I absolutely love it when I hear a song I liked as a high schooler but probably haven't heard since. Double combo win of feeling 16 again and getting a great song into the rotation.
Album: Give The People What They Want - 1981 - Label: Arista Records - Buy: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/give-the-people-what-they-want/id913345669
Changing my name a bit over time as we transition away from work into retirement. Coming up on most of a year now, and things seem to be working out OK (for us), so I think I'll carry on with this name after transitioning from various forms of "idiot" (speaking of idiots) to nearly retired, then newly retired and most recently, retiree, which felt clumsy.
Question for Flagpole, or others, about mutual funds. I haven't bought one deliberately in maybe 25 years, since transitioning to individual stocks (in diversified baskets), then (mostly) ETFs, some bonds, and, most recently, various forms of "cash." Are there decent mutual funds out there with low MERs? That's frankly what drove me away so long ago and I've never looked back. Thoughts / comments? Would be keen to know if any on here see some particular advantage in buying mutual funds versus ETFs.
I'm not one to advise you on specific funds. I just do not think of investing in that way. Funds can do well one year and then not so well the next. Diversify (seems like you are, and I especially like how you have invested in individual stocks (diversified baskets) as that's the only way it should be done). As you are retired, unless an ailment forced you there, I can only assume that you were happy enough with your financial life to be able to do so. If that's the case and you are pleased with the income your investments bring you, then there's probably no need to make any changes.
I will go so far as to say that one investing style does not fit all. I don't care what that style is. Different investors would be well advised to find one that works for their temperament, time horizons, risk tolerance, level of available assets, etc, to name a few. To say that a particular way is the only way it should be done is fine, because even though it is wrong, for the reader that is naïve enough to believe it, that probably would suit their abilities quite well.
I absolutely love it when I hear a song I liked as a high schooler but probably haven't heard since. Double combo win of feeling 16 again and getting a great song into the rotation.
I like the kinks a lot, too. Saw them around 1979. I don't remember that song, though. Good one.
Thx. for that.
And I really appreciate how influential those guys were - for the early to mid sixties, they were transforming the music into what it would become.
Another one from that period that sounds really good today still is the early band with Van Morrison called The Them. The one album they did called the Angry Young Them is particularly good. From 1965:
Changing my name a bit over time as we transition away from work into retirement. Coming up on most of a year now, and things seem to be working out OK (for us), so I think I'll carry on with this name after transitioning from various forms of "idiot" (speaking of idiots) to nearly retired, then newly retired and most recently, retiree, which felt clumsy.
Question for Flagpole, or others, about mutual funds. I haven't bought one deliberately in maybe 25 years, since transitioning to individual stocks (in diversified baskets), then (mostly) ETFs, some bonds, and, most recently, various forms of "cash." Are there decent mutual funds out there with low MERs? That's frankly what drove me away so long ago and I've never looked back. Thoughts / comments? Would be keen to know if any on here see some particular advantage in buying mutual funds versus ETFs.
an index fund following, say, big cap US stocks will be almost exactly the same whether it is an ETF or traditional mutual fund. There are some difference in taxation and behavioral investing, but that's in the weeds a bit. A Schwab SP500 ETF will have virtually the same results and characteristics as a Vanguard Sp500 mutual fund.
But once you get into actively managed traditional mutual funds there are many differences between ETFs and traditional mutual funds.
+1.
Mutual funds (tracking an index) if you are in something like a retirement account that only allows such things, but in a brokerage account, little downside to just pick up one of the myriad of ETFs. Low fees, and can trade them and track them in real time, not just at market close.
Good point about an actively managed mutual funds in that there are not usually an ETF equivalent per se.
I'm not one to advise you on specific funds. I just do not think of investing in that way. Funds can do well one year and then not so well the next.
My question was focusing on fees. As I remember it from the 80s and 90s, most mutual funds then available came with a pretty stiff fee of one type or another which could be 1-2%. That's a pretty big hit. Maybe OK for some folks, but it's what drove me away from mutual funds. I think agip is suggesting that's not necessarily the case anymore...?
