How would you invest 300,000 dollars?

Question

Not interested in buying anymore real estate. I want to try something new. I have been playing around with sharebuilder to learn about stocks. How can I learn more about the stock market and where to invest? I really want to get into stocks but I don't know where to start.

Also, any ideas on a what kind of business I could get into? Right now i'm just a stay at home mom.

Thanks for any advice!

I have already put a large sum of our net worth in real estate, i'm looking for something other then that. I don't want to put all of our money into one type of investment.

Answer 1

You should invest 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.

If your company offers a 401K plan at work, try to invest the most you can. The money grows tax free, and some companies will match your contribution. Investing in a mutual fund IRA is also a good idea.

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. However, there are many different opinions out there on what the best mutual funds are. Read the links below and form your own opinion.

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.

Sources:

http://www.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation
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

Alternative Investment option :

Forex : Why does Forex Markets make for a better option for investments :
1)Most liquid market : more than 1.5Trillion $ are traded every day, hence there is never a shortage of liquidity.
2) You can make money in a bull and a bear market, thats whether the markets move up or down.
3) It is a 24hr market and you can trade any time of the day.
4) There is no confusion as to what you have to select for trading as there are about 4-6 major currencies which are the ones traded the most. Unlike stock markets where there might be hundred of stocks.
5) The forex markets trend much more smoother and hence it is easier to make money in forex markets.
6) You dont pay huge commissions on trading.

There are more reasons why the Forex Market is the most dynamic and lucrative market to invest in.

If you are not comfortable to trade or dont have the time or expertise to do so, you can always get your money managed by Forex money managers.

If you require more information, buzz me and I will assist you with this.

Regards

Answer 3

First off, do you have a specific goal for the money? Saving for retirement, kids college tuition, etc? Or is this 300K extra money that you just want to play with for maximum return?

One thing I would do is take about 50K and put it into something like CDs. Start out with 10K in each of five accounts with terms of 1-5 years. Then each year roll-over the one that matures into a 5 year account with higher rates. In this way you keep a portion of the money liquid for easy access in the case of an emergency.

I would also recommend putting some portion into mutual funds. The basic idea is to keep part of your money in low risk investments to help protect you from devastating loses in the event of a market crash.

You really might want to consider seeing a financial planner because they will spend the time to find out your specific goals and then tailor your investment strategy to best help you realize those goals.

Answer 4

Real estate is your best bet especially if you know it. The stock market can be tricky because even when you're very knowledgeable you can still lose a lot of money. I've been following the stock market for a long time and I learned the most from successful investors and experts on MS-NBC.

Answer 5

The best thing I could say to invest in a near fail safe investment would be real estate. It rarely loses value. The only catch is the expenses associated with it such as Taxes and repairs if you rented/leased the property. Can definetly be profitable. That is the only thing that I feel is not risky. Sorry if you want something new.

Answer 6

this relies upon on your objectives and threat tolerance. in case you could settle for bigger threat for a bigger return, take a seem at a basket of Canadian royalty have confidence money. a lot of them pay month-to-month dividends, taxed at 15% that's withheld with the help of your broking provider as foreign places tax paid. you could seek for evaluations on the shares, and that i might seem to take a place your money with a view in all the financial photograph. I even have individually invested in countless those trusts over the final 2 years. The shares I very own yield between 10 - 15% each year and are power shares - oil, organic gas or coal. of direction, those shares are risky and can bypass up or down in fee, so save that for the duration of strategies. in case you won't be in a position to arise with the money for to lose the money and want a low threat option, in basic terms positioned money into US Treasury bonds, or municipal bonds in case you reside in a extreme tax state. Its a complicated situation, and while you're undecided on the thank you to take a place, i might advise getting expert advice incredibly than in basic terms posting to a board like this the place you don't comprehend who's replying! Its countless money, so take the alternative heavily.

Answer 7

To learn how to invest properly, I always recommend leading financial website The Motley Fool, and particular this section:
http://www.fool.com/school/basics/basics.htm

Probably wouldn't hurt to have a poke around here, either:
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/warrenbuffet.asp

For US Stocks, I'd maybe suggest investing in
WALMART (WMT)
Anheuser-Busch (BUD)
Toyota (TM)
Google (GOOG)
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) - currently trading @ $108,000+ a share

Or if you fancy having a go at foreign investing on the London Stock exchange, I'd suggest one of these:
HBOS (HBOS.L)
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L)

Answer 8

Charles Schwab has some great investment advice on their website schwabplan.com

Answer 9

Try the following:
http://howthemarketworks.com/trading/index.php?src=yahoo
and/or -
http://www.zecco.com/default.aspx

Answer 10

buy a house and rent it and make more money.do some thing a but buying and selling.