Since, in the US at least, there’s not really retirement benefits for business owners, you really need to plan for the future yourself. Do any of you guys invest? I’m most interested in stocks, but would like to hear the general strategy you have even if it’s bonds or other assets. Do you recommend any resources for more information? It’s hard to know who to trust and i hate depending on someone else to manage my assets.
real estate
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I’ve been thinking about real estate, actually. Recommend any resources to learn how to get started?
Not really an investment , but all small business owners should have a Traditional IRA they contribute to. You get tax breaks an it is a retirement fund.
I’ve been contributing 200.00 a month to mine. Nit a lot but its something they take it directly out of my business account every month
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Is Google my best bet for learning more on that?
I wanted to learn for myself how to invest in stocks away back in 2006. I read a lot of books for 6 years before I was comfortable putting money in stocks. I totally missed the 2009 low of the stock market. It took me until 2012 before I was confident enough in my own knowledge and temperament to invest.
My advice to you would be to read all you can and be prepared to spend a LOT of time doing it and thinking about it.
pm me I can send you a bunch of pdf books, the better ones, save you a lot of time sifting through the junk
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The lowest risk (Long term at least) investment that often gives the best returns is usually property.
If you have some common sense & basic construction skills you can pick up cheap houses that look awful, but that can be fixed up without too much expense, so you create a bit of equity almost immediately. A couple of guys I know have gone into partnership and started doing this - they have 8 houses so far and rent out the properties via letting agencies. They have a guaranteed income this way & don’t have the hassle of dealing direct with tenants,… after mortgage repayments, insurance, repairs etc there isn’t a huge margin, but a solid couple hundred profit each month - enough to make it worthwhile but they still have to work full time to pay their bills for now.
This is their plan: As rents increase over the years the profit from each property improves, and the mortgage debt is steadily going down at the same time,… so after 8 - 10 years (no rush, they’re young & can wait if the market is poor) they expect to be in the position where they have the choice of either selling up the entire property portfolio & getting lump sums in cash to fund their retirement, or once the mortgage is gone they will have the full rental incomes to keep them going in their golden years.
Its something I’d like to do myself in a few years,… probably on a fairly small scale - but I massively distrust stocks, and even “Government guaranteed” investments don’t seem like they’re worth the paper they’re written on these days!
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A list of books recommended to me by a guy who made his living in stocks…
- The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
By far the best book on investing ever written. - Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham, David L. Dodd, Sidney Cottle
Principles and Technique. - One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch with John Rothchild
How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money In The Market. - Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
& Confusion de Confusiones by Charles Mackay & Joseaph de la Vega
This is the definitive study of investment manias, crowd psychology and impact of
crowd on stock markets. - The Art of Contrary Thinking by Humphrey B. Neill
What is contrary thinking? What will it do for me? The bible of Contrary Opinion. - The Warren Buffett Way by Robert G. Hagstrom, Jr.
Investment Strategies of the World’s Greatest Investor. - How to Make Money in Blue Chip Stocks by Dominic Tan
A practical basic investment system for beginners, amateurs and professionals. - The Evaluation of Common Stocks by Arnold Bernhard
Founder and editor of The Value Line Investment Survey. - The Money Game by “Adam Smith”
How it is played on Wall Street, what money really is, what we think it is and how it
makes us behave. - How To Be Your Own Stockbroker by Charles Schwab
The Founder of America’s Biggest Discount Brokerage Company.
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Putting a little bit consistently is good over time , just image of you would have started 10 years earlier
Suze Orman is good for beginners , she’s super conservative and doesn’t like risk .
Also , stocks are really risky is you don’t know what you’re doing . If you’re dead set on the stock market , you can do mutual funds and there’s real estate mutual funds also . I had that at one point and did really well.
I would stick to real estate , gold or silver .
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Invest in water and water purification and or Toilet paper! Everyone at one point will need one or the other or both! 
All investments have there risk, just due you due diligence when investing… protect your down side.
Good luck!
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I invest in: tangible assets with inherent value…
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I had an uncle who made money fishing and since he was single he had excess income. He became very involved in the stock market for several decades and he frequently said "If you can’t lose $10K without crying about it you don’t belong in the stock market."
As for me, I plan to start contributing to a small IRA, my wife’s house in the Philippines is free and clear and our modest house in Alaska has modest payments and our vehicles are free and clear. I am also kicking around getting into a commercial rental in several years. That way I would have guaranteed clients for my cleaning company (vertical integration).
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I know I should of . I was told to , but you know how that goes
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If you’re looking for a long-term investment, look into Vanguard index funds. The stock market is very risky if you plan on trading in securities. But comparatively/historically speaking it’s a very low-risk investment if you’re in it for the long haul and diversify across the whole market with index funds. Managing your own accounts is not as hard as a lot of people think. And you’ll get better returns overall by not paying outrageous maintenance fees (which are charged on your entire portfolio, whether it’s making money or not)
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