investing 900k at 28yrs old

[leo28]

Hi,

I am new here but Im sure I will be spending a lot of time on this website and forum. I am 28yrs old and have spent the last half of my life outside the US. Now I am back and I have accumulated about 900k US in my time abroad along. I am also going to soon become a father . Even though my time abroad has brought be great experience and wealth, the disadvantage of having spent my adult life in a foreign country is that I missed out on fundamental rules and regulations of living in the US. I am not familiar with the various investment vehicles available to me as a US citizen, I am not familiar with US taxes either and know no one with my new worth that I can go to for advice. I do have an accountant working on tax related matters for me though.

As of now I am looking for a safe way to invest this money, After spending a few weeks online and visiting various wealth management advisors in my area I am left confused with what to do with my 900k and leaning towards investing it myself. It's money that I don't need for the next 3 - 5 years and I really don't want to be taking any risk with it for this period of time, which I think according to my research leaves me with just CDs? Although all the advisors in my area are persuading me against CD's and would prefer me to invest in bond mutual funds, claiming them to be just as safe in the long term with higher yields.

I am here for advice and suggestions from people wiser and more seasoned then me in the investment world, I hope to gain advice from you that could gently ease me into the scary investing world that is currently unfolding before me. I hope to get advice on things like where and how to get started? What should be my priorities coming back to the US regarding this money? How difficult will it be to manage my own investments? Can they all be manged from one platform, say for instance I go for a CD ladder spread across various banks, is there a single platform that I can monitor and manage it all from?

Please let me know if you require any additional information about my situation.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Respectfully,
Leo

[Jluke]

google "bogleheads" - a 2-3 fund portfolio may be all you need.

google "mr money mustache"

go there for investment advice.


do not hire a "financial advisor"

[Captain Save]

Hi,

I am new here but Im sure I will be spending a lot of time on this website and forum. I am 28yrs old and have spent the last half of my life outside the US. Now I am back and I have accumulated about 900k US in my time abroad along. I am also going to soon become a father . Even though my time abroad has brought be great experience and wealth, the disadvantage of having spent my adult life in a foreign country is that I missed out on fundamental rules and regulations of living in the US. I am not familiar with the various investment vehicles available to me as a US citizen, I am not familiar with US taxes either and know no one with my new worth that I can go to for advice. I do have an accountant working on tax related matters for me though.

As of now I am looking for a safe way to invest this money, After spending a few weeks online and visiting various wealth management advisors in my area I am left confused with what to do with my 900k and leaning towards investing it myself. It's money that I don't need for the next 3 - 5 years and I really don't want to be taking any risk with it for this period of time, which I think according to my research leaves me with just CDs? Although all the advisors in my area are persuading me against CD's and would prefer me to invest in bond mutual funds, claiming them to be just as safe in the long term with higher yields.

I am here for advice and suggestions from people wiser and more seasoned then me in the investment world, I hope to gain advice from you that could gently ease me into the scary investing world that is currently unfolding before me. I hope to get advice on things like where and how to get started? What should be my priorities coming back to the US regarding this money? How difficult will it be to manage my own investments? Can they all be manged from one platform, say for instance I go for a CD ladder spread across various banks, is there a single platform that I can monitor and manage it all from?

Please let me know if you require any additional information about my situation.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Respectfully,
Leo

I will get bashed for this here .. but if you want principal protection .. while sitll earning much better return than cd's.. and have great flexibility as far as taking money out .. (not that great in the early years) .. go with a life insurance policy.. a blended participating whole life has more a guarantee .. while a max funded IUL has the best upside potential...

I do suggest learning about the bogleheads as well to compare and make your own decision ..

but do your own research .. the best guys to listen to about insurance are the insurance pro blog folks ... because not all insurance advisers recommend the best products..

listen to their first few podcasts where they explain how these cash value policies work...

http://www.theinsuranceproblog.com/

[GoodSteward]

I will get bashed for this here .. but if you want principal protection .. while sitll earning much better return than cd's.. and have great flexibility as far as taking money out .. (not that great in the early years) .. go with a life insurance policy.. a blended participating whole life has more a guarantee .. while a max funded IUL has the best upside potential...

