Investing my retirement savings is a kind of though subject. I wouldn’t do it unless
I really needed to or I know that I’ll gain a good profit. Investments are very risky
because it’s not always certain that you would gain from it. You could possibly
lose what you put in as well. I do think investing in a 401k would be the safer
route for me. I would also consider a retirement plan. Anything else I would have
to have numerous amount of research on it. Simply because this is the money that
I have to live off of after retirement so it’s very important. As for risky
investments I don’t think I’m bold enough to go through with something risky. I
don’t want to throw my hard earned money down the drain. I think I have a little
knowledge on this subject. It’s so much to learn about investing and is a very
serious topic nobody wants to lose money. I can definitely learn more but this
course in itself has taught me a few things. I would be very hesitant to invest in
anything more than a retirement plan and a high interest savings account at this
point. I have three kids, one of which is a year away from graduating high school,
so I have been trying to plan for his college as well as starting to save for the
other two. In the future, provided I have enough money and economic conditions
are a bit more stable, I would definitely look into investment options that are
reasonably safe with high yields. To plan for investments, I would start by looking
at my budget and financial plan to see how much I would have available to invest
then I would talk to an advisor to discuss my options. I still have more reading to
do, but I am learning a lot in this class and it has helped me to plan better for
my future. To be honest, at this time I wouldn't even consider investing. Especially
with the economy being how it is right now. Even in the future I don't think I
will want to invest. I have 4 kids and I am going to assume that at least one of
them would like to attend college so to me, it's more important to save money up
for them right now. Any extra money I save beyond what we have saved on our
401k will be going into a savings account. I may consider investing later in life if
I come into a lot of money for some reason. First and foremost, you need to make
a financial plan to see what kind of money you will be able to invest or if you
will be able to invest in the first place. You also need to figure out how
comfortable you are with taking risks in investing, or if you are too uncomfortable
to take risks. It is also important to make sure you choose investments that will
make sense in your life. You should make sure you don't have high credit card
balances too before investing. You can address investment risk by investing in
things that make sense and that are also diverse. Also you can make sure you
address investment risk by avoiding long term bonds or bonds that are low quality.
Investing can be confusing but you don't want to buy out of a bad market just to
give up on it. You can buy into bad markets and still make money.I have learned
a lot this week. I am ashamed to say I literally knew nothing about investing
outside of some terms that I have heard in every day life. This week made me
want to look into investing and learn more about it but I'm still not sure I will be
doing it or not. I am choosing to start to look into purchasing some stocks, bonds,
and some real estate to build my retirement savings. I feel if I have a variety of
investment opportunities that will work out the best for my situation. I need to be
able to build my portfolio in a shorter amount of time so that I will be able to
be ready for retirement when the time comes. The thing that I have to consider the
most when looking in to investing at this time is which will be the safest return
and the most build able the quickest. I would like to speak to a professional to
ensure that I am making wise choices when investing. So that I can ensure that I
am protecting my investments as much as possible. Before starting this week I did
not know anything about investing in stocks or bonds. I did not think about
investing i real estate either. But this has opened up more options for me to think
about so that I will be sure I am ready for retirement when the time comes. I
would choose to invest in 401k at work or in a savings account. I would choose
those options because they are easily available to me and I can monitor and modify
them as needed. I would also consider investing in stock that I could later cash out
or sell.I should take into consideration what I can comfortably invest and still have
enough to live comfortable. I should make sure I'm not making my living funds
too little so I'm not struggling.If I chose to invest in stock I would address the
risk by watching the stock market so I could choose which would be the safest to
invest. I would choose the one that has less risk of dropping and closing so I
would have less risk of losing money.At first I had very little understanding but as
the week went on I learned more and got a better understanding of the content. I
was going in blind about some of this week content. It helped being able to see it
and learn more about it. From what I read there are different ways of investing
your retirement savings. I am not too familiar with the other ways of investing
other than through 401 or IRA plans. Of the many different ways of investing for
retirement , a 401 K plan sounds like the safest method for me. A couple of
factors to take into consideration when beginning to plan for investments is the risk
of the investment, such as the percentage of the return. To address the investment
risk I would do some extensive research before I make a decision of where to
invest my money. I scored very poorly on the proficiency exam just as I expected
because I have never studied the different ways of investing. Prior to this I only
knew of the retirement plans provided by my employers. I think I want to keep it
this way . According to our reading investing in stocks come with substantial risk.
I don't like going the risky route with my money. When it comes to my retirement
and my investments, I currently use UBS as my financial advisors. I don't have a
401(K) with work so I just add money on my own monthly. I've came to realize
that I don't apply enough monthly to provide me with the lifestyle I'd like to have
upon retirement. UBS is who my grandmother used for her investment through her
employer (was known as Myerl Lynch) so I just continued to use them once she
passed away. I allow UBS to pretty much handle everything when it comes to risk,
after all they are the experts and that's what I pay them to do. I'm putting all my
trust and faith in them to handle my money in the best way possible. I have a
meeting set up with UBS on Monday afternoon to review my status and make
adjustments on my end where needed.I have not been able to finish up this weeks
reading due to work and a loss of my sons close friend (very unexpected). So, in
turn I've not been able to complete the proficiency testing for the week. However,
I do feel comfortable for the most part with what I have read this week and in
the past weeks. There’s a couple different ways that you could invest your
retirement savings. For me, I am not a risky person so I plan on saving it all in
401k with my employer. I’m putting the maximum in and my employer is matching
that amount. If you were to ask my husband, he would say that he’s going to
invest in investment properties. I chose my option because I don’t want to risk
anything and would rather be safe and do what I know. When it comes to starting,
it’s important to take into consideration the return on the investment, the cost or
expense of the investment, and the time it would take for the investment to mature.
For me, it’s important to pay attention to the stock market and plan for inflation
in the future years to come. When I did the proficiency in the beginning, I didn’t
know anything . Even with learning the concepts it was still a little confusing, but
luckily my husband is in the real estate business and knows a lot about it which
was really helpful for me to grasp the concepts. As of right now I have my
retirement savings going into my 401(k) and 457(b) plans through my employer. I
chose that option because I really don't plan withdrawing from those accounts until
I reach my age of retirement. Being that I haven't looked into investing any other
way I would think the things you should take into consideration is tax penalties on
withdrawals and I'm guessing any penalties that may be incurred from withdrawing
the money. I try not to take too much risk when it comes to investing since I've
been sticking with my 401(k), If I ever were to invest money in another account
other than my 401(k), then I would have to do more research into investing or talk
to an advisor. To be honest my proficiency diagnostic was not good. Being that
this is something that I've never dived into before I would make sure that I did as
much research as I could before moving my savings around. Choosing to invest in
my retirement savings is something that is on my radar and has been sense I
started my career. Once I was able to put money into my 401k I have been and
if there is an opportunity to add to it I always try to do that as well. It is hard
to wrap your head around putting so much money aside right now to be able to
spend later, but it is SO important. I put money into my 401k and then my
husband and I also work with a financial advisor to help us build our portfolio and
maintain it. I was a Branch Office Administrator for Edward Jones for 2 years so
I feel like I have learned a lot from that experience and I know how absolutely
important it is to start saving now to have a solid financial future. The place I am
at right now is not a place where I want to take a lot risk and gamble the money
I have invested we are taking healthy risks but not anything to extreme. I do not
have enough security to make a large risk worth it.
