How would you invest $60,000?

Question

I don't really follow financial stuff, but I have $60,000 in the bank that I know I should invest, I also have another $10,000 in my checking account. But I'm afraid of losing it, so I don't buy any stocks or mutual funds. I'm planning on buying a house in the next year or two, so I'll need about $40,000 for a down payment. Any advice would be helpful, but no I'm not signing anything over to you.

What type of mutual funds do you recommend? There are countless mutual funds.

Answer 1

Hi Jeremy,

It could take years researching and learning how to profitably invest in stocks- thats why most professional financial planners recommend a mutual fund geared towards a specific retirement date. These funds allocate themselves between stocks, bonds, and free cash while balancing risk/reward predicated upon your target retirement date. It's simple cause there is only need to purchace one fund. I like Vanguard target retirement funds because they don't cost as much to manage. Here's a link to all vanguard funds (including target retirement funds)
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/FundsByName
You'll need a broker. If your a do it yourselfer you can set up an online account with a compnay like TD Ameritrade or Etrade. If you like lots of help you can set up an account with someone like Fidelity.
If you need access to your money then don't set up a retirement account. If you can sit on your investment until your 59 1/2 yrs old then definately set up a retirement account. Either a Roth IRA, Traditioanl IRA, or a 401K (this is a whole different discussion).

If I were you, I'd put the house down payment of 40K in an online money market account to grow at ~5% (ie... AMtrust direct) And then invest the rest in stocks.

If your risky I would go with a China stock (fastest growing economy + 2008 Olympics)

Here's a couple of picks that I personally own...
1. China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (ADR) (Public, NYSE:SNP) http://finance.google.com/finance?q=snp&hl=en&meta=hl%3Den

2. China Yuchai International Limited (Public, NYSE:CYD)
http://finance.google.com/finance?q=cyd&hl=en&meta=hl%3Den

If you go this route, make sure to buy and hold- don't just sell as soon as you've made a little money.

I don't know why I wrote this much, just want save someone the trouble that I went through I guess!

Answer 2

Rather than invest in an institution where you dont know what happens to your money including how much goes on administration charges, perhaps a BES investment might suit you. You can invest either into a fund, there are 4 of them in Ireland or directly into a company if you know one which looking for investment. Either way, I know you could do enough research to get familiar with the promoters involved and suss out how risky the investment is. One of the main attractions is that you get tax relief in the year you are investing so for example if you invested say 30,000 and your marginal tax rate is 30% then you will get a refund of 9,000 back from the revenue. If you invested say in a fund which was well spread across a number of companies then you probably have a good chance of your capital also being returned after the 5 year term. That would be a return of 6% per annum (30% divided by 5 years) which is well above deposit rates. Hope that helps.

Answer 3

If you're looking into buying a house withing the next two years I would sa put as much as you can handle into a 2 yr CD, It's got a really nice interest back & it's SUPER safe b/c it's backed by government. Good luck & congrats on saving the $ thus far- remember that the bigger the risk, the bigger reward-- but keep in mind that rewards in millions can't replace loss of everything. Weigh out what you can afford to lose & then decide where to invest, meet with a bank rep & mutual fund person, get some feedback & then decide.GOOD LUCK!

Answer 4

put the $60,000 in a CD or something fairly liquid. Then after you get the house, use some money for fix-up and still have 3 month's worth available. If there's anything left, start with some fund that pays a predictable 4-6% and go from there.

Answer 5

Pay the down payment for the house - buying house is always a sound investment but really survey the house - is in a good location, nothing wrong with it - the wiring, the pipes system - the soil - the roof, everything - the sink - the kitchen - you know what I mean.

All the best - the money is your own hard earn then get a house is the best answer I can offer - not like you have 600,000K

Answer 6

I would buy the house with the $40K, keep the $20, and begin investing in a Roth IRA with the money you make every year. This scenario will leave you an emergency fund also. In the long term, your Roth will be growing tax free, and over a long period of time, a good fund will minimize your risk, and beat anything you would make in the bank. Barring another depression.

Answer 7

Invest 60% in the following stock

Apple (AAPL)
Google (GOOG).
Shaw Communications (SJR)
Schering-Plough (SGP).

Invest 30 % in mutual funds
Keep 5% with you
Invest 55 in Bonds

Answer 8

Mutual fund

Answer 9

Well... what do u dream of? I mean that is a lot of good money there I dont know where u live but it depends... u have to check out what kind of business work and invest in something that will make enough money and u will have to add a little bit of creativeness so it works... follow your heart

Answer 10

If you are averse to mutual funds, stick with bank CDs and treasury issues (http://www.treasurydirect.gov ).