Some of the online institutions offer fantastic rates of return and flexibility. If you don't need to talk with someone on the phone, I'd check out One United, ING, or HSBC's online accounts.
Not having any money myself right now (short of retirement funds which are in risk diversified mutual funds), I'm relegating my few pennies to a checking account (most of it comes in and out every month right now).
The Spoofee deal website periodically lists top rates of returns for CDs, checking/savings accounts, and money market accounts. I think they do it monthly, but you should be able to search for it.
http://www.spoofee.com
They also have lots of other great deals (I go there every day)
I was going to invest all my money in special kidneys to be transplanted to yakuza, they'd have tatoos already on them. Sell them to UCLA at an outrageous profit, but I think that plan has been sunk for the time being. :beaten:
For my part, I have some of it in mutual funds and stuff like that. That's my retirement money. I don't have much tho. :pout: I'd say, the older you are, the less risky you should put your money in. A little bit of everything is safer too.
I don't manage it myself. Nice to check the stock market and all, but if you don't spend your entire day looking at the charts, your going to lose. Also, never buy penny stock. ;)
If you need access to your money in a short amount of time, I would look into the ING Directs (online banks) to earn more interest. You want to at least outpace inflation, and you're not doing that with any wimpy savings account. CDs are nice, but you're tied to the maturation period (typically months).
I'm looking to invest my money into real estate. Median prices are dropping due to the subprime mortgage crisis. I couldn't afford to put a down before the properties in Hawaii started going up, however hopefully I'll be able to afford a pretty decent down (payment) when the prices drop to the right level for me.
I do plan on sitting on the property and collecting rent from a tenant to pay the mortgage. I will however, need back up capital for times of vacancy. But all in all, it's a good place to start. Two reasons why: when prices start going up, I can sell the property -or- I can continue to collect cash flow eventually until the mortgage is paid off which will result in 100% positive cash flow. Yes, 30yrs may be a long time however, mind you that I will not stop at only one investment property. Partial cash flow from multiple properties will provide sufficient cash flow to continue investing money the way you see fit to.
IMO:
Gaining liquidity from investments while still holding onto the original value (or as close as you are able to) is key, and my ultimate goal.
Mutual funds and IRAs are good for the long term (retirement) if you plan on parking it for the long run. On the otherhand, investments in real property will yield a much more significant amount of 'quicker' gratification as opposed to plans in which you have to 'park' your money until your retirement years. On the flipside, you can always pull out funds from such plans with the reality of being penalized some odd percentage of the withdrawal amount, and then being taxed on it as income. With real estate transactions, you'll definately be taxed, however you won't suffer the additional penalty as IRAs, mutual funds, etc withdrawals.
In conclusion, interest rates pretty much stay within the ranges many have seen. Real estate is proven to yield much higher returns - if you know what you're doing.
Studying the market conditions is key. Another key thing is to talk to people who are actually doing it and have them teach you, as I have been doing for the past 6 months. (my close friend/mentor has been doing it successfully for 9 years).
Best of luck to all you other investors out there.
Now might be a good time to buy real estate, as interest rates are low and prices are about to bottom (according to next week's Barron's). But if you want to consider real estate as an investment, keep in mind that, historically, real estate grows at about the same rate as inflation (you have to price in interest, taxes, insurance, maintenance and repairs). And don't forget that if you rent your property you'll have to play landlord.
Transaction costs with property investment can be very high. Maintenance can cost a lot too. Tradesmen are very well paid these days. They are my major concerns with property investment.
Yes, indeed the role of 'landlord' can be quite tough at times however, not all tenants are nightmare tenants. -I just hope that I don't end up with any. :beaten:
In the future, I do intend to ask some of my real estate buddies with prior property management experience if they wouldn't mind managing whatever real property I do acquire, when the time is right. :D
I'm like Beem.. i'm paying off a house. All extra money is being pumped into the mortgage, so although we have a 25-year mortgage, we hope to have it paid off in 6 years from now. If the interest rate rises don't kill us first :(
Anime Dad wrote:I'm like Beem.. i'm paying off a house. All extra money is being pumped into the mortgage, so although we have a 25-year mortgage, we hope to have it paid off in 6 years from now. If the interest rate rises don't kill us first :(
Waldo T wrote:
How do you use this indicator? If you get a buy signal for example, do you simultaneously go long the euro and short the dollar?
In currency trading, currencies are traded in pairs,e.g EUR/USD...so when you buy EUR/USD, you are buying the euro and selling the dollar & when you sell EUR/USD, you're doing the reverse...
I knew better and went with a fixed interest loan. :victory:
We got bitten badly with our first house. We got a fixed rate because the rates were going up, and then of course they dropped a lot and we were stuck. Fixed rate loans are few & far between here anyway.
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