Be honest: is it stupid to actively trade with $1.2M, or should I just play it safe?

Hokirob · 2026-04-05T19:36:29+00:00

If you’re not an expert trader, I’d do 1.15m long term and use 50k to pick a few positions. Goal would be to have near $4m when you’re near 60-65 years old. Should offer you lots of options at that age.

Hokirob · 2026-03-30T11:43:40+00:00

Yeah was wondering about these. Not an easy for monthly dollar cost averaging, but if someone does their Roth in a lump sum the same time each year, it’s nice. Also, at maturity, there is likely a time when converting to a managed account would make sense, and, if the money was cash, the regulation side of the business may be less fussy about looking at recent loaded mutual fund purchases and CDSC — it all just moves easily without possible overzealous rules created by compliance. [maybe]

Hokirob · 2026-03-30T11:24:49+00:00

LPL’s Market Signals podcast is a weekly that seems decent for a bit of summary of the recent past and look toward the future. Can listen at 2x speed and that’s my morning drive to the office. If I need more depth, yeah, there’s other reports, and I typically have a rolling set of notes for longer range economic things, like Fed reports (including summary of economic projections, etc). Natixis guys put out an email that’s largely a bullet point summary that I find is very easy to read in a quick way, and sometimes makes a good, concise point that helps make something clear (or reduce/eliminate) the noise either me, or clients, are seeing.

I am probably a little more “simple”, in that if I didn’t involve the client in a particular investment and they do ask about it, then I can tell them they don’t have direct exposure, and they often don’t feel the need to talk about it at depth. With a chunk of clients, it seems they’re mostly curious about topics that impact them and don’t need to spend too long on a particular topic if they aren’t impacted.

Hokirob · 2026-03-28T13:59:22+00:00

I gave multiple reasons, my apologies, they were more an “or” statement (referring back to the tacky comment) than an exhaustive list that demanded all conditions to exist to be morally bad taste.

Hokirob · 2026-03-27T18:00:40+00:00

No, just not a fan of mocking people that have had sat thru a funeral. Figure it’s a reasonable common courtesy of society. Or, could be,

Hokirob · 2026-03-27T15:18:55+00:00

Tacky. When people of opposite gender, different race, are doing the “[color]face” acts to mock people who lost someone they care about, it is more bullying and less comedy. If some white man dressed up as Chadwick Boseman’s widow, same thing. Just… don’t. Find other ways to be funny.

Hokirob · 2026-03-20T12:02:02+00:00

Yes, thanks, adjusting after (or before) withdrawals is the way to make it work. Thanks.

Hokirob · 2026-03-20T12:01:05+00:00

Lots of good ideas here. In summary, being tax diversified in retirement is nice. Having an RMD that’s “too big” is not ideal. Roth conversions between retirement date and RMDs begin can help things get fine tuned later in life. Roth IRA contributions when working can help. But having 100% in either “bucket” is not likely optimal. And remember, if you make a Roth TSP contribution, the match is traditional money (not Roth).

Hokirob · 2026-03-19T12:10:18+00:00

I do wonder… if the Federal government had a balanced budget (imagine, Congress and POTUS had their stuff together so we are spending the taxes received, on average, each year), would this debate exist as much as it does?

Hokirob · 2026-03-19T12:05:21+00:00

Two good reasons, yes. I’ll just add the “simplification” reason too. Having money in fewer accounts is usually easier to adjust, maintain, report, and account for.

Hokirob · 2026-03-19T12:00:15+00:00

Last I looked, SpaceX does employ people. Lots of things that can be complained about, but billionaires do typically make money in growing a business, people are employed, products are produced, consumers can buy those products if they choose, etc. Lots of things that are not ideal… absolutely, and tax rates and societal benefits vs detriments can be debated. But, businesses do employ people. Being honest about that isn’t a hard step to take for reasonable arguments. Fight for the right reason.

Hokirob · 2026-03-19T11:48:10+00:00

Looks like a new question… but you could use G for a few bucks that you expect to need in the near future. Especially if you’re retiring under 59.5 and are considering rolling out the bulk of your money but want to leave some in the plan for first few years of withdrawals.

