This is a tough one. I don't think there is much out there over the short term (12-24 months) that will make any money that is not very speculative. I do pretty well in my investments and I don't see much to throw my money into right now. Sector rotation is moving way to fast right now. It's to the point where I am thinking what short term investment will keep up with the cost of living and will not possibly crush me. I am not worried about my 401k because I can always take a hit and dollar cost average back into it. I still have 20 years here so I am not even thinking about my pension. Merck is not done with that yet plus like 90% of America I am worried about getting clipped. I have a heck of a times sleeping. Being a one income family just adds to my stress.
I read many financial planning books through the years and I have seen how the philosophy has changed over the last 5-7 years. Here are some good ideas I have collected.
1. Have 2 tiers of savings. This will allow more flexibility. 10 years ago you would need 3-6 months worth of savings to be ok. Now it's 12-18 months. That is especially true if your a one income family.
I have 6 months worth of savings in cd's. Theoretically I am loosing money on that. The rates are so low that it's 2% under the cost of living. I then have 12 months in i bonds. They are a hedge against inflation. They keep up with the living. I bought those a while back so I received a 2% fixed rate plus what ever the CPI-U is over a 6 month period.
As far as stock go I only look for best in class. (J&J, medtronics,Union Pacific,UPS) but that is a small amount of my overall portfolio. I stay away for large cap technology stocks. I could never get that right (except IBM). When they go down they spiral hard. The big ones are ran like crap. The only value I see in them are the smaller ones that have a particular segment of technology.
Everything else is in SPDR's and ETF's (sector driven). I think they are the way to go. They have no sales commission, low management fees, and do better over time than most mutual funds.
I am just curious to see where my fellow workers are putting their money short term. I tried to talk to financial advisers but by the end of the conversation I think I know more then them. They try to push me into funds that have a high sales load, 12b-1 fees and are overloaded in one section of the market. A lot of the good funds are closed to new investors. They also don't understand micro or macro economics.
Some of the best advise I have received is from other posts.