KaBar Posted November 11, 2002 Author Share Posted November 11, 2002 There are no guarantees in this life But if you do not start thinking about the future and laying the groundwork now for your life as an adult, you most certainly will not come out ahead. There are moral, as well as legal (and "extralegal") reasons to not choose an illegal way of making money. At some point in your life, you will be called at answer for your choices. It is difficult for someone to expect their children to follow rules and work hard and seek to become educated if the parent did not do so. If you want to raise a sociopathic kid, just live your life in a way that demonstrates that "I'm number one, and as long as I get mine, to hell with everybody else." Believe me, the choices you make will COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU if you make the wrong ones. It's not so much about "not getting caught" (by somebody--there are no appeals from the Mafia. All you get is a .22 round in the back of the head and a shallow grave somewhere.) It's about living life in a way so you know you have played by the rules. Somebody, somewhere, made the choice to start popularizing cocaine in the United States. I suppose they are now rich, but they also live in a country with 10 million cocaine addicts. I'm sure they introduced it in poverty-stricken ghetto neighborhoods, but eventually, it showed up in the wealthiest neighborhoods and the "best schools" in the nation. Now we get to deal with the fact that the shit is EVERYWHERE and every kid is faced with dope all around him. This is not what the Woodstock Generation had in mind, not at all. Things have gone terribly wrong. We cannot solve these problems from the top. It's a case by case, person by person situation. In order to avoid poverty, one must plan for the future. If you're lucky, your plan will work. If you're unlucky, you wind up old, sick and broke. All I'm trying to do is get you guys to understand that THE EARLIER YOU START INVESTING THE MORE MONEY YOU WILL HAVE. If you wait till you're 40, like I did, you are throwing away about twenty-two years of interest-earning years. Don't be stupid. Start today, and be diligent, because the choices you make will have a great impact upon your future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TEARZ Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 juggernaut- without having 2g's up front... YES, there are money market accounts that you can get into easily... in fact, if you open an account with schwab (which i recommend) your money actually sits in one of their specialty money market accounts that accrues interest until you specifically decide that you want to put it into something else... as far as mutual funds, most places require at least a 1000 dollar initial investment, with 500 increments in subsequent investment... so investing in mutual funds does require a little bit of up front loot. so when i first started, i opened a roth IRA account with schwab online. i printed out their forms, mailed them in with a check for $1500 and about a week later i was in business... i had already pre-selected mutual funds and i purchased $1000 worth of a small growth mutual fund and let the rest sit in the schwab account until i decided what to do with it. a few months later i bought some large growth ETFs to offset some risk and diversify. 10% off the top of every check goes directly into this account- basically a money market account which accrues far greater interest than a standard savings- and so on and so on... i started off knowing nothing about this game and now i'm semi-balling in my early 20s. investing is the truth. i like talking about this shit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aerosoled Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 im new to this and im interested, wheres the best place to start, i understand buying and selling stock but how and where do i do that. can you take out loans to buy stock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumPuncher Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 Originally posted by aerosoled can you take out loans to buy stock? that's the worst thing to do ever. firgue that any short term load will be a prime rate (around 7%) or more, and you're lucky to find a share that will guarantee aabove that rate. Certainly if you look for that high a return, your edging into the risky market. and there's the cance that you'll loose all the cast and still have to pay the loan back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TEARZ Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 it's true, in the short term, it's a very bad idea... but if you're thinking serious long term, it has its benefits... i wouldn't do it, but, considering inflation and potential long term growth, it's not the worst idea i'd ever heard. it can be positively spun... but if you were my friend, unless you were extraordinarily shrewd and disciplined (in which case you wouldn't betaking out loans to invest in the first place), i would say don't do it- just wait and stack a few chips- and make that a priority for yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumPuncher Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 yep! you know it man. Would you rather make loan payments or put the exact same cash into a fund? yeah.. makes sence doesn't it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaBar Posted November 12, 2002 Author Share Posted November 12, 2002 Don't Borrow Money Unless you absolutely have no choice. There are only two