Teen investing

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Solid Fro

Solid Fro

I told you so.
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RRoDzaaah!
A few months ago, I began thinking about how to start investing and making some extra money. I researched online about my options and there are quite a few to begin with like mutual funds, index funds, and bonds for short-term gain and the stock market for long-term savings. I was wondering what direction should a beginner like me take?
 
Remeber, investing does not mean that you are going to make money. Especially in the short term. It's just another kind of betting, but one in which you can control your odds a little better.

I dont believe in regular old managed funds. (I'm sure you can go to the Vanguard website and see plenty about that.) As basje said, what you invest in depends on the amount of money, your "risk tolerance", and the time peroid you are going to be in the market for.
 
^^ tell me about it, I had invested $10'000.00 I worked my asss for off when I was 17, by the time I was 20 it had dwindled down to $1200.00 , pissed me off so much, it was with a low risk investment but the stupid ass broker put all the eggs in tech stocks...could've strangled the pencil necked freak !


Now, I have a MUCH more diversified portfolio.
 
Ok, what if I wanted to invest $1,000 dollars, where would be a good place for me to start?
 
Fidelity has a program for investors with small amounts of money (or they did a few years ago, at least). Problem is, their fund fees can be kind of high.

Vanguard has "Index" funds--they are unmanaged and represent the entire market. Since there is no active managing, the fees are evry low. And they usually perform on par with your avaerage managed fund.

I would not go to any company other than these two--smaller investmen firms can screw you over....I will not mention the firm that treated a $2000 dollar check as a $200 dollar one.
 
Just one piece of advise is to stay as far away from the stock market as possible. My Dad used to be a broker and now he does real estate investment. If there is one thing that I hear the most from him and his friends is that it is just plain to risky to "bet" on the stock market. The odds are not in your favor and if you don't know what you are doing you will loose your money.
 
hanker
Buy a car.....It's a GREAT investment!!
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I hope to god you are being sarcastic. Buying a car is one of the worst ways to invest money. The calue always depreciates. ALWAYS. You might as well throw it out the window or give it to me.
 
I think that it is something like you loose 17% of your cars value every 1000 miles you drive it or something.
 
T100
I think that it is something like you loose 17% of your cars value every 1000 miles you drive it or something.
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Also, a brand new cars value drops the second you buy it. Even with 1 or 2 miles it will be considered used.

I think the best investment for someone young would be a savings account :sly:
 
Bahbo
I think the best investment for someone young would be a savings account :sly:
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If you don't need to see the money for 6 months or a year, a CD (certificate of deposit) may be a good investment. Or a bond. Either way your money will be secure (you can't loose money) and you will slightly better interest than what the bank gives you on a savings account.
 
The only guarenteed way to make a profit off of your cash is to put it into a bank. It may not be the greatest sum of money but it doesn't have the risk.
 
The359
The only guarenteed way to make a profit off of your cash is to put it into a bank. It may not be the greatest sum of money but it doesn't have the risk.
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👍

I was just about to say that.
 
I'm 18 and I have over $1000 invested in this group called Young Investors Fund. Its a mutual fund with a buncha companies and its low risk and low yield. I have had it for many years and slowly been gaining money, its a great investment for the long term. Also, dont take all the advice here, even mine, talk to someone older about your options, parents, parents broker, banker friend, any rich friend, etc. Good luck and keep us posted =)
 
The only way to make sure that you make money in the long run is to buy real estate. We keep getting more and more people and we have the same amount of land so demand isn't going down.
 
T100
The only way to make sure that you make money in the long run is to buy real estate. We keep getting more and more people and we have the same amount of land so demand isn't going down.
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What exactly is "the long run"? John Maynard Keyes said the long run is when we are all dead. 👎

If you mean a period of 15-30 years, then equities have been shown to offer the greatest inflation adjusted return.

For someone starting out investing, the best question to ask is "can I afford to lose this money and not bat an eyelid?".

If the answer is no, then stick to index funds. If yes, the educate yourself on online trading.
 
You will see the greatest amount of return with the highest odds in real estate. Look at my land in the Bahamas (well actaully it is my dads but I used my own money to by a percent) in just over 6 months we saw a 33% increase!!! You just have to know where to go and you have to have some sort of base equity. And with online trading......hell, you might as well go out a buy 5 grand worth of lottery tickets, In less you are really lucky you will loose all of you money in the long run ( 2-5 years)
 
T100
You will see the greatest amount of return with the highest odds in real estate. Look at my land in the Bahamas (well actaully it is my dads but I used my own money to by a percent) in just over 6 months we saw a 33% increase!!! You just have to know where to go and you have to have some sort of base equity. And with online trading......hell, you might as well go out a buy 5 grand worth of lottery tickets, In less you are really lucky you will loose all of you money in the long run ( 2-5 years)
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33% in 6 months?

A) I doubt VZ has the capital to out lay on buying property :dopey:
B) Any commodity can have handsome gains over the short term. Go and look at the IT bubble and current oil prices.
C) Over a 5 - 10 year period, equities have been proven to outstrip the post-tax and inflation adjusted returns of other asset classes.

Online trading is a lottery if you have no idea what you are doing. Returns are far from guarenteed, but by educating oneself about how markets works and what traps many gullible investors fall into, you chances of turning a positive return are elevated. Whether that return outweighs the risk and cost is another story, I was simply entering it as an option.

Oh and one of the most common ways to lose money is to follow someones "I made so much money in property, IT shares, pennystocks, currency trading <insert asset class here>". Anyone who follows "tips" blindly deserves to lose their money.
 
I dump 6% of every paycheck into my 401K, the company matches the 6%, makes yearly contirbutions and I have profit sharing, so I'm more than doubling my money that I put in, and I'm already getting started towards my retirement :D
 

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