Hi everyone. I know I have to make the decision myself here, but I was curious if anyone had any input. I’ve been a good money saver over the course of my life and here is where I am at as of now. With that said, I have quite a bit of $ invested into stocks via Webull. The fact Webull is also offering 5% interest on remaining cash, I’ve been depositing additional money to just sit there as well. This is a significant account for me, obviously. My ‘life savings’ is with my bank invested into a CD, which is ending in March. This is where I have the vast majority of my $. My original plan was to take that money and invest it into a Vanguard account with mixed stock and bond funds. Was trying to decide if I’d have a fund manager and pay the fee or not but now that’s not really the big issue. (Basically the bogleheads guidance) Now, I’m wondering if that would be the best move. So many options. I could also transfer all that money into my Webull account and draw 5% interest for the time being, or I could even buy the same index funds in Webull like I would be doing in Vanguard. I ultimately expected the S&P 500 to drop in 2023, thus it would be a good time to invest that direction this year, but obviously that wasn’t the case. The S&P is near a record, or was just a few days ago. What would you do with $ I have in the CD (around 100K or so) once it becomes do? I’ve read a lot about the Bogleheads process. I’ve also read about treasury yields. I’m not opposed to doing multiple things. Just curious what some of our wise folks here might do : )
Depending on your level of comfort in handling all this yourself, getting a reputable broker to help you is not a bad idea. Earning 5% on a cash balance is nice, but will it be enough after taxes and inflation? Waiting for a market dip is always a good idea, we are obviously looking pretty strong right now, but we always get a nice correction if you are patient enough. The answers you will get online will be varied, but you might as well go get a free consultation from a broker, you do not need to sign on and accept any plan. Just tell the broker your situation, they will present you with a plan. You can choose to go with them, or do it on your own. That should be a good start.
Thank you for the response! I have been recommended a couple of brokers but I wasn't sure if they would offer advice without being guaranteed I'd go with them, etc. My one previous broker, at my bank was a rather bad experience as well so there's that...but I figure ultimately I would need to have some sort of resource I just didn't know if they would be willing to talk to me unless I was a client.
Depends on the broker, the bigger ones will not bother unless they know you are signing on, but more junior brokers will be more than happy to give you a meeting and offer you a plan. They will obviously be a little pushy because they want the business, but its ok to not accept a deal. You could also probably go to your local bank, they will have an in-house financial advisor. They have a pretty straight forward plan, it will be some bank related mutual funds or ETF, some T-bills and other high yielding plans. You can just go for the meeting, take all the pamphlets and tell them you will think about it. It can be a good starting point for your own research. They will ask you a bunch of questions about your assets, risk tolerance, retirement plans etc. This is just so they can place you on the grid of what assets they can offer you, its standard stuff.
Think about all the money you have (current investments plus that 100k). Then, what is your estimation for the economy to meet/beat expectations? Basically, what are your odds for the markets contracting. Whatever that ratio/percentage is, after weighing it by your aggregated expectations, invest your money accordingly. For example, say your analysis is equally divided on every outcome, put 50% of your money into treasuries and 50% into stocks (preferably a zero fee index fund).
When you say invest your money accordingly, do you mean invest into one account and spread out the assets? Treasuries, index funds, etc? Assume that's what you mean there.
