Anybody into bitcoin?

[Stumplegriltskin]

I've been watching videos on Bitcoin. Seems too complicated for a retard like me. I just figure it's too late to get into it.
One guy in particular mentioned stacking bitcoin, and suggested 10k to start stacking. I guess stacking means regular contributions. I wish I got into it a while back. Finance stuff makes me ill as I don't have much hope because I'm 55 and it's sort of too late. Wife and I make 1/4M per year, and it's pretty sad we don't have a pot to piss in.

I started a fidelity account, and put in $500 to get my feet wet and I guess from what I've been reading the best thing is to distribute to an index fund and put 60% us stocks, 40% international and 10% bonds.

I have been talking with financial advisors, but the thought of them consistently pimping off my earnings sort of makes me wonder if it's worth it to pay someone. I figured I would hire someone to help me figure out how to take that $500 and distribute it according to the markets I mentioned above and then just contribute. But I guess it doesn't work like that, that is you have to continually pay them or they take a %age based on your earnings. Seems like a fucking scam to me.

 

[MadAsAHatter]

Something invested is better than nothing so it's never too late to start.
I have a base understanding of markets, but not enough to do investing myself so I have an financial/investment advisor. She charges 1% annually of asset accounts. Overall it's not a huge amount of money and it comes out of the earning so it's not like I have to pay a bill each month. I'd rather pay a small fee to someone who's an expert over doing it myself, fucking it up, and losing everything on a dumb trade.

Don't take this as advice...
This is how my Roth IRA is set up and it's just to give you a possible idea of where to start.
My portfolio is set up for growth with roughly 75% in Equity (divided into US large, mid & small cap and foreign equity), 25% Fixed Income, and 5% Cash/Cash Investments. I don't know which individual stocks the investments are in. That's where the financial advisor comes in. She put my money into stuff that has a history of stability (like S&P 500 companies) that show good potential for growth while keeping risk lower. So far this strategy has been working out really well and for the most part my portfolio has been outperforming the average market.

I'm in the middle of setting up a non retirement account to invest a nice chunk of money into. I've basically asked my financial advisor to set it up similar to my IRA. The main difference it I'd be able to access funds any day the market is open. I don't have any big purchases coming up that I haven't already saved for so the plan is to let the initial investment sit in the market, contribute a little every month, and reinvest any earnings. Hopefully by the time I'd need/want to take anything out for a big purchase it'll have grown a decent amount.

As far as Bitcoin goes I'm not comfortable with it. I don't trust the volatility of something that doesn't have anything tangible backing it. It did recently crash really hard from a 1 year high. Maybe if I had spare cash to piss away I'd give it a shot just for the hell of it. As an actual serious investment it's too risky and volatile for my taste. I look at Bitcoin the same as going down to the casino and betting everything on red.

Anyway, like I said please don't take any of this as actual financial advice.
The best I can say is if you're seriously wanting to invest, do some research to get a base understanding and look into getting a financial advisor to help guide through the finer details.

 

[Stumplegriltskin]

Something invested is better than nothing so it's never too late to start.
I have a base understanding of markets, but not enough to do investing myself so I have an financial/investment advisor. She charges 1% annually of asset accounts. Overall it's not a huge amount of money and it comes out of the earning so it's not like I have to pay a bill each month. I'd rather pay a small fee to someone who's an expert over doing it myself, fucking it up, and losing everything on a dumb trade.

Don't take this as advice...
This is how my Roth IRA is set up and it's just to give you a possible idea of where to start.
My portfolio is set up for growth with roughly 75% in Equity (divided into US large, mid & small cap and foreign equity), 25% Fixed Income, and 5% Cash/Cash Investments. I don't know which individual stocks the investments are in. That's where the financial advisor comes in. She put my money into stuff that has a history of stability (like S&P 500 companies) that show good potential for growth while keeping risk lower. So far this strategy has been working out really well and for the most part my portfolio has been outperforming the average market.

