^^ Yeah that's the nature of the market unfortunately. Also I believe the numbers in the article were based on a low interest rate of around 5%. And interest rates are going up. Recessions are a pita

 

2005 Civic DX is my daily. 35 mpg. Insane reliability.

Wifey has a 2007 TSX I drive occasionally too.

Used to drive the S2000 every day, but she has been a garage queen for almost 4 years now.

 

Not if they did it right and insured their money ..i.e "annuity" People who don't now how to plan for retirement ...have a hard time in or approaching retirement ....My IRA didn't loose one penny ....it pays to plan ....and those u don't loose ....like your friends at work ...feel bad for them , but they didn't have to loose a penny and now could retire ...if only they knew how ...

 

Use your money for the ebay business. Once established with a steady income then you can purchase the car. May be you can buy my s2k in about 8-10yrs with a projected mileage of less than 30k miles(Non DD). HE! HE!

 

If they were that close to retirement, they had a poor investment mix. FWIW, my 401k finished 2009 up almost 35%, primarily invested in large company equities. That's a pretty good recovery, plus I had the advantage of dollar cost averaging through the dip.

Back to the original topic - buying an S on $900/mo salary is bordering on insanity, even if paying cash. You're probably looking at $300/month between gas and insurance, and that's before any maintenance or repairs. You can go through rear tires every 10k miles at $500/pr. Need a new top? About $900 in parts, or $1700 dealer installed. God help you if you ever mess up th engine, tranny, or diff. At a minimum, have a few grand set aside in an emergency fund.

 

there's a money and investment forum for the details, but the long and short is simple, and you already know it:
- higher risk investments will produce a higher return, assuming they don't fail.
- lower risk investments produce lower returns, but it's rather unlikely you'll lose your investment because you are by definition taking the safer road.

so you really have to qualify "safe" to get a detailed "buy this" type recommendation that is correct. how safe?

guessing your answer is "very safe; i worked too hard to throw this money away on a good gamble--i want every penny next year and a little more," probably a well known bond or something that has a face value and pays direct dividends is what you want. and you'll get a single digit % return on your investment over a year if you play it safe like that.

mutual funds are a little less safe with potential for more return, and the stock market higher risk/reward still. but the economy/business isn't exactly a 'safe' bet right now, so you could make more money, but you could easily lose some of your money just the same.
__

and if you are talking about saving for retirement, the general advice is to invest a large portion of your money in a portfolio of stocks when you are young, then shift over to a larger portion of mutual funds as you get older. but that's saving for retirement, not saving for a car or a house, which is what i assume you are talking about.