Regular readers know that over the years I’ve taken suggestions on how to invest my new Roth IRA money for the year. It’s that time of year again. Give me your best suggestions.
Before you do, let me clarify a few things. To a great degree, this is meant to be fun. It would be ridiculous to take investing advice from strangers who don’t know your risk tolerance, asset allocation, and other important details. So take it a little seriously (I’m not investing in pork bellies), but not too seriously.
That said, I always give readers a little guidance:
- Value-Driven – As some might have noticed with my individual stock purchases over the last couple of years, I love stocks that have been beaten down. I like to buy equities at a discount. I feel it gives me some protection from it going lower and a “return to the norm” can lift it up.
- Diversified – I have enough individual stocks. I’m not looking to hit a home run by investing in some biotech company that may grow 20% in a year… or bust on an accounting scandal. This is about slow and steady winning the race.
- Give Me Risk – I’m 38, and I plan to live to 138. So with a hundred years to go, I’m focusing on great returns, not necessarily safety. Let’s be aggressive.
I’m also going to give an example of something that I’m strongly considering: BRICs. BRICs are an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, and China stocks. Some of you may remember the BRIC craze in 2007 or 2008. I haven’t heard much about them in awhile, and looking at the value, it seems like that’s a good thing.
I know there’s a ton of risk of investing in Russia, but it’s likely to be less than 25% of this investment, which would be less than 2% of my whole portfolio. If all the Russian companies in the index went to zero, I would still be fine. On the flip side, it seems like things might get better over the next hundred years and their stocks will appreciate.
There’s a sign that things may be turning around for India and China as well. I saw news today that their indexes are at one-month highs. It’s a positive sign, but maybe I should have bought into BRICs a month ago. The value may not be the best it has been, but they are still diversified and an aggressive growth play.
So give me your suggestions. I hope to be active in comments with you.