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sourdough44 07-28-2018 03:42 AM

Check out some of the titles on the reading list at Bobbrinker.com.

Bob Brinker's Land of Critical Mass : bobbrinker.com Marketimer © Moneytalk Bob Brinker

One to start with is ‘Common Sense on Mutual Funds’ by John Bogle. Of course your local library likely has them too.

flap 07-28-2018 06:27 PM


Originally Posted by jumppilot (Post 2643901)
Go check out http://bogleheads.org and ask your question there.

More you’ve ever wanted to know about investing can be found there.

I invest in the index funds in the PRAP and let it ride. You’ll do better than most investors if you do that.

What experts say about “simplicity”

+1000 on the Bogleheads

PRAP has total Stock market Index fund managed by Vanguard for slightly more than 1/100th of one percent.

Basically free.

If you want a good book to read, highly recommend "A random walk down Wall Street. Makes the case for passive investing and avoiding market timing gurus and other advisers.

PRAP also has FREE guided choice advice within the PRAP. Either go with existing PRAP assets, or add other investments, SS, PBGC, A plan, or spousal assets to get better picture. Look under advice within PRAP.

As previously stated, Schwab will give you free financial check up and work with you if you mention you are an ALPA pilot.

Lots of free information before you sign up with an adviser and start paying 1% as a fee. With average PRAP balance, it's a lot of money!

oldmako 07-28-2018 07:23 PM

Until you're maxing out pre-tax into RAPEQIN, you're spinning your wheels.

Hit it hard. Hit it early. The rest will follow.

RSRVWINDSURFR 07-28-2018 09:23 PM

You’re better off opening a PCRA with Schwab. None of the PRAP index funds pay a dividend.

guppie 07-29-2018 08:19 AM

I have 80% in individual stocks in the PCRA, 20% in the managed bond fund. I subscribe to Market Pass over at the Motley Fool. Schwab says I've done 10.5% annual since 2004. 1.6 in the kitty, 15 years to go. It's working for me. So far.

cadetdrivr 07-29-2018 08:56 AM


Originally Posted by RSRVWINDSURFR (Post 2644454)
You’re better off opening a PCRA with Schwab. None of the PRAP index funds pay a dividend.

^^^
Um, what?

There are many reasons to use the PCRA, the but this is not one of them.

From the PRAP funds disclosure:
Any dividends or interest paid with respect to any of the holdings of the Fund will be held in the Fund and reinvested.
So yeah, you are not seeing a dividend on the statement but you sure are receiving the proceeds of those dividends.

Andy 08-07-2018 02:28 PM


Originally Posted by T6 Pilot (Post 2643602)
Looking for some professional advice on to how to best diversify my 18 month old PRAP. I currently add 13% combined contribution to the companies 16% (29% total).

It's a CS product, and my rate of return *only(?)* is 4.47%. I'm no financial guru, but I feel like I am missing out on a significant opportunity in todays strong economic era.

Anyone have a good manager who can help, PM's are more than welcome.

Your post made me log on to my Schwab PRAP account for the first time in a long time. I just dump money into the account and don't think about it. I chose to put everything into the Large Cap Capital Equity Fund a while ago and haven't bothered changing it. I'll look at getting more conservative when I start worrying about the economy - right now, the economy appears to be caliente so I'm not going to get conservative yet.

Anyway, Schwab says I'm up 18.94% year to date. (I maxed out my PRAP by the end of March, including post tax contributions; the 18.94% number doesn't double count my contributions). That's good enough for me doing nothing.

Barley 08-07-2018 07:27 PM

Just my two cents...

Consider investing in a spread of low expense total market index funds that match your risk level (time to retirement). If you'd like a good idea of a portfolio go to Vanguard's website and look up the target date retirement fund that matches your retirement timeframe. The funds within each are all total market indexes and you can simply mimic it in your 401k. Rebalance once a year and you're good to go.

My only other bit of advice is to just simply stay away from wealth management and financial advisor services. Nearly all of them are simply a ripoff and none of them are in it for your benefit. They aren't fiduciaries. They can't predict the market. They aren't going to beat a decent passively managed low cost index fund portfolio. They simply put you in multiple actively managed high load funds that yield them commissions, charge you a minimum of 1% off your earnings, and add additional fees. If you want a completely hands-off approach then it's an option, but you'll pay dearly for it.

Some good places to get started for information:

https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfin...ement_accounts

http://www.bogleheads.org

http://mymoneyblog.com

Hilltopper89 08-09-2018 08:37 AM

If you want to get a little in the weeds Google Paul Merriman’s Ultimate Buy and Hold strategy. That’s what I use. After initial setup and purchase of ETFs or funds all I do is rebalance a few times a year. This strategy, over the past many years, raises returns over S&P and Total Stock Market returns with a very low increase in risk.

BMEP100 08-09-2018 03:03 PM


Originally Posted by Hilltopper89 (Post 2651911)
If you want to get a little in the weeds Google Paul Merriman’s Ultimate Buy and Hold strategy. That’s what I use. After initial setup and purchase of ETFs or funds all I do is rebalance a few times a year. This strategy, over the past many years, raises returns over S&P and Total Stock Market returns with a very low increase in risk.

This I gotta see. You're claiming this "strategy" consistently beats the returns of the S&P and the MSCI total stock market index over time?

Sounds like someone selling a book or system based on their 20/20 hindsight of what "would have worked".


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