All Forum Posts by: Benjamin C.

Hi All, My CPA is close to retirement so this year will probably be my last with him. I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations near Fairfield county Thanks Ben

Blake King until he's got an unexpected repair in the house, he'd be f'ed. Needs some cushion

Blake King FDIC just means federal deposit insurance basically every bank in the us should have it. It guarantees your principal will be kept whole if the bank goes under up to 250k. So point is, it's as safe as you can get. ETFs work as well, they come in every shape and size. But you can get bond index funds in either mutual fund or ETF version, over the short term the differences between he two shouldn't matter much, so don't waste time agonizing over which is better. Just look for low fees from a provider like vanguard or ishares. And Bill R. Makes good points as well. I was just answering your question about what to do with down payment savings. If these are the only $s to your name, you'll want to put something aside for emergency savings first.

Blake King sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders. You're thinking through this all the right way. To your question, where to put the money while you wait to find a property. You should look for a very safe liquid investment like a FDIC savings account. CIT bank has a 1.05% rate on now. If your timeline is months this is what I'd do. If more like a year+ I'd look for a short term bond fund which will yield more then the savings account but not add much risk. But be very careful chasing yield. I wouldn't risk much of the principal for a few extra % in yield.

Agreed that millionaire is not what it used to be, the term was only first used about 100 years ago. The new milestone some folks talk about is penta millionaire, or 5 mill net worth.

Why not cash out some equity from the investment property.? You could use that to further your real estate investing. I wouldn't spend my last 20k on an investment with plans like going to grad school.

Sell the bmw, you lost the down payment the second you drove it off the lot. It's a sunk cost. All you can do is make the best decisions from now on. I'm sure with a civic(or whatever) your monthly payments will be much lower. Not to mention insurance and if your state has property tax.

I'm a big fan of personal capital, I think it's better then mint for net worth tracking. It also have nice features to analyze your portfolio across multiple accounts you may have. But I also use mint, I think it's better for budgeting.

Combine both Citi Doublecash, 2% on everyday purchases and AMEX blue cash, 5% on gas groceries and pharmacy. That can't be beat

Robinhood offers free trades, I love that for my "play account" where I do stock picking. Vanguard index funds for my real money.