In need of some investment tips

[98stangv6]

I have been reading about investing and figured I would ask the wiser people that have been there and done that. About a year ago I put $1000 in a one year CD at the credit union I belong to and now it is about to mature. I honestly don't feel like it was worth it. I want to take the thousand and reinvest it, but would like to make a little more from it. I just turned 22 , so it's something that I can invest and forget about for a few years, but don't want super long term like a Roth IRA. Even though its risky, I keep thinking about taking a good portion of it and purchasing some Ford stock or other type of stock. I could use some direction and suggestions if anyone has one. Thanks.

[93cobra]

safest place for your cash for a while is under your pillow

[Pitbull1052]

I've got all of mine in P&G.... I don't touch it EVER over the past 10 years I've steadily gained about 12%.... mostly depends on if you want long term with less risk less reward or short term with more risk and more reward.....

[Black Horse]

D I V E R S I F Y !!!!

[04 Venom]

Unless you are prepared to do a lot of research, and most people are not--myself included, you are much better off buying mutual funds. I would not hesitate to buy mutual funds now. The key is to make regular contributions.

[02mingryGT]

+2 with Venom. But I also think Ford stock is a good buy right now.

[93cobra]

screw stocks....invest in yourself...whether it be beating down a deal on craigs list buying a $1000 motorcycle & selling it for $1500 3 weeks later or start a business & buy inventory at .50 on the dollar or equipment you can charge good labor using etc.. i know far more people who have become wealthy off their own ventures than off of mutual funds / stocks etc.

steve engel didn't make millions off of p&g stocks etc..

[CNTLOSE]

screw stocks....invest in yourself...whether it be beating down a deal on craigs list buying a $1000 motorcycle & selling it for $1500 3 weeks later or start a business & buy inventory at .50 on the dollar or equipment you can charge good labor using etc.. i know far more people who have become wealthy off their own ventures than off of mutual funds / stocks etc.

steve engel didn't make millions off of p&g stocks etc..

I would agree. I have regular investments and a retirement already set up. When I get a little extra money I find a killer deal on something...usually ends up being a Mustang, clean it up, fix what needs fixed, and sell for a nice little profit.

[Goldenpony]

Buy gold

[Gene]

Buy low, sell high.

[98stangv6]

Wow, there are a lot of differing approaches, I guess my indepth studying begins.

[Badfbdy]

Guns and ammo

[k062693w]

Take the $1,000.00 and open a Whorehouse !!! You may need to run it by hand for a while, But things should Pick Up !!! LMAO !!!


BTW Some good advice above !!!

[Black Horse]

If you want to make a small fortune in the stock market (or racing, or photography, or horses.......)

start with a large fortune!

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

BUY GOLD.


Period. Dot. The. End.

[Gene]

BUY GOLD.


Period. Dot. The. End.

Why would you buy something that is trading at the VERY TOP of the last 20 years?

Buying near or at the top of a market is bad business.

[Walter]

http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=11887

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Why would you buy something that is trading at the VERY TOP of the last 20 years?

Buying near or at the top of a market is bad business.

It's just a solid investment. While the dollar is constantly worth less every day, gold is always worth the same.


In fact, it's a myth that the price of gold even fluctuates....what you see when they say the price of gold has gone up, is really the value of the dollar going down and it takes more dollars to buy the same amount of gold.


Why do you think the gov'ment has so much of it? The price will never be "down" unless the value of the dollar goes up.

[04 Venom]

Why would you buy something that is trading at the VERY TOP of the last 20 years?

Buying near or at the top of a market is bad business.

Good point. Ask the people that bought gold for $1,000 an ounce in 1980 how much money they have made on their investment over the last 29 years.

[Black92LX]

interesting read on investing in gold.
http://lsb.scu.edu/~emcquarrie/goldadv.htm

A little satirical but has a little common sense in the end.

[98stangv6]

Guns and ammo

haha my dad did actually buy me a .22 for my 22nd birthday. I keep trying to track down when Wal-Mart gets their ammo in because it's all gone within about an hour.

[Badfbdy]

haha my dad did actually buy me a .22 for my 22nd birthday. I keep trying to track down when Wal-Mart gets their ammo in because it's all gone within about an hour.

I am a new gun owner so I don't know what prices used to be before. I go to Gander Mountain and I can buy ammo all day long. 22, 9mm, etc.. Is it cause of price or shortage?

[duststang]

invest in stock but learn how to buy and sell first! I turned 1,000 into 6,000 in no time. check out www.mikailov.com and read askbucky post very helpful and free. I go for the fast cash! :)

[MWoods26]

DO YOUR OWN RESERCH AND LEARN WHAT YOU ARE DOING FIRST!!!! A little over a year ago I knew absolutly NOTHING about stocks. I had just got a $20,000.00 sign on bonus from the Navy reserves and decided to invest it. I opened a TDameritrade account and looked at a few stocks I liked. When I say stocks I like I mean the stuff I like. Ford, Chipotle, (I love burritos) CAT and John Deere, (Im a Union Equipment Operator) National City, (thats where I bank) and a few others that are just stuff im into. I finally decided On Chipotle because I love that place and everytime I walk into one there is a line so I figured how could I go wrong? knowing nothing about diversification in April of 2008 I bought 20g worth of CMG (195 shares) at alittle over 100 bucks a share. It was never as High as the day I bought it and in October of 2008 I sold it at 57 a share for about 11g. I had been watching a lot of CNBC, reading things on the web, and studying lots of charts/paterns and decided to start day trading it. since learning A TON I have turned that 11g into over 50g. If I can stay this good/lucky I will never sit on a peice of equipment again. Like my buddy Jim Cramer says "Tips are for waiters! Do your homework."

