
Ask HN: Investment Options - nikhilsaraf9
Where do you personally invest your money: savings account &#x2F; fixed deposit &#x2F; 401k, ESPP, bonds, mutual funds, Betterment &#x2F; Wealthfront, individual stocks, personal algorithmic trading &#x2F; Quantopian, real estate &#x2F; own a house, lending marketplace, angel investor, founded a company with savings, or other.<p>Looking for HN&#x27;s opinion around the best place to invest one&#x27;s savings with recommendations for allocation percentages of net worth across investment options (more than one of these options most likely). If you could also provide an approximate of number of years in the industry that would be helpful (1-4 years, 5-10 years, 10+ years)<p>Example:
1-5 years in industry
Savings&#x2F;Fd&#x2F;401k 50%
ESPP 30%
Betterment &#x2F; Wealthfront 10%
Individual stocks 10%
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mathgeek
(US) I go by the old standard, in order:

* As much into your 401k as your employer will match (if applicable).

* Maximum federal allowance into IRA or Roth IRA (only the latter if you believe your retirement years tax rate will be higher than your current one). I go with the latter currently as having young kids means my tax rate is insanely low.

* Max out 401k.

* Tax-advantaged college savings for my kids (obviously a personal choice).

* Vanguard funds with low fees that track indices.

My reasoning is that I can spend a minimal amount of mental time thinking
about my savings, and thus spend more time with my wife/kids and be more
productive.

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akg_67
I second /u/ptype suggestion of paying down the mortgage. It is a guaranteed
return that no other investment can guarantee. We paid off mortgage in 2011
and it was the best decision we made. After paying off mortgage, we redirected
the mortgage payments to other investments while we were working. We lost jobs
in late 2013. Not having mortgage payment has been a blessing, no stress of
needing to generate cash flow to make mortgage payment.

As we no longer has steady paycheck/significant income from work, we have
become more conservative with our investments and keep one year worth of
expenses in cash and cash-equivalent. We still have a 7% play account that we
invest in whatever fancies us typically individual stocks, options, and Peer
to Peer Lending. Rest is in ETFs, mutual stock and bond funds (Index based) in
combination of Traditional and Roth IRAs and taxable brokerage accounts at
Fidelity and Vanguard.

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ptype
It will be hard to find any investment options with better risk/return
characteristics than paying down your mortgage. It's also quite tax efficient
by construction compared to putting the money in an investment where you have
to pay tax on interest/gains (though some countries allow for interest rate
deduction from tax anyway). An added benefit is that it makes you more
resilient to temporary loss of income etc.

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fsk
3-6 months living expenses in cash/checking

Then, 100% in a S&P 500 index fund (VFINX) will be better than 95% of the
population.

Don't bother with bonds, due to low interest rates and high inflation.

Advanced: pick individual stocks

PM ETFs (GLD, SLV)

consider buying gold and silver coins