I'm in the middle of setting up a non retirement account to invest a nice chunk of money into. I've basically asked my financial advisor to set it up similar to my IRA. The main difference it I'd be able to access funds any day the market is open. I don't have any big purchases coming up that I haven't already saved for so the plan is to let the initial investment sit in the market, contribute a little every month, and reinvest any earnings. Hopefully by the time I'd need/want to take anything out for a big purchase it'll have grown a decent amount.

As far as Bitcoin goes I'm not comfortable with it. I don't trust the volatility of something that doesn't have anything tangible backing it. It did recently crash really hard from a 1 year high. Maybe if I had spare cash to piss away I'd give it a shot just for the hell of it. As an actual serious investment it's too risky and volatile for my taste. I look at Bitcoin the same as going down to the casino and betting everything on red.

Anyway, like I said please don't take any of this as actual financial advice.
The best I can say is if you're seriously wanting to invest, do some research to get a base understanding and look into getting a financial advisor to help guide through the finer details.

Thanks, yeah I have to take my head out of my ass and get a hold of this. I have the ability to retire in 10 years if I motivate myself. I don't know if I can handle being in IT another 10 years. I'm not doing well mentally lately and it affects my hope of ever being able to retire.

 

[rsm]

After getting burned in my youth by a financial advisor, I was determined to learn finance and investing for myself, and I've done fairly well.

One book that I found valuable is, "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham who was Warren Buffett's mentor.

Unless you want to learn finance and investing, low cost index funds are a good choice. Fidelity has a few zero cost funds, and corresponding managed funds where you will pay more in fees, which will eat into your returns over time. Generally there are zero cost, low cost and managed fee structures - even for index funds. I have some managed fund investments for specific investment reasons, but in general zero cost / low cost are the better way to go. If I have a zero cost option, I usually go with that.

Another concept to consider is dollar cost averaging - where you invest an amount you choose and do it consistently, e.g., $1000 per month. Most places like Fidelity let you set this up as an automatic purchase so you don't have to do it manually. You chose the day of the month, the frequency, and the amount.

Another thing to consider is what to do with dividend income and capital gains; take them out in cash or reinvest them. Reinvesting over time (10 years+) accelerates your compounding, but it's a slow process until you hit milestones, many people don't have the patience and give up before compounding really kicks in.

As an example, if you have invested $10K, principal with an 8% return, that's earning $800 in the first year; reinvest that, and in 10 years with an 8% return you'll have around $21,500; in 20 years, you will have around $46,600. Most recent returns have been higher, but returns % fluctuate, but tend to go up over time.

Getting to the first $10K is difficult for many; also where the phrase "it takes money to make money" comes from - if you imagine the difference in returns starting with a $10K balance vs a $100K starting balance. Once you have $10K or more, you can really see and feel compounding work, but you need to resist the temptation to take any money out because that will break compounding. This is where many people give up, and never see their money grow.

In 20 years, when you have principal balance of $46,600; at 8%return, that's $3,728 a year.

Also, you need to understand and define your investment goal: growth, income or balanced (growth & income). Most of my investments are in growth / aggressive growth; it was only when I got a few years away from retirement that I started to move some of my investments to income, to cover my living expenses in retirement.

 

[rsm]

Thanks, yeah I have to take my head out of my ass and get a hold of this. I have the ability to retire in 10 years if I motivate myself. I don't know if I can handle being in IT another 10 years. I'm not doing well mentally lately and it affects my hope of ever being able to retire.

10 years isn't a lot of time, but it's doable. The power of compounding is time, decades of time.

Since you don't have time on your side, you are going to want to aggressively maximize your income, drastically cut expenses, live well-below your means, save and invest every penny you can get, if you're 50+ leverage catch-up contributions for 401k/IRA, and maximize your contributions as close to the limits as you can.

Aggressively pay-off and avoid future high-interest debts such as credit cards, don't carry a balance.

10 years is doable, but not easy. I don't want to discourage you.

