Nobody knows anything; You need to create your own process, manage risk, and stick to the plan, through thick or thin, While also continuously learning from mistakes and improving.

Uncertainty... it took me 5 years to stop trying to predict what’s about to happen in market based on charts studying, cause you never know. not having a mentor cost me 5 years of pain I learn to go we’re the market is wanting to go and keep it simple with discipline.

Could you kindly elaborate on the advisor's background and qualifications?

The advisor that guides me is Sonya lee Mitchell, most likely the internet is where to find her basic info, just search her name, She's established.

I searched her up, and I have sent her an email. I hope she gets back to me soon. Thank you

I advise you to seek professional advice because building a strong financial portfolio is more challenging. Your long-term objectives and budgetary preferences can be catered to in the ideas you get after that.

The best market strategy at the moment is working with a respected investment coach. I've been in touch with a coach for a time now, mostly because I lack the depth of understanding and mental toughness to deal with these ongoing market conditions. During this recession, I made about $700k, proving that the market is more complicated than most people think.

Accurate asset allocation is crucial. Some use hedging or defensive assets in their portfolio for market downturns. Seeking financial advice is vital. This approach has kept me financially secure for over five years, with a return on investment of nearly $1 million.

How can I participate in this? I sincerely aspire to establish a secure financial future and am eager to participate. Who is the driving force behind your success?

Sharon Lee Peoples is the licensed advisor I use. Just search the name. You’d find necessary details to work with to set up an appointment.

Accurate.

Is that something similar to hold boring big companies stocks, long term to collect dividends?

Agree! 👍

Yes but the interest rate on short term bonds are sometimes less than a high yield savings account

DR is spot on here. I disagree w him on a lot of stuff but the data totally backs him up here.

+Brett Cook That's exactly what I was thinking. The whole point of buying a bond is to hold it till maturity.

exactly. ...I watch these and wonder if "I Dave 12% Ramsey am a critical thinker who independently looks at things" has ever independently looked at *real* returns of the stock market.

The point is that if interest rates go up and you don't sell, then you are making say 2% a year when you otherwise could be making 4% a year. So there is a cost whether you sell or not. One is a real cost the other is called an opportunity cost.

knpstrr Sure, but that's not the same as taking a loss, which is what Ramsey was implying. It's also why you set up bond ladders so that you can roll money out of maturing bonds into higher yielding bonds in a rising interest rate environment. Either way, the way Ramsey describes it is a mischaracterization.

Tempest Sanguine he did seem to imply that. His viewers are mostly beginners - he should be more clear.

American funds has plenty of bond funds... including in their balanced and target date funds. American Funds are just fine if you have a 401k and aren’t paying the front load. If you’re in those shoes then you’re winning.

Bonds, why not REIT's vs covered calls and Dividend stocks

Great point. Any expense ratio over .10% long term will CRUSH your returns. Ask me how I know lol

@@sociopsychological6637 How do you know?

@@joecurran2811 lol I had some mutual funds for 20 years

In the past I would have agrred, but what income can you actually get from bonds with the interest rates so low?

stephen geraci In a normal market, bonds will yield a percent, possibly two, possibly 7. It depends on a lot of factors such as what type of bonds. There are a lot of factors. No I would not buy bond right now. I don't think I would buy bond mutual funds for 30 years unless they were high yield bonds with an enormous track record. But when I am 5 to 7 years from retirement, I would do exactly what Dave recommended to the lady, buy a significant portion in Balanced funds. I don't have a problem with anyone buying bond funds close to retirement. If I had acquired three million dollars and I lose 40 percent of my value five years from retirement, I either have to work longer or retire with a lot less money. If I have three million dollars with my money in more stable bonds, if I were to lose 3 percent, I can still retire on time with the same life style. Yes it is possible that the stock market and bond market are just as volatile, however, not everyone's goal is growth, some people want capital preservation.

