investing my money?

Question

well im a student and i've managed to save up some money. i would like to take out some of my money.. say $2000 and invest it somewhere... its a small amount but its all i can afford right now.. what are my options? i have no knowledge in banking and finance and investing.. so please explain it as simple as you can . thanks

Answer 1

It all depends upon how much return you want and the risk you are willing to take for that. If you want low return-low risk then invest into CD's with your saving's bank (you need to open up the saving's account with a bank in good standing). If you want moderate return and moderate risk, then you should invest into mutual funds (you need to open up the account with the brokerage firm such as Fidelity, TDwaterhouse etc.), If you want high return-high risk combination then you have to start learning to trade stocks (open up the account with brokerage firm as above). If you want very high-return with very high risk, then options would be the way to go (but I won't advise that for beginners because it needs understanding of the stock market first).

My suggestion for you: Go with the mutual funds for now and invest and build up your portfolio from there. As you understand the financial market better, you can make good judgement about how to go from there next. Good luck!.

Answer 2

The best thing (and probably the only thing) you can do with $2000 is keep it a savings account. I sense that you might be tempted to open a brokerage account with the $2000, which is the minimum most online discount brokers such as InteractiveBrokers, Ameritrade, Etrade, Scottrade, etc require to open a basic account. I advise you not to do it. The commissions they charge for a trade is at least $10 for one way trade, $20 for a round trip trade (that is buy and then sell) that's 1 percent of your $2000. Just by making the first trade, you will have lost 1 persent. On top of that, the stock can go either way. the point is unless you have a lot more money, don't bother, otherwise you will only enrich your broker.

Answer 3

You can open a coverdell account at Scottrade.com, then I believe you can take the money out tax-free for college or your first home. To find out how to invest do 2 things: read "The Little Book that Beats the Market", this is a short book that will teach you the fundamentals of investing. Then go to http://www.top10traders.com to see what the best investors are buying and selling. 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. There is also a charting feature , so you can see how your portfolio performs compared to the S&P 500.

Here are this month's best traders:

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

Good luck.

Answer 4

Grab a pen and a piece of paper (seriously... do this). Write down all the stores and companies you frequently buy things from or use products from. Then go to yahoo finance and go to the search company box. Enter in each company and find out which companies are public companies. Once you have figured that out, go ahead and learn a little about each of those companies. Investing in stocks isn't investing in some magical share that goes up or down... investing in stocks means that you are buying a small portion of an actual company. Find a company you really like, read up on it. Do some homework. Investing in a company that you actual like will help you learn many things about investing and keep it at a real level. Plus everytime you walk in to shop or use a product from that company you can say to yourself 'im a proud owner' and smile. If your going to spend most of your money with that company you might as well own it :-)

Answer 5

Giver your low tolerance for risk (due to the small amount at stake) I would put 100% of the money in a mutual funds. There are hundreds available and participations in them may be bought in almost any bank. You may use sites such as www.bloomberg.com or www.morningstar.com to monitor mutual funds, find out about their investment strategy and past financial performance. There are mutual funds investing in indexes such as Dow Jones, S&P 500, NASDAQ, etc. Others invest in specific industries such as real estate, consumer products, etc.

The advantage comes from a pooling of funds by many investors, thus reducing trading costs. If you go for individual stocks, your trading commissions will eat away most of your profit.

Other low-risk options include treasury bonds and certificates of deposits available in any bank. Hope this helps.

Answer 6

Most people can start investing by buying mutual funds. Of course, the best thing to do is to learn how to invest. But for most people, investing is not their cup of tea. Hence, the mutual funds. You can ask your friends and relatives which funds they recommend. Many funds allow you to start with as little as 1000 and you can contribute as small as 100 dollar each month afterward. As your investment grow bigger, you might want to use your fund as a deposit to buy a property. You can live in that property or rent it out. Again, this is if investing is not your cup of tea. I suggest you read some good books about investing. One I recommend is Winning Investment Habits of Master Investor by Mark Tier.

Answer 7

I would recommend you to start forex trading. Forex is very exciting and profitable business.
Following books would be useful:
Market Wizards by Jack D. Schwager;
Technical Analysis by Jack D. Schwager;

Comprehensive Course on The Wave Principle by A.J. Frost and Robert Prechter;

Candlestick Charting Explained- Timeless Techniques for Trading Stocks and Futures by Gregory L. Morris;

Trading Chaos – Applying Expert Techniques to Maximize Your Profit by Bill M. Williams;
New Trading Dimensions by Bill M. Williams
Trading Chaos II by Bill Williams – Maximize Profits with Proven Technical Techniques by Justin Gregory-Williams and Bill M. Williams

I could introduce you to one brokerage company in Austria that allows to trade from same account currency (forex), commodities, metals and cfd on shares; total 500 instruments available. If you open trading account under my referral I provide you for free with trading techniques that I successfully use for several years and you’ll get my assistance in the future.

Answer 8

Do Your homework on the stocks You wish to invest in and don't put all Your bucks on the same duck.-or- seek a reliable broker and let them invest for You. The fees reflect their expertise.

Answer 9

Go to sharebuilder.com and invest! There's a learning guide on how to invest!

Answer 10

great for beginers,and people with no extra time to watch market,stocks,etc , I would recomend Forex trading with 4xgenie service- http://4xgenie.com - they will do majority of work for you, it is really good way to trade/earn profit. Promo code for free trial is MSMS555 . Good luck!