# Investing___simple or more complex?



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Regardless if we are working or retired, most folks have monetary investments in a various types of financial vehicles. Some of those vehicles are simple requiring practically no attention and offer generally low risk and steady returns and others more complex requiring daily attention but higher returns along with higher risks.

During my work career our company investment coordinator/counselor even called me into her office during my mid 20s to point out that i was not investing in the higher risk/return funds as most in my age group were advised to and she noticed that I had selected the U. S. Savings Bond program for a sizable amount of my monthly non matched savings as was more common with employees 15 years or so older than I.

I explained to her that I had savings bonds in my collection from my youth years and was partial to only looking through them once or twice a year, cashing in the ones that had matured, purchasing another, pocketing some of the earnings and diverting some of the earnings to my smaller higher risk/yield investments.

That way I still had my no thought required savings bond stream and my growing high risk stream that I reviewed every few weeks to get a little extra for myself and plan for my future in my simple lifestyle of choice.

Over a decade into my semi-retirement I still find myself partial to a more simple investment approach even though I can no longer purchase U.S. savings bond as they only offer them online and to me paper bonds in hand are more appealing, safer and simple, treasury accounts online are not.

So what is preference? Simple low risk/low but steady return or more complex higher risk/return?


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## Ramblin Wreck (Jun 10, 2005)

I always lost money in the stock market, so I started investing in timber land instead. It's something I "knew better". So I guess I would call that simple.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

When I became supervisor, the city put money into an account. I figured it was a good time to go high risk/high yield as it was a windfall. Normally I wouldn't put anymore in them than I was willing to lose. I didn't look at it until retirement and the $16,000 the city had put in over the years is now worth 4 times that, nice little nest egg that I will start using after my PERS individual account runs out when I turn 60. I went slow and steady with my PERS and drew the 8% and it did well. 6 years ago some that were invested in variable were losing a lot of money. I kept my money from the farm land sale in long term money market accounts. Interest is so low on them now, don't know yet what to do when they come due. I invested in property and built cabins to fund my retirement starting 4 years ago, been working well so far. I guess I have always been pretty conservative with my money....James


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## MorrisonCorner (Jul 27, 2004)

I make extremely risky low return investments.

I farm.


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## Micheal (Jan 28, 2009)

Shrek said:


> So what is preference? Simple low risk/low but steady return or more complex higher risk/return?


 Ahhh, they could also be one in the same.........
I think it's a matter of personal preference, knowledge, and an individual risk tolerence level that determines a low _____ or high ____ (risk/return) investment.

Me, I'm very comfortable investing in stocks, others may deem it risky.


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## CesumPec (May 20, 2011)

I put my retirement funds into an investment account, available from my bank, so it gets spread across stocks, bonds, commodities, US, foreign, big cap, small cap. Very diversified and I don't have to think about it at all. I know I will never make a huge windfall, but the funds are as safe as the average of all the world's economies. Yeah, the world economies may be compost one day, but then it doesn't much matter where the money was invested. 

The only place I have made big returns was investing in small private companies that had the potential to grow fast and be acquired by larger companies. Being in the DC area makes that much easier. I made small investments where I could lose everything and still sleep at night. Two of them were total losses, most were modest successes, but several others were more than 10X returns and 2 of them much larger than that.


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## MichaelZ (May 21, 2013)

The key is "early". Also "often" (out of each check before you see it). It sounds like you have done that. And diversify. Also, get an average return that exceeds inflation. I must confess that I do not even review more than once a year, if that. 

Truthfully, I think none of the "paper" investments are safe. A friend of mine purchases old homes and duplexes and rents them out as they pay for themselves - this would be a great safe investment, if you could handle the stress of it all (I could not).


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

I am a bit wary of stocks myself now that I am over a decade into my retirement phase however this ETF is drawing my interest a bit and reminding me of my stock days.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=VT&ql=1


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## Micheal (Jan 28, 2009)

MichaelZ said:


> The key is "early". Also "often" (out of each check before you see it).


 And it doesn't even have to be any "great" amount........



> ...... A friend of mine purchases old homes and duplexes and rents them out as they pay for themselves - this would be a great safe investment, if you could handle the stress of it all (I could not).


A friend of mine does the same..... Was a great "safe" investment until this past month when the rain came down and down and down and - well you get the story - Mohawk Valley declared a "state of emergency". Because of the flooding 10 or so houses he owns; 3 were condemed, 4 classed as uninhabitable till reinspection, and the rest are questionable as tennents are leaving because of personal property damage (cellers flooded). 
Kicker - no flood insurance....... after all it never floods here.....


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## Ramblin Wreck (Jun 10, 2005)

Sorry to hear about your friend's rental property. There really is no such thing as risk free investing. Wish there was. There's an old saw about how you make God laugh when you talk about your plans.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

We almost put $25 into a risk free investment. We agreed to buy a house, real cheap for our divorcing niece and sell it to her on a land contract. She would supply the down payment and we would make 6%. Something suddenly came on the market that she liked but was too rich for us, and the sellers agreed to sell to her on a land contract. Rather than buying property to rent, I have a feeling that selling on a land contract ( or flipping it for cash) is safer. They buyer is then taking the risk, I have a down payment cash in hand and have my money back in 3 or 5 years.


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