Changing my name a bit over time as we transition away from work into retirement. Coming up on most of a year now, and things seem to be working out OK (for us), so I think I'll carry on with this name after transitioning from various forms of "idiot" (speaking of idiots) to nearly retired, then newly retired and most recently, retiree, which felt clumsy.
Question for Flagpole, or others, about mutual funds. I haven't bought one deliberately in maybe 25 years, since transitioning to individual stocks (in diversified baskets), then (mostly) ETFs, some bonds, and, most recently, various forms of "cash." Are there decent mutual funds out there with low MERs? That's frankly what drove me away so long ago and I've never looked back. Thoughts / comments? Would be keen to know if any on here see some particular advantage in buying mutual funds versus ETFs.
Glad to hear that you're navigating the changes so admirably. Congrats and hope that it continues!
As for me, I could technically pick up one of your old names, newly retired, as today is the first day in said capacity. I think I can get used to this.
My question was focusing on fees. As I remember it from the 80s and 90s, most mutual funds then available came with a pretty stiff fee of one type or another which could be 1-2%. That's a pretty big hit. Maybe OK for some folks, but it's what drove me away from mutual funds. I think agip is suggesting that's not necessarily the case anymore...?
I just looked at the top 15 growth mutual funds and fees are generally about 0.5% up to 0.8%, which is moderate - not too high but not super low. So apparently you are paying somewhat for active management and their stock picking abilities.
I would never never never buy a fund with a front end fee or a sale fee.
Mutual funds (tracking an index) if you are in something like a retirement account that only allows such things, but in a brokerage account, little downside to just pick up one of the myriad of ETFs. Low fees, and can trade them and track them in real time, not just at market close.
I don't know the rules around US retirement accounts. I have one (non-US) account that's locked in until I turn 65, and because it's in an account with one of our "big six" banks in the GWN, you can only invest from among a dozen or so $hitty mutual funds. I got this account when I left a job around 20 years ago and my pension contributions were pulled out of that company's pension plan into one of these locked-in accounts. Since it's a small amount (it might pay for a long weekend of debauchery somewhere warm, if I could get at the money), and I can't actively trade in the account, I've ignored it for most of a couple of decades. That mutual fund, a "balanced growth" fund, has chugged along at a putrid rate of return (after the generous fees I've evidently paid the fund company) for the couple of decades I've had it.
Only recently I decided to see if I could do something else with it and it turns out I could put it into an account with the bank's investment arm (where all our other investment accounts are held) and have free rein to invest it in something else. Probably a 1-year GIC at 5%...
I absolutely love it when I hear a song I liked as a high schooler but probably haven't heard since. Double combo win of feeling 16 again and getting a great song into the rotation.
I like the kinks a lot, too. Saw them around 1979. I don't remember that song, though. Good one.
Thx. for that.
And I really appreciate how influential those guys were - for the early to mid sixties, they were transforming the music into what it would become.
Another one from that period that sounds really good today still is the early band with Van Morrison called The Them. The one album they did called the Angry Young Them is particularly good. From 1965:
good stuff. Odd thing about the Kinks is that Lola is probably their biggest song in the US. But in the UK Waterloo Sunset is considered a near-Hey Jude/Satisfaction level of epochal song.
I honestly think I never heard Waterloo Sunset untill five years ago, despite growing up on rock radio in the 80s. Some weird differences between the US and UK, like that.
Seattle are you long Amazon? If so, good luck tonight!
This post was edited 30 seconds after it was posted.
I absolutely love it when I hear a song I liked as a high schooler but probably haven't heard since. Double combo win of feeling 16 again and getting a great song into the rotation.
I like the kinks a lot, too. Saw them around 1979. I don't remember that song, though. Good one.
Thx. for that.
And I really appreciate how influential those guys were - for the early to mid sixties, they were transforming the music into what it would become.
