$10k investment blocks

eliquid

Serpwoo.com
May 10, 2007
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Im looking to take some of my monies from affiliate marketing and looking to take $10k blocks of it and try some form of investing.

I've already talked to about 30 different estate planning/investment/brokers/banks/ etc type of people, but I wanted to know what some of you guys have done in real life with your money when it comes to taking chunks of it and investing it differently.

All these professionals all tell me something different, but here is what I have already done:

Life insurance ( both terms and whole )
Retirement set up
No debt
Asset protection methods in place
5 years of savings


So if you were doing well in affiliate marketing, but had 10k chunks of cash to invest or put back ( like in a CD, tax liens, money market, forex, bonds, etc ) what would you do?

I know 10k is not a lot, but I'm looking to take 10k and put into 1 investment, then 10k into another, etc.
 


mutual funds

$10k into a mid-risk fund
next $10k into an aggressive small cap fund
next $10k into an overseas emerging markets fund

I'd rinse/repeat for awhile. Then I'd personally look into the private equity space though a collective fund - and start tossing $10-20k chunks into a pot to fund say a $250k investment from the PE fund I was a member of to a conservative technology company in an area I knew something about (ie - the net/ecommerce)
 
10k isn't really enough for anything. Should do 100k blocks

The blocks might not always be 10k per unique investment though.. for example:

1. 10k in investment A
2. 10k in investment B
3. 10k in investment C
4. 10k in investment B again ( total of 20k in B )

I'm not comfortable with plopping 100-200k chunks into things at the beginning, hence why I was going to do 10k chunks as I felt comfortable every week/month or so into things.
 
mutual funds

$10k into a mid-risk fund
next $10k into an aggressive small cap fund
next $10k into an overseas emerging markets fund

I'd rinse/repeat for awhile. Then I'd personally look into the private equity space though a collective fund - and start tossing $10-20k chunks into a pot to fund say a $250k investment from the PE fund I was a member of to a conservative technology company in an area I knew something about (ie - the net/ecommerce)

That actually mimics some ideas I had in the past actually and sounds like an OK way to dip my toes into the investing world. Thanks for bringing it up
 
An associate of mine's strategy was buying equity in small chunks in promising companies. His were more in the 25-100k areas and at the friends and family stage of funding, meaning he had a pretty good network of people with ideas.

It's risky, but one of the 25k chunks (about 200k total invested over different ventures) is hitting for close to 7 figures.

Just another idea for you. Traditional investments have tons of middle men with their hands out.
 
For higher risk, leveraged ETFs for stock market sectors are the way to go, I've made a boatload of money these past 2 years from that.
Lower risk, bonds or commodities, I'm going for silver right now.
 
It all depends on your risk tolerance, with risk defined as your willingness to lose money.

For low risk, start with government bonds. You can buy them here: TreasuryDirect
These will yield you 0% - 5%. Principal is safe (i.e. you will not lose, except possibly to inflation).

For a bit more risk, take a look at corporate debt (both loans and bonds). Easiest way to get exposure here is through closed-end funds, which have many of the characteristics of mutual funds, but trade on an exchange like stocks.
Depending on what you go for, these will yield 5 - 10% (possibly more). Can also lose money.

For even more risk, take a look at stocks. You can buy individual stocks, exchange traded funds, or mutual funds. These last two provide some diversification, but the fees can get step, depending on who you deal with.
Depending on where you go, quite a bit more risk than the first two options, but you can also earn much higher returns if things go well.

If you want even more risk than stocks, you can venture into alternative assets (real estate, private equity, etc.).

You can hire one of the advisors you mention to do this all for you (or at least the first three options). Expect to pay 1%+ annually.
 
Im looking to take some of my monies from affiliate marketing and looking to take $10k blocks of it and try some form of investing.

I've already talked to about 30 different estate planning/investment/brokers/banks/ etc type of people, but I wanted to know what some of you guys have done in real life with your money when it comes to taking chunks of it and investing it differently.

All these professionals all tell me something different, but here is what I have already done:

Life insurance ( both terms and whole )
Retirement set up
No debt
Asset protection methods in place
5 years of savings


So if you were doing well in affiliate marketing, but had 10k chunks of cash to invest or put back ( like in a CD, tax liens, money market, forex, bonds, etc ) what would you do?

I know 10k is not a lot, but I'm looking to take 10k and put into 1 investment, then 10k into another, etc.

This is precisely why I hired a good financial planner. You tell them how much cash you want to keep on hand and what your tolerance for risk. They doe the rest.

I've gotten to the point where I realize what I am good at and what I have time for, then I hire/outsource the rest. Hiring a financial planner was one of the best things I ever did. Asset management fees for me include tax planning and filing. When you look around and get someone good, the fees are totally worth it. At least for me they have been.
 
It is very hard to find a financial planner not on the take. Most financial planners are part of an investment firm. They have no choice but to recommend funds that their company manages.

Look for a fee-based independent financial planner. You pay him/her directly and they are willing and able to recommend investments from a variety of sources.

You might start here http://www.napfa.org/
 
This is precisely why I hired a good financial planner. You tell them how much cash you want to keep on hand and what your tolerance for risk. They doe the rest.

I've gotten to the point where I realize what I am good at and what I have time for, then I hire/outsource the rest. Hiring a financial planner was one of the best things I ever did. Asset management fees for me include tax planning and filing. When you look around and get someone good, the fees are totally worth it. At least for me they have been.

Good is pretty subjective in the asset management context isn't it? I mean, is good beating the S&P year over year or just matching it? Getting more than 50% return on your money over the benchmark?

When those things happen, the people running the funds can name their price and generally only deal with really big fish (like tens or hundreds of millions).

All the rest of the asset management people/providers just have a tiny bit more knowledge in investments, and all the rest is in marketing where they use their soft skills to convince their clients that they are "good". The truly good people are well compensated and rise (and fall) very quickly, most of the time due to luck.

Sorry, just the way it is, I've been on the inside of the investment industry over 10 years, and that's my perspective.
 
It is very hard to find a financial planner not on the take. Most financial planners are part of an investment firm. They have no choice but to recommend funds that their company manages.

Look for a fee-based independent financial planner. You pay him/her directly and they are willing and able to recommend investments from a variety of sources.

You might start here Home Page - NAPFA - The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors

This is solid. My biggest concern has been so far all these professionals have some take. When I walk in my bank to do ANYTHING, the investment rep there makes sure to step out of his office to soft sell me on buying their annuities and other company owned assets. Even the teller pushes me into their CD's and crap.

When I go to my CPA, she has someone come in from the "investment" side to try to sell me, even my estate planning attorney was in the loop and was getting people to talk to me.

I know Wickedfire is not an investment forum or legal forum.. but I just wanted to get a feel for what other people have been doing, that DONT have an inside interest to what they selling me.