Question

I want to preface my question by saying I am really new to investing. I have a employee matched 401k that’s 5 years old, but it’s been very hands off. I want to start investing more seriously. Here is my question: I’ve picked a strategy and I have some money to start with, let’s say $10k to make the math simple. Do I start by dividing that up according to my strategy regardless of where the market is? It feels wrong to buy $2k in gold now when it’s high. Or should my goal be to eventually have my money allocated according to strategy? Hope this makes sense!  

Answer 1

I’d let your 401k do its thing, if you want to be more aggressive just contribute enough to get the match then go Roth and do your thing. Gold is a good buy assuming it’s going to keep going up. I buy on a regular basis within my golden butterfly and physical when I have the cash to do so.  

Answer 2

I think most people would advise putting the money in the market, regardless of the investment, if your time horizon is long. Otherwise, you're trying to time the market. We don't know the future. If you feel strongly about gold being overvalued, then you could keep your cash parked and simply wait. But if gold goes up, you miss out on potential gains. You could always put that money to work somewhere else right now, like stocks, then rebalance your portfolio and move it into gold later on. But then you'll likely upset the balance of what you're trying to accomplish, and may see much more volatility than you would see with gold.  

Answer 3

You dont know gold is high. At least not with regards to what the future will bring. I wouldnt say things like that since you may start to believe them and assumption about future gains and losses are detrimental to you long term investing. Just as a small warning. More than a few financial managers I have heard discuss gold and other precious metals see them as one of the most volatile assets that should generally be avoided. I know a lot of people love their golden butterflies with pretty hefty gold investments, but historically people heavily invested in precious metals seem to get slammed. Just something I would consider taking up with a financial advisor before I got married to the idea of making gold a non trivial portion of a portfolio.  

Answer 4

Blooom. com

Answer 5

Read; I Will Teach You To Be Rich - Ramit Sethi. Will lay it out real clearly. If you can wait until retirement, i would consider a Roth IRA with good diversification; LMM Golden Butterfly