Connor P Thanks for the information. I'm 50 years old and have always followed what Jack Bogle and Vanguard have taught me and to use a bond index fund as a diversifier. Vanguard still sticks to that. Although I don't yet have a million, I have a nice amount in my 401K and I would like to retire in 12 years. I have 65% in the total market stock index fund and 35% in the total bond index fund. The market is at an all time high if I were to move my money out of the bond fund would you dollar cost average in or do it all at once? I do like the simplicity of John Bogle's advice and to stick it all in the Vanguard Balanced Index Fund and don't worry about it.

stephen geraci I am not too familiar with the Vanguard fund families. I prefer to buy mutual funds from T. Rowe Price. What Dave is trying to say with buying balanced funds is that right now they are extremely heavily weighted in stocks with very few bonds. The reason is because interest rates are not going to go any lower, they are only going to go up. When this happens (who knows when it will happen) a lot of bond owners are going to have rough stretches. Right now is an extremely difficult time for investment professionals because stocks are at an all time high and interests rates are at an all time low. Typically balanced funds are weighted 60-70 percent equities and 30-40 percent bonds. What I like about them is that they are flexible and the fund managers have every bond and every stock in the world to choose from. They are not tied to a specific category. They can buy the best small cap stocks, the best mid cap stocks, the best large cap stocks, the best short term bonds, the best long term bonds, the best high yield bonds. It will give you access to many types of investments. They are a bit more conservative because of their diversification, they tend to hold up better in a number of different types of markets because of that spreading of risk and spreading of assets. I own the T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation fund (PRWCX) which has about 7 percent cash right now and 5 percent foreign bonds. A lot of balanced funds right now are weighted slightly heavier in cash because it is hard to find good value in stocks AND bonds right now. I also like Dave's advice in buying growth an income mutual funds. I really like dividends. I feel that you can get some growth when the market goes up but you can get a steady income from the dividends. Even when the market is flat, there are still those dividends. Vanguard has a really good gold rated fund but I do not recall the name. As far as whether you should move all your assets all at once or dollar cost average it....I don't know whether it would be better to do it one way or another. As for me personally, I don't think I would like to have all of my money in one mutual fund. What happens if the fund manager goes bad or has a bad stretch? I am just not comfortable with only one mutual fund. I listen weekly to the Dennis, Andy, and Adam on the Mutual Fund Show podcast. They always say to never have more than 12.5 percent of your total portfolio in one mutual fund. I have heard some people never put more than 5 percent. I would seek out more advise from professionals and get a second option. You could also listen or call in to the show for their advise. I have emailed in and been pleased with the response. Good luck!

Connor P thanks for the well thought out response. My money is all in index funds so there is no manager making buy and sell decisions, it just tracks the total market index and the fees are very low. I also hold the total bond market index which operates the same way. From what I have come to learn through reading everything John Bogle has written is very few fund managers can beat the indexes for long periods of time and I don't want to monitor when the fund manager is leaving and/or when their strategy changes. However, I am at a cross roads if I should limit my exposure to the bond index fund. Vanguard said they still think bonds are a good diversifier and if held until maturity you will not lose out and get your money back unlike stocks there are no guaranties. Thanks again.

Johnny Rook. But his point is you might need the money and be forced to sell. Stocks increase more than bonds over the long run. Bonds made sense when rates were higher. Bonds could be a good source of $ if you needed it rather than selling stocks if they were down at that particular time of need. But now bonds earn so little we might be better buying stock index funds @nd having cash or other semi-liquid assets. Online bank accounts pay almost as much and are fdic protected.

Edward Hayes that’s why you don’t invest money you need, same as any other investment

Exactly. Now you need someway to beat inflation. If you own agricultural land and your house fully paid up, you can, infact very much limit the effect of inflation to a vast extend. Don't trust Dave on this. He is sounding more and more like a stock broker.

that would not work in venezuela ,....haha!

@@edwardhayes6111 my corporate bonds pay 3%... just stay away from government bonds

He says he thinks critically just to preface his nonsense and get credule people thinking he's a guru. He lacks actual substance.

@@robschneider8310 I disagree cuz I wouldn't call his thinking nonsense cuz when he tells beginners to diversify between the growth and international and do it for 40 years or more and start early he's definitely right that when u retire at age 65 u will have 1125000 dollars at retirement if u started super early at age 18!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@@robschneider8310 Your comment lacks substance, as well. No offense. I'm no finance guru. I don't even understand finance all that much. But what Dave is saying makes perfect sense to me. A better question is, does this apply to inflation bonds? I-bonds lock in the interest rate. However, they are capped at 10K per SSN. So Elon Musk can't come in and buy 10 billion I-bonds, lock in a 9% interest rate and make a boatload of money in one year.

