What would you do with 500,000NT?

[Gao_Bohan]

The best investment book I’ve ever read was “A Random Walk Down Wall Street”. We basically follow the advice in the book, placing most of our savings into stock index funds tied to the S&P 500 and other major American indexes.

[Brendon]

That’s the one I linked to, too. I buy European and Asian indexes though, because the tax on US securities for non-citizens (non-residents? Either? Both?) is crushing.

[tango42]

I would find a partner of the opposite sex to open a beef noodle/hot dog/taco stall/art gallery/bubble tea/Krispy Creme/sex themed restaurant/big yellow rubber ducky themed/vegetarian/hamburger/language exchange coffee shop/extra space for the next bizarre trendy thing in Taiwan… with me in the perfect location that I’m not going to share here…

And then franchise it next to every 7/11 in Taiwan. Oops, gave away the perfect location…

[Matchstick_man]

@BrentGolf

If you don’t have one yet, start a retirement fund. 17,000 USD right now might not seem like much, but if you add 1000 a month and earn 7% a year on your investments, after deducting capital gains taxes it’ll be 905,000 USD 25 years from now. 300,000$ of that from deposits of course, but 605,000$ from compounding investment returns.

That assumes a stable interest rate. 25 years ago I was getting 10 percent on my New Zealand savings account. 25 years later the highest rate any NZ bank gives on saving is less than 5%.

[BrentGolf]

7% a year for 25 years, absolute rubbish, that would beat the world’s best hedge funds who have insider info and can leverage their huge money pots.

It’s always so surprising to me when I hear people talk about hedge fund returns as if they represent the cream of the crop in investment returns. What a tremendous propaganda job the financial industry does when they can convince otherwise intelligent people of something that is just patently false. I believe they call this polishing a turd I won’t bore the uninterested with details on the forum, but if people want to know some facts about hedge funds, I’ve written a little longer article touching on a few key points. (full disclosure, it’s my own website so only click if you’re interested in my random musings) theironcondor.com/?page_id=2144

That assumes a stable interest rate. 25 years ago I was getting 10 percent on my New Zealand savings account. 25 years later the highest rate any NZ bank gives on saving is less than 5%.

I didn’t say anything about investing in interest rate related products. I was referring to market investments which don’t depend on a stable interest rate at all.

Anyway, not the right place for such a vitally important topic as building a retirement fund, but again I’d be more then happy to sit down over coffee and exchange ideas.

[PenguinJim]

@BrentGolf

If you don’t have one yet, start a retirement fund. 17,000 USD right now might not seem like much, but if you add 1000 a month and earn 7% a year on your investments, after deducting capital gains taxes it’ll be 905,000 USD 25 years from now. 300,000$ of that from deposits of course, but 605,000$ from compounding investment returns.

Absolutely. I keep my figures reasonably conservative at 5%/year, but even so, I was surprised to find out how financial independence really isn’t that difficult or that far away.

I also agree that this isn’t the place to get into an in-depth portfolio discussion, but I’ll toss in the word “Vanguard” and this link: mrmoneymustache.com/