how can i find the best way to invest my money?

Question

any new and creative ideas would be useful, thank you!

Answer 1

The best way to start off is to invest in your education, get that degree first. This will open up a lot of doors for you. There's no guarantee, but is shows that you know how to learn and have persistence.

Next, you should invest in your home. Buy a house, stop paying rent and start builiding up equity.

Next, start paying yourself first. Pay off those bills and start investing in the stock market. Start with mutual funds, preferably a good index fund.

If you have the desire and knack, next would be to invest in individual stocks. Learn all you can first.

Technical analysis---moving averages, MACD, stochastics, relative strenght

Fundamental analysis-- EPS, PEG, earings growth, balance sheets, cash flow, debt/equity, sales and revenue growth.

Sector analysis-- monies move into and out of sectors. Watch the ebb and flow of the money. Try to get on the wave and ride the wave.

Not to much new, here; but you didn't give us much to work with, not knowing your age and circumstances.
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Answer 2

Determine what are your goals. If you are willing to take risk, buy into a stock mutual fund that is considered "aggressive growth." You can get into real estate by buying into REITS. There are two funds that I invested in: Vestin I and Vestin II. They trade on the NASDAQ as VRTA and VRTB. You can buy these at a discount now and get maybe a 10% return on your investment.

Answer 3

Invest in yourself... education, your own business, getting out of debt, and/or a long term retirement fund. Diversify. Only invest in things you understand so learn as much as you can on all financial topics. Read... watch tv... talk to experts... and then read more.

Answer 4

Invest in me. I am looking to start a day care. An investor is what I need.

Answer 5

Invest in Apple Computers. You CAN NOT go wrong. Steve Jobs is on the forefront and that stock is going to sky rockets after the iPhone hits.

Answer 6

First off, you need a plan. Figure out what you can realistically invest. Not enough, figure out what you can cut out in your life (You wouldn't believe the difference I realized in just buying my daily soda at the grocery store instead of the convenience store at work.)

Then decide on goals. What do you want to save for? How much can your save for each. (Amazing how many worthless purchases you can avoid by saying, but that would be $5 more towards my (trip, car, house, early retirement nest egg).

Some basic tips:

Calculate about 6 months worth of expenses. Save that in something liquid. I have 2 months as a buffer in my checking, and the other 4 months in an online saving account.

Definately save at least enough to to take advantage of your employer's matching to any 401K/403b plan. That's free money in a tax-defered pocket!

Then its a matter of your goals. Your next bit for your retirement savings should be up to the annual Max contribution you can make to either an IRA or Roth IRA. I ran some numbers awhile back and a Roth is a no Brainer better option for those under 45. Which means, even if you can Max out an IRA or put in the same out less the tax savings in a Roth, the smaller Roth contribution is worth more. After that it becomes a balancing act(with the greater returns you expect keeping the Roth more attractive longer or the longer you think you can go without tapping your retirement funds.) Also with a Roth you won't have to take out RMD's at 70 1/2.
So if your in a family of long lifers, or unlike me a health nut & you expect to have plenty saved elsewhere all factoring towards preferring a Roth.

For your other goals, its a matter of matching up investments to goals. Short term, high priority goals need to be in more liquid investments (liquid means easily turned back into cash with the least variance in your initial investment), Online Savings, Money market mutual funds are options. I would focus with these more on the services they provide matching your needs. I have my 4 month emergency in an HSBC direct because they offer a Tyme (ATM to all you non-cheeseheads) card. MMkt funds often have checks. Paypal surprisingly is one of the best options as long as you can resist the temptation to buy like crazy on eBay.

If you've got the matching covered, your 6 months emergency covered, your Roth/IRA funded for the year, and allocating plenty to met your goals, go back and max out the non-matching portion of your 401K/403b... Some of you may be lucky like me and have the new Roth 401K options already, it works similar to a Roth IRA (Non tax break now, but the deferred earnings aren't taxable when you take them out later). Although try to have a balance so in retirement you can customize your income stream if needed, a little out of the IRA/401k to keep yourself in the lower brackets, and the Roth $ for the rest of your needs.

Short term lower priority goals - This might be, you know you want a new car but it can be anywhere from 3 to 5 years down the road (nice hint, most people have to buy that first car with a loan, but save a little bit more to a savings account the same time you make your current car payment, that's your next car down payment. Now keep paying the same. By your third car you should be free and clear forever of car loans). These can be a little more aggressive, possibly even in a convserative stock fund if the time line is about 5 years+. If you have pre-set date in the future (like college tuition for yourself or teenage child), a zero coupon bond which matures right before might work, but they have funky taxing rules, so read up on them first.


Longer term goals can can be in the market, in funds or if you have the mind to in individual stocks. It will take a little learning on your part but for non-retirement money there can be some tax advantages to investing in individual stocks. You want to have a diversified portfolio of stocks, try to build to about 15 positions as quick as you can to take advantage of the benefits of diversification and then you can add to about 30-40 holdings. Buy low, and try not to sell but if you have to sell really high. Pick good companies. I use Scottrade, and I look at ROE, ROA and I like the Investment Quotent to be high (on the S&P reports). Looks at the economy, figure out what part of the cycle we in, buy what should come alive in the next couple of phases. We seem to be in the US currently in the early-part of the late stages of a bull market (investors are rotating out of small caps which turned up quicker, into large cap which take longer to turn but get therefinancial muscle going in the mid to late stages). Next couple of stages, Techs do well in the late stages (remember the bubble- bull market peak, as the large caps have reaped the benefits of the improving economy and now need to upgrade their technological capacity & improve productive to keep the earnings improving- also I wouldn't expect those incredible bubble days again, you had two influences on that - the wide acceptance of the internet & Y2K spending by companies), banks do well during the decline (Fed cuts rates to ward off recession widening the banks interest spread on loans), consumer non-durables (food, healthcare, household goods) also hold up well during declines.

Lastly, don't underestimate the advantage of having an investment portfolio. They are called securities for a reason. You show me a happy man, and I'll most of the time show you someone who is living beneath his means. Having your money working for you, instead of you always have to go and catch up can change your life. By living a little under your means every year and investing the rest means every year your means get a little lift, and that lift starts to compound.

In "The Millionaire Next Door" - and I apologize I read my brother's copy & have forgetten the author, but I'm pulling his book so I hope he doesn't mind. Scots where one of the two most frequent ethnic groups to be Millionaire's, because they are culturally thrifty, most living as if they made about 15% then they do (and most Americans are trying to live above what they make if the ever increasing credit card debt # are accurate.)

Another book I've recommended here a few times is Andrew Tobias' "The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need." He can walk you through simple ways to handle your personal finances and save. He speaks simply, with a little humor and more often then not tells you why you shouldn't even think of investing somewhere (like Whole Life Insurance and the Commodities Futures market).