or three reasons I can think of to borrow money. Buying a home is one, and capitalizing a PROFITABLE business is another, and paying for a college education. Being Debt-Free is a very, very worthwhile goal. I managed to avoid any debt until I was about 27, when I thought having credit was more-or-less the mark of a "grown-up." I wasn't wrong, but having access to a credit line can lead to disaster if you are not SELF DISCIPLINED. The desire to "be" a success is great, unless you let the desire to live like you are wealthy override your common sense. The key to investing is living within your means. There is a very good book out there called "The Wealthy Barber." It's a book about how someone who has a steady income and consistently keeps investing and saving and living within modest means can become a millionaire. We should start a thread on how to live well without spending a lot of money. At the top of the list would be "Pay cash for what you buy" and number two would be "Never borrow money unless you have absolutely no other choice." Third would be "invest a part of every single paycheck you earn, starting RIGHT NOW." If it takes $1,500 to get started, and Charles Schwab will let you put money into an interest-bearing investment account until you have accumulated enough, then that's the way I would go, if I couldn't manage to save up $1,500 by myself. I guess it winds up being a question of "What's most important to you?" This advice up here^^^ is EXCELLENT ADVICE. Listen to Tearz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juggernaut Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 Originally posted by TEARZ ...when i first started, i opened a roth IRA account with schwab online. i printed out their forms, mailed them in with a check for $1500 and about a week later i was in business... i had already pre-selected mutual funds and i purchased $1000 worth of a small growth mutual fund and let the rest sit in the schwab account until i decided what to do with it. a few months later i bought some large growth ETFs to offset some risk and diversify. 10% off the top of every check goes directly into this account great. this is exactly what i am hoping to do sometime early next year. those specifics (who to go to, how much i need) helped out a ton. thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mental invalid Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 how do you invest repsonsibly??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumPuncher Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 ^ you mean by investing in responsible companies? That's a big thing now. I guess people didn't want to own a piece of the polluters, the slave-labor, the earth raping industries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mental invalid Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 yeah exactly............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigpoppa.k Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 i would suggest a book called 'Beating the Street' by Peter Lynch http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=1581294009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumPuncher Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 fuck 'em... toss those squaters out of my rainforrest, I've got cows to feed and trees to burn. nope. some links www.socialinvest.org www.greenmoneyjournal.com www.trilliuminvest.com I think that many of the major funds like to keep a 'social contract' with their companies. hopefully it's not just for the namesake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weapon X Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 Originally posted by Kilo7- ^ you mean by investing in responsible companies? That's a big thing now. I guess people didn't want to own a piece of the polluters, the slave-labor, the earth raping industries. ethical mutual funds or some shit like that? I like the concept, but I don't think it makes much sense if you're in it for the loot, which one is obviously in it for. thx for the sites, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumPuncher Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 sure it's all about the loot in the end, but we do have to deal with the consequences. I mean say you could have invested in the company that was outsourced by the USA government to make parts of the first atomic bomb. you get cash, but is it realy worth it? and figure than unethical business practices probably mean higher risk, and a greater chance of loosing it all on the next Bre-X, Enron or Nortel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumPuncher Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 oh... and check out www.fool.com it's the online face of The Motley Fool - a great book on investing and financial planning. Eat the Rich is also a great book, but more about economics than investing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TEARZ Posted November 13, 2002 Share Posted November 13, 2002 glad i could help juggernaut... it seemed really scary and unfamiliar at first- truth be told i wasn't sure exactly what was happening when i was setting up the account, so i was detailed because i thought it might make it less confusing and overwhelming for someone else. any other specific questions, let me know... as far as socially responsible investing.... my thought process on this WAS, "fuck it, i'm a good person, i work doing good things in a grassroots non-profit, i'm extremely active politically and socially, i ride my bike 6 months out of the