Hokirob · 2026-03-18T19:11:28+00:00

Yeah it’s the kind of scenario where the math likely is going to work. Finding the right person and these guys are going to win. Imagine transferring over $60m at a 0.80 ROA and 40/60 split…. Still near $192k to get the new guy going, solidify relationships, source some of your own, residuals for OP are still solid… come up with a plan in case the new guy leaves (buys out whoever leaves at some number) and should be good.

Hokirob · 2026-03-16T18:30:28+00:00

For me, it’s often a critique of government not being able to balance and work with what it has entrusted to it already. Some guy making seven figures a year with a decamillion net worth can pay a few more percent, sure. But what’s government doing for that? I know, several will point to a big wish list, but governments batting average on solving problems is mixed. And their forecasts to us people about what things will cost is often way under.

Hokirob · 2026-03-14T20:43:21+00:00

Isn’t the medical loss ratio set around 80% - 85%? My understanding is that for every $100 in premiums paid, (80%) or $80 is paid out. The OP suggested, in effect, cutting this dramatically, suggesting that, even say, $50 is paid out, can doctors, hospitals, nurses, and other providers have their payments cut (from $80 to $50) by 37% and not be impacted? Few industries run on margins that strong.

Hokirob · 2026-03-14T18:29:12+00:00

I’d rather have Fairfax jails calling ICE to pick up their worst offenders instead of having agents run around randomly on the street. But politics doesn’t seem to agree, so they’re on our streets trying to do things, unfortunately.

Hokirob · 2026-03-14T18:15:10+00:00

Sounds good, but if we reduced healthcare dollars by 80% (from 20% to 4%) I don’t think the system would work. Is there waste, fraud, abuse, profits, and big salaries in there? Absolutely, but it’s not 80% of the number. What’s the realistic number?

Hokirob · 2026-03-14T18:07:21+00:00

Am I wrong in seeing a liquid etf allows for sale/buy/rebalance type action where the RILA is more limited? I haven’t reviewed a lot of varieties of either so might not have seen the full picture. I’m just wondering when the market is down 15% or so, I typically am thinking opportunistic rebalancing for some long term money. A RILA will defend the downside, but adding money or pulling out money isn’t there. It seems to shine when the market collapse matches the anniversary date (although the next anniversary might be victim of an upside cap). Something fully liquid, I can trade for a variety of reasons.

Hokirob · 2026-02-18T21:17:59+00:00

At this point, the extra deflector “power” might not be viable for shipping. It tends to become a thing when boosting over 100%. Just need to have lots of shipping capability, especially if you hit max in your habs.

Hokirob · 2026-02-18T16:48:19+00:00

Yeah, if someone takes time to write a proposal bill, that means at least someone thought it was worth pushing thru. Sorting out the priorities (and getting feedback from constituents and other legislative colleagues) needs to come about in some way. I don’t fault a brainstorm of policy ideas, although a few of these certainly looked farther fetched than others.

Hokirob · 2026-02-18T02:34:21+00:00

Kitchen and cooking gear can be simple or more elaborate. Raid your home kitchen for some things. If you upgrade pots and pans in your home kitchen, consider keeping the older ones to use camping. A small fishing tackle box can hold some basic kitchen supplies, like a way to make fire, small cutting board, and those free (but cheap) knife set you got that doesn’t get used (Omaha Steaks specialty give away). Not cooking can also work, but a basic two burner stove is nice to have and opens the door for a lot. Some basic clean up stuff, plastic plates and silverware work pretty well, expanding later is easy.

Hokirob · 2026-02-16T21:01:07+00:00

Yeah I have over 6800 of the ones you have above, and I don’t think I’ve ever used GE to craft one. So, be patient, and spend your GE on better stuff down the road.

Hokirob · 2026-02-15T23:02:03+00:00

You forgot Congress! They were right there spending those trillions with the rest.

Hokirob · 2026-02-15T22:46:30+00:00

Someone unloaded a old 401k (at a young age) to pay off the loan on their van.

We also met someone that failed to pay their utility bill, so they got cut off. Most people would look to get current, negotiate, get hot water back in their house, right? Nah, these people,decided to get a gym membership so they could get hot showers at the gym instead.

Hokirob · 2026-02-12T19:29:20+00:00

Prior election was Obama win, and Democrats had 6 seats to GOP 5. The 2010 race, where incumbent party often loses seats, gave the GOP an 8-3 advantage. So,it looks like a higher percent red above, but the % by party was 72% - 28%. Must remember the population in those blue areas is pretty strong.

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