If I have a $14,000 and being only 21, what should I invest my money in to get the most worth over time?

Answer 1

I would suggest a Roth IRA that works with after tax monies. Invest in mutual funds for long term gain. After 5 years you can take money out in the event of need without losing what you would with a 401K plan. They may have limits on how much you can contribute. Diversify that $14,000 into different accounts like a higher yield one year CD with some of it, a ROTH IRA with some of it, pay off any existing debts you may have, etc. You've heard "don't put all your eggs in one basket."

Answer 2

There are a lot of people that will tell you that buying a home is the "best investment" they have ever made. That is usually becuase it is the only investment that they have.
Historically, home increase in value 6% to 7% per year. Due to the huge increase in values over the past 5 years, home values will be stable or decrease for the next 5 years.

I agree with the other users that suggested mutual fund investments. Get started on a retirement account. Starting young can allow you to retire alot younger than if you wait until you're 30. Mutual funds return roughly 12% over long periods of time (if you include up and down markets). If you ask an advisor, they could show you some actively managed funds that will outperform the vanguard (passive) funds over long periods of time. Good Luck

Answer 3

You received a couple of answers suggesting investing in a home. That is only a good idea if you have an income flow to support the mortgage payment, taxes, utilites and insurance. And in today's market those payments will be substancial.

If you will not be needing the funds for a while and also have other funds being generated, then investing is a good idea. Now since this is a somewhat limited amount of money and I assume all of your capital assets, you do not want to invest it where you could wind up loosing a significant portion of your investment.

That leaves you only one alternative. Mutual funds or index funds. Either will allow you to invest the amount you have in a diversified pool of investments and minimize the risk of suffering a large loss.

I would suggest breaking the money into 5 pools. Invest each pool into a separate good mutual fund or index fund that has a different investment style from the others. For example a large cap fund, a small cap fund, a value fund, a foreign stock fund, and perhaps a money market fund. You can then add more money as more becomes available.

Answer 4

A home is a good idea but unless you make a lot of money you need a bigger down payment . At your age you should start investing in mutual funds and add to it each month. This will build up over time if you reinvest all dividends and capital gains. Vanguard has some very good low cost funds and you wont pay any commissions. When the market goes down don't sell out buy more at the lower price. At 21 you can go into a good stock fund for the best results over the long term. Vanguard will help you with this. Keep some money in your savings account in case you need something you don't want to sell your fund shares at a time the market is down. Good Luck.

Answer 5

Open an on-line brokerage account with Fidelity or Schwab. Send them a check for your full investment. Go on-line and buy 2 or 3 mutual funds such as small cap fund, dividend fund, etc. Or buy some ETF's, that act similar to mutual funds. I would suggest you keep some of the money in a Money market fund in the brokerage account. I don't know what Schwab is paying now, but Fidelity is paying 5%.

Answer 6

An IRA is not an investment. What you put in the Roth IRA IS the investment. Make sure it is not a bank cd. No cds outside an IRA as well-will lose purchasing power vs taxes & inflation. Go to schwab.com & start investing vs speculating. ADX PEO EWA EAF all solid holding 9 I like 1st 2 most) + add some gold when you have a chance.

Answer 7

Buy Jim Cramer's 2 most recent books and read them....watch Mad Money on CNBC nightly at 6pmEST.....follow the investment advice religiously. Roth IRA is good if you don't plan on touching the money for 5 years. I suggest putting a portion in Roth, and rest in regular account where you can pull out profits for other use, both of which can be set up with on line broker.

Answer 8

"Young investors have time, but no patience. Older investors have patience, but no time."

Just be patient, don't get caught up in the Cramer hype. Buy stocks in industry leaders. When you get older, you will have enough to either buy a nice home or buy or start a new business.

Buy stocks that are growing and pay a dividend.

At 14k, this is how I would play it:
3000 Certificate of Deposit (from a bank in your area)
3000 in a safe company such as SYY, CAT, GE.
3000 in stock of a tech company like Ebay or MSFT.
3000 in stock of a company you know, like, or follow.
2000 in cash (buy your girlfriend something nice)

Happy Holidays

Answer 9

You might consider Energy Conversion Devices, symbol ENER. They make flexible solar panels and the batteries in hybrid cars. This is a great company. I own it myself and will be buying more. Here is a summary of their business:

http://www.top10traders.com/ViewPost.aspx?postID=197

This is from http://www.top10traders.com - this is a free site that lets you create a portfolio of stocks with $100,000 in "play" money. Each day the site ranks the best performing portfolios, so you can see how your picks perform compared to other investors. You can also read posts on investing from the best traders, as well as share your own investing ideas.

Here are this month's best traders:

http://www.top10traders.com/Top10Standings.aspx

Good luck.

Answer 10

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