What is the best way to invest a small amount of money long term?

Question

I don't have much to invest, maybe $500.00, but I would like to know the best way to invest this money to get a maximum amount. I plan on leaving it long term or reinvesting it and the interest for atleast 10 years but possible 20 or 30. Would it be a better option to just add this amount to my preexisting IRA or get a CD, or is there another way to go?

Answer 1

If you put the money in a Roth IRA, you won't be taxed on any of the gain if you wait until you are retired to take it out. This is a huge advantage because taxes can take out a large chunk of your gain.

As for what type of investment, index funds are pretty safe and have very low fees, so are good investments for novices who don't have the time or inclination to do a lot of research.

Answer 2

I don't know about the interest rate on IRA's or CD's but, you can do day trading. My husband did that with his retirement account and he started with about $6000 and in a little over a year, he has $12,000. Just look on line, and do research on companies that have small $ values and put them on a watch list and keep a journal or ledger on how they do in a certain time frame that you have set. If the prices are staying low, but making some money during a 1-3 day time frame, then you can start investing in those companies. EX: ABC (made up) Inc. open at $3.00/share and close at $3.10/share. If you were to buy 100 shares for $300, you would have made $10.00. Doesn't sound like a lot, but its still a pretty good turn around for the day. The next day or so, take what your orginal investment was ($300), and reinvest that and put the $10 in savings, you could have $50 by the end of the week, assuming you do it per day. So think about this, at the end of a month (going by 4 weeks), you could have $200.

Answer 3

I'd normally advise putting it in a no load S&P 500 index fund (ie a mutual fund that holds stock in the 500 largest US Companies.) Stocks have historically outperformed other asset classes over the long term and index funds let you invest without taking on the risk of trying to pick individual stocks. Unfortunately a lot of brokerages or mutual fund companies have minimum investment requirements of a few thousand dollars or charge service fees on small accounts (I don't know if the rules apply to IRAs though). If you do go looking for an investment you might consider a couple of exchange traded funds (ticker symbols SPY or IVV)

Answer 4

Free from interest? Why? That's the "Under the Mattress Investment." The point of long-term investing is to take advantage of the power of compound interest. Low value also doesn't make any sense. Pick a healthy growing company. Twenty years from now, your strategy will likely yield less money or at least have less purchasing power due to inflation. Talk to a professional for advice. I think you're biting off more than you can chew.

Answer 5

I would say get a federal bond. Treasury Bonds are 30 year bonds from the government and are very secure. However, the minimum purchase is $1000. Treasury Notes are 2 - 10 year bonds, also with a mimumum investment of $1000.

EE/E Savings Bonds are fixed interest rate bonds. Right now the rate is 3.70%, and the minimum purchase is $25.

Take a look at the website below.

You might also consider putting it in the stock market.

Answer 6

My understanding is that stock investments provide the best long term investment. An IRA has the advantage of tax savings and the disadvantage of not being accessible w.out penalty until retirement. In starting and investment fund I would look for one that takes into account that energy prices will continue to rise.

Answer 7

For most CD's you need a good $10,000 to start. With what you have, I recommend starting a mutual fund. Better yet, if your job offers 401K and your eligible, you could have portions of you paycheck go into that. 401K is basically like investing. Your money will grow faster than being in a bank. It's never to early to get started, and don't be affraid to get some advice. Do some google searches on 401K for an indepth explanation.

Answer 8

CD have a horrible long term rate of return.

I'm not in the US but it seems like IRA's are tax deferred retirement accounts? Tax deferred is good! I'd add the money to that, assuming you have room. You should be paying attention to what investment options you have selected. If your time horizon is really that long, most or all of your money should be in stocks.

Answer 9

I would suggest investing in stock/shares and keep on rolling the profits for other high PE stock/shares.

Since you are going on such long term, you will have more than enough time to brave through the bull and bear of the market.

Just remember, buy low sell when much higher. I am doing the same thing since 911 with 10K bucks and currently stand with 40% ROI. And it is still growing.

Good Luck!!

Answer 10

Best bet it is to first put it into your IRA (in your case a Roth IRA would be best) and then invest it in a CD. So, both!

If you are young, you might also want to consider a stock index fund instead.