I do suggest learning about the bogleheads as well to compare and make your own decision ..

but do your own research .. the best guys to listen to about insurance are the insurance pro blog folks ... because not all insurance advisers recommend the best products..

listen to their first few podcasts where they explain how these cash value policies work...

http://www.theinsuranceproblog.com/

Based on your posts in the other thread, and here, it would appear from your strong approach to IUL that you either sell life insurance or you help someone else sell it. I used to sell it and I recognize that type of approach. Also, I went to the site and it appears to be a blog for a business. To be clear, you are free to post opinion, but you are not free to solicit people into buying anything.

You also need to understand that almost no one on this forum accepts permanent life as a viable option for investers, nor any other serious financial forum I've been on for that matter. You will not make it far here with people if you continue to push that.

[Captain Save]

Based on your posts in the other thread, and here, it would appear from your strong approach to IUL that you either sell life insurance or you help someone else sell it. I used to sell it and I recognize that type of approach. Also, I went to the site and it appears to be a blog for a business. To be clear, you are free to post opinion, but you are not free to solicit people into buying anything.

You also need to understand that almost no one on this forum accepts permanent life as a viable option for investers, nor any other serious financial forum I've been on for that matter. You will not make it far here with people if you continue to push that.

Feel free to delete any links but the policy is not quite clear since you posted a link to white coat investor who has quotes on his webiste..
- Like I mentioned in the other thread .. I'm not here to sell life insurance ..I'm probably not licensed in whatever state you are ... it's a hobby of mine not a primary source of income .. I'm in no way affiliated with the link that I posted.. they have a good podcast that people can learn from.. and compare to whatever CNBC says..
- of course I know most people are not going to agree with what I'm saying but this is a discussion forum.. I've learned plenty from many types of discussion forum.. it is a great medium to learn from different perspectives.. I can guarantee that you had a back and forth with someone and learned a lot even though you would not admit it in the thread.. this is a savings forum .. so anything that helps you to protect your principal should be at least discussed..

[GoodSteward]

Feel free to delete any links but the policy is not quite clear since you posted a link to white coat investor who has quotes on his webiste..
- Like I mentioned in the other thread .. I'm not here to sell life insurance ..I'm probably not licensed in whatever state you are ... it's a hobby of mine not a primary source of income. I'm in no way affiliated with the link that I posted.. they have a good podcast that people can learn from.. and compare to whatever CNBC says..
- of course I know most people are not going to agree with what I'm saying but this is a discussion forum.. I've learned plenty from many types of discussion forum.. it is a great medium to learn from different perspectives.. I can guarantee that you had a back and forth with someone and learned a lot even though you would not admit it in the thread.. this is a savings forum .. so anything that helps you to protect your principal should be at least discussed..

Well, the difference is that I am in no way affiliated with that website. I just referenced an article. The fact that you reference your own stuff is what becomes questionable. Referencing your own blog is fine, but be careful that you don't cross the line into soliciting since you do sell. That's a fine line and can get into legal issues by your insurance company in fact. Someone with a securities license is under even more pressure not to advertise a particular option like the rest of us can.

To your other point. I have, in fact, learned a lot debating on forums. I also used to encourage permanent life insurance until I realized what they were really all about when I got my license, which is why I'm avidly against them now.

[Jluke]

don't worry - the OP posted this on bogleheads so he'll get good advice there.

[GoodSteward]

don't worry - the OP posted this on bogleheads so he'll get good advice there.

Good to know. This site leans more towards saving, budgeting, and general money use. I agree some other sites that focus more on investing would be a good option since that is what they are there for and used to.

[Captain Save]

Well, the difference is that I am in no way affiliated with that website. I just referenced an article. The fact that you reference your own stuff is what becomes questionable. Referencing your own blog is fine, but be careful that you don't cross the line into soliciting since you do sell. That's a fine line and can get into legal issues by your insurance company in fact. Someone with a securities license is under even more pressure not to advertise a particular option like the rest of us can.

