Where do I start investing?

Question

I want to invest a modest amount of money, but don't know where to begin. $500, is that too little? Should I go with an IRA, Mutual funds? stock market? gold? Silver? Matress Boxxspring? I don't want to just pull some random thing out of my...nose. I understand the basic concept ot the stock market, and I really don't want to start 500, and in three months have 495. I afraid of loosing money, but I know nothing ventured is nothing gained. Someone, please give me some help.

Answer 1

$500 isn't much, but it's definitely a start. Many investments have minimums that are a fair amount higher, but once you have $1000, you can at least put it in certain money market accounts. If you might need the money again soon (possible car repair, hospital bill, etc.), it's best to have money in a savings account or a money market account. If you don't need it right away, you can put it into a bond index fund. If you won't need the money for at least three years, start considering a stock index fund. IRAs are good places for retirement money. You should save for retirement, but it can be expensive and difficult to get money out of an IRA before you are retirement age (with a few exceptions, like buying a first house). Whatever you do, shop around for banks/finanical companies that don't charge a lot of fees. This applies to checking accounts (what's the ATM fee?) as well as mutual funds (what's the fund's operating fee percentage?). Stay away from anyone who promises to get you rich quickly. Spend less than you make. Save up 1-3k dollars for emergency reserves and keep that in checking/savings/money market. Once you've done that, start putting money away for retirement (IRA, 401k), probably in some combination of bond and stock mutual funds. If you are saving up for a house, a car, or a wedding, invest that in a low-fee mutual fund. I recommend index funds because their fees are usually much lower. If you are afraid of losing some money, go with bonds instead of stocks, but generally speaking, stocks outperform bonds over the long term.

Another thing---while it's good for pretty much everyone to have emergency reserves, people who have credit card debt should pay that off before investing. If you have any credit card debt, make it a priority to pay that off. Paying off credit card debt is like investing money at 12-18%.

Answer 2

There is not one quick answer to your question. There a few questions one needs to ask and answer before a correct decision could be made as to what specific investments anyone should be in.

Regardless, a good recommendation is mutuals funds. The questions needed would lead to which specific mutual funds. Not all mutual funds are the same, there are great mutual funds and bad mutual funds. Some funds return poorly, some have averaged 12% or more over 10, 15 years. There are companies that will allow investors to invest a little as $25/mo/fund. If you are looking to do the research yourself, consider these factors;

Years of experience of the money manager
Performance of the fund over the last 5, 10, 15 years
Is the current manager responsible for the list performance (e.g. fund has good performance over 10 years, but the current mananger has been there 3 years: he most likely not responsible)
Performance of the fund compared to S&P 500 or other index

the S&P 500 is the top 500 companies on the market. If a professionally managed fund cannot out performed the unmanaged S&P 500, probably not a good choice.

Portfolio performance is based on:
93.6% Asset Allocation
2.5% Individual Stock and Bond Selection
1.7% Market Timing
2.2% Undetermined
Source: Financial Analysis Journal, July – August 1996

determining the correct invesment is important.

any financial advisor would need more answers to make a proper judgement.

Answer 3

With just $500. The easiest (and probably best) way to get into investing is to open an IRA and invest in mutual funds. There are many funds that have a $250 minimum, so you can get 2 funds.

I recommend starting with one global fund and one US fund. If you want to increase your chances of choosing a good investment, review the track record of the fund. Find a fund with over 10% profits over the last 10 years. Usually the hottest funds from the last 12 months are not going to be the best performers over the next 12 months however.

Good Luck. You can email me if you have any questions.

Answer 4

I was paying a broker too much money for what I was getting. I decided to let go of my broker (in October 2008- which is significant) and invest on my own. My bank offers on-line banking. I made an appointment with the investment banker and she showed me the ropes. I do my own research and I decide which stocks I will buy. I like having the control to buy and sell stocks and I have some good hunches that have made me a nice profit. There are sites that charge a nominal fee, and I truly mean nominal, like $7.00 for a transaction but I prefer investing through my bank. My stock portfolio is there at a click of a button along with my banking. I think you might like going through your bank if you are new to investing. Good luck.

Answer 5

First question to ask is how much risk do you want to assume? How long do you want to invest? (IRA is great for a long term) Then try to think of what kind of return do you want to get. From there you should be able to narrow down the million things one can put money into. After that it is a matter of preference. Mutual funds are a great way to diversify (and reduce risk).

Answer 6

start with $500 and put it in the bank and keep adding to it when u can. When u get enough money in there make a CD out of it so u can't touch it for 4 years

Answer 7

If you are afraid of losing money in the stock market.....STAY OUT.
If you are like me and not afraid of risk my 2 favorite investments are BAC and SPY. You can buy about 9 shares of BAC and collect 2.25 per share in dividends.

BAC= Bank of America
SPY= Spiders.....tracks the SP500 nothing more,nothing less

Answer 8

Scottrade.

If you want to make $15.00 USD after three months (3%) you have to be willing to risk $5.00 USD after three months. (1%)

12% after a year it's a lot of money ($60.00) for a 4% risk ($20.00)

You cannot get something for nothing.

Answer 9

first off why are you investing?.......it amazes me how many people ask this, but do not include why they are investing....short term..long term.......

good advice is more likely if the question is well thought out

Answer 10

http://www.sharebuilder.com