Originally Posted by lewdog (Post 12292515)

Investment tip I have recently learned. Please correct me if I have anything wrong. I can't wait to see some tips from some of you. I love talking about investing and savings/life goals.


Roth IRA tip. A Roth IRA is only for those not making Dane money. A Roth IRA investment account can actually be fairly liquid. Much advice that I have currently been reading is talking about funneling as much money (max hopefully $5,500/year) to your Roth IRA account over dumping extra money into a savings account and earning nothing. This is of course after you have built an emergency fund of 3-6 months. The caveat of doing this is that as long as the Roth IRA has been open for 5+ years, you can withdrawn your contributions at any time, tax free and with no penalties. Meaning that if I have contributed $20k to my Roth over 7 years, and it's currently worth $25k, I am allowed to withdraw up to $20k without penalty. Is this ideal, no. But in a sense, it acts as a second emergency fund as well. And an emergency fund with actual chance to grow unlike a savings account. The money would take at most a few weeks to get to you from my understanding. Easily in the window to pay for a major emergency. Withdrawing money from a 401k should be a last resort for most as the penalties caused by this are not worth it unless it's your last option.

Originally Posted by Amnorix (Post 12293182)

errr...not quite. I think you're mixing up some of the concepts. Or I may just be misreading it. Anyway, this should clear things up:



http://www.rothira.com/roth-ira-withdrawal-rules

Originally Posted by lewdog (Post 12292515)

Investment tip I have recently learned. Please correct me if I have anything wrong. I can't wait to see some tips from some of you. I love talking about investing and savings/life goals.


Roth IRA tip. A Roth IRA is only for those not making Dane money. A Roth IRA investment account can actually be fairly liquid. Much advice that I have currently been reading is talking about funneling as much money (max hopefully $5,500/year) to your Roth IRA account over dumping extra money into a savings account and earning nothing. This is of course after you have built an emergency fund of 3-6 months. The caveat of doing this is that as long as the Roth IRA has been open for 5+ years, you can withdrawn your contributions at any time, tax free and with no penalties. Meaning that if I have contributed $20k to my Roth over 7 years, and it's currently worth $25k, I am allowed to withdraw up to $20k without penalty. Is this ideal, no. But in a sense, it acts as a second emergency fund as well. And an emergency fund with actual chance to grow unlike a savings account. The money would take at most a few weeks to get to you from my understanding. Easily in the window to pay for a major emergency. Withdrawing money from a 401k should be a last resort for most as the penalties caused by this are not worth it unless it's your last option.

Originally Posted by R8RFAN (Post 12292545)

I gross about 2k per week and have a online side business I have owned since 1999 that earns about 25-30k per year profit

And I have to pay a shit load of taxes too:cuss:

Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi (Post 12293187)

You are misreading. You can withdraw your contributions from the Roth without penalty, because as you said, they are post tax funds. Only pay penalties on the early withdraw of earnings.

Originally Posted by Amnorix (Post 12293166)

So the concept I'm using it for is to (1) keep track of everything, and (2) see progress over time. I don't bother with including vehicles or other illiquid items that in theory add to net worth (other than the house), but you certainly could if you wanted (offset by any vehicle loan).

Anyone who has credit card or student loan debt should have it on the spreadsheet. You can also input what the interest rates are for the various debt, to help you visualize what debt you should prioritize getting rid of first.

In theory, if you had a baseball card collection or some other kind of collectible, you could include that, but it's pretty much YMMV there. Most types of collectibles aren't exactly a great way to plan for retirement unless it's your actual business, and even then it's risky for your heirs. Usually they need to be sold at firesale prices to convert to cash if anything goes wrong.

Originally Posted by Amnorix (Post 12293178)

I was a kid and remember interest rates that high.

Now imagine the flip side -- mortgages at like 18+ percent, because that was real too.

I could go on and on about how Fed Chairman Volcker had to do it to break "stagflation", but it also broke the Carter presidency (not that he was good, anyway, but alot of people blame Carter for stuff that he had no control over that came out of the oil embargo crisis etc.), but trust me when I say you don't want to get me started. ;)

Originally Posted by Amnorix (Post 12293180)

Your path might be great for YOU, but it is high risk, high reward, high maintenance, and not the right path, in my opinion, for the vast majority of investors.

Originally Posted by R8RFAN (Post 12292522)

I have 150k cash
I have about 250k in my 401k
My house and cars are paid for

I am 100% debt free

That's my portfolio , Not glamorous but I am happy

Originally Posted by R8RFAN (Post 12292554)

Thats me... I am 50 now.. I don't have time to deal with stupid shit anymore

Originally Posted by scho63 (Post 12293299)

What age are you? That's probably better than 97% of all other Americans

Originally Posted by CanadianChiefs (Post 12293407)

Main stocks I'm in: NVAX (well run company, looking for a run up soon) and AMDA ( FDA approval shortly, much riskier, sell on any major pop). Also swing trade bombardier usually once a week from low 1.90's to high 1.90's and make my 5% and repeat process. I'm a student so I'm not playing with a ton of cash (under 10k) but I am making money.