Another one from that period that sounds really good today still is the early band with Van Morrison called The Them. The one album they did called the Angry Young Them is particularly good. From 1965:
I grew up with a friend Andy, his parents would go out on Saturday evenings. One of these nights we drained a little bit out of several bottles in the liquor cabinet. Called it a Mozambique. Drank it as fast as we could and jogged around the block. Andy passed out by the toilet after barfing, I was listening to the Yardbirds album on his HiFi and reading a Playboy magazine when interrupted by Andy’s mother. I fessed up to my dad, who smiled. My mom said “the next thing you know it will be LSD.” In context, this was the fall of 1966, so I was 16 years old at the time. The next day the folks pulled me out of bed to go to church, bad hangover.
Andy continued to get wilder as the school year went on. We had Sports Nights at Palisades High School (Whatever Happened to the Class of 65 fame). Sports Nights had a dance, and you could play sports if you wanted. I liked the girls so danced. Anyway, one night while the probe light was flashing Andy was drunk, pulled out his penis ala Jim Morrison on the dance floor. Andy did not show jp in school for several days. After several other misadventures, like driving around the Palisades asking for directions to Sunset Blvd of pedestrians, then pelting them with seltzer water. I decided I was tired of being a screw up.
After the spring semester joined the Santa Monica Athletic Association, running for Mihaly Igloi. Life changing. The summer of 2018 I drove over to Eastern Idaho with my wife and had a picnic with Andy and his wife. Somehow we both survived.
This post was edited 13 minutes after it was posted.
As for me, I could technically pick up one of your old names, newly retired, as today is the first day in said capacity. I think I can get used to this.
Enjoy.
Nice!
About 4 months into retirement, an old college friend visiting from NYC asked me whether I missed work. It hadn't yet occurred to me to ask myself that question, but when I mulled it over for a bit, the answer was both obvious and astonishing to me: I didn't miss work at all, not one bit! I did miss some of my friends and colleagues from work, most of whom I liked and hadn't seen. But the work itself, which I had actually LOVED for at least the last 10-15 years, I didn't miss at all. It took a couple more months to realize that one of the big things I DID NOT miss was email. I had to give up the work email address, which was the only one I'd used for a long time. Now I get maybe 10-20 emails a week, half of which are spam, and none of which are ever urgent. The absence of email in retirement, which while working had always seemed to demand an immediate response whether urgent or important, resulted in a dramatic reduction in stress.
Given the choice between work, and (not work), I would choose (not work) 1000 times out of 1000.
Retirement is not for everybody. Many (maybe most) people I know un-retire to one degree or another, often quite quickly. We might yet do that too; we've each promised the other a whole year to see what it's like and then reevaluate. But if I were a betting person (I'm not), I wouldn't wager on either of us going back to work, unless something happens that forces us to.
I like the kinks a lot, too. Saw them around 1979. I don't remember that song, though. Good one.
Thx. for that.
And I really appreciate how influential those guys were - for the early to mid sixties, they were transforming the music into what it would become.
Another one from that period that sounds really good today still is the early band with Van Morrison called The Them. The one album they did called the Angry Young Them is particularly good. From 1965:
good stuff. Odd thing about the Kinks is that Lola is probably their biggest song in the US. But in the UK Waterloo Sunset is considered a near-Hey Jude/Satisfaction level of epochal song.
I honestly think I never heard Waterloo Sunset untill five years ago, despite growing up on rock radio in the 80s. Some weird differences between the US and UK, like that.
Seattle are you long Amazon? If so, good luck tonight!
That song just doesn't do it for me, either. There's a handful of songs I like from them, Until the End of the Day, All Day and All of the Night, and of course their anthem - Victoria. I like their raw stuff.
Amazon is a biggie in my portfolio and I missed that today they announce. I don't really care. I just know that their business is very entrenched in logistics and things don't pivot on a dime in that respect. I also don't really expect that much from them in terms of ROI lately, and the last few years they have not kept pace with other techs i follow. I would probably have dumped it except they have been bouncing nicely off the bottom they recently set at the beginning of the year around $84 share price.
The Yardbirds band members in 1965 were Keith Relf – lead vocals, harmonica; Jeff Beck – lead guitar; Chris Dreja – rhythm guitar; Paul Samwell-Smith – bass;...
I like the kinks a lot, too. Saw them around 1979. I don't remember that song, though. Good one.
