The Stock Market and Investing

Sandman6472

Bought a couple of CD's last month. Since we like to have our yearly tax bill money ready to go for mid-November, took out a 6-month CD paying 4.66%. Once it comes due, we'll have more then enough to pay our county's tax bill. Also took out a 1-year CD which was paying 4.75% as seemed like a good idea at the time. These funds were just sitting in the bank getting a low interest rate, so decided to take some of it to get a little higher return. Since it's money we won't need for at least a year, felt it wouldn't hurt to earn a little extra.

tifighter

I bought some 6 mo T bills recently that came in at roughly 5.2%. Already had some I bonds.

kyfdx

tifighter said:

I bought some 6 mo T bills recently that came in at roughly 5.2%. Already had some I bonds.

I've thought about I-bonds. It's easy. But, who knows what they pay, two years from now? I guess putting $10K in every year would average out okay.

I have cash earning 4.60% APY right now. Too lazy to work hard to find that extra 1/2%.

cdnpinhead

I was around in 1980 and, worse yet, needed to buy a new house. When I signed up for the thing (July) the interest rate was ~9%. When we closed in October it was, wait for it, 13% (there was no lock-in). This was a tiny place by today's standards, ~1500 sq ft. for four of us. It took most of a decade to get the payment down to something reasonable. Then it was time to move to a 2940 sq ft place in a better neighborhood for a lower payment.

Cry me a river, those of you who are pained by what's going on now. Keep your powder dry. It''ll get better eventually. . .unless it doesn't. It's a good time to be old enough to not care about this sort of thing.

Back in those days money markets were paying really well, and they are getting that way today. Go figure.

Sandman6472

We bought our condo/townhouse in 1983 and rates were still quite high. Luckily the place only cost us $62.5K plus fees...it was a 1384 2 bed/2.5 bath which was brand new construction. We put down a sizeable amount from savings plus what my in-laws threw in to get us started and to furnish the place. Luckily my grandma came through with a couple of $5K gifts in those few years we lived there so we were able to have a small mortgage as I was the only one working after the first year. We had two kids soon afterwards & the place got a bit cramped. Unbeknown to me, we were to have a third which my wife & in-laws kept quiet about. Wife suggested we sell & buy a house which is what happened. But once her & her dad bought the new house, they clued me in to what was coming.
Decided to get those CD's recently as we had too much cash sitting in our savings account so wanted to put some of it to work. Put $4K into each CD and still might put another $4K into a 1-year CD in a few weeks.

kyfdx

https://www.duke-energy.com/investor-relations/individual-investors/premiernotes-investment

5.13% APY

corvette

Amazon appears to have a $5 promotional credit if you purchase a gift card of $50 or greater today, so naturally, I decided to treat myself.

stickguy

can't argue with a ST 10% ROI.

xwesx

corvette said:

Amazon appears to have a $5 promotional credit if you purchase a gift card of $50 or greater today, so naturally, I decided to treat myself.

How does that work? I'm only seeing a $50 gift card for $50.

corvette

I checked again, and it appears to be a Prime member exclusive.

xwesx

Okay, thanks. I got it to work. Just a matter of finding the screen you shared here.

kyfdx

https://www.duke-energy.com/investor-relations/individual-investors/premiernotes-investment

5.39% APY

stickguy

I was looking at banks this weekend (we want to get rid of the bank we had in NJ now that my last auto debit from there is done and get one with a branch up here), and could not believe that most of them (Looking at you Chase) still don't have interest on savings accounts. Well, technically they do if you want to count .02% as paying interest.

I get checking accounts (though they should also) but isn't the point of a savings account to actually keep money in it as an investment? Why even bother with one?

I guess you need to use one of the online banks to get interest on savings, but that seems to defeat the concept of having a branch to go to when needed. And yes I still like having a bank branch (just used it last week to get a bank check for the new car).

Michaell

stickguy said:

I was looking at banks this weekend (we want to get rid of the bank we had in NJ now that my last auto debit from there is done and get one with a branch up here), and could not believe that most of them (Looking at you Chase) still don't have interest on savings accounts. Well, technically they do if you want to count .02% as paying interest.

I get checking accounts (though they should also) but isn't the point of a savings account to actually keep money in it as an investment? Why even bother with one?

I guess you need to use one of the online banks to get interest on savings, but that seems to defeat the concept of having a branch to go to when needed. And yes I still like having a bank branch (just used it last week to get a bank check for the new car).

