re: Millennials Guide to Investing and Retirement

Yeah...the 1/3 in bonds is surprising.

I'm 25 and have 5% in bonds.

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Because you counterargument to people saying that 33% in bonds were too high was to bring up "idiot friends who invested 100% in stocks."

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Right. 100% in stocks doesn't make much sense. Not given the history of the way real life retirement savers behave in a recession - which is to sell their savings to get buy.

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There is nothing about predicting the future in having variable risk/time horizons in your investments.

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Its entirely about predicting the future. You are predicting when you will need the money, predicting what the market will return vs bonds or other investments, and investing accordingly. Everything about that process involves making a prediction. The fact someone has boiled it down to a few rules of thumb and stuck it in a best seller investment advice book doesn't change the fact the entire process involves predicting the future.

It is far better to have flexibility in your investment planning. Instead of binning your money into a bunch of ridiculous subdivisions based on some misguided attempt to predict when you will need the money - invest all of your extra money with the idea that the future is highly variable and nearly impossible to predict.

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I would like to see your statistics though on the zillions of people who both had fully funded six month emergency funds and had to dip into their retirement funds as a result of a job loss in 2008/2009.

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Dude - that's partially my point. There are lots of people without significant emergency funds but who have 401k or similar savings because their employer offers matching funds and it comes out of their paychecks before it hits the bank. If those folks had more money in bonds they would be in much better shape now.

If everyone saving for retirement who does not presently have one of these ridiculous 'emergency funds' stopped buying index funds to acquire a 6 months savings right now - the stock market would crash instantly. The 'emergency fund' requirement is a ridiculous rule thought up by folks who have plenty of money.

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I was just saying that everyone uses conversative assets for emergency funds, be it money or bonds.

But it is stupid to treat your retirement 401k assets with the same considerations.

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Except for the obvious practical consideration that if, for instance, your boss matchings your 401k up to x%, and after putting in your match you've got not much leftover to save for an emergency fund - it makes infinitely more sense to take the match.

This is the real world shite. You're arguing based on the way people should act. This isn't how they act. People consistently fail to predict what they need in a recession.
That's an empirical truth that isn't going to change.

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Speaking of debt, I disagree with him on how to handle student loan debt. With generous repayment plans and long term forgiveness packages, I see no reason to miss out on years of IRA contributions just to pay down student loan debt.

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Because student loans charges interest everyday. The repayment plans are retarded IYAM. It seems geared towards shafting you. Its like you end up paying double on those plans on what you actually take out(loan) for school. It seems smarter to pay that shite off quicker, you would save $ in the long run.

What about the coonass plan? Have a small family home paid in cash on family land in a rural impoverished area in a state with low property taxes that has some decent hunting and fishing areas on it. Then, put a garden on it. If the economy goes south and you lose your plant or oilfield job, you just hunt, fish, and garden until you get back on your feet. You don't need as big of an emergency fund because your only liabilities are power (which can be mitigated some through solar panels), phone, internet, and television since you have no debt. You can always ax the internet and cable if necessary or hunt nutria's and sell veggies to make money.

Seems like a Good 'Ol Boy can survive with a diversified natural portfolio. 'Merika

None of that was really all that serious, but the government pays you by the pelt, it can get pretty lucrative if you've got a steady supply of them on hand and you're good at catching them. I think Louisiana pays around $50/pelt. I'm not sure if there's a way to get paid and still keep the pelt to use to make clothing and use the meat. I don't know why anyone would want a nutria fur coat in South Louisiana, but I'm kinda curious

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SpidermanTUba

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I'm not really getting what you're promoting here.

Are you saying to:

A. Not accumulate an emergency fund
B. Put all of your money into investments
C. Spread your investments equally into stocks and bonds?

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More C. Maybe not equally. I'm not preaching any hard fast rules.

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What would you say is the appropriate percentage of one's portfolio that they should invest in nutria pelts, and what does that mean for the heavily rodent epidermially leveraged investor?

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Not even $6. "388,160 nutria tails worth $1,940,800 in incentive payments"

LINK

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NVM, I guess I'm boned. That's what I get for trying to inject some humor into a Moneyboard thread. Ya'll are way too sober and serious on here. It's like ya'll are discussing something serious like money, or LSU's third base/hitting coach's BBQ recipe.

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Take your shenanigans and hijinks back to the OT! Get off my lawn!

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Thankfully, for my sake, Louisiana pays far less than $6 for my hide, otherwise you might have shot me.

[quote]LINK / Whether it comes now or in ten years, I think it will come. The real question is whether existing debtors will be grandfathered in. [/quote

That would frick me pretty hard. I can't imagine existing debtors wouldn't be grandfathered in.