Anyone into Investment?

I had been saving my money up to get a new truck for a long time, after buying the truck I found I liked, and after getting tires,ins,set back some just in case.
I still have about 3grand to play with, I want to invest it in something where I can trully see it grow, however I want something that is a norisk investment.
First off is there such as a norisk investment that pays out
And Secondly how would you all sugest I invest it, savings accounts and CD's gives so little it seems like a waste of time. I know it all adds up but is their any way to make it add up faster?

On a side note I am only 19, Going to college full time, I work a very minimum of hours due to school, just enough to cover gas and insurance...so sadly I wont be able to really add to it like I had originally planned.

And no offence to some but please only post if you have genuine advise, no joking please. That is why I posted it in this part of the forum.

The short answer is NO. There is no "investment" that is non-risk.

Secondly , accepting risk is the bottomline to "investing".

Non-risk investment vehicles such as savings accounts, CDs and bonds are negative producers when inflation and taxes are taken into account.

With your goals and the amount of money I would look at US Savings Bonds. There are several options. Plus you do not pay income tax until the Bonds are redeemed and unless something has changed you pay no state income tax.

There are several websites to explain US EE savings bonds, TIPS and I-bonds.

Good Luck.

jimbo4116 said:

The short answer is NO. There is no "investment" that is non-risk.

Secondly , accepting risk is the bottomline to "investing".

Non-risk investment vehicles such as savings accounts, CDs and bonds are negative producers when inflation and taxes are taken into account.

With your goals and the amount of money I would look at US Savings Bonds. There are several options. Plus you do not pay income tax until the Bonds are redeemed and unless something has changed you pay no state income tax.

There are several websites to explain US EE savings bonds, TIPS and I-bonds.

Good Luck.

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thank you I handt thought about those.

the only reason i said no-risk was because my parents had went through an investment company and went with the low risk to be safe, well it built up a lot of money for years and years, but even at low risk it has lost probably 4-6K
over the past three or four years.

on a side note back when my dad had worked for north west,they had given him a lot of stock in place of cut backs and such,he said they said it was guaranteed to be worth a Minimum of 40K. sadly it only a thousand and something.
We were going to pursue that guarantee, but he said since they went bankrupt we wouldnt be able to get anything. is that true or is that just what the company wants us to beleive?

Are us bonds safe? From the way I read this the first 6 months will make nothing and then if the economy picks up it will make whatever up until 3.36%. I would hate to get my money locked into something that does not pay out...

"I Savings Bonds, as indicated above, now currently have a rate of 0%. Unfortunately for I Savings Bond holders, this rate applies to ALL I Bonds for the next 6 month period. This rate will begin for your bond on the bond's next 6 month anniversary.

Why does this rate apply to ALL I Bond holders? The greatest fixed rate of any I Bond ever issued is 3.6%, others have less (see the I Bond fixed rate chart below). The current variable rate is -5.56%. Adding the fixed and the variable rate of the best fixed rate earning I bond you would normally get -1.96%. Due to the special rules of I Bonds that state no bond will ever lose value, the lowest rate an I Savings Bond can ever have is 0%."

Roth IRA !!!!!
Start now, and let it build!!!! Don't touch it till you retire!

olchevy said:

Are us bonds safe? From the way I read this the first 6 months will make nothing and then if the economy picks up it will make whatever up until 3.36%. I would hate to get my money locked into something that does not pay out...

"I Savings Bonds, as indicated above, now currently have a rate of 0%. Unfortunately for I Savings Bond holders, this rate applies to ALL I Bonds for the next 6 month period. This rate will begin for your bond on the bond's next 6 month anniversary.

Why does this rate apply to ALL I Bond holders? The greatest fixed rate of any I Bond ever issued is 3.6%, others have less (see the I Bond fixed rate chart below). The current variable rate is -5.56%. Adding the fixed and the variable rate of the best fixed rate earning I bond you would normally get -1.96%. Due to the special rules of I Bonds that state no bond will ever lose value, the lowest rate an I Savings Bond can ever have is 0%."

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Not making a recomendation. You ask for non risk investments. Any fixed rate instrument is going to be low.
The advantage to these bonds over bank issues is no income tax to pay until you redeem and exemption from state income tax.

That said you are not going to see any growth without risk.
As it seems you are very young, $3000 put in a growth mutual fund for the next 40 years would give you a pretty nice nest egg especially if it is in a tax free Roth IRAS. I would look at that verses a new truck.

US savings bonds, just do it, then forget you have the bonds if you don't want any risk.

zachary.schofield said:

I think you can still add money to every month; you were able to save up for the truck. Find a SNP500or 1000 index mutual fund and buy into it, typical a $3000minimum while it has some risk it spreads your money over 500 or a 1000 companies, so less risk. Once you have it set up start a monthly investment of 25 or 50 dollars into it. This will dollar cost average your money and lower the risk. This is done buy when the market is up your $50 will buy less new stock but you’ll be up overall, when the market is down your $50 will buy a higher amount of stock. Starting your investments now ( when your young) is incredibly important.

