On Tue, 9 Jan 2018 16:55:20 -0600, amdx wrote:

On 1/8/2018 10:07 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 08 Jan 2018 19:47:56 -0500,
wrote:

On Mon, 8 Jan 2018 19:29:11 -0500, Alex wrote:

wrote:
On Sat, 6 Jan 2018 22:35:27 -0500, Alex wrote:

amdx wrote:
and hey, how about the stock market?

I should do well under the new tax law, looks like I'll qualify for
the pass thru, knocking off 20% of my business income from being taxable.
and a Standard deduction of $24k, what's not to like.
I'll will lose two child deductions, but I would have lost one
anyone, she's getting married.

Mikek
My 401K hit seven figures shortly after President Trump was elected and
has grown even more. I'll have to see how it affects my paycheck. The
new rates won't be active until next month. If this continues I might
be able to retire at 55!


===

I've been moving into more conservative, and more diversified assets
in anticipation of a market pull back. I'd suggest keeping your job a
bit longer if you enjoy what you're doing. Inflation becomes a real
risk once you stop working.

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I'm realistically looking to retire by 60. I've got a few IRA's and
some non-retirement investments, too. I don't want to have to watch the
market all the time to feel comfortable.

Investing new money is challenging right now with the market so high.
I'm looking more and more at real estate.

===

I like real estate because it offers some protection against
inflation, and it offers an opportunity to use leverage effectively.
Managing rental property requires a fair degree of skill and effort
however.

Renters are generally a pain in the ass. It takes a special
personality to be a landlord. The only way I would do it is with an
agent and hold the property as an LLC. I did look into it when we were
trying to buy the house next door but I made up my mind I would have
just used it for my shop. The house was and still is a tear down but
there is some old nasty woman renting it. I doubt she has made a dime
in the last 2 years still trying to get the money back it took to make
it livable. She paid 100k for it and probably has another 100k in it
renting for $1300 a month.

Investing $200,000 on 1-1-17 in VTSAX would have returned $43,000 or
$3500 a month, plus another $6804 during the first 5 business days of
2018. ie, the stock market is hot!
And no maintenance, rent collection problem or property taxes.

===

You might want to look at PRGTX also. I like it because it gives me
some international exposure and a well diversified tech portfolio.
Admittedly it is somewhat higher risk and with higher management fees,
but I keep it at less than 10% of my overall holdings.