Conference nyoss1::market_investing

    No, you can't trust anything completely.
    
    First thing you should do is go to a bookstore and get one of
    those 'personal finance' books--Jane Bryant Quinn has one, Sylvia
    Porter has one, etc.  Don't get a 'get rich' book--you want a
    'help for the puzzled' book.
    
    Then read it, read this notes file, read the old version, read
    Fortune and Forbes and Money and the Wall St. Journal's column
    on _Managing_Your_Money_.  You don't have to read every issue
    and every word, but you're looking at something about as hard
    as using FORTRAN to read and write indexed files: it's doable,
    but there's a certain amount you have to know first.
    
    Once you can read a line like "SAVE is a 401(k) plan" or "Fund
    A has too little risk" and know what's going on, you'll be set,
    and will probably know that a savings bond a week is not what's
    best!
    
    Take this seriously--treat it as work you are doing for yourself,
    and put the time in.  While you are learning, save money in a bank
    account or DCU.  When you know what to do with it, it'll be there.
    
    		-John Bishop

the wall street guide to understanding investments is a good basic primer.  When
you get your fill of that, than I can suggest a good article from the oct 1992
issue of Smart Money (probally can find it in the library).  It's called "The
One Investment Strategy You Need Now"....it makes a lot of sense when it comes
to allocating your money.

michael

    First things first.  20 years at $2000 per year (for IRA) at 10% return
    is only $115K or so.  This is NOT enough to retire on.  This is like
    having $66K saved in today's dollars.  
    
    Assuming that 20 years is fixed and the approximation of 10% return is 
    fixed, then every dollar saved per year equals $57.27 at the end of 20
    years.  Use this as a base.
    
    Start investing soon.  
    
    Read everything you can to get all the information you need.  For twenty 
    years, you will need growth, which means stocks. Keep your eyes open for 
    mutual funds when reading.
    
    Never to late to start,
    
    Jack Boyle  dtn 323-4448
    
    

    Since you work at DEC, I would suggest that you get all the information
    you can about SAVE and plan to enroll next month.

>    First things first.  20 years at $2000 per year (for IRA) at 10% return
>    is only $115K or so.  This is NOT enough to retire on.  This is like
>    having $66K saved in today's dollars.  

Not to rathole too much, but one thing I never understood is why the IRA 
contribution limit is fixed at $2000 per year.  Seems like the limit should
go up by some index year after year, like the 401K limit does.

- Chris

your answer is summed up in one word....CONGRESS.......good luck with the stream
of data that may follow.

/mtb

re: .3

>    Assuming that 20 years is fixed and the approximation of 10% return is 
>    fixed, then every dollar saved per year equals $57.27 at the end of 20
>    years.  Use this as a base.
    
How did you get that number? According to my calculation, you have to do about 
an average of 22.5% annual return for the next 20 years in order for the $1 
invested in the FIRST YEAR to become $57 - in 20 years. 

just curious...

Mike

the formula for compounded return is 
PRESENT VALUE * ( 1 + rate of return ) ** number of years.

or 

1 * (1.10) ** 20 which equals $6.73

whereas 
1 * (1.225) ** 20 equals $57.91

/mtb

    
    I think .3 was saying that if you save $1 a year, then after 20 years
    you would have $57.27 saved (assuming 10% per year growth), $1000 a year
    would give you $57000, $2000 would result in $115000 etc etc etc,
    
    
    Cheers
    
    Ian.

    Yes, .3 means $1 per year.  A way to figure how much would need to be
    saved, per year, to meet the goal of retirement assets.
    
    Jack Boyle