Ok, so im planing on take’n a leave of absence this summer to go to Japan and Taiwan. But i don’t have the kinda of money to burn that i would like to so that i have a really good time. I also don’t wanna finance this trip on credit either… So is there a way to tap into your 401 k??? anyone know???
yea, you can tap your 401k, but if I remember correctly there are fees up the ass for it. Your 401k people should have more info on it though:tup:
Fucking excellent thanks man.
fee’s?? I’ll prolly be dead from all the smoking i do before i see a dime outta that 401k.:lol:
LOL, I think there are fee’s (or taxes) when you pull your money out. I haven’t even bothered to look into mine cause I don’t want to have a heart attack:looney:
Definitely fees and taxes aplenty.
aw yeah. this thread is back again!!! :china:
-Starhammer-
oky my gentlemen. Tell me something about dividends. break it down for those like me who are having trouble finding the right places to look for the info. thanks in advance.
-Starhammer-
Well since im gonna be dip’n in to 401k i may take some extra purely for investing… Any investment ideas due to this our shitty Economy!? Gas?? Maybee??:wonder:
exceptions abound (citation from wikipedia):
Many plans also allow employees to take loans from their 401(k) to be repaid with after-tax funds at pre-defined interest rates. The interest proceeds then become part of the 401(k) balance. The loan itself is not taxable income nor subject to the 10% penalty as long as it is paid back in accordance with section 72§ of the Internal Revenue Code.
To maintain the tax advantage for income deferred into a 401(k), the law stipulates the restriction that unless an exception applies, money must be kept in the plan or an equivalent tax deferred plan until the employee reaches 59 years of age.
The exceptions to the 10% penalty include: the employee’s death, the employee’s total and permanent disability, separation from service in or after the year the employee reached age 55, substantially equal periodic payments under section 72(t), a qualified domestic relations order, and for deductible medical expenses (exceeding the 7.5% floor).
i had a student job that automatically deducted without my consent (not even an opt-out letter was sent to me). my 401k then had 84 dollars in it. i figured after graduation id be making more than minimum wage and didnt mind taking the penalty. different strokes for different folks. now that ive been working for a year and a half in a fulltime job, theres no way in hell id just cash out and incur the penalty. general advice ive received is that because retirement is so far off for me, i should continue contributing because i am not going to retire in the midst of this recession.
i HAVE heard of some 401k programs that include in their exceptions an allowance to take a tax free loan out for EDUCATIONAL purposes.
good to see this thread back- so with the market plummeting is there anyone around to boast about a positive rate of return?
crickets chirping
Madoff
Aw naw. You didn’t have to bring up madoff. I just want enough so that I can get me a decent home and go back to doing what I should be doing. Traveling the Earth and cutting down the haters like my name was Samurai Jack.
-Starhammer-
Well, I’m going to give this to you as if you never heard of them, so I apologize if it comes off too simple.
Sometimes a company has more cash on hand then it’s able to use to operate the business. If they can’t find a good way to expand the company, then they pay out a cash dividend to it’s shareholders. Many companies have just made it their policy to have a structured dividend payment. Almost all corporate stocks pay a dividend every three months. Bond investments pay every month. There are odds and ends out there too. Mattel for example only pays once a year.
Historically speaking, companies that pay steady dividends that increase year after year have outperformed the rest of the market, and tend not to drop as much in a bear market. A sudden cut in a dividend can make a company’s share drop fiercely, as we have seen with Bank of America.
A really great thing about dividends, is it makes holding a stock longer more valuable to you. Say you find a company selling for $30 a share now, and it pays a 3% yield. Well if you hold that long term, you still only paid $30 for it, even though they may have increased their payments enough that you get a 7% yield now. Plus, the price of the shares most likely increased along with that. A beautiful thing.
Personally, I like dividends a lot, but be careful that you don’t make the entire focus of your portfolio around them. Sometimes when a company has a very high yield, like say better than 8%, it might mean that company is in trouble. Or it might not, it could just be a reflection of how the market feels about it. You sorta need some skill with financial statements to figure if it’s still a good deal.
To find the current yield and historical payments, I like to use finance.yahoo.com. Enter any tick and you will see it’s current yield. To view the history of payments, just click the historical prices link on the left and then sort it by dividends only.
S&P maintains a list of “dividend aristocrats”, these are companies that have raised their payments every year for at least 25 years, you should check it out.
For some suggestions on companies with nice yields that seem to be stable, check out Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, Kimco REIT, General Electric, Wells Fargo, Pfizer, Altria, and Dow Chemical. Things can change, but if one of these companies were to lower in price from a dividend cut, I’d actually say to buy more because sooner or later it comes back.
If you want to get really crazy and get a payment every month, check out Harvest Energy Trust. It’s volatile but profitable if you don’t get too greedy.
For further reading, I’d like to recommend the book “The Ultimate Dividend Playbook”, by Josh Peters. I think it’s great.
Awesome response Vision! I wish i can rep :sad::sad:.
In terms of alternate energy stocks, what are you guys’ picks/opinions? Currently bidding $1.00@700 on QTWW; an alt. energy company(should go thru at some point today). Majority of the alt. energy company seems to be either on the red/stand still but once Obama gets sworn in next week; I’m pretty sure this sector will start going to the green side since he talks about it so much during his campaign 
. Thoughts?
you are not the only one whos thought this.
http://finance.google.com/finance?q=qtww
simply because obama has said alt energy is a staple policy, doesnt necessarily mean this specific company is going to thrive.
you might be better off distributing your eggs across an alt energy basket though.
Huh. That’s funny, we were just talking about QTWW on the Zecco forums. The company has promise, but one thing I look for in investments are a good history of earnings. I like to feel really safe when I buy. QTWW has been growing, but it hasn’t broken away it’s assets from it’s liabilities yet, and that’s not the mark of a competitive advantage. So for me it’s too early to tell if QTWW is good for the long haul. Plus it may be overpriced with all the attention it’s gotten.
Instead, I like Johnson Controls (JCI). They operate a similar business but are much more mature. Plus they have a healthy dividend! Also it gets me hot and bothered when I see their trucks driving around town, hehe. I’ve always had a weird thing about owning the things I see in my daily life.
Thanks on the input! The way I look at it, the market currently is swaying based on people’s emotion ever since this housing mess started. I figured I’d ride it while it last :lovin: And historically, the market tends to do well on prez inauguration day. Maybe I’ll dump it then once 5%-10% gain :bgrin: If it don’t take off, no biggie, I got lots of time for it to sit on.
GL to other SRK peepz playing the stock market. Get dem chedda ! :smokin::bgrin:
YES!!! this is exactly what I ws looking for!!! Thanks CD_Vision. Not only will I put sand upon some woman’s vagina in your name, I will now make sure it’s a hottie. If I play my cards right, I’ll just hire a group of them to bend over and shake it while the sands flow. I’l try to look up that book when I get a chance, but that dividend explaination has my money hungry, greedy for cash and lazy side all worked up. As soon as I can get a ride, I’ll be ready to start on my plans for great financial conquest. thanks again man. :tup:
-Starhammer-
YEAH!!! This is that stuff I was looking for!!! :woot: Thanks CD. :tup: I will not only put sand upon a girl’s vagina in your name, I will also make sure that said girl is a hottie. :tup:
-Starhammer-
alzheimers?
Sounds more awesome than the fruit baskets I was getting offered on my blog, heh.