year to work (stonecutter, what?!), fuck responsibilty i need to take care of my motherfucking self and GET PAID!" this mindset is still intact, but it's also informed by another angle.... a finance friend of mine (this isn't my area of expertise) who was an extremely sharp girl tracked mutual funds for a class at harvard. she selected numerous companies top performing mutual funds (ml, vanguard, schwab, etc) and set them against socially responsible funds. the socially responsible funds performed just as well as the others, and outperformed them in several cases. so, my point is that buying socially responsible funds does not necessarily put you at a competitive disadvantage.... related to this... i actualy did quite a bit of research on socially responsible funds myself because i was interested in buying them (i still am, but i'm not buying mutual funds right now). the top holding for nearly every socially responsible fund out there is MICROSOFT. i don't know what i was thinking, but i was expecting to see like "Green Recycling Corporation" or some shit like that. it's mostly tech stuff, especially microsoft, amazon, ebay, shit like that. i think a lot of people think like i did- that socially responsible investing would mean investing in things that are actively good for the world. wrong. it ain't, so get that thought out of your head- it's investing in stuff that isn't actively fucking up the world in a set of defined ways (not saying they aren't damaging in numerous other ways). if you invest in tech, 90% of tech companies are considered socially responsible, and most small growth mutual funds are mostly tech with a small amount of other sectors thrown in for a little balance. holla back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mental invalid Posted November 13, 2002 Share Posted November 13, 2002 thanks for the links kilo...i listen to the motley fool program on NPR....good shit.....tearz giving the low down.......gracias........right now im just a lazy investor.......im in the mid 20s, ive got a 401k at work, drop the 6% and the company matches....but for example ive got all my shit in spartan fund....i dont pay attention to it, shit for the first years at work i didnt even get involved....and i dont really want to....i consider it dirty money, but then again, can i really trust that uncle sam is gonna look out for me after 65, oh hell no....so im stuck between ivan boskey and inefficent uncle sam.....the thing is now, living paycheck to paycheck, i dont have money to spare, can you just start by investing 50-100 a month? or do you need the lump 1,000....and yes i have a hard time investing in companies that i dont neccessarily agree with....but then again my life is a constant tug-o-war....well i dont like sweatshops, but i buy the shirts kinda shit....plus i battle the worst foe at all, my laziness.....and as you can read, im all over the map.....hahaha anyways, im glad to hear your so involved in shit tearz, and when you open your own company dunny, i will be the first in line to invest..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BROWNer Posted November 13, 2002 Share Posted November 13, 2002 i can't even believe i've never gotten interested in investments. its one of those things that i always knew was a smart thing to be onto, whether it was a real focused interest, or something on the periphery.. it's high time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CRYrock81 Posted November 13, 2002 Share Posted November 13, 2002 money is overly fucking rated..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaBar Posted November 13, 2002 Author Share Posted November 13, 2002 Unless you don't have any. Then suddenly it becomes pretty important. I think that it is cool that socially beneficial investments do as well or better than Clear Cut International, but I'm in it for the money too. The one serious lever that the "common man" has against the power of the World-Wide Global Hegemonic Satan Inc. is investing. And you definately cannot count on ANYBODY but YOURSELF, YOURSELF, YOURSELF. Do NOT expect anybody or anything to take care of you in the future, beause you will be sorely disappointed. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF AND YOURS. Because believe me, nobody else is going to do it for you. It's a tough world---"Every man for himself, and good luck!" Does that mean you can fuck over other people? Of course not. Rules are rules, regardless of circumstances, but sometimes the rules aren't very realistic. For instance, you can buy stock on margin. And some wealthy people make big money this way. But for the average "little guy" the risk is too great. Never bet the rent money on a sure thing, because it usually turns out to be not so sure. On the other hand, if you take no risk whatsoever, the rewards are hardly worth the effort. Use your head. "Make a PLAN." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
non-hetero Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 Can one of you drop some knowledge about GICs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
non-hetero Posted November 19, 2002 Share Posted November 19, 2002 my gic questions Not the best place to ask but I'm trying to read my banks website (http://www.tdcanadatrust.com) and I honestly have no clue what they are talking about. Dumb it down. I don't have a lot to invest (student), and I don't want to look like an idiot going into the bank clueless. Minimum investments? Do you need a lot of cash up front? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.