What are you doing to guarantee your future and retirement?

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Miguel

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Apr 30, 2007
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So here is my current situation:

Ok I'm 27, and I have decided to finally get my shit together and go back to school, I got a huge kick in the arse this past weekend by getting kicked out of the condo by my GF, I should have bought it with her but at the time I didn't think I should get that involved ( bad idea ) now I have nothing to show for the 3 years of money I gave her every month to help pay bills and the mortgage.

Step 1:
I have decided to go for an MBA and have already enrolled in an online university. I also have a backup plan with a local university that has a great business school that will allow me to take some night classes too, I just have to figure out if I can get the grant I need to afford it there.
So this step was started and is now moving forward.

Step 2:
I want to setup some sort of retirement accounts. I am pissed I didn't set up a ROTH IRA or regular IRA at 20-21 like I should have but that is my first question:
Who is paying into an IRA and what type do you recommend?

Second question:
I dont want my eggs all in one basket so what do you guys recommend in terms of diversifying my money?

Step 3:
I want to buy some investment property at some time in the next 3 years here in northern California, I have moved back in with my parents which is kinda loser-ish but it will allow me to save a good amount of cash to put into this investment in a short amount of time.
So the question here is not of huge urgency but I would like to know what some of you are doing in terms of having real-estate as a backup and investment for when and/or if things in your online endeavors ever go to hell in a hand basket.

So what are you doing or what have you done that has seemed to do best for you:
Small Apartment complexes: 8 or less units
Medium or Larger Apartments: 10 or more units
Duplex/Threeplex/Fourplex Properties
Rental Homes
Commercial Property
 


First of all. Big MISTAKE with the condo deal. I'm sue you know that. You live and you learn and it looks like you have a good head up there, so you'll be fine. If it makes you feel any better. I have lost 3 houses, 6 acres of land, 3 companies, thousands of dollars, a wife and fiance in the past few years. But hey, I'm not down. Mistakes, I lived and learned from that actually fuel my fire today. Thanks bitches!

I invest in myself because I know that I am the best investment that I can make. I have been at this enough years to know that investing in me will pay dividends that I wouldn't get at a job or in the stock market. I'm now just duplicating what I do now and crossing over into other niches. But on a larger scale, so I know I need to learn about scaling and automating or aligning myself with people who can do that. Thus we compliment one another.

The ultimate goal is to make enough money to buy up all the fucken foreclosures and deals in real estate that we will have in the next couple of years. Then retire by 45 and live off my real estate.

There are no guarantess Miguel. It's all a gamble. Just put your chips on the best bet, you!
 
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barman said:
the fuck is an MBA going to do for you that you can't learn from a crash course from a couple of books?
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Well I have always regretted dropping out of college, it's a personal achievement mark for me. It's also probably one of the best security net you could have if things in your life go to shit and you need to get a regular job that will pay you more than just pennies, I have been involved in my families' business for years and business is what I know.

But hey that's me.
 
My advice. Become a master website designer. Learn computer graphics. Get MS Certified or whatever the current criteria is. This knowledge applied correctly can pay for your college education (should you still decide to pursue that), your retirement fund, and any other investments that you choose to make. Your skills will always be in demand, you can command your own salary, and you will never lack for money (obviously you would have to actually do some work to achieve the aforementioned). Don't dwell on what happened with your condo/girlfriend. You had a place to live during that time and you were comfortable. Learn from your mistakes and move forward.
 
I consider myself an investment wizard. I'm not sure how familiar you guys are with financial stuff so I'm just gonna dish the basics. Use the google to supplement the info that is here.

1) Start the Roth IRA ASAP. I started mine when I was 19. To all those unfamiliar with it, its essentially a legal tax shelter. You don't have to pay investment gains on any funds in the Roth IRA. The catch is that there is a cap on what you can contribute - right now it's 4k, next year its 5k. So the sooner you start the better.

Go with some sort of index fund. I personally use Vanguard Target Retirement 2045. The fund rocks because it automatically changes the portfolio foreign/domestic stocks/bonds/real estate allocation based on how old you are and what your risk profile is. It's retirement on autopilot.

