Let's say you came into a windfall or managed to save up close to $1mil.  How would you preserve it?  

I'm thinking of enemies such a the government/taxes, inflation, and resisting the plagues of time.   I've seen markets crash, I've seen PM's manipulated and crash.....only thing that comes to mind is land.  But I'm admittedly not very educated with this stuff which is why I'm asking what the rest of ya'll would do or have done to preserve your wealth?  Ideally so that you can live off it AND pass it along to future generations to live off of.  

Thanks!!

Some of my money is invested in 529 and custodial accounts for the kids. Also maximizing Roth IRAs

Land is nice.... but you pay taxes on it. You need insurance. It isn't a 100% moneymaker.

If you are dumping 1 mil into something, then plan on getting some use out of it.

I bought a vacation house. I sold it and make 250k. I used it for over 18 years and spent about 35k. By the time I paid the interest, taxes, and so on, I barely broke even.

What I did get was a house to use for all that time.

Land seems to be the only real store of value that can preserve your wealth in the long run. Of course it comes with its own problems of maintenance but if you're thinking for your children it's the best way to preserve it.

Over the next 20-30 years the government is going to go into overdrive to develop ways to extract the wealth of citizens who have it, and give it to citizens and non-citizens who don't.

Focus on that first.  

Then you select your instruments and strategies that address the first issue.

It is not just going to be higher income taxes.  It will be everything imaginable.  SS and medicare means testing is likely.  Screwing around with tax deffered account rules.

If you don't get the first principle strategy right, your investment returns won't matter.

Start a cocaine trafficking side hustle.

Agreed, on all of it!  And this is my primary fear.  That's why the government/taxes were the first enemy listed!  But outside of PM's....I got nothing.  And I saw PM's fucked with 12 years or so back when they crashed.  So what's the answer that's gubmint-proof?

Thanks

Of all of the types of wealth, financial wealth is my favorite.

Not me.  Makes me nervous because I'm so uneducated on it.  Education/skills, family, etc....now we're talking!

If you don’t want to pay taxes, buy muni bonds.

Like savings bonds?  

If so, my mother did that.  By the time she accounted for inflation wasn't much of a store and no real profit/dividend-type of extra from it.  But maybe the "pay $50 now for $100 in 20 yrs" isn't what you're referring to.  

Thanks

If you want to preserve wealth invest in lead and powder. Ultimately it’s the only solution.

Lots of different types of bonds

If someone was able to save up a million dollars, I'd suggest that they keep doing what they did to get the million and watch it turn into more millions.

If someone was given/inherited a million dollars, then it would depend on their financial discipline and lifestyle.    Most likely I'd suggest doing something boring like investing 70% of the money in an index fund like VTI and 30% in bonds.

Roughly half into land, half into stocks.  Being in PA is great, you can still buy cheap land.   Rental property if you have the time and ambition to do it.  
Fidelity will give you 5% in their standard MM account, while you look for opportunities.  Put at least half the stock money into simple low cost ETF’s like VOO, VTI, QQQM, etc.

Look into pipeline LP’s if you want dividends. ET, EPD, SUN, etc.  Be aware that MLPs and LP’s have tax implications which could be positive or negative depending on your situation.  

suppressed machine guns

ammo

quad nods

gold

hookers and blow

Invest $35 of it HERE
Dad gave me a subscription when I graduated from college. I've followed its advice ever since and my wife and I were able to retire early.
The magazine started just after WW2 under the name "Changing Times".

Kiplinger made a big mistake when they predicted Hitlery would beat Trump, said it was the only other time they'd missed an election since Truman beat Dewey. They've been apologizing for it ever since.

If I didn’t need it for a while, I’d just dump it all into VOO

Land that can be used (not desert shit) to grow food. Property south of the border or certain Asian countries... However, you can't trust any government, including ours, from simply needing it to house comrades. For international real estate investing, this guys channel is gold: https://www.youtube.com/@TheWanderingInvestor/videos


PMs to store the value. Yes, they go up and down, but over the long term simply maintain your wealth... and not taxable if you're smart about it. And, when LawFare comes at you, you just say you're poor.

