Texas/New Mexico Stateline | ricefarmer14 - 11/13/2012 22:28
I quit to farm my last years statement showed a balance of $101,000.00 and since I kept the funds in my old employers plan the identical statement 5 years later but dated September 30, 2012 the balance was a little over $108,000.00- a whopping 1% return for 5 years!
That is not really a good measure for equity investments because the last 5 years include 2008 crash. The stock market has just now recovered from that dip. Look at the 10 year history on those funds and you can tell better about their potential. My investments are the same way. 5 year has been a breakeven, but looking at the 10 year performance most are 6-10% growth. No killer, but yes growth. Past three years have been phenomenal. But are we heading into another dip? Looks kinda scary right now. If everybody starts pulling their money out because they "think" we are going to have a dip, we will. Self fulfilled prophesy.
I don't want all my eggs in one basket for sure. Some mutual funds, some farmland.
Mike Shimek - 11/14/2012 09:48
What about those "Self Directed" precious metal IRA's. One company says you need a "custodian". Why not just buy the metal and hold on to it yourself? Of course I do realize that if you cashed in a large portion, say to buy a new car or tractor, you may have to pay capitol gains. But if you just used it for "beer money", and cashed in a little at a time, you might be alright.
In an IRA the Jack Boot Thugs of the IRS won't let you handle your IRA money. So yeah, you could buy it yourself and hold it, but if you do it in a ROTH IRA you won't pay any tax on the gain. (If congress will keep their grubby mitts off)
The "custodian" deal is not really that complicated. I use Fidelity and set up a self-directed IRA. I can buy stocks, bonds, precious metal indexes, etc.
Buying farmland in a self-directed IRA is extremely complicated, and something the Jack Booted Thugs at the IRS really monitor. To me the risk and hassle is not worth it. |
Self directed IRA discussion made me think about my old 401K
