Investments

[GRH]

I was curious what types of investments people have. I live America, so I have two essential types of accounts-- taxable and tax-advantaged retirement accounts.

Taxable Accounts

Emergency Reserves: I believe in keeping 4 to 6 months of expenses in a highly liquid savings account. This is for emergency purposes such as unemployment, car repairs, medical expenses, etc. I keep this money in an online bank where I maximize my interest payments.

Savings Bonds: I keep at least a few grand in US issue savings bonds. I have a mixed portfolio of EE and I series bonds. I had a few bonds mature last year that were from 1979/1980 and had collected lots of interest. Currently, my bonds are paying better rates than any bank is. I'd like to expand my portfolio to include some Treasury's and TIPS, but rates are too low on these products right now.

Stock: I started purchasing stock last year after markets had begun to slightly recover. I have a brokerage account where I hold some of my stock, while some of my other stock is held in DRIP (Dividend Reinvestment Program) accounts. I have positions in Conoco Philips, DuPont, General Electric, Heinz, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, Realty Income, Energy SPDR, and Utility SPDR.

Precious Metals: As a hedge against inflation, I have some money in precious metals. I have exposure to gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and rhodium. Much of my exposure is "paper" exposure, basically exposure which is subject to counterparty risk-- specifically I use Kitco pool accounts to hold some of my metal holdings. But I also have physical possession of a decent quality of collectible silver and gold coins.

Tax-Advantaged Retirement Accounts

Diversified Portfolio Mutual Funds/Annuities: The bulk of my retirement savings is in mutual funds held through Vanguard. My wife and I have retirement target date funds that are held through a Roth IRA structure. My wife also had a diversified portfolio of mutual funds and variable annuities through TIAA-CREF. The advantage to all of these funds is that they allow for foreign exposure, a mixed slice of domestic exposure, and exposure to the bond market.

Commodity Exposure: I have a percentage of my portfolio in commodity exposure, both in the form of a mutual fund which tracks commodity companies and through a commodity-linked ETF.

Real Estate: Similar to commodities, I also have an actively managed real estate mutual fund as part of my portfolio.

China/India: I'm overweight in my exposure to emerging markets, specifically, I have an additional 4% weighting to China and India regions of the emerging market landscape. I hold this exposure through a mutual fund at Matthews Asia Funds.

In addition to my current retirement portfolio, I'm looking to purchase a few shares of a dividend-growing company such as Coca Cola, McDonalds, 3M, etc. I haven't decided on the stock purchase as of yet, but I will be making it before too long.