What are three strategies that you can use to make better financial decisions?
Cut costs. Maximize profits. Make your own food.
What's the best financial and debt repayment strategy?
You have had some great answers and I agree with most of the advice you have received. However, I would suggest looking at things in two ways as you decide what to pay off. One is to make the ones with the highest interest rate a priority but something else to look at is the amount to pay off the debt. My point in mentioning this is that lets say you have a 48 month car loan that you pay $ 600.00 a month on and you have made 42 of the payments. Concentrating on paying the small amount you owe off first would free up $ 600.00 that you could apply to paying off other loans.Secondly I would look at your personal finances and try to find ways to cut your living expenses until you get the debt paid off. Can you eat out a little less often, pack a lunch, take a thermos of coffee instead of stopping at Starbucks? Do you really need the full cable package? Can you get a cheaper cell phone plan?Third, set up something like an excel spreadsheet. Make a row that lists the name of every debt you have. Set up rows that correspond to the month. On the last day of every month list the remaining debt on each item and set up the spreadsheet that it totals the amount you owe. Doing this religiously will give you a lot of motivation to pay things off faster when you can watch the progress you are making every month. It will be a great motivator for you.
What is the best financial strategy for starting my 3-month-old child's college fund?
If your child is only 3-months old, I would invest in an index fund or mutual fund that has a long history (10+ years) of outperforming the S&P500. There are special accounts types like the 529 College Savings Plan which can be beneficial in certain situations, but I will personally stay away from the 529 plan as it comes with certain catches that can cost you to lose money if your child doesn’t end up going to college, or if you want to use that money for something not education related you will incur tax and a penalty fee. Here is a link explaining a bit about the 529 plan What to Do With a 529 Plan When a Child Doesn't Go to College I’m sure there are other plans specifically geared toward saving for college, but the stock market is arguably the greatest wealth builder of all time and you have about 18 years until your child needs money for college so I think if you held a portfolio of diversified stocks for the next 18 years your child will be set.
What Is the Best Investment Strategy?
If you couldnt tell AUY, USG, ORCL, FDC/WU, and PLT are all cramer plays. However NKE, AMZN, and YHOO were all my own research, nike is up over 23 percent since i bought it and amazon is up over 43 percent since i bought it both in late august. So i try not to listen to cramer all the time, but i needed to start somewhere.
A good investment strategy for a well-off 80-year old?
Her "financial advisor" is Full of SH-T!!!! Annuities benefit only One person. That would be the "seller"! Investments 101, Rule # 1- You invest money based on the age of the person. Your mom is 80, therefor the money should be kept in "near liquid" investments that provide your mom with income. Once you "buy in" to an annuity, your money is "Locked" no matter WHAT her "adviser" says!!! Consider a large cash reserve using CDs, good Money Market accounts and Short-term bonds. If you want money in the stock market, then you invest that money by "Dollar Cost Averaging" into good established companies/mutual funds that pay steady "high dividends" that will provide your mom additional income. This is what I did with my mom. Good Luck! PS: When you come into control of a large amount of cash you have Two choices; 1) You trust someone else to handle it for you. OR 2) You LEARN how to handle it Yourself. The first investment book I ever owned was "Investing for Dummies". A GOOD, basic, plain language read that will put you on the road towards enlightenment! PS #2 - I read some of the posts after mine and they included some valid points but as far as I'm concerned, there is No way to tell when your mom might pass on to her reward and Keeping the majority of you mom's assets in a "near liquid" state will cover You in case your mom has an unforseen Expensive and Long term illness. Even the Best insurance plans don't cover what could be needed! ...and with all deference to Derek, I've NEVER seen a ONE annuity that didn't ultimatley LOSE value for the owner. If Derek knows of one that actually makes money, I would challenge him to post a link.