Wahoo! My IRA is again worth more than I put in to it (finally)!! This is pretty dull to update about, but considering at one point it was worth about $1800 more than I put in, it's nice to be on the green side again (even if only by $130). Our joint mutual fund is about $40 shy of being worth what we paid for it, so I guess that is good too (especially since we'd like to use that money to buy a house in a few years).
I would like to open an individual mutual fund so I'm not just leaving a bulk of my savings sitting around in a money market account that earns no interest, but I haven't really had the time to sit down and decide which might be best for me. I don't want to go with the same fund that Keegan and I have money in because it just seems a little too much like putting all my eggs in one basket. Or whatever. I'm painfully ignorant of all the investment options out there, even though I'm probably doing more than other people my age (stocks, mutual funds, IRA, etc). I'm not sure how much risk I want to take now, even though now is the time to be taking investment risks because I have plenty of years to build up wealth, but I also want to have money available for the house, a new car (when mine passes on, hopefully not for another 7-8 years), babies, and vacations. I'm worried that if I make risky investments now that I won't have time to replenish my savings when I(/we) do need it.
Are there any good books out there that really help young people diversify their savings? I read "Smart Women Finish Rich" but I think there are probably more detailed books out there that help someone dive into investing without spending ages learning the jargon. I dunno, maybe I'll just have to spend some quality time in Barnes & Noble, loitering around the investment section.
1 comment:
Yay, when I read your post I checked my IRA and saw that the market has rebounded somewhat! As for what to do with short-term investments, I'm not sure. You could probably get a better money market account that gives some interest. One investment book I liked was "The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need" by Andrew Tobias, and I'm currently reading one of the books by The Motley Fool, which totally turns the quick and easy approach to investing (i.e. what you and I do) on its head. I just checked out several personal finance/investment books from the Duke library so you should check there before buying. I'm a little wary of things that were published before the stock market fell though, perhaps irrationally. We're dealing with a similar issue, though. We're probably going to switch our IRAs from mutual funds to index funds but we also want to start investing in ETFs or individual stocks, partially for retirement and partially for a place to keep money for the next 3-5 years. Perhaps you should try going to a independent financial counselor. I just found out that our insurance company offers free financial counseling (though I rather doubt it's bias-free, so we might just use that as a jumping-off point).
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