Check out the Cash Money Club website for info on the investment club started by Trey.
Ratings of Online Stock Brokers. Read it before you invest! Based on what I see here, I wish my money was with Datek. I currently invest with Ameritrade, because they only charge $8/trade, but I have lost money because they didn't execute my orders for over one hour!
If Suretrade worked right, they would be the best, especially since they don't charge an annual fee for IRA's. Yahoo
IRA's, IRS, Online Stock Brokers, what does it all mean? Why should we invest, anyway?
I invest because:
- The stock market indices have made an average of around 11% per year since 1928. (These numbers are fairly accurate, but probably not exact. Email me if you have a correction.)
- At 11%, $2000 will become $50,820 in 30 years. Don't wait to invest, invest now! If you just put it in the bank, earning 5% interest, you'll only have $9,076 in thirty years. It makes a big difference! If you invest $2000 per year for the next thirty years, you will have $441,826 tax dollars upon retirement. What this means to you is that you could draw tax-free interest of up to $43,784 per year and do it forever!
Education IRA's:
- The Feds now allow $500 per year to be put into an Education IRA. What does this mean to you?
- $500 per year invested from the child's birth earning 11% interest would yield a fund of $31,601 by age 18 (@5%=$16,032)
- $31,601 would give each child $8100 tax-free each year for tuition. Though it won't pay for everything, it should help!
- How many of us will have that much money saved for them when they start college?
- The advantage results from this money growing tax free, and by giving us an investment goal to shoot for.
Mutual funds:
Mutual funds are fine, and would probably be a better investment for those without much money, like myself. I don't invest in them because I think (probably incorrectly) that I can do better on my own. So far, I haven't, but mostly because I got antsy to make a lot of money quick and lost money on commissions and stocks that went down temporarily in time for me to sell.
My new strategy is to just invest for the long term, and not try for the fast buck, (for now!) I'm buying blue chips like Intel, IBM, and Xerox. There are thousands of stocks to invest in, but I just don't have the money to invest in them right now. The greatest thing about my Xerox stock is that I can reinvest my dividends (the paltry sum that they are) and I can send them more money any time for more shares without paying commissions. Keep your eyes open for DRIP's (Dividend Re-Investment Plans!)
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