Bitcoin? I dunno. They'll eventually make this illegal, has power requirements and track record historically isn't there... but, it's the MOST portable way to GTFO which I plan on having to do one day.

Also, get a second citizenship... somewhere... just in case.

I agree to a point.  The 529 must be used for education, so it's of limited value.  The Roth is a great tool for preserving wealth.  It is tax-free to the surviving spouse with no RMDs.  It is also tax-free to other heirs, however, they must take RMDs.

I have been doing Roth conversions from regular IRAs for years.  We pay the taxes OOP so, let's say, a $100k conversion from a regular IRA is $100k into the Roth.  We don't withhold taxes from the converted amount.  

We are also careful to make sure the conversion doesn't push us into the next higher tax bracket.

I believe taxes will go up for us in the future.  YMMV.  If you think your taxes will go down in the future a Roth conversion might not be good for you.

Have you not seen land crash? Have you not seen PMs and the market recover?

First off is to get a reasonable mindset and not be a doomer about things.

$1 Mill isn't what it used to be.  However, IMO the only real option is real estate that can earn money.  You get the monthly income from it and reap the benefits of both appreciation and depreciation for tax reasons.  

There are 18-different classes of investments ranging from physical gold and art work to cyber currency with risk and reward levels that span the spectrum. You've given the answer to about 1.5 of the 20-ish or so questions that need to be answered to narrow down those to a few choices. Any recommendation would be like answering the question "what gun should I get" without knowing what they're shooting - elephants or gophers.

If you're able, you should invest in your education about money and finances or you're going to have to pay someone else to do it - typically about 1.5 to 2% per year. The book 'The Truth About Money' is written in English, with stand-alone chapters of solid financially conservative lessons and gives you a basic understanding of how money works. Even if you pay someone to manage your money the book will give you a grounding in the language of money.

A million dollars generates $50,000 to $60,000 in pretty stable/low-risk investments without touching the principal. The problem with that is that $60K is worth about half of what it was on January 5th , 2021.

Ideally you want an investment that will cause your $1M to grow so that your withdrawals also grow.

Most banks/credit unions will have an investment banker who will pitch you their brokerage who will give you an afternoon for way less than a chance at the commission on $1M.

The bolded part is wrong.  Gains from PMs are completely taxable unless you are a tax evader, which is illegal.  Unless you think tax evasion is "smart", then I don't know what to say.  DO NOT F*CK WITH THE IRS.

Diversify and grow it so you can try to keep up with all the factors skimming off the top.

No investment is 100% safe on an infinite timeline. Even gold could end up being worthless junk in a hundred years.

Raw land will cost you money the whole time you own it. I also believe inheritance tax will be a problem in the future.
I know people complain about being a landlord but if I had extra money I would build rental property. You have something tangible you can see and I believe it's more liquid than undeveloped land. Rental property in a trust makes lots of sense to me.

But chicks dig it, so there's that.

Diversify.
Study first. It does take a lot of time and focus to learn investment basics. Make time for it.
Use zero emotions, only logic and math when investing.

Max out ROTH IRA and 401(k). If not employed start a business to have your own 401(k).
Buy some precious metal ETFs.
Some mix of bonds.
Stay invested in the market, pick trending sectors and industries over S&P 500. Tech stocks have been and will be beating the S&P500.
Some individual stocks.  This is where the time spent on study and research pays off dearly.
Some Real Estate. Location and industry is the important factor. Invest in large real estate companies.
Buy objects which keep their value or appreciate in value. Arts.

Do not sell when the market is down. Do the opposite, buy more shares.
When market is up sell some of high earners and buy high yield steady bonds with the profits. Do the opposite when the market is down.

A Mil can easily become 2~4 million over a period of 10 years if managed correctly.
In (30 year) retirement convert to mostly bonds and dividend stocks. It should be around $150~$250/year income if done right.  The ROTH portion of it will be tax free. The bulk of money stays intact and keep growing. It can be inherited or donated when the life ends.

Money in the bank is a hemorrhage of wealth. Buy shit bro, we are all about to be nuked anyways.

