Comments on: Non-Stock Investment Options

By: 2020

2020 — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 04:48:12 +0000

how hindsight gives us guidance

By: Matthew Gordon

Matthew Gordon — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 08:59:56 +0000

Please consider the terrible problems caused by investments in oil and REITs before recommending them in the future. REITs push up prices for homes and many of them operate shopping malls or other environmentally unsustainable properties. People depend on oil, which is something we should change and not something we should use to get rich. Retirees on a fixed income, for example, are badly hurt when oil investors push up the price.

By: jim

jim — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 03:04:34 +0000

That’s one good thing that Peter Schiff’s book taught me, there are some TERRIBLE ways to own gold and then some less terrible ways.

By: Aman

Aman — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 02:54:07 +0000

Totally understood. Just hope others skimming are aware of the hidden costs in owning a piece of gold.

By: BloggingBanks

BloggingBanks — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 02:04:22 +0000

As a matter of fact Charles Schwab lets you purchase individual Muni Bonds. I have an investor checking account linked to a brokerage account there.

BloggingBanks

By: Matt SF

Matt SF — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:07:14 +0000

So… you’ve gone from daytrading AIG and GM to buying muni bonds?

Seriously though… checkout this site I found for researching individual muni bonds. Seems legit.

The Electronic Municipal Market Access.
http://emmaportal.org/

By: jim

jim — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:01:04 +0000

None of the above non-stock investments are recommendations, just a list of options.

By: Aman

Aman — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:49:02 +0000

Gold is DEFINITELY a bad tip there. With its volatile spikes and subsequent falls, a person not timing a buy right will suffer. And also, the price of gold listed on the stock market is not what the average “joe investor” gets from the bank. These low-volume customers end up paying surcharges not only to get the gold, but also some banks charge to hold the gold for you…I dont see a ROI on that plan unless I was the bank!

By: Bill M

Bill M — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:10:10 +0000

I wouldn’t invest in gold right now, everything is already priced in and once capital starts flowing into the stock market, gold will go down.

By: jim

jim — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:31:18 +0000

Thanks Inpecunious, their search functionality is really extensive, it’s really cool!

By: The Impecunious Investor

The Impecunious Investor — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:21:14 +0000

Hey Jim,

Fidelity has a bond marketplace for individual bonds (you can search by various criteria including state) as well as state bond mutual funds. Check out the state listings: http://personal.fidelity.com/products/incomesolutions/index_content.shtml.cvsr?bar=c

Note – I haven’t actually purchased any bonds directly myself but I have my IRA with Fidelity and am very happy so far with service, options, etc. (since Jan of this year).

By: jim

jim — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:30:37 +0000

Anyone with a Fidelity account that can confirm this? Thanks!

By: jim

jim — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:30:12 +0000

But not the mutual fund side… shucks.

By: James

James — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:24:10 +0000

It appears that Vanguard Brokerage will allow you to buy individual muni bonds from various states.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:43:54 +0000

I thought Fidelity had a bond marketplace of some sort.