Subj : Re: What to do?
To   : poindexter FORTRAN
From : k9zw
Date : Mon Feb 24 2025 07:56:57

On 22 Feb 2025, poindexter FORTRAN said the following...
 
 pF> 
 pF> Not sure where the markets are going, but they're in a handbasket. 

Every major admin change and every period of intensified world stress leads to maket movements.  


 pF> I'm fortunate to have real estate, 401(k)s, cash and some stocks from
 pF> working at a tech company. I've got a small stash of junk silver and 1
 pF> oz. rounds I purchased over the years (oh, for silver to hit $17/oz
 pF> again!)

Diversification is my personal strategy, given that every single category seems to have it own cycles and lurches.  

I've been fortunate enough to be able to include enough productive long term leased investments in the mix to have some income as well as investment.
 
 pF> My 401(k)s are pretty conservative. I've been thinking about overseas
 pF> real estate - I'm planning to retire in England, thought about buying
 pF> something as an investment to get my money out of the US early, get a
 pF> foothold over there and some rental income in the process.

On 401(k) lacking the context of your age and anticipated retirement expectations, best I could suggest is Age-Indexed as a starter.  

Retiring to another country is a study in and of itself.  

A real primary focus to making that work seems to be having good people connections where you want to retire.  Often these end up being just professionals, the mercenaries we hire to help with with life tasks.

A premium is if you have viable family or friends where you want to end up.  Viable is important, as often we have people connections that depend on us and are otherwise not going to be helpful (or lack wisdom).

On England specific there are some very deep issues both pro and con, to work through.  You have access to some native folk (Meat, Bob Worm, Cobradille among others) via the BBS world, and some like myself who have a foothold there but are USA based.  

Even with an English wife our intention at retirement is to maintain a presence in England, but not to retire there.  But that is our story.

Feel free to email me, as I'm happy to share how we've reasoned it out.
 
 pF> With the threat of tarriffs rippling through the economy, not sure what
 pF> to do next. Battening down the hatches, so to speak makes sense. Maybe
 pF> buying more precious metals? Overseas index funds? Canadian stocks?
 
Should one up-end a successful investment portfolio based on media inspired fears?

A hard question, and one I too am asking my advisors.

On advisors, I have found is highly productive to use solid advisors and keep my ill-informed meddling fingers out of what I put them in charge of.  The returns have been solid, and the diversification they can acheive much better than what I had been accomplishing prior.

Lots to your questions!

--- Steve K9ZW via SPOT BBS 

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Raspberry Pi/32)
 * Origin: SPOT BBS / k9zw (700:100/69)

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