[fobunited]

There is a market for annuities... if you're around 55 ish and have a large estate that you don't want getting hit with estate taxes. But annuities are marketed to way more people than they are suited for.

[SDTopless]

fair enough. you can have your annuities. i will have none of it!

j/k =P

there is a place for annuities, however that place needs to be well researched and sought out, or at least well explained to the client

[Neema]

Originally Posted by txusa03

you all are welcome to park yo money at my place, free of charge of course to my fellow e90 members

can't get any sweeter than this, cha-ching!

[GreenThree]

Originally Posted by SDTopless

fair enough. you can have your annuities. i will have none of it!

j/k =P

there is a place for annuities, however that place needs to be well researched and sought out, or at least well explained to the client

+1,000

[achien]

with the financial institutions in a free-fall, I would say under your pillow (or GOLD)...

[vachss]

Earlier this year I liquidated one of my mutual funds and bought about a Z4's worth of gold. Sure it's worth a few $K more now, but I'm not sure if I'd be more miserable if it went up (meaning the rest of my equities will probably go down) or vise versa. Ah the misery of diversification.

[fobunited]

I think there is still some room for growth in metals, but you're catching the tail end of the wave. By the time investment ideas hit the masses, it's usually too late.

[SDTopless]

diversification is what keeps you alive

[s1eepy]

leave your $ where it is. the market will bounce back. if anything dump more $ into your mutual funds etc. the market is on sale.

[fermion]

wow, the market keeps getting worse and worse by the day.

inflation is now at 9.2%

I need something with a 10% return just to retain my wealth, this is ridiculous.

nobody seems to agree on anything in this thread, lol, do we have a definitive answer on where i should throw down my family's money?

[fobunited]

It's hard to have a general view on where to put your money in these times because there are numerous factors involved.

What is your age? What is your tax bracket? What is your risk tolerance? How much money do you make and what is your net worth? What are your liquidity needs?

Your answer to these basic questions will definitely help form a better picture of what would be most suitable for you, but it's almost impossible to have a general answer to "where should I put my money," without more information.

If you're young, you can generally weather some risks and should be buying, since you can stomach the risks and everything's on sale.

If you're older and/or closer to retirement, you don't want to be somewhere volatile where a drop could seriously destroy or hinder your retirement plans. This is when you should start looking at more fixed income or lower risk investments.

[fermion]

Originally Posted by fobunited

What is your age? What is your tax bracket? What is your risk tolerance? How much money do you make and what is your net worth? What are your liquidity needs?

so i inherited some money. i'm 20. my income is under 100k a year, but as a result of the inheritance, i have lots of savings and some interests/dividends. the money is mostly tied up in mutual funds right now which have taken a hit in the last month or so. net worth, i prefer not to say over the internet, but its significantly more than a couple of M5's. liquidity needs, not much, but i would rather not have the money tied up in one of those funds where i'm not allowed to make withdraws for like 10 years.

[fobunited]

PMed you

[GreenThree]

Originally Posted by fermion

so i inherited some money. i'm 20. my income is under 100k a year, but as a result of the inheritance, i have lots of savings and some interests/dividends. the money is mostly tied up in mutual funds right now which have taken a hit in the last month or so. net worth, i prefer not to say over the internet, but its significantly more than a couple of M5's. liquidity needs, not much, but i would rather not have the money tied up in one of those funds where i'm not allowed to make withdraws for like 10 years.

Balanced mutual fund portfolio, CD's using laddering strategy, and HY savings accounts

[mrwma237]

Originally Posted by fermion

so i inherited some money. i'm 20. my income is under 100k a year, but as a result of the inheritance, i have lots of savings and some interests/dividends. the money is mostly tied up in mutual funds right now which have taken a hit in the last month or so. net worth, i prefer not to say over the internet, but its significantly more than a couple of M5's. liquidity needs, not much, but i would rather not have the money tied up in one of those funds where i'm not allowed to make withdraws for like 10 years.

you're not tied up with any funds ever. you're entitled to your own investments, you can pull out anytime you want. What you're referring to is the sales charge that is involved (talking about mutual funds here). There are different share classes when it comes to MFs. As have up front, Bs are back load, and Cs have neither but on going higher expense ratio.

You might also mean that annuities have surrender charges. You don't like that you have a surrender period? You can invest in funds directly. Also again, you're not tied up, you just have to pay the penalty if you wish to withdrawl early. Hey, what's the difference anyway if your value has gone up signficantly?

[GreenThree]

Yea annuities typically have surrender charge periods. But as mentioned before, many allow for 10% per year to be taken without penalty. Also, if you want to use an annuity, but dont want it to be tied up for 10 year, then go with a 5, 4, 3 or even 2 year surrender period, and get your principal and interest at the end of the guarantee period.

Taxes are probably not a huge deal for you now though, so there are many other places that you could proabably find a higher rate of return. (although not guaranteed)

[SDTopless]

if you want something tangible, you might want to consider real estate. also, if you don't own a home, qualifying for a first-time homebuyer would be great investment for you.

[fermion]

what is the typical pretax rate of return i can expect to get from annuities? also, is there a tax benefit to annuities that mutual funds don't have?

im basically looking for a safe investment that can give me ~10% annual return after taxes. This way, I still have some solid growth even after accounting for inflation.

[GreenThree]

You are dreaming if you think you will get 10% total return annually from a fixed annuity. 5.20% guaranteed for 5 years is a very compettiive interest rate in todays market place. The pre-tax equivelent will be higher though because non qualified deferred annuities are guaranteed and tax deferred - both features mutual funds dont offer.

[fermion]

so what does tax deferred mean?