2) Ditto on the online MBA being a not-so-bright idea. There have been economics studies that have shown that except for the top tier MBA programs (Wharton, Harvard, Stanford, etc.) MBA is not worth the cost. The primary value of an MBA is not what you learn in the classes but the networking. So not only would it be far more difficult to build any rapport with fellow students in an online class but I'm betting the standards weren't too high to get in the program (lol sorry). So the contacts you make (assuming you make them) probably won't be that useful.

3) There is money to be made in real estate but it is difficult. Rich Dad/Poor Dad, Carlton Sheets and the like are just as bad as the ebook peddlers in the AM industry.

To make money, you need to be hands-on. It's very cutthroat, the profits are thin and you'll have to do all the work yourself in the beginning. There's a lot of sharks. Contractors and renters will try to screw you., as will management companies. Don't look at it as a "passive income stream" or whatever BS term the gurus use.
 
I think an MBA is not going to be that big of a deal if you know what your doing on the net. Like BYA said, put your chips in what works. Many people in this forum would slit their wrist if they woke up tomorrow morning making what someone with an MBA makes. If it is for personal achievement, like you stated, I can understand a little.
 
Honestly, I wouldn't worry about an MBA if you have a bachelors. I have a bachelors and it really doesn't mean crap, but it's a good plan B to have either way. As far as investing, go with a roth and pump everything allowed into it. Having one is the easiest 75k I've rounded up in the past few years. Two funds have made it happen. Trowe price s&p 500 index and a Russell 2000 index...that's it, it's pretty simple really.
 
I wouldn't recommend paying into the IRA - It's quietened down a lot in Ireland now, Muslim terrorism is where the action is at!

Seriously though, No idea what an IRA actually is but if it's stock market related be cautious. There will be at least one big stock market crash and global recession in the next 50 years - and guaranteed it will be the pension funds and such which suffer.

If it's nothing to do with that and risk free, then maybe good for the average person... but 8% return...? Seriously? So over a year $1000 becomes $1080? Wouldn't it make more sense to pump your cash back into your marketing activities?

Property in Eastern Europe and Asia is where I've been looking to invest. (Specifically Bulgaria, Romania, Thailand and Malaysia.) At the mo you can get a 3 bedroom house in Bulgaria for less than $5000 (even on eBay!) and a £100,000 property in Romania is expected to be worth £500,000 in ten years.
 
Lazy Hippy doesn't really know what he's talking about but other than that, some good tips being thrown around. I'm working on my bachelor's right now, and planning on throwing down an MBA right after. Like blastyourass said, the best investment you can make is in yourself, and what better way to do that than with an education? Make that your priority (although I would double check the credibility of that online uni) and do some investing/earning on the side.

If you want to get serious about investing, spend time learning online. I'm sure there are lots of forums on investing in real estate and/or investment funds like the IRA...Another thing to look into would be REIT. Basically it's a mutual fund that allows you to invest in real estate without actually buying property. The fund usually manages several properties across different territories so it allows you to diversify your investment in case one market goes down. Anyways, I'm still learning myself, so I would encourage you to do some research online or even just walk into your bank and talk to an investment advisor they are really helpful.
 
Raize said:
Lazy Hippy doesn't really know what he's talking about
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LOL... I know my facts are right about Eastern European property prices, I know acronyms can have different meanings (that was a joke though btw), I'll bet money that there will be a big crash in the next half a century and personally I don't see an 8% return pa as being particularly good. Especially not if it is tied to the stock markets and your money is in the hands of bankers... (anyone heard of Nick Leeson?)

I'll freely admit I don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to US investments, but it's common sense that investing in a developing country could be more profitable than investing in a developed one.
 
Cash is king right now. Liquidate. As far as the US goes, we are in the infamous real estate cycle that we always have. This time instead of a 10 year cycles we had a good 15 year plus run.

In a real estate cycle it goes up and down. We are on the downward swing and it will last at least through 2008 into 2009. That's when the smart investors snatch up property for the anticipation of the upward swing. Calulated invetsing based on previous proven theories and cycles. Can't get easier then that.

The difference now is that mortgage's for these investors will be tough to swing because all of the new underwriting guidelines make it tough to go qualify and go stated income on a loan and that what they need. So all the major real estate investors are liquidating and sitting on thier cash for the futuire real estate investor boom THAT WILL HAPPEN.

