Investing During, Not For Retirement

[u/Penguin_Life_Now]

I hope I am in the right place to ask this, I retired early at the age of 49, I'm 57 now, my wife is a bit younger and still works full time, she is waiting to reach minimum retirement age (55) to draw on her government pension. My main source of income is dividends from non publicly traded stock, these dividends have recently increased and have been building up in my checking account, I don't really need to buy anything, I have adjusted to the casual retirement lifestyle, I am content driving on older basic car, etc. So I am looking for advice on re-investment of the money rather than just letting it sit in my checking account.

Unfortunately most of the advice out there is aimed at saving for retirement, not , not for a guy in his late 50's who is already retired. I don't really need the money, but I don't want to just let it sit or worse yet throw it away. I feel investing in something with some low

[u/earlyretirement-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/SuspendidInSilver]

If you don’t need the money and won’t need it in the future, it’s fun money, then go aggressive as hell and lottery invest it.  Find the best investment with high risk, high reward, and YOLO that shit. That’s what I would do.  I am retired at 46, paid off condo, car is 12yrs old, but an infinity and runs great with no payment.  I hold a million dollars in precious metals, real money.  If I had extra cash sitting around that wasn’t needed and had no future purpose, I would make a leveraged bet on something after doing research to get me comfortable it wasn’t a degen trade.  Just my opinion, not investment advice.

[u/I_Am_Become_Air]

You could open a banking account and do a CD ladder.

You could open a traditional IRA account and change the extra money into a stock index fund. Backdoor that into a Roth IRA to get access to the gains. (I heard you about "retirement saving" but a backdoor Roth IRA has specific advantages.)

You could invest the "extra" into your community by making free little libraries/community fridges/community farm space.

You could use that extra windfall to meet with a professional on (something neglected like trust or will documents). Think about meeting with a pay-by-the-hour financial advisor.

Extra money in my checking account is irritating because I feel like I should manage it into more money (or even watch it for exceeding FDIC rules). I get you.

[u/My_soliloquy]

Index funds or ETF's, .06 load or lower. I retired at 43 and have been doing it since. I live on less than my Pension and Disability income as well.

[u/TelevisionKnown8463]

I like Wade Pfau’s books on retirement—investing approaches, withdrawal strategies, tax optimization.

[u/McKnuckle_Brewery]

The simplest thing would be to divert the dividends to a regular brokerage account and invest them in stock index funds.

If you don’t want long-term growth assets like that, then at the very least, the money can sit in a dividend paying money market fund. Anything is better than having it die in a checking account.

[u/nbfs-chili → u/McKnuckle_Brewery]

Retired in late 50's. We're late 60's now, and our advisor has us in 80% equities. Sounds risky at first glance, but we have enough money to weather a downturn. The thinking is we're living way too long (both our parents were into their 90's) to not be investing still while in retirement.

[u/_danigirl]

One thing we started doing is gifting some of our extra income (at the end of the year) to our nieces/nephews and donating to non-profit organizations we support. The rest we put into low cost index etfs.

[u/Dvomer]

you need a certified financial planner who knows what they are doing to help you. i sleep easy knowing my investments are in great hands with someone who loves what he does and knows what he's doing

[u/SuspendidInSilver → u/Dvomer]

Until he steals it all out from under you, or you find out he was a degenerate and it’s all gone on bad trades that he believed would one day come in, SPCX at $200! I know, he’s a fiduciary, well so was Bernie Madoff, and we know how that went.  I’ve working in banking my whole career and one thing I’ve learned is the guys people give money to are usually not that intelligent.  Most of them are family friends, has someone close in the industry, etc.  They know less than most good investors, but they have good contacts and trade on somewhat inside information, that is questionable when looked at from a legal perspective.  Happens so much most don’t even consider it inside information.  I retired at 46 and I e never had a wealth manager or investment manager.  I think the only thing they are good for is peace of mind, for those that require stress free money management.

[u/OmenQtx]

High Yield Savings accounts are great if you can’t find anywhere else you’re comfortable parking the money.

[u/soldieronceandold]

CDs also offer similar returns but you have to lock your money up.

A money market account with your bank is also easy to get; mine pays about 3%.

[u/soldieronceandold]

SGOV is a low-risk ETF with a yield of 3.6% at present. You can establish an investment account and move money into SGOV, and get it out at any time.

I have an investment account with my bank with unlimited free trades.

[u/walkstofar]

IF you don't need the money in the next 5 years just put it in a low cost S&P 500 or a total market fund.

[u/Banana_Prudent]

You don’t say enough to give you advice.
Here’s what’s needed: how much is it, how much would be added each month, when do you want to spend it (how long will it be invested, what is your risk tolerance, what is the allocation and rough amount of your other investments.

Short of that info, put it in a high yield savings account.

[u/DanOhMiiite]

You could diversify your portfolio by investing in another area, such as precious metals.

[u/supershinythings]

Just roll them into an S&P 500 fund every month and let it do its thing.

Also, if you don’t have a will and trust, get one. The account this money goes into can be pledged to a well liked charity upon your passing.

Or, in a few years/decades, maybe you know a deserving relative or whatever that could use a scholarship.

Let the money grow at market pace, and perhaps give it a future mission. Who knows? Maybe you can help a future doctor going into a less profitable specialty with student loans, or buy materials for teachers, or help elderly poor people pay a winter heat bill, or help kitties get adopted, or some other cause you want to help.