[bumpa]

Originally Posted by Rainger99

Can you provide some more details on where you are making a minimum of 35 to 70% with very very low risk?

Yeah I'd love to see some detail on that claim.

[CybrSage]

Originally Posted by rsmurano

1/2 my holdings are still in money market making over 5%, while the other 1/2 is making a minimum of 35% to 70% with very very low risk and 3% dividends. If I thought the economy was doing great, 100% of my money would be in stocks/funds.

It is probable you made a typo or the wording got confused.
Are you saying you are getting a 70% return on some of your investments? Specifically, which ones?

[JoMar]

35%-70%? Don't really expect an answer.... BS meter pegged?

[nn0wheremann]

Originally Posted by Jim1mack

We bought an Annunity when we retired at age 60. Liked the perpetual guaranteed income that would continue till we expire. We now can take the remaining amount without penalty and add it to our brokerage account. Was tallying the dividends earned in that account which are reinvested. Saw that adding the Annunity amount to those holdings would result in dividends that more than replace the Annunity payments if I took them instead of reinvesting them. Principle would be untouched along with those holdings appreciating long term.

Opinions? What may I be missing?

Your brokerage account has been in a bull market since the Great Recession of 2008. Growth and earnings have been good. If the market turns into a bear, that growth and earnings will not be there.

[Boomer]

Actually, the best way to invest for dividends is to carefully choose and buy dividend stocks 30 years ago and reinvest the dividends until retirement and then collect the dividends for income when you retire. AND, if you don’t like the current yield on a favorite old stock, just think about what the yield actually is now on your cost basis, all those years ago.

Know Yourself and Buy What You Know. That’s all dividend investing is — basically.

If you invest because you are looking for a rocket ride, dividend investing is too stodgy for you.

It is interesting to look up those lists of Dividend Aristocrats and Dividend Kings with their uninterrupted annual dividend increases over the past 25 or 50 years. You will see companies there that you might know something about.

Also, it can be fun to look at the top holdings in dividend mutual funds and ETFs.

You can make your own mutual fund if you think that could be fun to do.

I must say that I agree with mananoutown about the height of the market now, but that is not a bad thing as long as investors understand it —and when it dips — and it will dip — that is when to buy with some of the sideline money that old investors have been keeping in money markets because they always have sideline cash or because they have been happily harvesting gains in 2024 — or should be. Or gifting. Or just keep it in a money market, for now, to bubble around probably at least above 4% for a while. That is liquid money.

Old investors know darned good and well that some of this high market they like to bitch about is due to stock buybacks from corporate tax breaks, much of which went into the pockets of CEOs and yes, stockholders. Seems like those breaks should have come with some strings. Oh well, stockholders are happy but what about employees and capital investing in the companies. The percentages of the tax breaks used for stock buybacks is cringeworthy.

Wise old investors are projecting income tax implications and pushing IRMAA as they are taking profits where it makes sense. That does not mean there will be a crash. It just means they have been in the market for decades and know when to take gains.

I think the economy is trying to return to normalcy if given a chance. It will take time. The country needs breathing room right now, a chance to calm the hell down.

Boomer, a Pragmatic Capitalist Woman

[CoachKandSportsguy]

Put your money in BIL which are 1-3 month treasuries earning 5% plus plus cap gains.

Then diversify between BIL , MBB and PFF, and you have 4+ percent dividends plus capital gains eventually when you sell.

[FredJacobs]

If you have already annuitized your annuity you no longer have access to the cash value. If not, you can surrender the annuity - you said you have passed the sales charge requirement - however you will have to pay ordinary income tax on the profit only. There is an invcome tax component when you annuitize. Your periodic payments are made up of two parts - similar to a mortgage (loan interest and principal) - partially growth profits and return of your own money. The portion that is made up of growth is taxable income. Unlike a mortgage, where your payments go first to interest and the balance to increase your equity, an annuity payments will bring the portion that is your own non-taxable money down to zero and your entire payment will be taxable.