I feel ya, stick. We've been with Chase for quite a number of years and are appalled at the savings account interest. We've got both a personal savings account and another for the business and I keep thinking I'd like to move them to something where we'd get even a little bit more interest, while staying liquid.

stickguy

decided to just get the checking account with Chase for the $300 bonus they are offering and just tie it to our mutual fund account, and just have to move money back and forth from there. A little more work but nothing too bad.

kyfdx

stickguy said:

decided to just get the checking account with Chase for the $300 bonus they are offering and just tie it to our mutual fund account, and just have to move money back and forth from there. A little more work but nothing too bad.

My Estate lawyer: "Don't ever die with a Chase bank account".

Michaell

kyfdx said:

stickguy said:

decided to just get the checking account with Chase for the $300 bonus they are offering and just tie it to our mutual fund account, and just have to move money back and forth from there. A little more work but nothing too bad.

My Estate lawyer: "Don't ever die with a Chase bank account".

Swell. We’ve got 5

stickguy

not worried about it. Joint account so not an issue unless we go together. at which point I will be dead, so my son's problem!

corvette

kyfdx said:

My Estate lawyer: "Don't ever die with a Chase bank account".

I have some war stories, there. Up until a few years ago, banks in our state pretty much had carte blanche to unilaterally reject powers of attorney, require that you fill out their own form, etc., causing all sorts of problems if the person granting the POA had questionable capacity at the time it was later rejected). I don't recall the specifics since I no longer practice, but the legislature made some changes (I think they centered around requiring the bank to pay attorney fees if a court action was filed against it to enforce the POA that the bank rejected, assuming the POA met certain basic requirements), and I can only assume they had the intended effect.

We also had a local US Bank branch which refused to recognize the state's "will search" statute allowing entry to a deceased person's lockbox for the retrieval of a will. Got around that by following their instructions--filed a probate petition (in a different county) and got an order directing the bank to allow entry to the lockbox for retrieval of a will. The District Court likely had no jurisdiction to order them to do anything since it was in a different county (and because it's a court of limited jurisdiction, even within the county), but the bank accepted it and let them retrieve the will, which we than had probated. I think a lot of probate attorneys recommend placing your intended executor/executrix on the signature list for the lockbox to avoid that sort of annoyance.

I rely on my brick and mortar bank for cash withdrawals, check deposits, cashier's checks, a lockbox, and things like that. I do have my mortgage and HELOC with them because their rates were competitive at the time. They haven't updated the auto loan rates advertised on their website in six months. My HELOC rate has crept up to near 10%--thankfully, it has a zero balance, so I haven't looked to see whether that's still competitive or not. I keep my liquid savings elsewhere.

Sandman6472

After my account having 2 different people in two different Florida cities use fake id to get money given to them, we left Chase. Happened on two consecutive days in Jacksonville and a few months later, the same scenario in South Miami. The first incident, we were able to get our funds returned with a couple of days. The second time, took almost two weeks which I had a real problem with. Local bank manager finally told us he can't protect our money, so we need to find a better bank! I was floored, had him repeat this all again to me, and still didn't get it. If the tellers had done their job & looked at my signature card on file, they would've refused giving the crooks my money!
Regardless, went back to our old bank where they require picture id's for every transaction, and the problem went away. My advice, run from Chase! Still have a credit card with them, but watch it closely also after someone in California opened a Walmart account & tried to buy stuff with it. Luckily, bank declined the charge and texted me at 3 a m to ask me if it was me charging. But, that wasn't the first fraud on my Chase c c and time before that, I had to have the bogus charge removed.
I don't trust Chase bank anymore!

corvette

The only thing I have with Chase is their Amazon rewards Visa.

On the topic of rewards cards, I have the PenFed card that gives 5% off gas (and, I think, zero foreign transaction fees). I have a Discover IT card with rotating rewards categories. This quarter, restaurants are one of them, and I will likely max out the reward at $75 on a $1,500 spend. I have a Citi Doublecash card for regular spending, but this looks promising as a dining card, so long as you don't charge many other things on it, thus ensuring that you obtain the 5% on restaurants.

laurasdada

For years, I have kept the bulk of my "rainy day" money in online savings accounts (currently ranging from 3.9-4.61% apy), tied to my credit union checking account. I keep a token amount in the CU savings/checking accounts to cover monthly bills and withdraw the occasional spending money. Transfers from the online accounts take from 1-3 business days, so just a modicum of financial planning is required to ensure the bills get paid.
Like corvette (and most here, likely) I've got different credit cards to use for greater rewards, Costco for gas/travel, B of A for the rotating categories (which, for simplicity, I've left at "dining") and Fidelity Visa for 2% cash back no matter the purchase.
As I've mentioned, my career choices have been an epic failure, but I've tried hard to make may money scream in pain at how hard I make it work!

kyfdx

That Fidelity card with 2% on everything is nice. A friend, who once worked for Fidelity, has one.

I have a Visa with rotating categories. 5% on streaming/wireless, which covers my cable/internet and cell phone bills (about $380/mo), plus 2% on dining, 1% on everything else.

AMEX Blue (with $95 annual fee) is 6% at grocery stores, 3% at gas stations and 1% for everything else.

laurasdada

How much did you put on your CC for the Cayman?
BWM dealer allowed me to put ~12% of price pf the M240 on the Fido card, so there's the first couple of tanks of gas!

kyfdx

laurasdada said:

How much did you put on your CC for the Cayman?
BWM dealer allowed me to put ~12% of price pf the M240 on the Fido card, so there's the first couple of tanks of gas!

Just the auction fee to Bring a Trailer. Had to wire cash. It's a small used car dealer.

laurasdada

Thanks, forgot you won it!

laurasdada

Online savings account now 5.01% apy.
Gonna party like it's 1979!

corvette

laurasdada said:

Gonna party like it's 1979!

You should buy a Malaise Era vehicle to drive to that party!

laurasdada

Mustang II, Boredom 0!

kyfdx

laurasdada said:

Mustang II, Boredom 0!

Hey now! That was my first new car.

stickguy

you can thank me for the markets going up today. I finally got around to submitting rollover requests to get my old 401ks consolidated into Vanguard so I can do a logical investment plan with all the money in one place. So a big chunk got liquidated at yesterdays values, and will be out of the market temporarily until the checks arrive and get redeposited. so expect a serious bull market in the next week!

laurasdada

kyfdx said:

laurasdada said:

Mustang II, Boredom 0!

Hey now! That was my first new car.

My best friend's father worked for J. Walter Thompson. My bud told me that Mustang II tag line was the creation of his father.
Guess he was bored that day.

Sandman6472

Seems like TD Ameritrade is no more! As of Tuesday, it'll officially be part of Schwab so we shall see how things go. They have made buying stock & other investments super easy. I started with Scottrade when I first got some extra cash to play with back in 2004 or so. Great company also & learned a lot from them. They had a couple of branches near the house & were always happy to answer any & all questions I had. In time, they were bought out by TD Ameritrade and no more local offices. And now, as of Tuesday, it'll become part of Schwab so hopefully, things will be just as user friendly going forward. Don't plan on doing much of anything going forward as things have been changing a lot lately. And unlike a friend at work who is a growth buyer, I prefer dividends at this point. I want to know that I've got a fair amount of income coming in each month to take the place of my part time job once I do decide to stop working. Since I'm not quite sure when that day will come, want as much in dividend income as I can get.
Have had a Capital One savings account & checking account for a long time but have not used them lately. But think I just might go back to using the savings account to get the higher interest rate. Just have to be sure to get my oldest on the account so when the time comes & there is any funds in there, she can get them split between our three kids.
Lastly, I looked at my list of credit cards and find that I've just got too many of them! Only use a couple right now and have the rest frozen but thinking the time has come to close out all but maybe four of them for my everyday use. I've heard that by closing any, my credit score will go down as the ratio of debt to credit will change but seeing that I'm not going to make any large purchases in this year, might just be the time to consolidate a bit. I only have zero fee cards as I just can not see paying a company to use their card. Plan on keeping my Chase Freedom card as it's my everyday card right now. Have a Discover card that's froze as well as my American Express Everyday card. And have just received my BJ's card in the last few weeks. Goodyear sent me a letter saying they will cancel the card by the end of October as there's been no activity on it, which is fine with me.
Just feel it's time to consolidate things a bit because no one knows what the future will bring. Come January, it'll be the three year anniversary of my twins death, and I still think about it from time to time. So consolidating my life in certain areas is a top priority for me right now. Need to dot my i's and cross my t's so to speak and now is the perfect time.

corvette

Truist $400 account opening bonus looks pretty straightforward if they are in your state, need two direct deposits totaling $1,000 or more, then the bonus is supposed to get paid out within four weeks. Once it's paid, it looks like you can just close the account with no penalty. Monthly fee waived if you keep an average of $500 in the account or maintain monthly direct deposits totaling $500 or more.

stickguy

Chase is giving me $300 for opening a checking account as soon as my paycheck DD hits. I wanted a bank with branches all over so this was the winner.

kyfdx

corvette said:

Truist $400 account opening bonus looks pretty straightforward if they are in your state, need two direct deposits totaling $1,000 or more, then the bonus is supposed to get paid out within four weeks. Once it's paid, it looks like you can just close the account with no penalty. Monthly fee waived if you keep an average of $500 in the account or maintain monthly direct deposits totaling $500 or more.

