NYC general obligation bonds go on sale for two days only... the 27th and 28th or maybe the 29th... think i should buy some???
dg, is that a serious question? Should you buy some NY munies? How in the world do you expect anyone to be able to answer that? Would you really act on the advice of someone that said, oh yes, you definitely should? Anyway, why the hurry? Is there not a secondary market for these bonds?
all i am looking for a simple pros/cons of purchasing them now... and it isnt for me... i let a friend use my sn, on here to ask the question... she is a school teacher for the city of ny, and they have an offer for her to purchase them at a discount on those specific dates and she asked me the question... i told her to use my sn and ask on here... obviously it was a foolish thing to do since noone here knows...
It's not that no one 'knows'; I'm sure there would be quite a few people knowledgeable enough about bonds, and muni bonds in particular, to be able to discuss them intelligently. The problem is how can anyone "know" whether she should buy some or not without knowing anything else about her and her situation?
twenty six, yearly income ~$52k yearly, 10k in cc debt, and $650 month rent (lives with two roommates)...
If she's got free cash, tell her to pay down her credit card debt. If she's paying, say, 15% interest on the credit cards, then by paying down that debt she would be saving herself from having to pay interest on the debt -- in effect, getting a guaranteed 15% return on her money. That's a heck of a lot better than a measly few percentage points she'll get on the NY munis, even after considering the tax advantages. And keep in mind that paying down credit card debt is a guaranteed "return", whereas NY munis have some, not entirely negligible, default risk.
Pretty good money for a school teacher. She must have an advanced degree. I'd have to agree with Foz. She definitely wants to get rid of that CCard debt first. Sell your newer car and drive an older one, have a garage sale...anything you can think of to raise money and pay off that debt. Then after a year or two, or however long it takes her to get that taken care of, then she can start thinking about investing. Since she's only 26, I think she needs to be in something a a little more aggressive. When I say aggressive, I mean something like 50% stocks, 30% funds and maybe 20% high (something in the 8 to 12% range) yielding bonds. Consumer Reports has good information on Mutual Funds. Valueline is also a good source for help picking stocks, mutual funds and bonds. And of course, always keep your self well diversified. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Hope this helps.