Given it is a bye week, I figured this was a good time to ask opinions on the subject as we can all learn from others.
I will preface this by saying I am not @Earle36 with gazillions of dollars. I am also not my good friend and long time tailgate partner who just sold his software business. I have done well, and been lucky with some events in my life, but did not win the lottery. My wife and I are pretty frugal, but also invested (non 401k $$) in what I guess is considered some "risky" investments.
Anyway, as wife and I approach retirement age (about 3 years left), we have been taking cash out of our investment account to pay off any debt (well we also did buy a new boat), and to upgrade the 20+ year old house. Debt free now
The market has seen unprecedented gains, and I was lucky enough to invest in some truly fantastic companies that have been able to grow like weeds.
After a double (or more), I have been selling enough shares to cover our initial investment and I tend to let it ride after that. I am not a trader, but more of a long term investor type. I also use a stop loss technique on most all my investments since I truly believe emotion can be your worst enemy when it comes to stock investing. If a stock gets to be too concentrated portion of the portfolio, I also use limit orders to sell bits and pieces into the strength. The market is going to do what it is going to do, no matter what you or I think or what is the news. That being said, I have also learned not to get caught up in trading firm recommendations one way or the other since these leveraged firms are in the business of making money, and they will pull the rug out from under emotional investors. The market tends to go up over time regardless of the daily fluctuations. I have started shifting investment dollars from some high growth stocks to defense and dividend stocks that I believe are tops in their sectors as I get closer to retirement. I goes my risk appetite has been decreasing.
In addition to the market investing, we also have a nice pot of money in some more "safer" investments like high-yield savings, laddered CDs, some I-bonds, and treasuries.
Outside of these avenues, I am not involved in much else (besides maxing out 401k regularly while still working), so my question to TI financial minded folks, is: What else could I be doing to either get more diversified; to look into other avenues to invest monies to not concentrate investment dollars? Appreciate your thoughts, as I truly believe we can all learn from others.
I will preface this by saying I am not @Earle36 with gazillions of dollars. I am also not my good friend and long time tailgate partner who just sold his software business. I have done well, and been lucky with some events in my life, but did not win the lottery. My wife and I are pretty frugal, but also invested (non 401k $$) in what I guess is considered some "risky" investments.
Anyway, as wife and I approach retirement age (about 3 years left), we have been taking cash out of our investment account to pay off any debt (well we also did buy a new boat), and to upgrade the 20+ year old house. Debt free now
The market has seen unprecedented gains, and I was lucky enough to invest in some truly fantastic companies that have been able to grow like weeds.After a double (or more), I have been selling enough shares to cover our initial investment and I tend to let it ride after that. I am not a trader, but more of a long term investor type. I also use a stop loss technique on most all my investments since I truly believe emotion can be your worst enemy when it comes to stock investing. If a stock gets to be too concentrated portion of the portfolio, I also use limit orders to sell bits and pieces into the strength. The market is going to do what it is going to do, no matter what you or I think or what is the news. That being said, I have also learned not to get caught up in trading firm recommendations one way or the other since these leveraged firms are in the business of making money, and they will pull the rug out from under emotional investors. The market tends to go up over time regardless of the daily fluctuations. I have started shifting investment dollars from some high growth stocks to defense and dividend stocks that I believe are tops in their sectors as I get closer to retirement. I goes my risk appetite has been decreasing.
In addition to the market investing, we also have a nice pot of money in some more "safer" investments like high-yield savings, laddered CDs, some I-bonds, and treasuries.
Outside of these avenues, I am not involved in much else (besides maxing out 401k regularly while still working), so my question to TI financial minded folks, is: What else could I be doing to either get more diversified; to look into other avenues to invest monies to not concentrate investment dollars? Appreciate your thoughts, as I truly believe we can all learn from others.
