in t-bills
20k in S&P 500
20k in European stocks through a mutual fund or index fund
10k in Japanese stocks through a mutual fund or index fund
10k in Chinese stocks
10k in Indian stocks
10k in small cap stocks
10k in mid cap stocks

With the exception of Bush starting a nuclear war, that should give you a good return over a 10 year period with only moderate risk.

Answer 2

I'd get myself a nice, fat, juicy interest rate on a jumbo CD and let it ride. I'm a fixed-interest-rate person and firmly believe in the power of compound interest. If you shop around a little, you should be able to find a place that compounds interest on a monthly basis. You'd end up with a nice chunk of change after that length of time.

If you're looking for something you could liquidate in less than 10 years if the need arose, you could go with shorter-term CDs and still have interest rates that are close to the same as the longer-term ones.

I've found that credit unions often offer the highest interest rates, and they usually have wonderful introductory rates on what they call "new money."

If this money is from earned income or would be a rollover from an IRA or pension... I'd consider doing a Roth IRA. It's after-tax money that could be withdrawn after 5 years without any penalties and so on.

Answer 3

It would depend on what investments you already have.

Myself, if I had an additional $100,000 to invest today I would use $50,000 as a down payment on another $250,000 investment property (rental) and the remaining $50,000 in indexed funds.

But that is based on my current mix of assets. It will depend on your situation, your risk tolerance and your willingness to invest in different assets (for example some people do not want to be landlords - so their real estate investments would be mostly REITs for diversification purposes).

Answer 4

I would invest primarily in medium-risk mutual funds, preferrably based in the medical or defense sectors. I would also place a smaller portion in oil and alternative energy sectors. Finally, I would leave perhaps $10,000 in 10 year bonds, for a measure of stability if all else goes awry.

Answer 5

Hi there,

If it was me i would either put the full amount into managed fund, preferably a geared fund so that you multiply the amount your making.

Or

I would split it into 2 or 3 amounts and use them as deposits on properties in capital cities, that way you can't go wrong.

Cheers, ToNy!
"Success.Trail"

Answer 6

A small mix, check out AIGYX and PRLAX on MSN's Money site under fund look up and check out the proformance history.

Answer 7

Stocks with the help of a Portfolio Manager.