I am 24 and have $12,000 to invest. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

First, I would make sure you have at least 3 months salary saved up in the bank or in a money market fund for an emergency fund. (Some people say 6 months.) Financial disasters like getting layed off or sick happen to all of us.

Second, I would pay off all high interest debt. Pay off everything you can except the house mortgage and student loans. Paying off debt is one of the best investments you can make. You will have more money in the future because you won't have credit card bills to pay. (Depending on the rates, you may want to pay off the mortgage and student loans as well.)

Third, start investing in stocks, bonds, and money market funds. You want to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks, as individual stocks are too risky. For most folks this means buying mutual funds. I like Vanguard.com, other people like Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, and DFA. Buy no-load, low cost funds. If you are like most people you will invest part of your money conservatively, in money market funds and bond funds, and part aggressively in stock funds. Vanguard.com has an on-line questionnaire which will give you an idea how aggressive you want to be.

I like index funds. Because of their broad diversification, you are less likely to have a dramatic drop in value. They also have the lowest expenses. For stock funds, I would suggest putting ~70-80% of your money in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. and ~20-30% in a foreign stock index fund.

Investing in a mutual fund IRA for retirement may give you an income tax break. Talk to your tax adviser. You may also be able to invest in a mutual fund via a 401K plan at work. Buying a house instead of renting will make you a lot of money in the long run.

Believing advice you get on Yahoo answers can be risky, so read these websites for further information. If you find it too confusing, contact a professional financial advisor. They will charge you significant commissions, however.

http://www.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation
http://finance.yahoo.com/funds
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/scottburns/columns/2007/vitindex.html
http://www.fool.com/school.htm
http://sec.gov/investor/pubs/assetallocation.htm
https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/FundsInvQuestionnaire?cbdInitTransUrl=https%3A//flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation/education

Answer 2

1) First if you haven't already saved 9 months of Bill Payments saved up in CASH (Money market, or Short Term CD's) somewhere I would put ALL of a portion of it there first. [You may think 9 months of your Bill Payment to be a lot, but think of this, it is an emergency Fund and if you lose your job it is taking 6-9 months on average to find a job. Unemployement doesnt pay much so you need this reserve of CASH.

2) If you already have your SAVINGS, then Open a Roth-IRA or contribute to one that you have already. If you didn't contribute in 2006 you can contribute up to $4000 for 2006 and $4000 for 2007. Invest the money in the Account in an Indexed Mutual Fund (VFINX) or ETF (IVV or SPY).

3) Put the remaining money also into an Indexed Mutual Fund or ETF but in a personal account

4) If this $12,000 represents less than 20% of your total Investments/Savings and you have already set up your Emergency account and maxed out your IRA contributions - Look to invest in Stocks if you'd like - but you should hold a minimum of 5 stocks in different sectors.

Answer 3

Land is a good choice. Many a self-made millionaire were made that way from Real-Estate. And most of them started in flipping. Buying a fixer-upper fixing it up yourself and selling it. Places to start looking into this may be your local real estate investment club/organization/etc. If you don't want to do the actual fixing you could just loan it to a flipper in need of cash (They always are looking) for a piece of the profit. Talk with real estate professionals (Agents, Flippers, Investors) in your area I am sure they will be able to help you turn your 12k into much much more.

Also stay away from the seminars. They will take your 12k and you will have learned squat.

Answer 4

1:You can go 'safe' and buy a 6, 12, or 18 month CD from your local bank. This locks you into their rate of interest but also locks the money away for that time. You are guaranteed that interest rate back at the end of the period.
2:You can go 'risky' and buy shares based on your research for short and long term gain.
3: $12k is not a lot to split but you can between option 1 and 2.

Answer 5

Silver coins. It's some work , but it pays fast.

I've flipped silver coins on eBay for about a year, never failed me. I can make average 10% per transaction, up to today, I've made on average 200 a month. I never had even $1000 to invest.

I'd love to show you how I did it, and I promise you it costs nothing for my advice, nor am I selling you anything that benefits me at all.

Answer 6

If you are renting I'd invest in a condo or townhouse - property is usually a good investment plus the interest that you pay on the loan is tax deductable.

Answer 7

OIL

Look up stock quote- (USO) United States Oil

Oil is low right now. My educated guess is that it will go up a lot this summer.

Commodities- Gold,copper,lumber etc.

You cant lose with these historically sound investments

Go talk to a financial advisor and run some ideas past them.

Answer 8

Property is the best investment but you don't have enough so shares are a good idea.

Answer 9

Open a brokerage account at Zecco and drop me a line.

I will help you for FREE.

Top 4 Answerer.

Answer 10

Property is the best investment.