To everyone that has bothered to reply:
- Thanks a lot!
Whether you have money or not all American patriots are most welcome to my corner of the World, Sweden.
We are not all PC idiots.
Many Swedes and other Europeans too strongly believe in Nationalist values.
Best of regards!
Now you tell us you’re European. Investing in the Euro stock markets is an entirely different thing from the US market. They have very different asset classes over there, and different corporate capital structures.
But at least Euro stocks tend to pay out more of their earnings to investors than US stocks. The problem is, that in Sweden you’ll be killed by the taxes, whereas in the US we pay only 15% on stock dividends if we keep our incomes under $200,000.
You can get a nice 5% or so return in a nicely conservative portfolio. I too take the tortoise approach rather than the hare... slow and easy, looking for a nice solid long-term gain.
There are plenty of good companies out there that will pay around 5% in dividends, and there are some great mutual funds (pay attention to the fine print regarding "load" if you don't plan to hold them for long-term).
If you have the stomach for it, it makes sense to have a portion of your holdings in real estate. Take your time when investing in real estate... don't go for "flipping" unless you're an experienced contractor. Calculate what your return will be from rents, after deducting for taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance and at least some vacancies. If you can realize a good 5-10% return from rents, and can buy in an are that's on the upswing, than it can be a great investment.
Money managers/brokers don't do any better than you can do if you do your research. At least that's been my experience (I have portfolios with SWS and JP Morgan, and the portfolio I manage myself is doing a lot better than they're doing).
Use common sense and listen to your gut... if your gut says something sounds fishy, just say no. You'll get a zillion email "tips" from the "experts"... many of whom are just trying to save their own sorry positions by convincing you to buy the turkeys they got suckered into buying.
Just out of curiosity,Western Culture...are you at all familiar with a Brit named Pat Condell and,if you are,do you have an opinion of him? Also,what opinion,if any,do you have of the movement in Britain (which seems to be gaining momentum) to leave the European Union?