I think that Dave's advice is solid save for his investing advice

Dave only has 1 tunnel vision, there's no other way but his way. Like everything, you just gotta take the best parts and what makes sense to you, you don't have to follow everything exactly as dave says. For example, according to dave, you have to either have cash to buy real estate or make 500k salary annually.

I don’t understand the point of his volatility argument. Why not buy bonds when it makes sense and lean into equities when it doesn’t?

What is the difference?

@@thealgorist4160 volatility is fluctuation, risk is whether something will end up + or -. Basically it's short term vs long term. Look at Apple stock since the end of April 2020. It's been highly volatile, but there's very little risk of you actually loosing money if you keep it invested for 5-10 years.

@@Hotobu So by your conclusion owning Apple is low risk. Wow, saying that about the whole market is very wrong, saying that about a high growth, high risk (by definition) company is baseless. You have high reward for owning Apple because of high risk you took. There is no free money, high risk is compensated by high reward. It there would be guarantees as you say there would be no reason for an insured standard deposit bank account, would it ?

@@MarincaGheorghe you are so stupid and so arrogant

@@RS-tn4fs long time owner of Apple, ha ? Owning a single stock, whatever that is is high risk. In case of Apple that is confirmed by high fluctuations of the stock also (you can buy it at a high price and not recoup money in 10 years? Now is easy to say that didn't happen). As for stupidity I would recommend you to study a little, maybe you learn something also, reading a book would probably get you there in the end. You don't know what you don't know.

Lots of truth in that, but don’t buy bond funds, but they actual bond so you can hold it until maturity

+1. Exactly. I came here to say the same thing. They are an order of magnitude less volatile.

dude, bonds are crashing now

It is a bit more complex than that.

He's pro mutual funds. Any investment advice he gives is for mutual funds. I personally don't like the extra fees of mutual funds that eat up your return.

May I draw your attention to the fact that being an accredited investor doesn't mean that you are a competent one. What I can point you to is a reading list. Fabozzi Fixed Income Analysis, The Bond Book Annette Thau, A History of Interest Rates Sidney Homer and Stigum Money Market.

That’s true, but bonds as we speak are falling like crazy! So he has a point in 2022.

He is diversified with Real Estate.

But, 20-30% drop from which height? If your stock portfolio went up 150% from 2000-2008 and then 30% drop, that's better than a bond portfolio growing 35% till 2008 and dropping 2%

Wow, I posted this comment only 2 months ago. Looking at the growth stocks performance lately, seems like a years worth of growth

You're right about individual bonds. But bond funds can lose a lot of money if interest rates go higher. You don't want to lose your principle in a bond index funds

You're actually losing money if you hold bonds due to inflation. That's why Dave Ramsey suggest only equities.

you don't lose money, but you can earn less. If the fixed return is predetermined, there’s no benefiting from a favorable change in market conditions.

Good luck finding non-callable bonds.

Why not just put cash in a high yield CD???

@@bspiderm interest from CDs are locked until maturity, while bond interest is immediately available after the cash settles.

Agreed. This comment makes sense.

@@Take_America_Back if you aren't getting 5% then you need a new bond guy

global crisis you say

So, all you need to do is “don’t sell”

@@tchen8124 You might not have the option but to sell in some circumstances.

Just take low interest debt to pay your expenses lol Stocks > Bonds even in retirement

So basically, if you require fixed income, keep enough short-term bonds to cover your a$$ till the recovery.

Now that's a good idea... it's basically cash to buy cheap stocks

Bonds are fine, but they are NOT cash. You need to have some cash as well.

YES glad someone else thinks this way

I just stay fully invested in equities. They’ll drop more rapidly in a crash but they also bounce back more quickly afterwards. You’re risking not capturing as much of the upside by timing your exposure.