Buy much land, rent some to pay the taxes and enjoy life .

In some states you still have to pay taxes to the state.

This is the way.

I tend to agree with this succinct assessment.

Basic financial advisor questions missing.

How old are you?  Married?  Kids?  How old are they?

Will this be your only asset?  What are your other assets?

How long until you retire?

Are you counting on this as your only retirement?

Are your goals only preservation?

You don't need to divulge anything here, but this data is absolutely required to understand your situation.  The major brokerages (Schwab, Vanguard, Fidelity) will provide you with a personal wealth advisor for $1M (for a fee).  Use them to get educated, get set up, then get rid of them and save the fee (unless you trust them enough to actually get you out of a bear market, almost none can do that).

There are no riskless stores of wealth, especially from government risk (inflation and confiscation by taxes or other means).  Gold in hand is probably best long term, but also has risk (as bank boxes are not safe, your home is not safe if the Feds or gangs raid it, etc).

BTC thread

And for quite a few years it yielded almost nothing.

@Emt1581

My paternal grandfather in Hungary owned a lot of land that he farmed.  He has orchards with apples, pears, plums, cherries, peaches, etc.  He also had a vineyard and sold wine.  He had cattle and pigs.  When the Soviets came through he lost all of it.  He ended up working in a car factory.  

You own nothing if you don’t have a group of men willing to defend it.

My advice is to put the money in an S&P 500 index fund, and as you get older (need to know your age), transfer a percentage of it slowly to a bond fund which will yield less but is safer.  When you retire, slowly cash out the bond fund until you die.  

Diversity is what you seek.

Land CAN be a good investment but owning land can be expensive. Annual property taxes and HOA fees along with any utilities, maintenance/repair, insurance, etc. can quickly out pace appreciation or revenue.

PMs aren’t a bad place to park a small percentage of your wealth but Silver has been manipulated so often, nobody has a lot of faith in growth. Gold is less susceptible to manipulation (until the Chinese decide to fuck with it) but PMs can be expensive to get into (buyer’s premium) and expensive to sell (seller’s premium, capital gains taxes) and there is always the risk of theft, fraud, .gov confiscation.

CDs and higher-interest money market savings accounts can be a good place to park a little money for a little while but you need to structure them so you don’t have more than $250K in any one institution to take advantage of FDIC protection. In addition, even if you are getting 5% APR, one of those points will go to paying taxes and three of those points will go to keep up with inflation (in a GOOD year).

The Stock Market is a good place to park a lot of money for a long time but you need to be fairly tolerant of risk if you expect substantial growth. Also, probably not the bast place to put money you will need to use in the next 12 to 18 months.  

Collectibles like investment grade, transferable machineguns, appraised art, historical artifacts with provenance can be a good investment but again, you have the risk of loss, theft and changing market conditions. I had a professional auctioneer tell me that they no longer accept Stamp collections for consignment unless they contain specific high Dollar specimens.

So, the best way to preserve $1M is to diversify your investments with a recognition that at least some risk tolerance in inherent to any realistic expectation of growth. ZERO risk is almost a guaranteed loss of buying power. Personally, looking back 30 years, I was too conservative in my investment strategy and kept too much cash in my checking/savings accounts. Not horribly so but I would definitely have taken more risk if I could do it all again. Of course, now I am reaching that point in my life when I need to draw from my investments so I need to be more conservative.

Good luck!

BTC?

Diverse assets protect but don't offer returns

Risk offers returns but not safety

The Rule of 72: Take 72 and divide by the rate of return.  That's how many years it takes to double an investment.

Example: If your investment yields an average 8% annually, it will double in 9 years (72/8=9).

Bitcoin

We have
1. Farmland
2. Two homes
3.  Equity acct
4. Bond acct
5. Commercial RE
6  SS and pensions

In my case I dumped money into VOO and ITOT. Cash sits in FZDXX. I've little interest in land for all sorts of reasons. "Land" is a generic term, but either way its a headache IMO. Its either not income generating and you lose money on it (Taxes) or it is earning income and you have involvement in it, such as a rental. I've heard horror stories of how things go when you get a bad rented. If I were going rentals I'd do short term, NOT long term. But that too has its own set of headaches as well. I think the best position is ag land thats rented out. You usually have a long term rental contract and as long as the renter is reliable its as close to hands off money as you can get IMO.

