My investment plan. Please take a look.?

Question

Please any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated.
1) 70,000 money market
2) 170,000 S&P 500 index fund
3) 30,000 international stock market

My plan is to have a emergency reserve of 70,000 in money market. If a hot investment comes up, I could always take some money out of money market and invest as I choose.

Second is too have a majority of my money 170,000 in a moderate risk S&P 500 index fund for at least 5 years. Im thinking of just leaving this money in there and forgetting about it. Good idea??

Third is to put about 30,000 in a high risk stock such as international. But I don't know where to invest. Did research but still unsure. China has been doing really well but some say they'll crash others say they'll keep rising. So confusing. Since stock market tends to do better long term, I plan to leave it for at least 7 years.

Should I put some money in small cap too??

My plans decent?? Please ANY advice, comments or suggestions would really help. Thanks

Answer 1

Pretty good, but I would recommend that you have at least ten percent of your assets in something with hard value. Personally, I think gold and silver are going to be going up, especially if there is a recession. At this time it seems we are heading for/are in a recession, IE the mortgage crisis and the credit crunch. The dollar is losing its value and gold is a great way to protect your assets from inflation. Although you don't need to buy physical gold or silver. You could buy gold and silver certificates or electronic gold currency, or Gold exchange-traded funds. Just remember it's never a bad time to diversify your portfolio.

Answer 2

Looks pretty good for a general plan, with out specific investments named and not knowing your age and investment duration.

Some things to look for:
Money market account- should earn over 4.5% with no fees

S&P 500 Fund - Watch out for fees, A low fee fund like a Vanguard would be good. Don't put you money in all at once, do it over a years time.

International Stock- You can buy fund(s) that will expose you to europe, asia, south america ,etc or all at once or just europe and asia, ect. Again watch the fees and turn over and again put you money in over a years time.

Here is a link to a story that adds a bond fund for a little more stability and uses the total market not just the s&p 500. It might give you some ideas.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/how-8-year-old-crafted-simple-winning/story.aspx?guid={C7209715-4739-47E7-85A4-59AFE8D28BBF}

Answer 3

I don't personally care for the S&P 500 Index fund. Much prefer a managed fund that minimizes the down-side of market fluctuations. Could offer more suggestions if you stated your age and retirement objectives.
Good luck!

Answer 4

lee ... I can't give you an honest answer because you've omitted critical information.

how old are you? when do you plan to retire (if ever)? are you married? children? planning on them? what is your income and career like?

if you're 63, married, and hope to retire without a pension in 4 years on just your investments and Social Security ... this isn't enough.

if you're 23 and hope to retire in 44 years you have a good start.

***
ETFs are the way to look into foreign stock markets and riskier submarkets, btw. Low trading costs and a wide variety are available.


GL

Answer 5

Don't know about China, but India is really doing well. Some of my investments have more than doubled in 1 year. Do check it out.