I am 21 years old I will have about 200,000 dollars in savings from business, what should I invest it in?

Question

Should I invest in mutual funds? I am not interested in short term gains and I am willing to have a long term investment.

Answer 1

Standard investment advice is that you should invest in a diversified mix of stocks, bonds, and money market funds. You want to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks as individual stocks are too risky. Unless you know what you are doing, it is best to buy 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 aggressively in stock funds, and part conservatively in money market funds and bond funds. Vanguard.com has an on-line questionnaire which will give you an idea of how to do "Asset Allocation," determining how much to put in each type of fund.

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. If you have children, you may want to consider a 529 plan or other college savings plan that grows tax free.

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.

Buying a house instead of renting will save you a lot of money in the long run. You don't have to pay rent and you build equity in your house instead. Buying rental property can also be a good investment. However, being a landlord can be hard work, and many people are not good at it. If you don't know how to handle deadbeat renters, you can have trouble.

If you have high-interest debt, like credit cards, it is best to pay this off first before trying most of the investment ideas above. You should also have 3-6 months of salary saved up as an emergency fund in a bank or money market fund before trying more risky investments.

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.fool.com/school.htm
http://sec.gov/investor/pubs/assetallocation.htm
http://www.diehards.org/readsites.htm
http://finance.yahoo.com/education/begin_investing
http://finance.yahoo.com/funds/basics

Asset Allocation Calculators
(Determining how much to put in stocks and how much into bonds and money markets is a personal decision depending on your financial status. These Asset Allocation questionaires give you a rough idea how to do this. I like Vanguard best, but try some of the other sites as well.)
https://personal.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/FundsInvQuestionnaire?cbdInitTransUrl=https%3A//flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation/education
https://ais2.tiaa-cref.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects.exe/DTAssetAlcEval
http://www.ifa.com/SurveyNET/index.aspx

Web forum: http://www.diehards.org/
(Many investment web forums are overrun by scam artists. This one seems the most legitimate site.)


529 plans: http://www.savingforcollege.com

Answer 2

To my mind overseas investments would be your best choice.

Try to invest in someones existing business. You may receive up to 20% guaranteed interest a year. You will not get such high returns on stocks, mutual funds, bonds or CD's.
If you invest $200,000 at 20% annual interest rate, you will get back $497,664 in 5 years. I run my own business and my net profit is over 5% a month.

Some of the European banks are offering 7% to 14% annual interest rate.
Put your $200,000 on 10-years deposit with 10% APR, and your money will grow to $518,748.49.

Email me at [e-mail] and I'll give you a valuable advice if you are serious about investing. Please don't forget to mention your question and nickname at Y.A.

Best of luck!

Answer 3

First off, I don't believe you. Second off, anyone who GIVES a 21 year old $200,000 is an idiot.

If you want the safest investment, then go to www.ufbdirect.com. They have a 5.11% savings account and this way you can gain at least $10,220 a year in interest.

If you want to do investing, DON'T do a mutual fund. They are garbage and consistently return less that the S&P 500 and DOW.
For the past 50 years, the greatest investor ever is Warren Buffett. He never loses. So the absolute smartest thing would be to buy what he is buying.
Go to www.gurufocus.com and sign up for a free account.
Pick Warren Buffett and it will show you what he bought and sold, the low, high, and average price, and the date of each transaction. It is boring to do this but he has at least 50 years of doing great.

Try that out daddy big bucks and don't buy a house. Real estate is nice but it is very tricky.

Answer 4

I would recommend you not to invest in mutual funds.

There are better ways to get guaranteed high returns.
Check my profile and email me for a free advice if you really want to earn money.

I don't like stocks. I have invested in small business. Now I am earning 2% income monthly (24% annually). I'm sure I'll double my money in 3-4 years.

Answer 5

I am not an expert, but the best tip that I can give you is never put all of your eggs in one basket. As for me, if I was in your position, I would consider mutual funds, bonds, a Roth IRA, and possibly investing a small percentage in a portfolio of stocks ranging from large international corporations to small up and coming businesses. Be very careful when playing the stock market, however...it is very risky. You have many options available to you, and it wouldn't hurt to seek the advice of an investment representative. Good luck!

Answer 6

real estate, with so many foreclosures and bank repos on the market, buy it now and in a few years, when the real estate market rebound, you will make it big.

if you want safer return, buy some mutual funds, check out thornberg funds. Some of the funds i bought there gave me 60% return in 2 years. It's awesome, so your 200k could become 318k in 2 years if you invest wisely.

I still would go the real state route first though

Answer 7

Diversify - don't just invest in one thing. Spend some time learning. You have so much time in front of you, and there's no rush, but if you invest it now, you can do really well. If you make just 11% on your money (average stock market), you can be worth millions eventually.

Answer 8

1

Answer 9

Invest in your bank? CD's or Money Markets...

Answer 10

I am going to have to agree with La High rise on this one, people who have profitable businesses don't just rush to yahoo answers to ask what to do with the proceeds. If you are so willing to take our investment advice, look into buying all the collateralized debt obligations you can find...I am sure you won't have any problems finding someone willing to sell them to you.