Author Topic: If I'm Semi-Clueless About Stocks, Is Vanguard a Good Option?  (Read 4987 times)

oldtoyota

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I've have earned decently with stock purchases, but I have a lot more to learn there.

I guess I'm looking for a few things.

1. Where is the best place to learn about choosing stocks? I'm reading Joshua Kennan and am also making my way through the Benjamin Graham book.
2. Where can I learn more about stock valuation?

I'm beyond the basics with stock purchases, so I'm looking for more on technical analysis. I think.



« Last Edit: August 07, 2013, 06:29:53 AM by oldtoyota »

oldtoyota

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Re: If I'm Semi-Clueless About Stocks, Is Vanguard a Good Option?
« Reply #1 on: May 11, 2013, 06:06:13 PM »
Thank you. I have the Four Pillars and will review the other two.

I'm getting the same message. I read a few chapters since I wrote the original post, and it basically says to invest in index funds.


NumberCruncher

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Re: If I'm Semi-Clueless About Stocks, Is Vanguard a Good Option?
« Reply #2 on: May 11, 2013, 07:02:03 PM »
For more books, see: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/the-mmm-reading-list/


A Random Walk Down Wall Street is great.


I love the Bogleheads wiki for explaining things like tax efficiency and any random financial definition I need to look up: http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Main_Page

GreenGuava

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Re: If I'm Semi-Clueless About Stocks, Is Vanguard a Good Option?
« Reply #3 on: May 11, 2013, 09:21:31 PM »
Others have given you good advice about stock picking and valuation - don't.  I'll echo that, but I want to address something else.

2. I have 90% of my money invest via Vanguard. Is this unwise?

If your taxable stash isn't that big, you need an emergency fund.  The actual amount there can decrease as your taxable stash grows, so if 10% isn't enough for comfort, maybe that needs to increase.

Keeping all of your investing assets at Vanguard is fine.   The short answer is that each of the mutual funds owns a share of the company, and your ownership of their funds is part ownership of Vanguard itself. 

If you're worried about keeping all your eggs in one basket - as if Vanguard could go belly up, the way Enron did or something - check out the Bogleheads' wiki article on Vanguard Safety.  The short story is, you really don't have anything to worry about.

Mr Mark

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Re: If I'm Semi-Clueless About Stocks, Is Vanguard a Good Option?
« Reply #4 on: May 11, 2013, 11:59:22 PM »
For more books, see: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/the-mmm-reading-list/


A Random Walk Down Wall Street is great.


I love the Bogleheads wiki for explaining things like tax efficiency and any random financial definition I need to look up: http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Main_Page

+1

oldtoyota

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Re: If I'm Semi-Clueless About Stocks, Is Vanguard a Good Option?
« Reply #5 on: May 13, 2013, 08:34:50 AM »
Good point about the emergency fund. I have that and was not counting it as "invested." I probably should though.

I will read a A Random Walk Down Wall Street...I thought I had read that and then realized I was confusing it with the Peter Lynch book called One Up on Wall Street.

Many thanks, all!
« Last Edit: May 13, 2013, 08:37:15 AM by oldtoyota »

Mr Mark

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Re: If I'm Semi-Clueless About Stocks, Is Vanguard a Good Option?
« Reply #6 on: May 13, 2013, 10:24:16 AM »
Be careful with the emergency fund thing. Most people hold way too much cash. There have been many threads that discuss it ad nauseam.

NumberCruncher

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Re: If I'm Semi-Clueless About Stocks, Is Vanguard a Good Option?
« Reply #7 on: May 13, 2013, 12:24:41 PM »
Be careful with the emergency fund thing. Most people hold way too much cash. There have been many threads that discuss it ad nauseam.

Interesting you would say that. It's been my experience most people hold far too little cash in their emergency funds.


I think he means a lot of people on this forum or in the early retirement community, probably not the population at large!


MorningCoffee

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Re: If I'm Semi-Clueless About Stocks, Is Vanguard a Good Option?
« Reply #8 on: May 13, 2013, 01:20:50 PM »

Fixed-income versus equity is another story - a lot of folks are scared of the equity market and stick to fixed income, even at points in their life when they should hold a lot more equity.

Guilty.
I've been working on this and building a better balanced portfolio. Vanguard is on my list so thanks for the post.
I'm reading Millionaire Teacher next.