I wish I could get a greenhouse set up.

Risky investment:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...ndhm7c8f1dcxr&

I did quite a bit of research on it, but by the time Missouri makes the change I'm assuming the profit party will be all but over considering the investment to do it right and all the oversight hassles involved.

I farm in Kansas so mooooooot point.

You could change gears and put a fairly shallow heated recirculating down and back styled concrete river in your long greenhouse. Fill it full of fish with fresh water shrimp in the settling basin end and float some produce or fancy herbs in the foam style blocks on the water. Report back and let me know if you're going broke or getting rich!

I really want to try it, but I'd have to hire someone to sit at the market and sell it or I'd want to kill some old bitty complaining about prices.

I don't have enough water for that. I need high margin crops.

I'll start by saying I know this topic has probably been covered multiple times, but I don't feel like picking through 50 pages.

Recently the wife and I started considering the possibility of early retirement. I think we could have the funds in place to do it at say 55 years of age. The problem (at least I see it as a problem) is that all of what we've saved so far is in 401k accounts which aren't accessible without penalties until we are of retirement age (correct?).

So my first question is, what do I do about that? Do I start to shrink my 401k contributions and open a personal trading account and invest in similar mutual funds that our 401ks are in, or are there better things to do?

Also, I want to dabble (a couple thousand $) in trading. What is the best DIY online service? From what I've read so far, TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab are highly rated.

Right. 59 and 1/2 is the withdrawal age. Withdrawal before that can be done, but you will pay a 10% penalty on top of the ordinary income tax that you will pay for the money.

It depends on your financial situation, of course, but you can view this as a 4.5 year period for your 401(k) to continue to grow while you are relying on other savings. That money needs to last the rest of your life, so the later you tap it, the better, in some respects.

Right. You need to invest in non-retirement accounts. These will NOT grow tax deferred, of course, so sales will require payment of cap gains taxes as well as transaction fees.

For that I will defer to others.

Bitcoin and Ethereum are where it's at

UBQU

Best MJ stock I have found lately- they are actually making money. All of their products are legal in all 50 states.

Your best bet would be to have them set you up a Roth IRA. Put in what you can afford right now- and then start maxing it out when you can.

Another option (if you're eligible) is to invest in a Roth IRA. It's still after-tax $$, but it grows tax free. You can always remove your contributions without penalty, tax free but to distribute earnings penalty free and tax free you will have to be older than 59.5 years and you have to have held the account for at least 5 years.
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So for a 401k, the contributions are pre-tax, but you get taxed when you take distributions...and for a Roth IRA, the contributions are post-tax but you are not taxed on the growth at all as long as you take qualified distributions?

What about an ordinary trading account? Obviously the contributions are post-tax. Do you get taxed on the growth every year?

You do get taxed on growth in a standard brokerage account, but the tax rate on that growth is less than your normal income tax rate.

Want to make a nice investment that will cash out well in the next few years?

Aclaris Therapeutics and Portola Pharmaceuticals.

You're welcome.