Standard Portfolios and Options

[excellent]

Are there any reputable (read: you would trust them yourself) sites that give a crash course or overview on what good conservative, risky, etc portfolios might look like for different disposable income (how much they can save vs expenses etc) families? Are there any companies you are invested in or would recommend to someone wholeheartedly, or other companies that offer similar investments in that category as they go by type of investment etc.? Just wondering, because I want to absorb information from as many channels as possible so I can start to sort out in my calculations what reasonable portfolios would look like for say, my parents and family or my friend's parents and family, so I need to know good ways to figure out all this money stuff.

[Jane_Doe]

Hi, Excellent!

If you are trying to get "educated" about portfolios and investing, the Morningstar "Diehard's" forum has a welath of information. Unfortunately, it is not as user friendly as far as finding info as this forum is. However, you can dig around and find a lot of golden nuggets. The link below (moderators - I don't know how to shorten url link, so please fix if you wish - also maybe explain how to do a "tiny" url link?! - thanks!!) Anyway, read thru this linked page (- you will need to click on next at bottom to get the end of the thread).

http://socialize.morningstar.com/New...&t1=1162339129

I like to copy and paste info from these posts into a word document, save and then print out to read at my leisure - I make lists of notes and questions to look into further.

Again, hope this helps! Many of us are struggling to understand the vast investing options available. If we ask questions here, we can all benefit from the answers and discussions!

Good Luck!

Jane

[LOL!]

I think the articles at www.fundadvice.com are classic and trustworthy as far as portfolios go. I don't think the asset allocation depends on your income level nor on your expenses. Please let me know what you think of the site and its articles.

[bdk]

Here is the "tiny url" for Jane's link:
http://tinyurl.com/ym2u5k

It's really easy to make a short url:
- highlight the long url and copy it on the Windows clipboard;
- go to tinyurl.com;
- paste the long url into the box provided;
- hit "Make tiny url", and you're done.

[simple girl]

This is the best resource I've found so far for learning about asset allocation:

http://investingessentials.blogspot.com/

[astromeria]

Couple of edits to the instructions:

1. Select the long URL and copy it to the clipboard. <works on Mac and UNIX as well as Windows >
2. Go to http://tinyurl.com/
3. Paste the long URL into the text box.
4. Click Make TinyURL!
5. Select the tiny URL and paste it into your document.

[excellent]

WOW, I looked into Vanguard after seeing their name a few times, and it seems almost too good to be true. I'm guessing that a lot of people here have invested in these funds for good reason, and I'll definitely look into these guys... I'm going to go over all of these sites in more detail later today, as I have my license test tomorrow and a midterm on tuesday and I need to study for them. Bookmarked and I'll be sure to read them. Thank you all very much!

[Jane_Doe]

Thanks guys for the TINY url info! Sounds really simple! I will use it in the future!

Jane

[LOL!]

Originally Posted by simple girl

This is the best resource I've found so far for learning about asset allocation:

http://investingessentials.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the link! It's excellent and a good one to pass onto other folks.

[excellent]

I couldn't resist looking into all of this stuff... saving and investing is making a LOT more sense to me now! This stuff is great! Thank you.

[FinanceDude]

Originally Posted by excellent

I couldn't resist looking into all of this stuff... saving and investing is making a LOT more sense to me now! This stuff is great! Thank you.

Dumb question...........WHY would you get licensed if you're not interested in being compensated to help people? There's a lot of unlicensed folks on here expousing financial advice every day...........

[excellent]

I'm not independently wealthy or anything. I just turned 19 in september and I have 2 3/4 years of a public university to pay for. I'd love to give financial advice out for free, which will probably end up being what I'll actually be doing, but if I can receive some compensation for selling a client a product that suits their needs, it helps both of us, right? I'm not so sure about there being any non-commision insurance guys out there, if you know what I mean. Anyways yeah... was just hoping to get guidance in the financial department so when I go to these people's homes I am able to competently help them. Keep in mind that most families are weary of financial advisers exactly because of the reasons that 1. an upfront fee that most families don't see the benefit of in the short term or 2. they think that the financial adviser will sell them stuff they don't need that's overpriced. I want to know the dangers out there as well so I don't end up being the latter when I am actually going out to clients to help them.

[FinanceDude]

Originally Posted by excellent

I'm not independently wealthy or anything. I just turned 19 in september and I have 2 3/4 years of a public university to pay for. I'd love to give financial advice out for free, which will probably end up being what I'll actually be doing, but if I can receive some compensation for selling a client a product that suits their needs, it helps both of us, right? I'm not so sure about there being any non-commision insurance guys out there, if you know what I mean. Anyways yeah... was just hoping to get guidance in the financial department so when I go to these people's homes I am able to competently help them. Keep in mind that most families are weary of financial advisers exactly because of the reasons that 1. an upfront fee that most families don't see the benefit of in the short term or 2. they think that the financial adviser will sell them stuff they don't need that's overpriced. I want to know the dangers out there as well so I don't end up being the latter when I am actually going out to clients to help them.

So help me understand.......you want to help people plan for the future, you don't need to get paid, and it doesn't matter if they have money or not?

If I am correct, that's not Primerica or WFG or anyone else, that's philanthropy. And there's nothing wrong with that.............

[excellent]

I got into WFG because it was basically a catalyst that helped me start thinking about finances and my own and others' futures. The only reason why I went in was because I saw a chance to learn about a company in the industry in a really fast and easy way, and the fact is that a good friend of mine from last year who I trust recruited me. I am extremely skeptical when it comes to matters that matter to me, and so I put my thoughts into this company with the hope that I could also help everyone in general if I were to find bad things. I've already learned a lot about things like the costs of insurance, load mutual funds and why they are bad, why everyone should have a diverse portoflio, and the tax savings of different investment vehicles. I'm just trying to learn as much usable information as fast as possible so that I can help spread the word about the goods and the bads to as many people as possible in as many ways as possible.