To your other point. I have, in fact, learned a lot debating on forums. I also used to encourage permanent life insurance until I realized what they were really all about when I got my license, which is why I'm avidly against them now.

geez i'm not sure if I didn't make that clear .. I'm in NO WAY affilliated with that website.. it's not my blog... It's a great podcast to learn about life insurance both the pros and cons.. just like you would refer someone to the bogleheads for investing index funds...

[GoodSteward]

geez i'm not sure if I didn't make that clear .. I'm in NO WAY affilliated with that website.. it's not my blog... It's a great podcast to learn about life insurance both the pros and cons.. just like you would refer someone to the bogleheads for investing index funds...

Good to know. You come on strong as a new person pushing a particular product, one you can tell we don't support, and then reference a website that also pushes that particular product. We watch closely for things like this trying to protect people on this forum. We get spam all the time.

My advice is to pull back some and ease into the forum. People come and go all the time, and it takes time for people to trust you are a normal person and not one with an agenda, especially when you come in like a bull in a china shop over one product.

[james.hendrickson]

Good to know. You come on strong as a new person pushing a particular product, one you can tell we don't support, and then reference a website that also pushes that particular product. We watch closely for things like this trying to protect people on this forum. We get spam all the time.

My advice is to pull back some and ease into the forum. People come and go all the time, and it takes time for people to trust you are a normal person and not one with an agenda, especially when you come in like a bull in a china shop over one product.

Thanks GoodSteward - yes the mods spend a huge amount of time clearing the garbage out from the forums.

[Captain Save]

Good to know. You come on strong as a new person pushing a particular product, one you can tell we don't support, and then reference a website that also pushes that particular product. We watch closely for things like this trying to protect people on this forum. We get spam all the time.

My advice is to pull back some and ease into the forum. People come and go all the time, and it takes time for people to trust you are a normal person and not one with an agenda, especially when you come in like a bull in a china shop over one product.

pushing another product would be telling Disney Steve he needs permanent life insurance when he asked about it... I'm simply educating people on what I know ... because the info being spread is inaccurate.. Every post has been about educating people about what it is and what it is not.. i'm not selling to anyone ... as I mentioned before I'm only licensed to sell in one state..

..this thread is a perfect example.. someone saying he is trying to protect his principal.. but folks are talking about putting money in the market ... when he clearly says he's not trying to take any risk.. fact is if he puts his money in the market tomorrow.. and another 2008 happens the next year..he's left scrambling..
pushing would be telling he should buy life insurance when he is clearly making a thread about investing in securities.

as far as protecting your principal.. options should be CD's , money market, Bonds etc... even now people are realizing that there's principal risk with bonds wiht the low interest rate..

now instead of focusing on being on one side or the next.. why don't we try to learn from each other.. because clearly your expertise as far as life insurance goes lie in term.. i'm no Guru but I do know the products that I speak of ..

[rennigade]

boglehead repost

[disneysteve]

Bonds etc... even now people are realizing that there's principal risk with bonds wiht the low interest rate

Just to clarify this point, there is only principal risk with bonds if you sell the bond before maturity. If you hold it until it matures, you will get your principal back (assuming the issuer doesn't default).

So if you have a lump sum that you need to put somewhere for 5 years and you can find an attractive bond that matures in 5 years, you're safe. The only time you might run into an issue is if 3 years from now something happens and you need to pull the money out early.

[Petunia 100]

Based on your posts in the other thread, and here, it would appear from your strong approach to IUL that you either sell life insurance or you help someone else sell it. I used to sell it and I recognize that type of approach. Also, I went to the site and it appears to be a blog for a business. To be clear, you are free to post opinion, but you are not free to solicit people into buying anything.

You also need to understand that almost no one on this forum accepts permanent life as a viable option for investers, nor any other serious financial forum I've been on for that matter. You will not make it far here with people if you continue to push that.

He sells it.