@@Wildboy789789 it’s not a good idea

I'd say time. During that time, some money couldve been invested elsewhere. 9ther than that, its good

Every day that you decide to hold your bond instead of selling is effectively the same as buying it that day because the history is irrelevant. So if you think about it in those terms, you are choosing to "buy" a bond at 5% when there are 6% returns available for the same product. That's a 1% annualised loss for every day that you continue to hold it. The fact that its such an undesirable asset to hold in this scenario is reflected in the market price, therefore if you choose to sell it would need to be at a discount. If you are happy with your 5%, then great, you'll get 5%. But you could have had more and all new investors are getting more.

Lost potential gains, that’s his point

Thanks for clarifying. Now I have a better idea what to Google. Certainly this all will make more sense eventually.

Yes, you're the only person in these comments that understands this.

@@tortoisehead30 explain. I'm curious what the previous poster was getting at. I'm still learning

@@joy2come119 If you own individual bonds that are not part of a mutual fund or index fund, then you will not lose your original principle. However, if you own bonds that are part of a fund, if you ever try to sell that fund, you could lose part of your original principle if interest rates rise. However, if interest rates go down after you buy the fund, then you could actually sell for a profit.

He is targeting financial undisciplined morons.Math wins with smart people.

Dave is saying - On the one hand bonds are slightly lower risk than stocks (as he said), and therefore the slight risk avoidance isn't worth too much. On the other hand, paying down a mortgage is a very low risk action because there is a tangible asset at the end of the transaction, albeit one that can go down in value as well.

Haha true.

If you lose your job and have no mortgage life is much easier. You won't have financial ruin. That is his whole philosophy.

@@dpeagles still have to pay taxes and insurance

Really that is what it comes down to. At retirement, the people who disagree have now looked at their money as income, no longer as an investment. Income should not be gambled away on the stock market. But anything more than 3-5 years of income can and should still be looked at as investment money.

My (admittedly simple) plan is to invest in stock index funds until I retire and then switch over to a bond index fund. I'm investing in Vanguard's S&P 500 index fund (VFIAX) right now and planning on switching everything over to their Total Bond Market index (VBTLX) when I retire.

john Stetson tell that to Warren Buffet. But then again, what does he know 🤔

+David Wade The bond market seemed stable during the 2008 crash because people were seeking a safe harbor. But there is guarantee the next time it occurs that the government could actually guarantee various markets like it did before. The 2008 crash was nothing like the 1929 crash.

Fue Chee Its actually less than double.. look at SPY.. think it hit about 155 before the crash. That 4x return was from the bottom. Dollar cost averaging during that period would have been great as well

@john Stetson That makes no sense. Mutual funds can hold various different types of assets. So, which type of mutual funds do you think are "garbage"?

Agreed. And since bonds are sometimes up when stocks are down, you can rebalance from bonds into stocks when they are low. You still don't get quite as good long term returns as you do from a 100% stock portfolio...but stocks were basically flat from 2000-2009. 10 years is a long time to wait for that outperformance. A mix of stocks and bonds in a fund like Vanguard Balanced Index or Vanguard Wellington did better during that time period.

Imagine owning a bond at 10+%

Hi VV... I'm from the future and yield rates are mooning. Getting ready with dry powder to purchase in 2024 hoping for a 1980-1981 like investment opportunity that will rocket in value as rates decline over the coming years. Oh and Dave ends up investing in bonds 😂

Exactly. Bonds are good for sources of income funds...not for investment.

@@joshhoward1289 so would you recommend them for a partial emergency fund?

Does this still apply when returns and interest rates are so low now? Also, not sure if the same thing in 2008 would happen now. This year is a different case.

What does getting it to maturity mean?

@@zakimerxero3771 I believe it means when the debt is due. If you take out before you don't get as much in interest.

OK......and then after those 3 years, you have 5+ years of your value increasing well over the initial balance before the crash.

Nico Parisi only if you add to your investment to buy more shares to increase and double its value

@@81easton no.

This what I plan on doing as well💪

Not practical.

Tempest Sanguine absolutely true! Great point. You may lose to inflation but if there is deflation your golden

9.6% ends October 31

ondfritz2 bingo

+ondfritz2 Daves whole position is savings with low risk and then good growth. Ray is a different type of beast. That is not to say that Dave is that far out with his approach.

Still laughing ?