[Timido]

Jim Cramer is a cool dude.

[Dirtyd0g]

I read a bit on gold and it is supposed to be a scam. A very bad investment right now. I have to agree with the first response however I was thinking coffee cans buried in the back yard.
Alan

[Timido]

I think your $1000 CD is well worth it. You could have pissed the money away on somthing you really dont need or you could make $30 Take that money and start investing new money a little at a time over the long run you will protect the money you have. Its called Dollar Cost Averaging it reduces the risk you take in the market. Do not put you money in one place. You are doing the right thing by doing your homework.

Look at it this way you are 22 start now long term in Roth IRAs or traditional IRAs for your retirement. That $1000 in a retirement fund for 30 years would be worth about $10,000 at about 7-8% average I wish I would have started saving sooner.

[Timido]

I am a new gun owner so I don't know what prices used to be before. I go to Gander Mountain and I can buy ammo all day long. 22, 9mm, etc.. Is it cause of price or shortage?

Gander Mountain I have heard is expensive.

[Gearhead]

Jim Cramer is a cool dude.

He's ok now, but back in 2006 when he was a hedge fund manager he wasn't so cool.

Words directly from him when he was a hedge fund manager:

"A lot of times when I was short at my hedge fund, and I was positioned short, meaning I needed it down, I would create a level of activity beforehand that could drive the futures. It doesn't take much money. Or if I were long and I would want to make things a little bit rosy, I would go in and take a bunch of stocks and make sure they are higher — maybe commit $5 million in capital and I could affect it."

"If I wanted it to go higher, I would take and bid, take and bid, take and bid, and if I wanted it to go lower, I'd hit and offer, hit and offer, hit and offer. And I could get a stock like RIMM for maybe — that might cost me $15 to $20 million to knock RIMM down — but it would be fabulous, because it would beleaguer all the moron longs who are also keying on Research in Motion."

"Hit the brokerage houses with a series of orders that can push it down, then leak it to the press, and then get it on CNBC — that's also very important. And then you have a kind of a vicious cycle down. It's a pretty good game."

This is market manipulation clear and simple, although it's legal, it's unethical and hurts the small investors like us.

[Gearhead]

Look at it this way you are 22 start now long term in Roth IRAs or traditional IRAs for your retirement. That $1000 in a retirement fund for 30 years would be worth about $10,000 at about 7-8% average I wish I would have started saving sooner.

Good advice, if you contribute 2K per year to an IRA from age 22 to age 60 and average a 7% yearly return, you'd have approx. 350K at age 60.
If you only averaged 5% yearly, it'd still be worth over 200K.

[98stangv6]

I think your $1000 CD is well worth it. You could have pissed the money away on somthing you really dont need or you could make $30 Take that money and start investing new money a little at a time over the long run you will protect the money you have. Its called Dollar Cost Averaging it reduces the risk you take in the market. Do not put you money in one place. You are doing the right thing by doing your homework.

Look at it this way you are 22 start now long term in Roth IRAs or traditional IRAs for your retirement. That $1000 in a retirement fund for 30 years would be worth about $10,000 at about 7-8% average I wish I would have started saving sooner.

Good point. I guess it's just so hard to start looking at retirement and the long haul at my age. I am trying to force myself to. The CD was good in the sense that it forced me to not touch the money, I just expected a little more out of it.

[04 Venom]

Good point. I guess it's just so hard to start looking at retirement and the long haul at my age. I am trying to force myself to. The CD was good in the sense that it forced me to not touch the money, I just expected a little more out of it.

At 2% interest, it will take 36 years for a CD to double in value from $1k to $2k. The long term rate of return for the S & P 500 index averages about 10% per year (the average from 1871 to date); using that as an average, it would take 7.2 years to double your money, without adding anything to the principal. The key to investing is DISCIPLINE. Making weekly or monthly contributions to a mutual fund will achieve dollar cost averaging as Timido points out. It is the most reliable way to build wealth over the long term. A no-load mutual fund, such as an S & P index fund, has the lowest administrative costs and provides the maximum diversity.

Some have advocated day trading as a means of increasing returns. WRONG. The average day trader loses money; it is a highly risky way of investing and requires a LOT of research to have a chance of being successful. No reputable investment adviser will recommend day trading as an option for an average investor.

[duststang]

DO YOUR OWN RESERCH AND LEARN WHAT YOU ARE DOING FIRST!!!! A little over a year ago I knew absolutly NOTHING about stocks. I had just got a $20,000.00 sign on bonus from the Navy reserves and decided to invest it. I opened a TDameritrade account and looked at a few stocks I liked. When I say stocks I like I mean the stuff I like. Ford, Chipotle, (I love burritos) CAT and John Deere, (Im a Union Equipment Operator) National City, (thats where I bank) and a few others that are just stuff im into. ."

I had to learn the hard way also!
Once you start making money you will get the fever. Just dont let your emotions take over when trading. Make rules & stick to them!
The only thing is that I dont listen to Jim Cramer or the news. The times I did is the only time I lost money. Chart reading is really important for day trading. I buy stock options and trade futurs now. (4X) This is the best bang for buck.

[FireStang02]

invest in stock but learn how to buy and sell first! I turned 1,000 into 6,000 in no time. check out www.mikailov.com and read askbucky post very helpful and free. I go for the fast cash! :)

I agree with this. I made over 10 thousand off Citibank in 2 weeks when it tanked a few months ago.