Thx. for that.
And I really appreciate how influential those guys were - for the early to mid sixties, they were transforming the music into what it would become.
Another one from that period that sounds really good today still is the early band with Van Morrison called The Them. The one album they did called the Angry Young Them is particularly good. From 1965:
I grew up with a friend Andy, his parents would go out on Saturday evenings. One of these nights we drained a little bit out of several bottles in the liquor cabinet. Called it a Mozambique. Drank it as fast as we could and jogged around the block. Andy passed out by the toilet after barfing, I was listening to the Yardbirds album on his HiFi and reading a Playboy magazine when interrupted by Andy’s mother. I fessed up to my dad, who smiled. My mom said “the next thing you know it will be LSD.” In context, this was the fall of 1966, so I was 16 years old at the time. The next day the folks pulled me out of bed to go to church, bad hangover.
Andy continued to get wilder as the school year went on. We had Sports Nights at Palisades High School (Whatever Happened to the Class of 65 fame). Sports Nights had a dance, and you could play sports if you wanted. I liked the girls so danced. Anyway, one night while the probe light was flashing Andy was drunk, pulled out his penis ala Jim Morrison on the dance floor. Andy did not show jp in school for several days. After several other misadventures, like driving around the Palisades asking for directions to Sunset Blvd of pedestrians, then pelting them with seltzer water. I decided I was tired of being a screw up.
After the spring semester joined the Santa Monica Athletic Association, running for Mihaly Igloi. Life changing. The summer of 2018 I drove over to Eastern Idaho with my wife and had a picnic with Andy and his wife. Somehow we both survived.
Wow. The thing is, I notice that lately I think back on those years more than I did before. Like you, some really wild times, and I've tried to keep that under my hat, with a son that i don't want to adversely influence (in the wrong way).
Yeah, I can say, sure am glad that for all the things we did back then, somehow made it through in one piece and I'm hopefully wiser for it.
good stuff. Odd thing about the Kinks is that Lola is probably their biggest song in the US. But in the UK Waterloo Sunset is considered a near-Hey Jude/Satisfaction level of epochal song.
I honestly think I never heard Waterloo Sunset untill five years ago, despite growing up on rock radio in the 80s. Some weird differences between the US and UK, like that.
Seattle are you long Amazon? If so, good luck tonight!
That song just doesn't do it for me, either. There's a handful of songs I like from them, Until the End of the Day, All Day and All of the Night, and of course their anthem - Victoria. I like their raw stuff.
Amazon is a biggie in my portfolio and I missed that today they announce. I don't really care. I just know that their business is very entrenched in logistics and things don't pivot on a dime in that respect. I also don't really expect that much from them in terms of ROI lately, and the last few years they have not kept pace with other techs i follow. I would probably have dumped it except they have been bouncing nicely off the bottom they recently set at the beginning of the year around $84 share price.
Amazon is up 7% after hours so looks good so far.
The investment gods have given you a good retirement present! Cheers!
My question was focusing on fees. As I remember it from the 80s and 90s, most mutual funds then available came with a pretty stiff fee of one type or another which could be 1-2%. That's a pretty big hit. Maybe OK for some folks, but it's what drove me away from mutual funds. I think agip is suggesting that's not necessarily the case anymore...?
If you are concerned about fees, look into Vanguard for mutual funds.
I grew up with a friend Andy, his parents would go out on Saturday evenings. One of these nights we drained a little bit out of several bottles in the liquor cabinet. Called it a Mozambique. Drank it as fast as we could and jogged around the block. Andy passed out by the toilet after barfing, I was listening to the Yardbirds album on his HiFi and reading a Playboy magazine when interrupted by Andy’s mother. I fessed up to my dad, who smiled. My mom said “the next thing you know it will be LSD.” In context, this was the fall of 1966, so I was 16 years old at the time. The next day the folks pulled me out of bed to go to church, bad hangover.