Depending on your risk tolerance, you need to decide on the safety and guarantees of the insurance company vs the risk if investing.

[Rwirish]

An annuity is one of the best investments you can make as part of an overall investment portfolio imo.

[crash]

Originally Posted by JRcorvette

Your money is safe in an annuity but not so in the Stock Market. Can you afford to suffer a large loss if things go south in the Maret?

Your money disappears when you die in an annuity but not in the stock market. I did exactly the thing the OP is talking about and have the same or more income than an annuity with the principle still growing.

If you invest in stocks that pay a dividend and have raised that dividend every year your income will actually grow. You also don't care whether the market goes up or down but just does the company have enough free cash flow to pay and increase the dividend. Search for dividend aristocrats they have increase their dividend for at least 25 years. If you want to be really safe search out dividend kings they have increased it for at least 50 years.

[Remembergoldenrule]

Originally Posted by Rainger99

I don’t think it is if they go south. I think it is when they go south!

I agree regardless of election outcome. I fear the market will “adjust” political term that will be used. I wish my significant other would start putting our retirement in less risky accounts so we won’t have to worry this time next year.

[Ray Greene]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

It's also principal, not principle.

Principal is a person
Principle is money!

[Ray Greene]

Originally Posted by Ray Greene

Principal is a person
Principle is money!

Principal is money
I stand corrected

[rsmurano]

BS meter! If you can’t find investments that give you 40-200% gains, you shouldn’t be in the market.
BS meter? How about these as a small example, 1 year gains:
Tesla 50%
Facebook/meta 263%
Apple 58%
Nvidia 99%.
That’s just in tech stocks. There are other sectors that are booming. Small cap is doing good. My s&p fund is up almost 40% for the last year, whereas my tech funds are up even more.

I also have a couple dozen low cost/low risk index funds (that I pick from) that I’m getting over 40% plus good dividends on top of that. These fund symbols I only give out to friends. It takes some research and a little bit of time to come up with funds that match my stringent requirements that produce these types of gains (low cost, low risk, low turnover, 3% min dividends, 2 digit gains over the last 10 years, growing dividend each year for the last 10 years, and more). Again, there are dozens of them, I have been using the same indexed funds for the past couple of decades.

For no risk, I’m still getting over 5% in money market funds as we speak.

I think that takes care of any BS meter posts

[Robbb]

Originally Posted by rsmurano

BS meter! If you can’t find investments that give you 40-200% gains, you shouldn’t be in the market.
BS meter? How about these as a small example, 1 year gains:
Tesla 50%
Facebook/meta 263%
Apple 58%
Nvidia 99%.
That’s just in tech stocks. There are other sectors that are booming. Small cap is doing good. My s&p fund is up almost 40% for the last year, whereas my tech funds are up even more.

I also have a couple dozen low cost/low risk index funds (that I pick from) that I’m getting over 40% plus good dividends on top of that. These fund symbols I only give out to friends. It takes some research and a little bit of time to come up with funds that match my stringent requirements that produce these types of gains (low cost, low risk, low turnover, 3% min dividends, 2 digit gains over the last 10 years, growing dividend each year for the last 10 years, and more). Again, there are dozens of them, I have been using the same indexed funds for the past couple of decades.

For no risk, I’m still getting over 5% in money market funds as we speak.

I think that takes care of any BS meter posts

Great point, what could go wrong with buying tech stocks with PE ratio's in the triple digits? after all these things never crash and readjust, they just keep going up.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by rjm1cc

Sounds good. Be sure of the income taxes you might incur on cashing in the annuity.
I assume you are picking individual co's and not an ETF index. Thus their ability to pay the dividend has to be watched but the ups and downs in the stock price will not matter and your hires will inherit the stock.

Individual stokes can (in some cases) go all the way down to ZERO. That won't happen with an ETF.