Best advice anyone can give u is never invest in something you don’t underStand completely. Do your own research . Many options out there . Thousands of mutual funds and thousand folks tell you different things . For myself I use a local broker and I invest in Roth IRAs. I can do $8000 a yr . Wife none now because of disability. I use the American funds . I buy only growth funds which is risky but some average over 10% for last 20 yrs . There is an up front fee charge but after that it’s $10 a yr . The more you get invested the less the fee. My 401k at work is in the same funds . Last yr all my funds made 22 to 25% . Many other funds thru vanguard do the same without the up front charge . Just do diligent research and do what best for you . Now is a wonderful time to invest because every thing is down at the moment . It’s all on sale .

Mine is in Fidelity ( thru work) and there is a guy in bham that keeps an eye on it. He actually does alot of our retirees 401k’s

How has the experience with Raymond James been. Im thinking about going to them in the next few months.

I have a guy with northwestern mutual…has done me a lot of good.

Edward Jones

Buddy of mine said good time to buy Tesla tomorrow I might buy a few share

Buying single stocks iwithout insider information is gambling, not investing. Most of the money made off singular buys is by the firms and advisors you use to buy, not the common gambler. The money they make comes from the buyer.

ETA example from my portfolio

Rigetti Computing +1111.11%
Spirit Airlines -92.84%
S&P 500 Index Fund +21.17%

RGTI was a bet. Got lucky.
The Spirit is a total loss because of bankruptcy. I was betting on a merger that didn't happen because government.
The index fund (FNILX) percentage is average of all buys. Some are over 100%.

I'm not saying I don't gamble. I'm just saying it doesn't really work, while dollar cost averaging a zero fee index fund is a sure thing.



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This above. I was embarrassed to mention in my earlier post we have money in one of these from many years ago as well.
You have to watch what type of account they put you in to avoid excessive fees and to the statement above my guy is not doing any better picking them than just following the S&P.

I use Zack's for stock info and use Raymond James and Vanguard for investing

We've had a good experience. I started out with the man who opened the local office way back in the 90s when he was with another firm in Huntsville. When he opened RJ in Scottsboro we invest with him . Now his son runs the office , MOF we are distant relatives. We have self directed IRAs ( mutual funds) , Money Market and CDs. Our office has 4 mutual fund "baskets" they compile and manage in house , ranging from high risk to conservative. I also buy individual stocks in my IRA. I do my own research and run them by Jon , he has a lot of info from RJ . Been working pretty well . BTW, the local office has the ability to lower the companies standard fees .

It's easy to get some $ from them , usually in one day. They can set up monthly or quarterly installments and withhold taxes as needed also.

For the serious stuff I use Merrill Lynch and Mrs. Irish uses Fidelity. Most of that stuff is in ETF's that mirror the S&P 500 with a nice chunk also in Southern Company as kind of a hedge. We made way more money in our first year of retirement 2024 than we spent and we spent a lot travelling. We don't have "a guy" I track everything in an elaborate spreadsheet that I built for wealth management. We won't have to touch any of that until Uncle Sam makes us start taking RMD's.

For all our CD's and cash we use Ally and for "Play investing" we also use Ally. They may not pay the highest rates on CD's, but transferring money from there to our local accounts, stock trading and moving stuff around is just so easy. I like the interface.

No thanks ............at this time.

I recently had a guy offer to manage our retirement accounts but after looking at his stats hell he didn't do any better than I am doing plus he gets 1% a year plus I have to ask him to get at my own money after I retire, no thanks I prefer to control my own destiny. Screw that guy.

Squatch, that guuy seems like loje a real a-hole, he can go eat bags!

I never have anything to invest. I'm broke

You can start a Roth IRA with Fidelity with pocket change. Most everything is available on fractional shares through a phone app nowadays. Let's say you had $20/week. Buy $15 FNILX. Leave the other $5 in SPAXX. You don't beat SPAXX by much with any bond or CD so don't bother. Set the dividends to reinvest.

The only losing to do with that is by not starting. Time passed is money lost. Most people who don't retire as millionaires would have if they'd started as teenagers.

Local Raymond James is who I use as well. Have my personal stuff with them and also set up Company matched IRA’s for all of my employees. I spoke with Mark a few days ago about some things and Hunter was in our office yesterday setting up a couple of new employees. They are about as easy to work with as any company I regularly do business with.

I wouldn’t have seen his post if you hadn’t of quoted it, but that’s the last person I’d take advice from. Especially financial advice. What a douche.