You need to see what your estimated Social Security benefit will be at different ages, and what income you need in retirement,

If you retire before 65, you are going to have medical insurance costs before Medicare (I'm paying close to $1K a month out of pocket to cover my health insurance before Medicare); I'll still be paying for health insurance even with Medicare for MediGap coverage...health insurance is expensive but without it you can become destitute overnight with one major health event.

 

[Stumplegriltskin]

After getting burned in my youth by a financial advisor, I was determined to learn finance and investing for myself, and I've done fairly well.

One book that I found valuable is, "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham who was Warren Buffett's mentor.

Unless you want to learn finance and investing, low cost index funds are a good choice. Fidelity has a few zero cost funds, and corresponding managed funds where you will pay more in fees, which will eat into your returns over time. Generally there are zero cost, low cost and managed fee structures - even for index funds. I have some managed fund investments for specific investment reasons, but in general zero cost / low cost are the better way to go. If I have a zero cost option, I usually go with that.

Another concept to consider is dollar cost averaging - where you invest an amount you choose and do it consistently, e.g., $1000 per month. Most places like Fidelity let you set this up as an automatic purchase so you don't have to do it manually. You chose the day of the month, the frequency, and the amount.

Another thing to consider is what to do with dividend income and capital gains; take them out in cash or reinvest them. Reinvesting over time (10 years+) accelerates your compounding, but it's a slow process until you hit milestones, many people don't have the patience and give up before compounding really kicks in.

As an example, if you have invested $10K, principal with an 8% return, that's earning $800 in the first year; reinvest that, and in 10 years with an 8% return you'll have around $21,500; in 20 years, you will have around $46,600. Most recent returns have been higher, but returns % fluctuate, but tend to go up over time.

Getting to the first $10K is difficult for many; also where the phrase "it takes money to make money" comes from - if you imagine the difference in returns starting with a $10K balance vs a $100K starting balance. Once you have $10K or more, you can really see and feel compounding work, but you need to resist the temptation to take any money out because that will break compounding. This is where many people give up, and never see their money grow.

In 20 years, when you have principal balance of $46,600; at 8%return, that's $3,728 a year.

Also, you need to understand and define your investment goal: growth, income or balanced (growth & income). Most of my investments are in growth / aggressive growth; it was only when I got a few years away from retirement that I started to move some of my investments to income, to cover my living expenses in retirement.

Thanks, makes sense, that was sort of my understanding of the whole thing at a low level. In addition to index funds, I have other plans as that is not going to grow fast enough. I will potentially have another 500-900k to play with potentially from selling off my house and another house which will be in my name in a few years. If the housing market doesn't go kaput by then. Just gotta figure out where I'm going to live also.

 

[311boogieman]

I'd steer clear of this bull and put it out to pasture.









Sorry. For some reason I couldn't help myself. We had a big thread on this not too long ago. I'll go find it. But listen to @rsm - he is our resident expert and is pretty much 100% spot on with this investing stuff.

Edit: Here it is. Just looking at the first page brings back a wave of memories (some good some bad) seeing the user names

dat bitcoin thread

 

[311boogieman]

Thanks, yeah I have to take my head out of my ass and get a hold of this. I have the ability to retire in 10 years if I motivate myself. I don't know if I can handle being in IT another 10 years. I'm not doing well mentally lately and it affects my hope of ever being able to retire.

Keep your spirits up. Do what @rsm just said.

I was in IT too and it has completely gone off in a new direction since I retired (ie: SaaS, AI, Cloud Computing, Dev Opps, etc). If you plan on being in IT for some time still, please also consider acquiring/brushing up on these new skills and jargon. There are plenty of free classes and tutorials on Youtube to get you started. There is demand out there, especially for software coders if you are into that kind of thing.

 

[Stumplegriltskin]

10 years isn't a lot of time, but it's doable. The power of compounding is time, decades of time.

Since you don't have time on your side, you are going to want to aggressively maximize your income, drastically cut expenses, live well-below your means, save and invest every penny you can get, if you're 50+ leverage catch-up contributions for 401k/IRA, and maximize your contributions as close to the limits as you can.

