Hi guys! In beginning my venture into investment, my first step was to put my money first in insurance investment plans because of the presence of professional fund managers who can manage my money without me having to monitor it on a constant basis since I'm still a novice when it comes to this area. As I'm going further and learning a thing or two, I'm now looking at other opportunities to grow my money in diverse ways. Basing on your experiences, what do you think is the best area of investment? Would it be Penny stocks, Bitcoin trading or regular stocks?
I admit I don't have a lot of experience investing, but I would be terrified to put money into Bitcoin. I just don't think it is stable at all. You would most likely be better off investing in precious metals. I think with penny stocks you have to really know what you are doing, in order to make a profit. Many people get taken. I think stocks, bonds or annuities would be the way to go. Maybe the other people here could tell you more.
I would avoid or greatly limit any speculating with things like bitcoin or penny stocks - particularly if you are a novice with limited funds. If you don't mind me asking, are you paying much more than 1% or so a year for your insurance investments? Are they mutual funds? Something else? I ask because most insurance investments (aside from term life policies) are made by those with relatively sizable amounts of money (say 6 figures or more) for various reasons, including the tendency for fees to be on the high side with most insurance products. Feel free to PM me if you'd like.
The insurance company I invested in had choices like bond funds, government bonds, stocks and strategic growth funds. I put a hundred percent of my money on the strategic growth fund because I know I'm a willing to take higher risks when it comes to investing. Now I'm thinking of adding more but maybe I'd diversify by placing money on all the other categories. 50% of my job earnings go to investment since my husband is the one who takes care of our daily needs so I decided to be the one to save and invest more for our future. I wanted so much to try trading in stocks myself but I don't have the knowledge in this field so I'm choosing insurance as a way to let my money grow. Another thing I'm trying to consider is going for UITFs especially when it comes to our child's savings so that by the time he's already grown (he's 6-years-old now), the money we're saving for him would at have at least gained despite the constant inflation. Do you think I'm going in the right track? I've already erased the thought of Penny stocks and Bitcoin in my mind because of the things I've been reading about them both inside and outside this forum.
Are you in the US? Have you considered things like a tax-advantaged 529 plan for your son's future? https://www.irs.gov/uac/529-Plans:-Questions-and-Answers I think a more aggressive investment strategy is generally good for piling up a nice nestegg for a retirement that is decades away if you're willing to take higher risks as you say. As long as the fund manager you have your $ invested in is doing a good job, that's probably a good idea. As far as insurance products, they are a good way to defer or eliminate investment taxes for retirement planning, and also to eliminate estate taxes for the wealthy. They are also useful for keeping money away from creditors, and for bypassing the probate process (estate planning) after death. Money can be directed to beneficiaries who don't have to be the same people who will be heirs to the estate, and will be delivered to beneficiaries free of any estate taxes. The money will usually reach its intended beneficiaries well before money within the estate will reach the heirs of the estate through the probate process.
Well I am not sure if I am just old school or not up to date with the time, but it just seems to me like the whole Bitcoin fad and penny stocks idea are ones that will see their fair share of ups and downs, but they have less to stand on. Stocks are company shares, and that will always have value. I would stick with stocks if I had any intention of growing my wealth.
Last year I heard a story about a man who used most of his retirement funds to buy bitcoins and when bitcoin prices dropped and stayed low he lost more than half of the money he'd "invested." Bitcoin is too risky an investment if investment it actually is.
I'm from the Philippines but having read about the 529 Plan makes me think about how lucky US residents are for having the option to set up a government assisted plan for their children's future. We can only avail of similar plans through pre-need insurance companies which seem to be continuously going down ever since the pre-need industry here has experienced problems with liquidity which eventually went down to bankruptcy. A lot of plan holders were not able to take hold of their money from the companies which declared bankruptcy. Good thing the life insurance industry was never affected by the fall of pre-need. Reading what you had to say about insurance investments has assured me more that I didn't make a mistake on putting my money in them. The insurance company I chose used to be part of AIG but they have since then sold it to AIA. Still, it's one of the leading life insurance company here in our area so I decided to invest with them.
I am the adventurous type but I would be hesitant with penny stocks. They are manipulated by scammers and manipulators who pump and dump stocks. Bitcoin is a relatively area of trade dealing with online money and people have not acclimatised to its use. There are also security concerns about online money. The best way is to go for regular stocks. The key is to diversify your portfolio and trade with the medium term in mind.
I'm going the bitcoin/crypto route because it has been very good to me. I initially saw the 4-10% returns on the day and figured I could work something there, and so far, it's been fun and I've made a decent amount of money. I am moving from pure bitcoin to more diverse crypto and using both of them with forex, but that's like taking multiple college classes at once if you're trying to figure out what to do, lots of learning involved.
