Any of you guys invest on your own with Fidelity, Vanguard or any others? If so, what do you think about it? I have most of mine with EJ and am getting tired of the fees and such. Just wondering if there is a better alternative. They returned 16% last year which is good but my Merrill Lynch 401k at work that I manage returned 28%. Seems to me that since I am paying them a good sum of money each year cause they are "professionals", that they should be out performing me but they don't. That's why I am wanting to change but am a little leery of it cause it would be all online and it just seems different and not as safe for some reason.
Actually, all the investment firms are the same, and they all charge fees. Right now the Stock markets are up and seem to be holding, but one never knows what is going to happen in the near future. Really no better alternative to what you already have, so I'd leave it as is, because when one starts moving investment money around, you always lose some.
I agree with Dave. I have some roll over in a Raymond James account and I started a few Roth accounts there. I'm happy with them. We have other accounts at Fidelity, UBS, and Schwab. It's about the same everywhere. I really like Fidelity's funds.
Do your own research on bitcoin and Ethereum. I’ve been moving more and more money into those two lately. My Coinbase vault is stored on the harddrive that the Gobberment can’t mess with
I have some with American Fidelity and Franklin Templeton. AF is a standard deduction from checking each month. I’m not real knowledgeable just enough to know if I’m losing money or not. Neither one is high risk, more of just an additional savings. I switched jobs and haven’t put into FT in like 7 years but haven’t lost money either. Supposedly I get 1 rollover w/o penalty. I’ve followed the procedures for this to happen but they keep passing the buck. Well contact this person and this person. I’m like, “Uh it’s my money?” I’m certainly not going to just w/d it because they’ll take out a massive chunk then you get the heck taxed out of you on the rest. Only advice I know to give is invest in something safe then leave it alone. Again, not the most knowledgeable just hoping for a little salary “boost” when I’m 59.5 because for whatever reason that supposed to be the magical age when it’s mine without penalty.
If they charged you money to get 16% last year then you got screwed. You could have parked your money in an S&P fund and made almost 18% by yourself with no fees. If they are not outperforming the S&P then they serve no purpose. That is unless your directions include lower risk and thus the lower return that comes with it. My schwab account returned almost 23% last year.
The rest of the world looking at the United States as a joke and discrediting our dollar one day also makes me leery, I think everybody should have a small part of their portfolio in cryptocurrency’s I’m just going a bit harder than others
go back to the bitcoin charts in December when that treasury rep opened his mouth and said yes we are just printing money at this point, bitcoin and all the crypto‘s jumped crazy since then. Went from like 10,000 to 40,000 in a month No offense at all but it’s hard convincing the older generation about this form of currency. There’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing if it’s working. With anything there are risks and this might be higher on that spectrum but you gotta play big to win big. I’ve done pretty good in the last couple years with all these electric vehicle companies when most were Saying they would never become I thing, Best of luck with your investments I’m not here to argue at all and always trying to learn more
One thing to consider......My gut feel is Davers is a "bit" older than you. Age is a huge factor in investment strategy as well. It's not about the older generation and their opinion on a form of currency necessarily, but more about the level of risk. At least that's my .02 cents.....and likely about what it's worth !! If you are young, it's all about high risk, high reward !! For those of us later in life, it's time to preserve what we have acquired over the years.
You should feel fortunate, that wasn't the norm last year. Also, you must be investing in more agressive funds. The positive S&P results last year were driven by less than 10 companies. Substantially more companies had poor results unless they were in a niche that prospered through Covid.