Aggressively pay-off and avoid future high-interest debts such as credit cards, don't carry a balance.

10 years is doable, but not easy. I don't want to discourage you.

You need to see what your estimated Social Security benefit will be at different ages, and what income you need in retirement,

If you retire before 65, you are going to have medical insurance costs before Medicare (I'm paying close to $1K a month out of pocket to cover my health insurance before Medicare); I'll still be paying for health insurance even with Medicare for MediGap coverage...health insurance is expensive but without it you can become destitute overnight with one major health event.

Yeah I don't have any CC debt fortunately. 5 years left of mortgage and just 4k sweetwater bill with 0% interest that I'll pay off in the next few months. Just mortgage and car payments basically. Those will be my last new cars also. Cars are another fucking scam. Yeah the HMO model in this country sucks. I plan to also see an attorney soon to setup an irrevocable trust. This country man is nothing but a big fucking scam. I wish I had gone to school for finance rather than waste 30 years in IT. The money has been good but I spent 18 years paying 3k in child support when I split from my X and that is when my attitude towards money went sour. Wish that money or 1/2 of it went into a trust for my daughter. But it afforded my X to sit on her ass and do nothing. Anyhow.......

 

[Stumplegriltskin]

Keep your spirits up. Do what @rsm just said.

I was in IT too and it has completely gone off in a new direction since I retired (ie: SaaS, AI, Cloud Computing, Dev Opps, etc). If you plan on being in IT for some time still, please also consider acquiring/brushing up on these new skills and jargon. There are plenty of free classes and tutorials on Youtube to get you started. There is demand out there, especially for software coders if you are into that kind of thing.

I'm done with IT. I'd rather shovel cow shit all day in the hot sun. I do everything at my current place. But I'm just sick of IT. It's just fucking boring. I was a DBA for Oracle for 15 years. I liked it during the .com boom when I was billing at $150/hr. Then this thing called India happened. I'm a sysadmin, handing networking, firewalls, O365, MS Servers. It's just fucking boring. I got all my Amazon certs a few years ago, SA Pro, Dev, Sysops and did nothing with it. Could have had a job 150k a year, but fly here fly there, fuck that. I'd rather do work than sling bullshit all day. I didn't realize the scope of the SA job at the time. Was when my Oracle job got shipped over to India, I figured I'd get into Amazon stuff. Now I have a Government job and there's a ton of projects to do, but each project required 300 meetings before I actually get to the point of implementing it, and I'm just burned out from it.

 

[311boogieman]

I'm done with IT. I'd rather shovel cow shit all day in the hot sun. I do everything at my current place. But I'm just sick of IT. It's just fucking boring. I was a DBA for Oracle for 15 years. I liked it during the .com boom when I was billing at $150/hr. Then this thing called India happened. I'm a sysadmin, handing networking, firewalls, O365, MS Servers. It's just fucking boring. I got all my Amazon certs a few years ago, SA Pro, Dev, Sysops and did nothing with it. Could have had a job 150k a year, but fly here fly there, fuck that. I'd rather do work than sling bullshit all day. I didn't realize the scope of the SA job at the time. Was when my Oracle job got shipped over to India, I figured I'd get into Amazon stuff. Now I have a Government job and there's a ton of projects to do, but each project required 300 meetings before I actually get to the point of implementing it, and I'm just burned out from it.

Good on you for staying relevant but I can definitely relate to the burnout and India stuff. Both were a big reason I got out early. I was in sales though but it was a mix of technical consulting, contracting, PM, billing.

 

[Stumplegriltskin]

Good on you for staying relevant but I can definitely relate to the burnout and India stuff. Both were a big reason I got out early. I was in sales though but it was a mix of technical consulting, contracting, PM, billing.

Yep those dirty assholes ruined the IT industry. But I'm not racist, LOL. I have a couple friends that are Indian. I tell them to their face that they are dirty fucking curry smelling assholes.