Stock Markets Exposed
Any good stock/investing ideas?
Im almost 17 and have a few thousand... Any ideas what to do with it (specifically)?
Public Comments
- Park it in a couple well-respected mutual funds from Fidelity Investments or Vanguard. A solid growth fund and an S&P 500 Index Fund would be my recommendation. Keep adding a bit every month to each, even if it's just $25. You're going to do great since you're off to an early start, but don't get caught up in trading, or in trying to pick individual stocks now. When you reach a goal, say $100,000 for example, then you could start picking some stocks which you research thoroughly and understand. On your way, stay out of debt!
- 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. Most folks have a dificult time buying a properly balanced portfolio of stocks on their own. They will misbalance their portfolio by buying all small stocks or all growth stocks, or some other misbalanced assortment of stocks. 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 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. 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. 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.)
- Mutual Funds are one option, but they charge too much to manage and 75% of all mutual funds underperform the market. go to : low-cost-stock-recommendations .com Click on the "DRIP's" Button on the Navigation Bar These powerful financial plans are seldom used by beginners, yet they are perfect for everyone. They are safe in up or down markets and provide generous long-term growth If you decide you are interested, click on the "ING" advertisement on the same page. It will answer your next question....which is......how to get started
- Having a diverse portfolio of investments is the best way forward. There are lots of good answers here already, so I won't repeat what they say. I would, however, like to draw your attention to this company, as an interesting and fun way to diversify your investments. Zopa is an online lending and borrowing exchange that lets you lend money directly to individuals with good credit ratings. This cuts out the banks, which have a rather unsporting tendency to pocket a lot of the money before it reaches those saving money with them. With Zopa, you lend the money, so you keep the interest. You also choose the interest rates you're lending at, you choose the duration of the loan, and you choose the credit ratings of the people you lend to. Zopa manages risk very effectively, and I've been using it in the UK for nearly a year now with very good results. It also operates in the US and Italy. If you apply via this link: http://www.zopa.com/member/The%20Hulk it should automatically redirect you to the UK or US site, depending on where you are based, and present you with an attractive introductory offer. In the UK, you get £30 free when you lend more than £500. Hopefully in the US it will be something similar. This is a great addition to my investments, and would highly recommend it. They also give great offers which secures the loyalty of their members.