@@shaochiavang yes, they tried raising rates after like 10 years… they couldn’t make it to half the Official inflation rate before banks are going under and we had to stop easing rates

Jacob Smith why would you buy a 20y bond for 2% interest when you can get that in a bank account at numerous places? Makes no sense.

@@sanjayaiyar4351 Yes 2% p/a for the next 2 years at best. Could you tell me what the interest rate would be 10 years from now? Certainly not 2%. Would be 0% for all certainties. And what if the bank goes bust?

Jacob Smith. A couple of things. 1) if you buy a bond with that much duration and rates happen to go up even a bit, your principal loss will be meaningful. That means if you need or want to cash out to invest in a better yield you’ll take a big hit. 2) yes it’s possible rates could go lower but why not use logic and look at your upside/downside. There’s way more room for rates to go up than further drop and we’re at historical lows. So... 3) put it in a bank account giving the same interest rate and pull your money if/when you want. 4) if you have more than the FDIC insured amount of $250k to invest in 20y treasury bonds then congrats.... but put $250k in a bank that allows you to pull your entire initial investment out with no loss when you please and then put the balance into your 20y treasuries. Either way you look at it, you’re making a stupid decision. Sorry to be harsh, but it’s true.

@@sanjayaiyar4351 1. Never did I invest in anything without the intention of owning it forever / till maturity. I would much rather do intraday trades(which is how I made a bulk of my money in stock markets) than to pull out of a perfectly good investment only to put it into a suspicious grade underlying. A bird in hand is always better than two in the bush. Especially so for fixed income investments. 2. 23.5 mil $ has been put into it. So yeah, big amount. 3. The interest promised remains the same. The US fed will pay out $100 on each $5k bond each year as interest. To me, the change in market price of the bond doesn't matter since I will still get $5k principal for each bond purchased at the end of 20 years. However, it would have become a trouble, had I used leverage. There would be a possibility of getting margin calls from bank. But since I didn't, there is nothing to worry.

Maybe you’re just rounding or something but you can get over 2.25% for 2y T bonds. But either way why are you not laddering this? With that much capital you want optionality so you can buy other assets should they significantly drop in price (stocks, real estate, etc). It almost never makes sense so lock up that much capital for 20y at that rate. Now if $28.5mn is chump change to you then you’re probably here to humble brag. Congrats, you succeeded. Good luck in your investing.

That time is now

CIT bank savings account gives 2.45% APR right now

Go for US federal bonds then. 20 year AA 2% p/a. 2 ticket dates a year. 5k$ minimum investment. Corporate bonds guarantee nothing. No matter how little they pay, there is never any guarantee of payment. If they go bust, you will be at best have to do with whatever you get. At worst, you would get nothing.

@@jacobsmith9455 buy government bonds instead?

2% basically covers inflation, not worth imo

He's talking about the secondary market. If you seek to exit from a bond before maturity you would have to take a haircut on your principal face value as we are in a rising interest rate environment. So people looking for high yield quality bonds to exit from in 10, 20 years may not benefit as much. It all depends on your investment goals. If you're looking to dump a big piece of cash for dormant low yield but stable income, you can invest in treasuries or top triple A bonds and ride out until maturity. But those won't offer much of a payout since they are solid returns on investment which are oversubscribed. Only the big pension funds or mega billionaires can benefit from these big time. Retail investors won't earn that much high return off these as a long-term investment strategy compared to investing in equity. The riskier bonds with high yield are unwise to hold for too long and so if you are seeking an early exit before maturity strategy on these, you will likely take a haircut on the principal face value you paid in this rising interest rate market environment.

Zero coupon municipal bonds -- discounted purchase price and tax free federal state and local?

Because the stock market outperforms every time. It is idiotic.

Yes the mutual funds he invest in are 100% equity. Meaning they have no bonds in them. I think it's kind of bad advice.

Dave Ramsey's investing advice is "Good Growth Stock Mutual Funds," composed of 25% in each of the following "classes": Growth, Growth & Income, Aggressive Growth, and International. @robberger has a good description of them with examples of each. Not a suggestion, just an explanation.

He would never :) But I would. EE if you can hold for 20 years, otherwise I bonds.

Aaron Shaefer short term treasury bonds. Yw