As far as stocks go, I watch MAD MONEY on CNBC, that dude has made me huge money and he tells it like it is. Almost every stock pick he has given makes money. Plus your learn a lot about the stock market in a simplistic fashion.

I would rather learn and make investments myself then have some fucken stock broker steer me to whatever is best for them abnd thei firm.

Again that's investing in myself by watching a TV show.

I'm not a big believer in MBA' and formal education though. When you make more then 90% of the MBA grads and your a high school drop out, that says something about the worth of an MBA. Especially when thay are coming to me for a job and will take $15 an hour????????

They need a fucken College 2.0 in the US. Our education system is still in the stone ages.
 
Pick up an Investors Business Daily and then read all you can by that guy Oneil. If you still want to do an IRA at your age I would be surprised.

In a family business I am not sure if you need an MBA. Do you want the confidence? Some people just need their "ticket punched" and it is still good for that. I havent done it but am considering it.

Also Check out:

MIT OpenCourseWare | Courses

Free courses online, and yes they are still stone age a bit. I saw that like 4 years ago and was hoping they would get better, they really havent much.

MBA schools are dam expenisve compared to bachelors, but most people get the money back in a few years. Might help if you want investors or VC money later.

Good Luck
 
Jon said:
I still think this is the best reply with the most useful information on this thread.
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Well shit, I think that's what I'm gonna do then. I have been putting all my money into .cn domains I guess I need to change my plan.
 
1) MBA - this is a good idea if you plan on working in a corporate environment. Otherwise, this could be a waste of your time/money.

2) IRAs - These are a must, but not because of the money you earn on them (generally), they are great because of the tax-sheltering that they provide. My wife and I max out a Roth IRA every year and have since we were 18. It's a great way to sock away money that you don't have to pay taxes on when you retire. Also, combine the power of the IRA and your 3rd plan: Real estate. If you research "self-directed IRA's" you'll find that you CAN invest in real estate with this money. This is one of the best uses for an IRA since smart real-estate investors earn far better returns than the average return on the stock market.

3) My wife and I also own residential real estate that we rent out. Don't do it. It's too much of a pain without high enough returns. If I could do it all over again, I'd bypass residential and go straight to commercial/appartments. If you are investing for cash flow (with the added benefit of RE appreciation, but without the risk of a downwards market) then invest in multi-family housing and commercial RE such as strip malls, etc. If you have the money to invest - these are great. Since you should be cashflowing nicely (if you invest properly), whether the RE market is up or down is irrelevant because you are making money every month. MFH is the way to go with renting, because you don't get upside down very oftten in buildings that are +80% occupied if you lose a tenant. If you are into residential rentals, often losing 1 tenant can hurt and you might wind up cashflow negative. Just a few hints: Make sure you don't overpay, be careful when structuring your financing, hire a dependable property manager and do the best you can to 1) Raise rents, 2) Raise occupational rate, 3) Get money out by refinancing once you've raised the rents and the occupancy rate and wash/rinse/repeat.

As far as diversification - too many people think of investing as stocks, bonds, CD's or other financial instruments, and real estate. Many people forget about the business aspect of investing. You can diversify by investing in businesses that you own yourself or that you can partner with or provide funding for. NachoNinja and Jon are right about .info domains. There is a wealth of information on this website about making money on the internet. And you can earn a lot more than 20% ROI on your investments online than you can in stocks or RE. In the financial world 10% is a pretty good ROI. 20% ROI is amazing. Most commercial real estate has a NOI that is in the 3-5% range. In the internet marketing world, you shit on a 20% ROI. So, unless you have millions to invest (you don't) - think more about putting the bulk of your money to work for you on the internet.

I know this post was long, but hopefully it can be mildly helpful for you.
 
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Nothing wrong with .CN domains. The jist of what Jon/Ninja are saying is get cheap domains and monetize the shit out of them. .CN domains are great potential if you actually know Mandarin. :D

Miguel said:
Well shit, I think that's what I'm gonna do then. I have been putting all my money into .cn domains I guess I need to change my plan.
Click to expand...
 
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