where/how to invest

[chatfouz]

This might seem a silly quesiton. But where do you go to invest?
I see my bank does it, but i hear other peopole going on about vanguard. I was just curious why would yall not use your local bank instead of a seperate company? Seems easier to have it all one place?

[Petunia 100]

This might seem a silly quesiton. But where do you go to invest?
I see my bank does it, but i hear other peopole going on about vanguard. I was just curious why would yall not use your local bank instead of a seperate company? Seems easier to have it all one place?

Because your bank will only sell you load funds. "Load" means a commission. Typically, load funds have high on-going costs and tend to be mediocre at best. This is no surprise, as all of those costs are deducted before investors earn a cent they get to keep for themselves.

No one will sell you a no-load fund. You must buy it yourself, without the help of a commissioned salesperson. Vanguard is one place you can buy no-load funds, but it is not the only place.

Vanguard is a unique company as it is owned by its funds, which in turn are owned by investors. There is no profit motive. Instead, Vanguard actively seeks to reduce costs as much as possible.

[bUU]

I wsa wondering if this was a good time to invest in silver.

It's always a good time to buy silver: If it goes up in value from here, it's good for you. If it goes down in value from here, it's good for the person who buys from you when you freak out about how much money you lost and sell.

Seriously: There is literally no way to know if it is a good or bad time to buy silver, or anything else.

[Mesem]

You invest in stocks, commodities or indices. These can be done online at sites like Ameritrade and whatnot. Or, you could just buy gold, never fails.

[bUU]

Those who invested in gold in 1980 will disagree with you. It took some of them 27 years to make back their original investment. By contrast, the longest wait for making back one's original investment in the S&P 500 in the last fifty years was 6 years.

[Mesem]

Those who invested in gold in 1980 will disagree with you. It took some of them 27 years to make back their original investment. By contrast, the longest wait for making back one's original investment in the S&P 500 in the last fifty years was 6 years.

Well, that is how the game is played. Patience is virtue.

[bUU]

The objective of the "game" is to provide for your financial needs, not test your patience.

As others mentioned here and elsewhere, the most prudent approach is a diversified portfolio containing broad-based holdings in equities, fixed income investments, commodities, and financial investments. There are a variety of recommendations, but most fall into the range modeled by these:

http://www.investmentu.com/asset-allocation-model.html

http://www.mydollarplan.com/asset-allocation-update/

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-importance-of-asset-allocation

The specific percentages vary, but the extend of diversity of investments is pretty consistent, expert-to-expert and investor circumstances-to-investor circumstances.

[feh]

This might seem a silly quesiton. But where do you go to invest?
I see my bank does it, but i hear other peopole going on about vanguard. I was just curious why would yall not use your local bank instead of a seperate company? Seems easier to have it all one place?

Do you live in the US? Does your employer offer a 401K?

[chatfouz]

I live in China. US citizen.

No 401K.

I found out I have a Roth IRA and i plan to just fill that the next 3 months and hopefully by then i'll have a plan

[feh]

I live in China. US citizen.

No 401K.

I found out I have a Roth IRA and i plan to just fill that the next 3 months and hopefully by then i'll have a plan

Assuming you have an emergency fund and aren't carrying a lot of debt, investing in a Roth is a fine idea. If/when you hit the annual limit, there are other options for investing.

If you want more advice, you should provide your budget, assets and liabilities.

[YolandoAmaya]

You should invest your money according to your interest, afterall it is your money. I think you should invest it in gold and silver other than that having a savings account is also good.

[budgetingtech]

Remember one thing before investing anywhere and that is DON'T PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET.