An Investing Education Worthy of a Mustachian

[Tim]

Here's the peak of my investing experience: talking to my credit union's financial advisor and buying whatever mutual funds he says are good.

I'm well-versed in frugality, not in investing. In June, I will be debt-free and a lot more money will be available. I'm hoping to go directly from paying debt into investing. 

How did you guys learn this stuff?

[EnemyMind]

interwebs and books. - beware the books that concentrate solely on debt, or selling you shit, there are tons more of those then actual good information.

mutual funds have load rates, generally these load rates can eat into your returns, and with everything being in flux an index fund ( computer controlled) may eek you out a point or two more.

something relatively stable seems to be peer lending, the issue is it locks up your money for a fair bit of time as dumping the loans is a risk on what you can get out of it.

aside from the old standby drug dealing, starting a business or investing in your own skills, atleast at first, has always paid off more for me then investing has.

There are some interesting options to be had if you can come up with 25k+ and get around the pattern day trader rules on small stocks, but its quite risky.

[arebelspy]

Here's the peak of my investing experience: talking to my credit union's financial advisor and buying whatever mutual funds he says are good.

That guy is likely making a nice profit off of you.

Call Vanguard, open up an account, and start dollar cost averaging into index funds.

[EnemyMind]

Here's the peak of my investing experience: talking to my credit union's financial advisor and buying whatever mutual funds he says are good.

That guy is likely making a nice profit off of you.

Call Vanguard, open up an account, and start dollar cost averaging into index funds.

Per trade aren't Vanguards fees rather High?. Always good to hunt around.. especially if you are buying small amounts.. two 7$ trades = 14$ on a 100$ purchase means a 14% increase before you step into profit. 14% increase is no small amount to hope for.

[Dave]

I'm not sure about Vanguard, but I thought that trades on indexes were free (the kickback comes out of the performance of the index instead - your platform is still making money).

This means you can rebalance very easily. Unfortunately it costs me £10 (about $15) per trade for two of my asset classes (physical gold etf and gilts) which does mean that I plan on trading quarterly at most on those.

[EnemyMind]

I'm not sure about Vanguard, but I thought that trades on indexes were free (the kickback comes out of the performance of the index instead - your platform is still making money).

This means you can rebalance very easily. Unfortunately it costs me £10 (about $15) per trade for two of my asset classes (physical gold etf and gilts) which does mean that I plan on trading quarterly at most on those.

Perhaps it is on funds they control. You may be correct as the only index funds I have purchased have been through automatic 401k type contributions.

[vwDavid]

MMM has a reading list on his blog. Check those out.

Also check out Single Best Investment by Lowell Miller.

We also learn the hard way ie 2000 crash and 2007 crash. They teach you invaluable lessons that can't always be learnt from a book.

[lazydragon]

We also learn the hard way ie 2000 crash and 2007 crash. They teach you invaluable lessons that can't always be learnt from a book.

Funny how that works.  I've been reading and investing since the late 90s at least, and still made mistakes in those bubbles.  Books (or forums like this) give ideas, but I think only hard experience builds the judgement needed to utilize those ideas effectively.

[Mr Mark]

(1) Vanguard. Go to the website.

(2) Motley Fool (the freestuff)

(3) Read - everything you can. Graze.

[mmmsc]

Unless you are looking to become a full time investor (steep and long learning curve) read and learn about index funds. Forget the rest. Dollar cost average or whatever works the best(cheapest) auto deposits work best. When they send you your statement every month throw it in the trash before opening it. Do not look at the financial page of any newspaper nor watch any financial shows on TV( your friends because I know you already  have sold yours) . If you absolutely  have to look, do it at most once a year (better still on or about retirement day). You will do better than 90% of investors. It may sound like I am not being serious but I firmly believe that this passive style works for most people and allows them to get a good nights sleep.

[judgemebymyusername]

Read the Bogleheads Guide to Investing. Branch out to some more books from there depending on what topics catch your eye.

[what]

I wrote MMM not long ago looking for similar advice. He recommended "The Four Pillars of Investing" by William Bernstein as a good place to start. I just finished it and have started reading "The Investor's Manifesto", also by Bernstein.

"Manifesto" appears to be a shorter, simpler, updated version of "Four Pillars"; the takeaway message appears unchanged: build a diversified portfolio using low cost index funds or ETFs for the equities portion.

[Ben]

And, on the flip side, the Intelligent Asset Allocator (also by Bernstein) is the slightly more complex, grownup version of 4 Pillars.