New To Investing Thread

[ben ji]

I dont know anything about pensions, dont have one  .

[Fedor]

Let's talk student loans, and not those pud undergrad ones with 1.9% interest.  I am talking grown ass man grad school student loans with the terrible interest rates.  Is there any way to consolidate with a better rate or term?   

[Emo EMAW]

Let's talk student loans, and not those pud undergrad ones with 1.9% interest.  I am talking grown ass man grad school student loans with the terrible interest rates.  Is there any way to consolidate with a better rate or term?

Also answer this for married couple, can combine?

[Rage Against the McKee]

Let's talk student loans, and not those pud undergrad ones with 1.9% interest.  I am talking grown ass man grad school student loans with the terrible interest rates.  Is there any way to consolidate with a better rate or term?

What rate are you paying? Maybe you could refinance your house and use that money to pay off the student loans. It really kind of depends on your situation.

[Fedor]

Let's talk student loans, and not those pud undergrad ones with 1.9% interest.  I am talking grown ass man grad school student loans with the terrible interest rates.  Is there any way to consolidate with a better rate or term?

What rate are you paying? Maybe you could refinance your house and use that money to pay off the student loans. It really kind of depends on your situation.

Planning on moving soon, so that hampers things a bit.  Paying 6.7% on a 10-yr term,  .

[ChiComCat]

I dont know anything about pensions, dont have one  .

Don't you have to work somewhere like 10 years to get a pension?  I don't think its some retirement thing that you can just throw money at.

[hemmy]

I always just max out my roth IRA contribution in January each year.

[mancattanite]

Let's talk student loans, and not those pud undergrad ones with 1.9% interest.  I am talking grown ass man grad school student loans with the terrible interest rates.  Is there any way to consolidate with a better rate or term?

What rate are you paying? Maybe you could refinance your house and use that money to pay off the student loans. It really kind of depends on your situation.

Planning on moving soon, so that hampers things a bit.  Paying 6.7% on a 10-yr term,  .

I always thought consolidation was more to lengthen the term and lower the monthly payment, not really to help with the rate... 

[GoodForAnother]

if I work for this company until I'm 55 I get 967.68 a month until I die.  or a bunch of other silly options that are all like 900 a month or so.  or I can take 1879.52 for 10 years.  or I can get a lump sum of 197,519.20.  that's pretty cool I guess.

1. Lump sum
2. craps thread
3. profit

hmm, good idea. or I could live off my 401 and take my 900 a month and just go play craps with it.

[jmlynch1]

I'm just planning on living really hard and hoping science stalls.

[Fedor]

Let's talk student loans, and not those pud undergrad ones with 1.9% interest.  I am talking grown ass man grad school student loans with the terrible interest rates.  Is there any way to consolidate with a better rate or term?

What rate are you paying? Maybe you could refinance your house and use that money to pay off the student loans. It really kind of depends on your situation.

Planning on moving soon, so that hampers things a bit.  Paying 6.7% on a 10-yr term,  .

I always thought consolidation was more to lengthen the term and lower the monthly payment, not really to help with the rate... 

Well, you guys are really stumped on this one...

[reidrolled]

2 things have become painfully obvious in this thread.

#1 stevedave actually works in the finance industry and has for a while.
       1a. there are a couple who like to think they could work in the finance industry.

#2 this entire thread would only be one, maybe two pages if the posters referenced in 1a knew how to work google.

[GoodForAnother]

are index funds good?  that's what my 401 is. am I smart?

[ben ji]

2 things have become painfully obvious in this thread.

#1 stevedave actually works in the finance industry and has for a while.
       1a. there are a couple who like to think they could work in the finance industry.
       1b. reidrolled is a hater who doesnt like it when friends give advice to friends

#2 this entire thread would only be one, maybe two pages if the posters referenced in 1a knew how to work google.

