Yibbyl wrote:
 
She ain't just a pretty face.

In fact we got lots o' smart folks around here. Appearances notwithstanding.

 Beez wrote:  I finally got off the phone with an adviser from USAA. Sheesh that took forever. But they're gonna set up a whole bunch of stuff for me. Thank you for the generous offer, you're a peach!

 p4jkafla wrote: 
This is probably the wisest post in this forum.  Searching for a "relatively safe", possible 3-5% return, & with an 18 month window until cashing out during a bull market that is already over one year old can start to be challenging.  See this article on average duration of a bull market.  You may have noticed that many investments are trading at or very near their 52 week highs right now - one day they won't.  My best advice...if you have to have access to these funds 18 months from now, just make sure you are investing and not speculating and be very cautious with "investment or stock tips".  Speculating with money you must have access to a short time later will likely cause many sleepless nights.

Now, if you want an idea to explore further, ahem, as in this is not a "tip"...If I had to invest in stocks or mutual funds in any sector right now under your guidelines, I would consider energy & utilities.  I realize that the recent turmoil in oil producing regions has likely pushed some related stocks to some pretty high values.  However, even though we are coming out of the cold season right now, your 18 month window includes 1-1/2 periods of summer heat, 1-1/2 traditional vacation times (where we tend to need fuel for travel), and in between would be propped up by 1 more cold season & holiday travel.  Notice that your 18 month window ends in the heart of summer, which hopefully would help yield one last push up in the price.  I would still diversify within this...Schlabby's mention of natural gas being profitable right now is a good start (& he personally showed me the building in OKC he mentioned...it's very impressive, esp. if they really did pay for it up front, which he told me was mentioned in the local newspaper, if I recall correctly).  Then I'd look for any utility with a significant hydro and/or wind component in an area with steady populations and hopefully either a strong industrial component to the economy or a service sector which is mostly physically visited by customers.  I'd be looking to find a utility that could at least somewhat weather any steep rise in oil prices.  Utilities are generally considered safe investments...you likely won't get rich off of them, but you tend to not lose your shorts either.  Energy companies are a little more risky, but as a result can yield stronger returns than utilities.  I would definitely invest in a combination of the two, not just one or the other.  Far less work tracking down these investments could be done by looking at mutual funds specializing in these sectors.

Trust your gut about what you will be comfortable with and good luck with whatever you decide.

 Beez wrote: 
Done. This 2/10ths of a point really sucks.

The prime rate was 11% when I sold my business, I conservatively planned on making it with a 5% return and some music gigs. I never thought things would get this bad.

 

 bokey wrote: 
Sure.  Send me your address!

 bokey wrote: 
Depends on what the money is for, and how much downside (risk)you're able to withstand. Whats your definition of "relatively safe"?

 Beez wrote: 
Can you cc CC's prospectus to me? I just had a big chunk go from 5% interest to a crappy money market that pays squat. I need to get it out of there and into something fairly safe for about 18 months while I for higher interest rates.

 cc_rider wrote: 
I'll be glad to compile something for you to take a gander at.  :)  And you wouldn't have to do anything through us....you can go direct with the mutual fund company....  Just being neighborly. 
I recon I could send your cd while I'm at it, too. 

So, I need to change one of my IRAs. It is with USAA, currently it is a bunch of stocks the ex purchased. I'd like to roll it into mutual funds, but I have no idea which ones to pick. USAA seems to have a good assortment of options, but where to start?

 oldslabsides wrote: 
Looks pretty interesting, they're a Fortune 500 company and have gone from $72 to 86 per share this year. I think I'm going to split things into 3 or 4 different sectors to be kinda safe, but I hate to have to live in fear of an overall market meltdown.

 oldslabsides wrote: 

When I left south west Oklahoma in 1981, at night, there were oil rigs all over the place lit up like christmas trees and they were working three shifts.  Where are they drilling for the natural gas?  Still south west?

 bokey wrote: 
I'm by no means a financial advisor, so I highly recommend further research on your part, however... I work in the industry and it's a major one out here.  Natural gas is being exploited more than ever these days and the companies producing it are making money hand over fist.  Devon Energy for one is headquartered here in town and are building themselves what will be the biggest building in the state when completed - paid for with cash up front to the tune of $800 million.

 oldslabsides wrote: 
Why and what do you think it will do for the next 18- 24 months?

Anything involved in the natural gas industry is doing very, very well these days.

what to invest?

Wow, this topic is so old all the posts must have been from the pre- last server crash era.

 I had a bond mature today and I was just going to flip it into an 18 month CD until I saw the rates. Less than half a point? No thanks.

 Anyone got any ideas for a relatively safe annual return of 3-5%?

 My broker is pushing for cellphone stocks, I guess they bought a big chunk at a discount and are splitting it up among their customers for the brokers fees.