Investment Gurus

[earthfriendly]

Hello JR8, at your prompting, I log into my account. Just right now. Balance standing at $106k. I do not crunch numbers. I live conceptually, I don't do itty nitty gritty stuff. Do keep in mind, dividends get reinvested onto itself. So I end up buying more shares on auto pilot. I don't have to tend to it. Just let it run and take its own course. property ownership is not for everyone. I like to keep it simple and carefree.

[earthfriendly]

Not only is he a good-looking man, he also offers good investment opinions.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-lo ... 2015-07-16

Saw this on the comment section. Ditto !

This is what they told me:
BRIC is not worth the risk reward (they were right)
Stay away from Basic materials and precious metals (they were extremely right).
US Large Cap good solid investment (correct)
Tech is the place to make the money (very correct)
Health Care and Biotech are the best risk reward (very correct)

[JR8]

I agree with much of what he says in this article. Particularly about the Long-Term Buy and Hold (LTBH) perspective required for a retiree, or someone saving towards their pension. I.e. sh*t happens and will keep on happening, don't worry about it, be diversified and keep on investing.

One point I think rather misses the mark though, in that it seems too narrow and simplistic:
-----
'The Greek economy, measured by GDP per capita, is comparable to the smallest U.S. state economy, Mississippi.
Much larger state economies have had terrible problems in recent years, including "big" states such as California and Indiana, and nobody predicted a global cataclysm would result.'
-----

The Greek economy is small, but, the EU and euro are only as strong as their weakest link. The EU is fundamentally unworkable as you do not have cross-border fiscal transfers. The US functions, at least in part because they have such a deeply developed AND popularly accepted trans-national support mechanisms.

Furthermore right behind Greece is Portugal and Spain, with rumblings from Italy. So rather than 'domestic problems in Minnesota', we have the EU riven as a whole. When CA declared bankruptcy did Washington DC threaten to throw then out the union? Did CA have a vote on whether to leave? Did CA's desire to leave become an electoral issue on the East Coast with the richer more blue-stocking states threatening to summarily eject CA from the union? For CA to volunteer that in fact they intended to leave anyway, then to be told they couldn't leave, or they would be (intentionally) destroyed? Did the CA legislature opt for re-election right after their last one a couple of months previously, to get returned into office, but then [today] have their party split into two? Back to the drawing board again.

No, I think the situation is very different!
p.s. What a complete f'in mess the EU is!

[earthfriendly]

Just saw somebody suckered into Transamerica. Using their financial services. I only got suckered into attending one event as it was marketed to me that they were affiliated with Citibank. During which I found out it was a pyramid scheme. Upon which, I immediately scram. I know of so many perfectly smart individuals who are great at what they do, either at work and in life itself, but when it comes to investing, they are quite clueless.

T'is not my station to butt into people's biz and for all I know, perhaps that friend (not that close to start with and does not appreciate unsolicitated advice - a trait of many independent-minded and highly-intellegent beings but can come at a cost to them as people will not freely speak their mind / opinions to them) may not suffer as much $$ loss. And at least, she is doing something about her finances, right?

My general advice is do not mix insurance (due to higher sales commission) with investment. One should only buy insurance against (non-financial-related) events of loss and vagaries of life e.g. to insure your car, health or death of the person who brings home bacon. And you invest to grow your money. In low cost vehicles like index funds.

A cursory googling brings this up. Regarding Transamerica. I would say most of it applies to MLM and high-commission driven investment vehicles.

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinanc ... 702_plans/