snowbunny

I opened up my first traditional IRA this year so as to not owe any taxes. Unfortunately, I did it late at night and got *one* of the digits in my SSN incorrect -- it's a numerical pattern I share with my ex, so it was an easy mistake to make. (The kids' benefits are tied to the ex's so I have to have his and theirs memorised.)

So my account has been locked by "risk management" and as of now, I can't access it to move any of my money into anything other than cash. I think I will have to fill out forms on Monday to get it corrected. I am therefore playing the BE stock market meanwhile.

So -- what are your top picks? I'm definitely diversifying, and I'm considering moving a bit of money into the Australian dollar as it is gaining strength against the dollar AND the pound.

paddingtongreen

Currencies are a risk unless you can stay on top of the news.

My advice would be to buy some low correlation index funds, or the equivalent ETFs and then re-balance when they get out of sync.

This guy can explains it better than I

fatbrit

Some providers get pissy if you try to be active investor with an IRA.

anabella

Are you asking us? Your Toon is the master investor!!

paddingtongreen

If she's like most wives, she will ignore what the OH says. If his picks do well, he gets the credit, and if they don't, she knows it'll niggle her for the rest of creation.

snowbunny

There must be a good reason why I'm asking.... let's just say the day job gets in the way of him making good picks.

md95065

Seriously, as I am sure you realize, it really isn't possible to give much in the way of sensible advice without a lot more information (and probably a great deal more than you would want to share in a public forum such as this).

There are, however, some general rules.

1. Your overall investment strategy should be determined by your investment goals, your time horizon and your tolerance for risk.
2. You need to consider your entire investment portfolio - it doesn't make sense to think of the IRA account in isolation from everything else.
3. Once you know what your overall investment mix is going to look like you should, all other things being equal. attempt to hold those investments that are likely to generate the largest amounts of taxable income in tax deferred accounts such as an IRA.

md95065

Really? I have never had any problem with either Schwab or Vanguard with regard to trading in an IRA. Some funds do, however, charge additional fees if you don't hold a position in the fund for at least a certain minimum amount of time (often something like 60 days).

paddingtongreen

If you are going to trade in stocks and currency, you need a brokerage account, not a funds account. You can buy and sell funds in a brokerage account, but some have minimum total portfolio size and/or minimum annual trades to avoid fees.

If you follow that guy in the link I posted, you will beat the market, because it is an automatic sell high/buy low method, without judgement getting in the way. Here it is again, the man has been making 28%, you won't but you will beat the market:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=89324244

md95065

I appreciate that you need a brokerage account - the account itself shouldn't cost you anything and provided that you are investing in no-load mutual funds your transaction fees should also be zero. What I was trying to point out was that some of the funds that you might consider buying may also have restrictions involving the minimum length of time that you must hold a position in the fund in order to avoid redemption fees. This is usually a fairly short period like 60 days.

The advice given in the article is good - it is a standard asset allocation and portfolio rebalancing strategy that works well provided that you stick to it.

Kaffy Mintcake

Well if you're talking just BE stocks - boy do I wish my shares in Priceline.com were real!! PCLN is the symbol. The purchase I made on BE in February is up 27%.

paddingtongreen

Two of mine show zero, including Berkshire Hathaway. I wonder if the Sage Of Omaha knows that he's broke.

Kaffy Mintcake

Maybe not. I had just finished writing a capstone paper on Priceline.com that had me investigating their financials, etc. and I saw what I thought were pretty good signs.

paddingtongreen

The BE Karma trading is broken, It shows Berkshire Hathaway stock as worth zero.

Dan725

I'd go for already well diversified low cost mutual funds. Boring, perhaps, but hassle free.