[GoodForAnother]

Seems hard to invest a ton of money in retirement from my seat at age 20-something. I have very few monthly expenses... pretty much just student loans and rent, but I feel like watching all that money pile up in my checking account is a bad idea. Guys, what if I have to buy a wedding ring or something in 2 years? Should I be paying my student loans off at a higher rate? Seems silly, they are ridiculously high as is. Oh that leads me to another question... wtf is consolidating student loans? Should I do that? Will it lower my payments? GUYS!!!!

not federal loans. if you have multiple private loans, you can consolidate them and save money.

I consolidated all my fed loans except Perkins. was that dumb?  crap!

[EMAWmeister]

Alright, next step, you guys...

Have a 401K brewing with the maximum match and just opened a Roth IRA. What else? Wouldn't mind playing the market a little bit at a time. What's the best way to do that? Does goEMAW.com have stock? I know a good investment when I see one.

Give me your money, KSC. I'll be sure that your money makes money.  I was thinking about Herbalife or this one startup that takes precious metals out of all the poor countries in Africa and moves them to Belgium.

Send me a PM

[kostakio]

are index funds good?  that's what my 401 is. am I smart?

Yeah index finds are good because they have lower fees and most actively managed funds don't beat their indexes anyway.


Lots of people are touting Roths and they are good but the problem is you can phase out of them pretty easily especially if you are married and both you and your spouse have good jobs.

[GoodForAnother]

are index funds good?  that's what my 401 is. am I smart?

Yeah index finds are good because they have lower fees and most actively managed funds don't beat their indexes anyway.


Lots of people are touting Roths and they are good but the problem is you can phase out of them pretty easily especially if you are married and both you and your spouse have good jobs.

most of my fiancées income is going toward building a pool full of gold coins for me to swim in like Scrooge McDuck, but after that what should I invest her income in?

[kostakio]

are index funds good?  that's what my 401 is. am I smart?

Yeah index finds are good because they have lower fees and most actively managed funds don't beat their indexes anyway.


Lots of people are touting Roths and they are good but the problem is you can phase out of them pretty easily especially if you are married and both you and your spouse have good jobs.

most of my fiancées income is going toward building a pool full of gold coins for me to swim in like Scrooge McDuck, but after that what should I invest her income in?

Well the good news is gold is tanking lately and is well off it's highs so you're going to save some money on that pool.  Once you get that built id probably stuck with the index funds.

[The Tonya Harding of Twitter Users Creep]

My student loans are 6.8% 

Might move to Canada...

[sys]

Our company's 401k is through Vanguard so we have about 20 different Vanguard funds to choose from as well as all their target retirement funds. It's pretty baller. We also have a Roth 401k option. 100% match to 6%.

pretty nice.  i can't complain about my 401k, except that the self-invest options suck ass.

[sys]

also, someone rename this thread as personal finance for recent grads and start an investment thread.  in that thread, someone explain bonds to me.  not like i'm a six year old, like i'm really smart.

[Dugout DickStone]

My advisor has averaged close to 10% for 3 years, is this a ponzi?

[Pete]

also, someone rename this thread as personal finance for recent grads and start an investment thread.  in that thread, someone explain bonds to me.  not like i'm a six year old, like i'm really smart.

Bonds, or bond funds?  Very different.

Lot of people who just buy bonds look at "par" values and rates of return and that stuff, but that's missing the point.

Bond fund mangers focus on what they call "credit tear downs."   They focus all of their energy on trying to figure out if a given debtor can pay their bills.  Their goal is to find firms who are regarded as credit risks by the general public, but who actually have the cash/assets to pay their bills and service their debt.

So, if you want to really understand bonds, you need to under stand balance sheets and credit tear downs....just like the bond fund guys do.

[Pete]

My advisor has averaged close to 10% for 3 years, is this a ponzi?

Two years ago, maybe....now, not unlikely.  Cash out, and buy an S&P index fund.  Pay super low (next to none) fees, and "match" the market every year.  Retire happy and play botche ball with me and drink little old man beers.