Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Retirement - Now what? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nazbuster who wrote (63)	11/9/2004 6:47:22 PM
From: 99Dan	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 288

MacRandy (and Tom), Thanks for posting about the Yahoo link on ETF'S and thanks Tom for your post about ETF’s. Over the last year or so I have bought a number of them and I think they are a great way to get exposure to various sectors of the market and at the same time have good diversification. There are a lot of advantages in buying them as compared to buying mutual funds. I don’t plan to buy any more mutual funds and I am reducing the number of individual securities in my portfolio and putting that money into ETF’s. Maybe they aren’t as exciting as individual stocks but at my age I need to be able to sleep. :) So far I have only bought some of the more common ones like SPY, DIA, IWS, IWN, EFA and RQI. I hope to see more opinions on ETF’s. Dan

To: Nazbuster who wrote (63)	11/10/2004 11:27:19 AM
From: OldAIMGuy	Respond to of 288

Hi MR, Thanks for that link. Nicely constructed for checking various time periods. At first I worried about the thinly traded issues also. However, since I've chosen these sectors with 5 to 10 years in mind, it's not as though I'll be needing to do much very quickly. When I do make adjustments, they're usually only 5% of the position. That makes even the thinly traded issues plenty liquid for me. Eventually I'll add some foreign exposure and possibly a REIT ETF to the mix. My overall goal is capital preservation with mild growth. The bond funds are there to provide fresh cash for future buys of the foreign and REIT ETFs. Since I'm retired, I can't fund the IRA directly, so it needs to self-generate its own "new" funds. It became painfully apparent the difference between a loss in a retirement account VS a taxable account years ago. In a taxable account at least we can use the loss to offset capital gains for tax purposes. Inside an IRA, however, a loss is just a loss. This is why I've put cap. preservation at the top of the list of priorities. Best regards, Tom