Market investing fits better for me. It really is "set it and forget it" if you go into index funds. Do a bit of reading on the Bogleheads "3 fund portfolio" and it will give you an idea how it all works. While my isnt a true reflection of the 3 fund setup the idea is imilar. Invest in index funds or mutual funds that track the market. About as easy as it gets.

As one example, here  is the chart for ITOT. If you had gotten in 10 years ago at 48 a share, and today its at 111 a share....Well, you do the math. The market is incredibly reliable over time. If you decide to be pants on head retarded like my brother and listen to the stupid shit talk radio you'd think every day is a market crash and you'll lose everything. In the meantime I've double and redoubled my money while his sits in a checking account whithering away to inflation.

EDIT: To answer your question...How would I preserve it...

500k into a fidelity managed account
300k into VTI
150k into VXUS
50k into FZDXX

If you dont want a managed account, take that 500k and split it into the 3 I had above, although I wouldnt have more than 50k in FZDXX (And maybe a bit less actually)

Now walk away for 10 years (Except when you need "cash right now" and need to get it out of FZDXX")

1. Pay off all toxic debt (credit cards, high interest rates).
2. NEVER carry a balance on a credit card month to month.  This is called "paying the stupid tax".
3. Build an emergency fund of 6-12 months of *expenses* and keep it liquid, such as in a High Yield Savings Account (HYSA) or Money Market Fund (MMF)
4. Contribute to your 401k up to the company match maximum.
5. Contribute to an HSA if offered up to the maximum allowed.
6. If your 401k plan allows, contribute to a Mega Backdoor Roth. https://thecollegeinvestor.com/17561/understanding-the-mega-backdoor-roth-ira
7. If you do not have access to a Mega Backdoor Roth through your 401k, contribute to a ROTH IRA (unless income ineligible, then use Backdoor Roth IRA method. https://thecollegeinvestor.com/38006/how-to-do-a-backdoor-roth-ira  
8. Go back and finish contributing to the 401k plan, up to the maximum limit ($23,000 in 2024).
9. If offered a Company Stock plan (ESPP/ESOP) that gives you shares at a discount, AND you can sell immediately upon stock purchase, contribute the maximum amount to this program and sell each time.  You should participate in this regardless of any choices or order of operations above.  This runs in parallel to everything else.
10. Open a taxable brokerage account and begin investing here, and/or real estate, and/or side business.
11. Consider funding children's college in 529 plans or taxable brokerage account, or other state advantaged options.
12. Limit the amount of vehicle debt you carry, as vehicles can be one of the biggest barriers to building wealth as people believe they derive "happiness" from getting new vehicles often.

Invest all of these in a low fee Total US Equities Market index fund (if offered) or an S&P500 index fund, to start.  
DONT TOUCH it.  Just be steady and don't change, be careful who you listen to, and don't make emotion based moves into cash because what you just "know", likely is not so.


Recommended reading:
https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Path-Wealth-financial-independence/dp/1533667926
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119847672?tag=arfcom00-20
https://www.amazon.com/Richest-Man-Babylon-Original-Classics/dp/B0C1J5ML66
https://www.amazon.com/The-Millionaire-Next-Door-audiobook/dp/B0000547HR

Diversify.  You will not get the maximum return, but you probably won't lose it all either.

Attached File

Oh ok.  Nope.  Even less educated about that than the rest of the things being shared.  I'm just taking notes so I can do specific homework.

Best #Bitcoin educational video \uD83D\uDC40 pic.twitter.com/8FaMwAKRzo

— AltCoiners.live (@alt_coiners) April 27, 2024

No crystal balls.
Diversify.
Buy land that you and family will use, throw some gold in a safe right next to some bitcoin keys, i'd probably throw the largest chunk in a vanilla sp500 etf...