Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The single most powerful factor behind successful investing?

As I mentioned, Dutch: I did and I am. (It still blows my ever-loving mind to try to grasp that.)

But if you are in your 20s, let it be a lesson to you: you CAN do it.

Compound interest is a very elementary, and practical way to make money, at least in theory. Like hatari said, no way to average 6-7% interest every year.

I don't recall any of the wealthiest of the wealthy that made their fortunes in the stock market anyway. They made it by inheriting it, in business, etc, not Wall St.

I wasn't in the army but I can easily say my net worth is easily multi-hundreds, not many can make the same claim. Saving can't be emphasized enough...

That is a fact.

I bet you have a $ 1 million in stories?

Inheriting is the best...

DF

I heard an interesting thought at a talk about investing.

Question #1 How much can you lose when you invest?

Answer: 100% Obviously you can lose it all but no more than 100%

Question #2 How much can you gain by investing?

Answer: Potentially many THOUSANDS of %.

That thought helped me get going quite a few years ago.

The OP was not about being the wealthy of the wealthiest or even wealthy rather being able to retire financially sound, to be able to live at least as well as one did while working. Few will be able to do that unfortunately.

Often...simple, boring and consistent allotments is a recipe that works out to be the needed method. Understanding and learning fees associated with certain funds, and picking those funds based on long term value, is a strategy.

Ameriprise, TSP life cycle, various tangibles and a little real estate here.

Why do people refuse to accept the fact that the average return in the US stock market over the last 100 years is more than 10%. Over the last 50 years it is more than 10%.

10% is more than 6%. That difference, after applying compound interest, is the difference between retiring comfortably and retiring stinking rich.....

Single most powerful factor? Consistency. Think tortoise and the hare. Think compounding interest over time. But it is the very rare person that can do this on their own. Get an advisor you like and not one who is "fee based" seller, but one who profits from your earnings.
Be nimble and diverse. Investments aren't something you buy or invest in and forget. There will be a time to re-balance, which means sell and move to something else. Some mutual fund managers re-balance within an individual fund. Your advisor's job is to be up on new market features that benefit you.
Your goals will change as you grow older. In general, the older you get the more conservative your investments should become.
But consistency is the key.

That Wall Street model is what costs Americans Billion$. They have always told their clients that you look at the long haul, not short term. They (Wall Street) will also tell you that over time with the market fluctuations, your principle will double on the average of seven years. Another lie, if it was true, I would have over 3X the money in my 401 that I have now.

It is a fact, that if I did, with someone else's money, what Wall Street did with mine, I would be in prison...

GUNS.

I bought a near mint Python from an Army Reserve buddy in the mid '70's for $185. He was in a bind, needed cash.

Those guns are moving in the $3,500 range today.

Put that up against the stock market, gold, silver, etc..

Not even close...

DF

Shrap, don't know what to say, but you're doing it wrong. I've only been investing for about 20 years, most all of it in Vanguard's total stock market index funds. Right at 9% lifetime return.

Lately, playing a little with international funds and energy funds (buy low). We'll see how smart I really am in about 5-7 years...

I haven't been doing it wrong, D A Davidson is doing it wrong. If you think I am happy and want to prove you wrong, you are mistaken. According to their formula, you should have 4 times what you had 14 years ago.

If you do, their formula sure works better for you than for me. I am stuck with investing through the employer with a firm that has lots of agents that sit on the ground floor so when they jump out the window in a down market, they won't get hurt...

There are dozens of dividend reinvestment plans that charge no fees.

The reason more people don't do what Buffet recommends, and what RockyRaab (and me) apparently did, is that it involves sacrificing X today for Y tomorrow, where Y is much larger than X. "I'd rather go out drinking with the boys tonight than study for my course" or "I'd rather buy another TV than more savings." Eat the goose now instead of getting golden eggs later.

More recently, though, the Obamunists have really screwed this up by deliberately and artificially keeping interest rates so low. The CEO of Black Rock has estimated that it now takes three times as much savings and investment to have a secure retirement as it did just a few years ago.

The advantage of low interest fates , from the Obamunists' position, is that the Feds have to pay far fewer billions on Treasury Bill interest, and, secondly, they effectively take more wealth out of the hands of the people. where does it go? To the government. And nobody even knows they're doing it.

If "investment advisers" , old school" fiduciaries", maybe excepted, knew a friggin' thing about investing…they would not be selling their services.

or trying to sell you an annuity.

Buy low……..sell high.

most "investors " get it backwards.

I sold a bit of equities before '08…..but what I kept…I kept.

I think there is a relationship between Bernie voters and the huge amount of people , living on SS.

Low interest, inflation and monetary devaluation in general is a stealth tax that we all pay. It's the govt. hedging it's position at the expense of ours and promising us more of the same. And, we seem to keep buying more and more of what they're "selling".

I think the political revolt we're seeing with Bernie and The Donald reflects the distrust and disgust the electorate has for the govt. "system" as currently operating.

It ain't about us, but it may be...

DF

Sorry, man, that sucks....... My main Vanguard fund has an expense ratio of 0.05% per year........ I know I doubled the last five years, I'll have to look and see what I did at the 10 and 15 year mark. I tend to not look at it --- the market doesn't effect my choices. Last Fall was the first time I actually moved money out of the index fund to a sector fund.

Managed funds, target date funds, loaded funds.....all increase the costs of investing. Very, very, very few manage to beat the index funds in the long term. It has been done, but it's a rare thing.