How would you invest some cash?

[rockhopper46038]

For speculation, buy yuan. For safety, the laddered CD you have constructed is fine, so long as you don't exceed the FDIC insured amount per account. A laddered bond portfolio would probably give you a better return than the laddered CD; but neither is going to do much for you if you are looking for growth. Tax free munis are worth a look, if your income puts you into the higher tax brackets. There is an interesting convertible GM preferred stock offering out there that yields over 4% unconverted, and could do much better than that if the underlying stock value goes up. Personally, I invested in a brewery.

 

[edsinger]

I would say, guns, bullets, and Silver. Silver is Cheap right now...

 

[ArmedProgrammer]

i agree with this. you can buy at auction so cheap you are guaranteed to more than double your money if you buy smart. im talking about buying with cash here, not mortgages. I dont trust anything to do with banks or the govt. i dont trust cash either.

I do rentals. That said, it is IMPORTANT to know what you are doing. Learning from others in the business is a GOOD idea. It can save a lot of pain for you.

 

[FutureButterBar]

I do rentals. That said, it is IMPORTANT to know what you are doing. Learning from others in the business is a GOOD idea. It can save a lot of pain for you.

I used to work for people who flipped houses and/or did rentals. some made money, some went broke. if you are investing to still have ur money at the end of the day, don't flip houses

 

[CountryBoy19]

With rates being what they are, its almost not worht it to buy a CD. I'd keep it in an insured money market until rates get better. Vanguard Prime money market is a decent place to park it.

IMHO this is the best thing.

You get the best of both worlds. You have the accessibility of a savings account with the rates of a CD.

The money will always be there, and if you need it you will have it literally in the amount of time it takes for them to send your check in the mail.

At one time I parked some money in the Prime Money Market fund and I was very happy with the performance. I just wish I hadn't taken it out and put it in mutual funds right before everything took a dump.

 

[k12lts]

Do a little research on Tax Free Municipal Bonds. Most are around 5% and depending on your tax bracket can have real yields of 7-8%. I moved all my CD money when rates droped to 1%.

Some are insured if you are worried about safety too. You money is still available to you as well. The bonds can be bought or sold at any time.

If you are just looking for a savings account, look online at Discover Bank, Ally or ING. They are about 1.15%

Talk to a broker, I have an Edward Jones guy I like.

 

[hornadylnl]

Do a little research on Tax Free Municipal Bonds. Most are around 5% and depending on your tax bracket can have real yields of 7-8%. I moved all my CD money when rates droped to 1%.

Some are insured if you are worried about safety too. You money is still available to you as well. The bonds can be bought or sold at any time.

If you are just looking for a savings account, look online at Discover Bank, Ally or ING. They are about 1.15%

Talk to a broker, I have an Edward Jones guy I like.

Muni bonds? Are those like bonds a city sells to finance debt? What are the risks of the city taking a dump and defaulting?

 

[CountryBoy19]

Muni bonds? Are those like bonds a city sells to finance debt? What are the risks of the city taking a dump and defaulting?

I'm no expert on muni bonds, but for the most part the risk is like any bond. They're fairly safe, but there is always that small risk. He did mention that some are insured though. So if you're concerned with risk then maybe seek out insured bonds.

ETA, I still think vanguard Prime Money Mkt would be your best bet. Safe, secure, guaranteed, and you can get your money any time you would need it. CD's are a thing of the past. The only reason banks can get away with such small rates on CD's is because they have all the older generation that grew up knowing that CD's were good money (when rates were high). Now the banks are just coasting on that reputation for CD's and the older people don't even realize it. That whole resistance to change thing; they probably don't know what a money mkt fund even is.

 

[k12lts]

Muni bonds? Are those like bonds a city sells to finance debt? What are the risks of the city taking a dump and defaulting?

Yes, cities, schools, airports. Most are insured so if the municipality defaults the bond holders are protected, but it's unlikley.

I bought some recently for the Indianapolis Airport Authority and Atlanta Airport. I think they are pretty secure.

You can either take the income (they pay interest twice a year) or buy them at a discount and hold till maturity.

 

[J man]

I will throw something out there not nobody else mentioned. Do you owe anyone else money? Mortgage, car, credit cards? If so I would pay those first. You will be paying more in interest than you will gain with investments.

assuming you do not owe anyone I would go the CD route you mentioned. You also mentioned you had land, ever thought of building a cabin or home there? How about investing in alternative energy, solar panels or wind turbine to produce your own electricity.

 

[hornadylnl]

I built a house on the land last year.

I close on my old house in a couple of weeks. I currently have a small loan and a 401k loan that I will pay off once I close. Everything else is 100% paid for. I'm tempted to not pay off the 401k loan. Don't really want to donate it to the fed when they nationalize 401k's.

As of now, the alternative energy sources will never pay for themselves, let alone save much money.

As for the muni bonds, how are those bought and sold? Do I buy a share at a certain cost and sell it at whatever the day's value is when I decide to sell it? Do I have to find a buyer? Is it something like E-Trade where I just click sell and it sells?

 

[CountryBoy19]

I will throw something out there not nobody else mentioned. Do you owe anyone else money? Mortgage, car, credit cards? If so I would pay those first. You will be paying more in interest than you will gain with investments.

assuming you do not owe anyone I would go the CD route you mentioned. You also mentioned you had land, ever thought of building a cabin or home there? How about investing in alternative energy, solar panels or wind turbine to produce your own electricity.

Paying down debt is good up to a certain point, but you still need a cushion/emergency fund. Some people have a 1 year emergency fund, and it sounds like this is what he may be trying to do. Heck, once I get caught up I plan to have at least a 3 month emergency fund. Once I get more of my mortgage paid down I'll probably increase that out to 6 or 9 months.

He did build a house on his land btw.

 

[singlestacksig]

High yield bond exchange traded funds.. the yield on them is 6% to 12% ..
value will float up and down but income is nice..
with an online broker account you can get into them for as little as $4 .. and then no cost to hold ..
some pay every month..

PEY, JNK, LQD , HYG are just some of the symbols..
NOT FDIC insured

 

[ihateiraq]

I had a 23% gain on my investments last year. Your best option if you have enough money to actually invest, is talk to an investor. You don't have time to sit there and watch the market all day. Good luck to you in your investments. And yes I did say I have 23% gains. Oh, and I'm 21.

/slow clap.

Cocaine and strippers. That is what I'd do with the money.

lets get together and have a beer sometime. i think we might be related.

 

[hornadylnl]

I checked with my bank yesterday. Their cd rates are
12 month .9
18 month 1.0
44 month 1.9

There's no way I want to tie up my money for 44 months. Their money market rate is 1%. I may go that route but I'm interested in hearing more about the tax free muni bonds. I really have no clue where to start. I did a quick google search and the only thing I came up with for Indiana was the airport authority bond. Is that a bond that is guaranteed to not lose money or is it basically a stock? I want to stay local on something like that as I think it'd be easier to keep updated on the status of.