Fenderstratguy

Fenderstratguy t1_jegpvn4 wrote

If you go the crypto/options/daytrading route - I've heard many many wise people (how have learned from experience) to limit your fun money or gambling portion of your portfolio to no more than 5% of your portfolio. This is because the odds are stacked against you for coming out ahead.

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Fenderstratguy t1_jegns9k wrote

Kudos for learning about investing as a 17 year old. Read this - it was geared for new investors like you! It will also tell you what NOT to do so you don't lose your money: - If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly – an excellent free 15 page PDF by William Bernstein: DOWNLOAD LINK

Also since you are looking at trading/picking stocks - this book really explains how hard it is to outperform the market. Many people claim to do so - but it is pretty rare - the book is a classic and explains why: - A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel LINK

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Fenderstratguy t1_jea9oo3 wrote

These are my favorite ones for retirement:

  • How To Make Your Money Last by Jane Bryant Quinn
  • The Five Years Before You Retire by Emily Guy Birken
  • How To Plan for the Perfect Retirement by Dana Anspach (The Great Courses)
  • Retirement Planning Guidebook by Wade Pfau
  • The New Retirement Savings Time Bomb by Ed Slott
  • Living Off Your Money by Michael McClung
  • The Wealthy Gardner by John Soforic
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Fenderstratguy t1_jaenhgv wrote

Fees will kill you over 35-40 years. The second reference shows a great table - a 1.5% fee over 40 years will rob your retirement portfolio of 45% potential growth! Add on another 30 years of retirement paying 1.5% and you are down by 65%!! Look into doing it yourself with a Boglehead 3 fund portfolio.

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Fenderstratguy t1_jaa65vi wrote

These are the 2021 limits for contributing directly to a Roth IRA: if you made above 125,000 MAGI filing single, or above 198,000 MAGI filing jointly, then you could not contribute to a Roth IRA anymore. However there is a process called a backdoor Roth that lets you first put your $6000 - $7000 into a traditional Roth, then you transfer it into the Roth IRA. The issue is if you have money in the traditional IRA, then you will have to pay tax on a portion of the conversion (the PRO RATA rule). If you had rolled over your prior 401K into your current 401K then no worries about the pro rata rule.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having assets in the 401K, the traditional IRA, and in a Roth IRA. You have flexibility there. But it does complicate contributing to a Roth IRA for high earners.

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Fenderstratguy t1_j6ph9jg wrote

Me too (although older) - are you able to contribute to the employee and employer sides of your 401K (you can do that as a partner in private practice)? That is $65,000 plus a year. You can do a backdoor Roth for another $6500. I got really serious about retirement saving and planning 2 years ago. Lots of books I listened to on the way to work and back. Within 3 months I was very comfortable with making my own plans. These were the most important to me:

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Fenderstratguy t1_j6p6srp wrote

It is the opposite - do DECREASE risk. The person who can do the most damage to your investments is YOU. If diversifying into a solid mixture of stocks/bonds/REITS etc helps to decrease volatility - it will prevent you from throwing in the towel and selling your stocks if the market takes a 30-40-50% dive. A proper asset allocation will allow you to sleep well at night no matter what the market is doing.

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Fenderstratguy t1_j6p5uo9 wrote

Because you do not know what sector might do better or worse. For example investing in an index fund for US stocks may miss the natural rotation to international stocks which may outperform in the future. Or a pharmaceutical index fund may be hot for years but then do really bad. The Callan Periodic Table shows the really well. https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Callan_periodic_table_of_investment_returns

Now if you are talking in investing only in VT or VTI for total US or total world stocks that may cover most of your bases - but there have been years when bonds outperformed stocks too. Diversification helps prevent you from performance chasing where you keep rotating out of a sector always hoping to catch the next rising star.

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