What do you have invested in stocks/mutual funds or IRA?

[CyberCubed]

I have 1428 shares in VT which comes out to over $160,000 something give or take. I also have about $20,000 in phyzer stock (it's gone way down, I should of sold in 2020-2021 when covid was at its peak) but it should go up again eventually. I have a little over $14,000 in a Roth IRA (I started late but better late than never I guess, I still have 30 years till retirement give or take).

I didn't start investing till my mid-30's so if I started in my 20's I would have been doing better. But as the saying goes, "The best time to start investing was yesterday, the second best time is today."

Like most people I was ignorant about investing for years and thought doing the stock market would be too risky and I'd lose all my money. So I went with ETF's instead which Vanguard suggests which is much safer.

[CyberCubed]

Other than Phyizer I don't have any individual stocks anymore. Used to have AT&T, ExxonMobil, and WB/Discovery but sold them all years ago. I didn't lose any money but I didn't gain much money either so it didn't matter.

VT is an ETF which is the safest thing to buy since it gives you the whole U.S. market. You can still lose money but the longer you keep it in the more you make. R/bogleheads is a good place to start but of course I don't take everything there at face value. The phyzer stock I'll sell if it ever goes up to 2020/2021 levels again, I think I had over $25,000 there are most before it went down. So I'll just get back what I lost and end there. Remember you don't lose any money till you sell.

VT and the IRA are meant to be kept till retirement of course

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

When first seing just the thead title; I first thought you talked about investing money in the IRA. Thankfully, I was wrong.

[Mayhem]

Aside from some company stock from my current workplace, which was given as part of yearly bonus packages (not huge numbers), I don't have anything personal like that anymore. ISAs and the such were sold to fund purchasing my first place on the deposit and lease extension. Anything I got from redudancy packages went to living expenses while I looked for work, or to the better half so she could extend her maternity leave when we had our daughter.

Really, the only ongoing thing are managing my personal pension portfolios from the places I've worked at. Not consolidated them really, aside from one that was small, into another. Those, fingers crossed, should help me live okay once I retire. If I get long enough to enjoy it...

[CyberCubed]

It's said by the time most of us reach 65, we'll need close to 1 million dollars saved up to "retire comfortably." Keep in mind inflation in another 30 or so years will also mean a million dollars will be worth much less than it is now too.

Better start saving!

[Barkworm]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

It's said by the time most of us reach 65, we'll need close to 1 million dollars saved up to "retire comfortably." Keep in mind inflation in another 30 or so years will also mean a million dollars will be worth much less than it is now too.

Better start saving!

I don't know about those numbers but if you own some real estate, it's quite likely not as much.

[CyberCubed]

Well you can always sell your house by then that's true. But not all of us have houses so...

I'm planning on holding my ETF's for 20 years. Unless something dire happens and I lose all my money, all the money I put in should literally quadruple by then. The thing is ETF's like VT are safer than stocks because they cover 10,000 U.S. companies instead of just 1 particular company. So I get a little piece of everything.

Literally the only way I'd ever lose more money than I put in is if the U.S. economy completely dies. Even if there's another recession which there will be eventually, you just hold your stocks because you don't lose money until you sell...so you just wait till it goes back up again.

I still have money in my regular bank account I keep as a safety net, it's not like I drained my whole account with nothing left.

[IMJ]

Retire at 65 and be dead between 69 and 73.

[CyberCubed]

I plan on living to age 99. Medical advancements will be better 30 years from now just like they're better now than the 1980's.

Also it's not like you can't spend any money till retirement either, if you wish you can go on vacations or buy whatever you want.

[triplexxx]

Always advisable when investing in stocks, options, ETFs, mutual funds, etc... to diversify, to do a fair share of both short-term and long-term investments (short-term ones advisable to do inside an IRA to reduce tax liability), and use a brokerage firm with as minimal fees as possible, like Robinhood. As a side note, for money set aside for saving, look for a high-yield interest account, maybe put some in a CD. One tip I picked up from those investment seminars I've attended is that financially secure people have multiple sources of income, so always be on the lookout for new methods or opportunities, and know the ropes when you decide to engage in something.

[CyberCubed]

I'm using Vanguard, no fees and you can keep money there earning 5.28% without even investing anything. The rest is in VT in the brokerage.

I'm done with individual stocks though, not really worth it unless you put in tons of money and/or want to risk losing it. After phyzer goes back up I'm cashing it out, and I may have to wait a few more years for that.

[Stu_Padasso]

“I’m actually not sure how much money I have, but I do know how many pounds of money I have.”
- Ron Swanson

[Mayhem]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

It's said by the time most of us reach 65, we'll need close to 1 million dollars saved up to "retire comfortably." Keep in mind inflation in another 30 or so years will also mean a million dollars will be worth much less than it is now too.

Yeah but the idea is that you should probably only take an anuity of maybe 25% when retiring, to use for yourself or reinvest elsewhere, and leave the rest to still be invested by the pension company (and thus continue hopefully to increase in value) and draw down monthly from it. What I plan generally to do when I reach retirement (which at the current rate won't be for another 20 years or so!). Dad has done a lot of this, so I plan to spend more time learning from him before he pops his clogs what the better choices are here.