Recording Internet Streams...

[jephrey]

I'm dumping a bunch of money into Apple in the coming weeks.  I'm finally putting my money where my mouth is.  Time to buck up and do it.  If any of you think you can't do this, think again.  It's easy if you have a 401K at your place of employment.  (and you'd have to be dumb to not contribute and take advantage of any matching if they do that - I assume most match at least something).  You can roll over a portion of that money into an IRA (no taxes paid, not a Roth, straight rollover, no money lost in the transaction).  You can use a bank or one of those Schwab places...  (My cousin works at Wachovia, so I'm going with them, my only fee is $50/year and maybe a per-trade fee)  Once in an IRA (and the person who sets you up will tell you how to roll any portion of your 401K into an IRA), you can contribute to a much wider variety of funds as well as individual stocks.  This is how I will invest in Apple.  I contribute 7%+4%matched into my current 401K, and raise my contribution by at least 1% every year.  Even though I only started this particular 401K one year ago, it'll balloon with my raises as well as the additional % each year - point is, the money in my previous 401k is almost play money.  I'll surpass it's value in a couple years with my current 401K, and it'd be nicer to diversify that money a bit and move it out of an employer sponsored plan with limitations and only a few funds to invest in.  It's play money because if I suck at investing and I lose it, I'm still happy about my current 401K and the large amount I'll be contributing to it over time. 

Anyhow, it's good for anyone to diversify similarly, I believe that at the point you have an IRA, your contributions are tax deductible too.  So if you're starting small, maybe it's better to just get your company match at your 401K and then contribute a couple more % into an IRA.  Bigger end of year tax break and a great chance to get into investing at a younger age.  You can easily get into playing the market.

I guess it is Mac advice in a way...

woot.

[tet]

why not roll it into a Roth IRA?  you pay taxes on it now, but NONE when you cash it in.  i'm loving me some compound interest!

[jephrey]

Sure, but at this point, since it's in a traditional 401K where I haven't paid any taxes on it, if I roll it to a Roth, I'll be paying taxes on it in my highest bracket (since it's considered income).  It could be a wash because if it gains a lot, I'll be paying taxes on more money in the future, but much of it will be in lower brackets.  The other thing is that that money that I'd have to pay in taxes to go Roth now won't be working for me for the next 35-40 years.  You have to work the numbers and make some assumptions for a Roth to be good, and one of them is that when you first start contributing, start with a roth - rolling over to one is a big hit all at once in your highest tax bracket, but contributing to one from the get-go is a great idea.  I'm planning on setting my wife up with a Roth just to have something if the future brings much higher taxes.  At least some of our money will be safer.

[bluecaravan521]

Jephrey- what would I have to do to route audio using Sound Flowerbed? Just trying to get a feel for it but can't seem to do it.