I noticed that 5th/3rd had the same deal.

corvette

I'm only seeing a $225 bonus from 5/3... Did you find a $400 one?

kyfdx

corvette said:

I'm only seeing a $225 bonus from 5/3... Did you find a $400 one?

I toss them in the garbage, but I think it was actually $350. Of course, I'm in their home market.

stickguy

anyone familiar with a dual direction indexed variable annuity? We met with investment advisors today and he presented this as an option. 6 year annuity tied to SP 500 index. Supposed to guarantee the index ROR but have dual direction segment option. so they waive 20% decrease but cap return at 150% (I believe on top of 100% expected).

No explicit fees. But best I can understand, the only benefit to the buyer is if after 6 years the index is worth less than initial investment you get some of the loss back. But if there is a huge bull market might get less.

neither one seems all that likely, meaning there is no actual benefit to having one (other than being tax deferred, not an issue in an IRA). Plus it locks it up for 6 years (well, can get out but graduated early withdrawal penalties apply).

seems like it would be easier to just dump it into the SP500 Vanguard fund since the money is already there in the money market (though letting that ride at 5% does not sound all that bad either!)

kyfdx

I'm not going to pretend to know exactly how that works, but I'm sure it involves some big commissions for someone. It seems totally inappropriate for an IRA, as you don't need the tax deferral.

corvette

Sounds like a way for the advisor to earn a fat commission and for you to earn less than the index.

stickguy

That’s my thought but I haven’t figured out in the fine print yet where they are skimming. Need to read that again to see if they are just giving a discount off the index.

In any case I think I’ll just drop that money into the VG SP500 fund

Sandman6472

Opened my Vanguard account and was wondering which fund I should put some cash into? In the Contrafund over at Fidelity and have been for years now but am just looking where to put some spare cash over at Vanguard. Any advice would be helpful here.

kyfdx

Sandman6472 said:

Opened my Vanguard account and was wondering which fund I should put some cash into? In the Contrafund over at Fidelity and have been for years now but am just looking where to put some spare cash over at Vanguard. Any advice would be helpful here.

It's hard to go wrong over time with an S&P 500 equivalent fund.

But, the managed stock fund I like the best at Vanguard is PrimeCap. I've been it, since the '80s.

stickguy

if you just want short term parkage, the federal money market fund (their settlement account when you make a deposit) last I checked was paying about 5%.

I have a lot in that right now since all the rollovers I did have cleared and are all in the MM fund

stickguy

kyfdx said:

Sandman6472 said:

Opened my Vanguard account and was wondering which fund I should put some cash into? In the Contrafund over at Fidelity and have been for years now but am just looking where to put some spare cash over at Vanguard. Any advice would be helpful here.

It's hard to go wrong over time with an S&P 500 equivalent fund.

But, the managed stock fund I like the best at Vanguard is PrimeCap. I've been it, since the '80s.

what's prime cap geared toward? I have some long term investment (late 80s I think) in Windsor II and some S&P 500 index. need to do something with the rest of the cash.

kyfdx

“This large- and mid-capitalization growth fund is managed with a long-term perspective, extremely low turnover, and a well-established investment strategy. Since the fund’s inception in 1984, PRIMECAP Management Company, the advisor, has followed an approach in which multiple portfolio managers independently manage a portion of the fund, which provides diversification of thought.”

It’s a little more aggressive than Windsor. Windsor and Primecap together constitute at least 80% of our 401K assets. (36+ years).

Sandman6472

PrimeCap seems to be closed to new investors it seems. Did find a few target date funds that could also work. Like a Balanced fund and like the low administrative costs that Vanguard has which is why I was with them many years ago. Since I have some extra funds sitting in my savings account making almost nothing, might as well put it to good use for the time being.

kyfdx

Sandman6472 said:

PrimeCap seems to be closed to new investors it seems. Did find a few target date funds that could also work. Like a Balanced fund and like the low administrative costs that Vanguard has which is why I was with them many years ago. Since I have some extra funds sitting in my savings account making almost nothing, might as well put it to good use for the time being.

If you want some bond exposure, target date funds are a great vehicle, especially if you are 65 plus

Sandman6472

Going to be 69 later on this year so I'm good to go there. Think I'll go ahead and invest a small amount and see how it goes. Also plan to check out some muni bonds like I had a few years back. I would've still had them if they weren't called early by the issuer. Think I had about $25K or so and I'd get a $500 dividend payment twice a year. I'm a dividend investor as I like the steady income stream they generate as eventually when my part time salary ends, would still like those dividends coming in. Ended up getting into Apple with the proceeds of those muni bonds a couple of days before the last split so went from 50 shares to 200.