Andy continued to get wilder as the school year went on. We had Sports Nights at Palisades High School (Whatever Happened to the Class of 65 fame). Sports Nights had a dance, and you could play sports if you wanted. I liked the girls so danced. Anyway, one night while the probe light was flashing Andy was drunk, pulled out his penis ala Jim Morrison on the dance floor. Andy did not show jp in school for several days. After several other misadventures, like driving around the Palisades asking for directions to Sunset Blvd of pedestrians, then pelting them with seltzer water. I decided I was tired of being a screw up.
After the spring semester joined the Santa Monica Athletic Association, running for Mihaly Igloi. Life changing. The summer of 2018 I drove over to Eastern Idaho with my wife and had a picnic with Andy and his wife. Somehow we both survived.
Wow. The thing is, I notice that lately I think back on those years more than I did before. Like you, some really wild times, and I've tried to keep that under my hat, with a son that i don't want to adversely influence (in the wrong way).
Yeah, I can say, sure am glad that for all the things we did back then, somehow made it through in one piece and I'm hopefully wiser for it.
Interesting to put it all into perspective....
Congratulations on retirement. Our children are old enough to hear the war stories. I just grew up to a large extent. Getting some confidence. Wanting to be somebody.
Mutual funds (tracking an index) if you are in something like a retirement account that only allows such things, but in a brokerage account, little downside to just pick up one of the myriad of ETFs. Low fees, and can trade them and track them in real time, not just at market close.
I don't know the rules around US retirement accounts. I have one (non-US) account that's locked in until I turn 65, and because it's in an account with one of our "big six" banks in the GWN, you can only invest from among a dozen or so $hitty mutual funds. I got this account when I left a job around 20 years ago and my pension contributions were pulled out of that company's pension plan into one of these locked-in accounts. Since it's a small amount (it might pay for a long weekend of debauchery somewhere warm, if I could get at the money), and I can't actively trade in the account, I've ignored it for most of a couple of decades. That mutual fund, a "balanced growth" fund, has chugged along at a putrid rate of return (after the generous fees I've evidently paid the fund company) for the couple of decades I've had it.
Only recently I decided to see if I could do something else with it and it turns out I could put it into an account with the bank's investment arm (where all our other investment accounts are held) and have free rein to invest it in something else. Probably a 1-year GIC at 5%...
My work investment options were always limited to mutual funds and the options have been fairly good these last few years. I always figured that the mutual funds were the safe part of the household's portfolio. They've actually done well, and they tend to be very good, reputable fund companies, so lucky in that respect.
In hindsight, though, if I had pulled them out at age 59-1/2 y.o., as was allowed, and managed it like other stock/etf investments, I would have done appreciably better. But no complaints, and they were and are doing well on ROI.
On the other hand, I left one employer in 2000 and rolled over my investment into a self-directed IRA, bought stocks, and it readily outperformed anything I would have done if left in mutual funds. GOOGL is the big one there, and the rest were and are tech.
As for your choice going forward, a 5% fixed rate is nothing to scoff at. I'd look seriously at that, as long as the company looks to remain solvent. I mean, I get excited about a variable interest rate at just under 5%, and that is not fixed.
My question was focusing on fees. As I remember it from the 80s and 90s, most mutual funds then available came with a pretty stiff fee of one type or another which could be 1-2%. That's a pretty big hit. Maybe OK for some folks, but it's what drove me away from mutual funds. I think agip is suggesting that's not necessarily the case anymore...?
If you are concerned about fees, look into Vanguard for mutual funds.
They are very good, and that's what I have to a large extent.
People I know in the business also talk highly of Fidelity, so just passing that along. Probably slightly higher in the fees (active management), but many choices there and very reputable.
My question was focusing on fees. As I remember it from the 80s and 90s, most mutual funds then available came with a pretty stiff fee of one type or another which could be 1-2%. That's a pretty big hit. Maybe OK for some folks, but it's what drove me away from mutual funds. I think agip is suggesting that's not necessarily the case anymore...?
You never want to be paying anywhere close to 1 or 2%. Look at the Vanguard mutual funds and ETFs. They are all in the 0.3 to 0.7% range. They are the best mutual funds and ETFs out there. Fidelity is 2nd. And never pay a front-load or back-load fee.