At 8% growth
Start now at $3000 to start and $50 a month and in forty years when you retire there will be $248,534.22 in your account.
Wait till your 29 to start and with the same investments you’ll only have $107,821.95.

As a college student I know cash is tight but skip one night at the bar per month then in 40 years, you can spend every night at the bar if you want to. I hope this helped.

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Best advice in this thread.

Don't be foolish though as I was. I started one mutual fund at age 16 with $500. Cashed it out at about age 32, to buy a truck for my wife.. I contributed 25 bucks a month for 16 years. Roughly a $5300 investment total, brought me 16,000+/- a few bucks. I was an idiot to cash it out, but was in a tight for money, and she needed a decent ride.

The CD route is a safe route, if you want to retain your "right" to get to the money(although you will likely have to pay a penalty). My wife and I recently realized a $4000 profit from a real estate deal, and put it all in a CD. My reasoning being that given the financial climate we are in, I felt betterabout having the ability to access the funds in an emergency. I have several other retirement accounts, plus a guaranteed pension when the time comes for that.

zachary.schofield said:

I think you can still add money to every month; you were able to save up for the truck. Find a SNP500or 1000 index mutual fund and buy into it, typical a $3000minimum while it has some risk it spreads your money over 500 or a 1000 companies, so less risk. Once you have it set up start a monthly investment of 25 or 50 dollars into it. This will dollar cost average your money and lower the risk. This is done buy when the market is up your $50 will buy less new stock but you’ll be up overall, when the market is down your $50 will buy a higher amount of stock. Starting your investments now ( when your young) is incredibly important.

At 8% growth
Start now at $3000 to start and $50 a month and in forty years when you retire there will be $248,534.22 in your account.
Wait till your 29 to start and with the same investments you’ll only have $107,821.95.

As a college student I know cash is tight but skip one night at the bar per month then in 40 years, you can spend every night at the bar if you want to. I hope this helped.

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Best advice given so far. Index funds are low risk.

However, most things have gone down over the past 3-4 years. But you are 19...you've got time. Time is something that no amount of money can buy. The stock market has averaged around 15% growth every year since the 1930's.

Learn what the "rule of 72" is. Learn what compounding interest is. Whatever your interest rate is, divide 72 by it and that will be how many years it takes your money to double.

So...lets say you avg 10% return on your savings. Every 7.2 years your money will double.

3k becomes 6 when you're 26. 6 becomes 12 when you're 33. 12 becomes 24 when you're 40. 24 becomes 48 when you're 47. 48 becomes 96 when your 54. 96 becomes 192 when your 61 and 192 becomes 384 when your 68.

At that is if you never touch the $3k again. The key to having tons of money when you retire is to start early.

zachary.schofield said:

I think you can still add money to every month; you were able to save up for the truck. Find a SNP500or 1000 index mutual fund and buy into it, typical a $3000minimum while it has some risk it spreads your money over 500 or a 1000 companies, so less risk. Once you have it set up start a monthly investment of 25 or 50 dollars into it. This will dollar cost average your money and lower the risk. This is done buy when the market is up your $50 will buy less new stock but you’ll be up overall, when the market is down your $50 will buy a higher amount of stock. Starting your investments now ( when your young) is incredibly important.

At 8% growth
Start now at $3000 to start and $50 a month and in forty years when you retire there will be $248,534.22 in your account.
Wait till your 29 to start and with the same investments you’ll only have $107,821.95.

As a college student I know cash is tight but skip one night at the bar per month then in 40 years, you can spend every night at the bar if you want to. I hope this helped.

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I must agree it sounds like the best advise I have heard. Oh I cant really add to it because back then I was working 35+ hours a week when I was saving for my truck. Now due to school and workplace cutbacks I only average a measley 10 hours a week, so now I have just enough to cover gas and insurance(but I still have a job that can work with me when need be). ON the bar thing ...lol...I dont really get out.....ever....or drink.... school & work and for fun I go in the woods and build random stuff out of whatever I come across, or stalk animals and see how close I can get (yesterday I came within two yards of a red fox before he knew I was there,never been that close to one before, it was neat!) to occupy my time and not spend any money. I can try and swing an extra fifty or so out each month but it will be Belt Busting Tight....

Remember I am doing this 3000 part for a nest egg/retirement someday, I do not want to ever touch it till then, only add to it, basically pretend like I dont have it.I have a seperate savings for "rainy days/Good new days"(house, new truck or truck problems, sickness etc.) that I would like to still put into monthly so I am going to be really stretching it now, but in 2 years I will be completley done with college, at which point I will get a full time job and be able to add much larger amounts to each monthly.

Now on the SNP500 or 1000 index is this something I can just straight out buy into or is this something I must go to a company to buy into, if I do have to go to a company which one would you suggest?

olchevy said:

I must agree it sounds like the best advise I have heard. Oh I cant really add to it because back then I was working 35+ hours a week when I was saving for my truck. Now due to school and workplace cutbacks I only average a measley 10 hours a week, so now I have just enough to cover gas and insurance(but I still have a job that can work with me when need be). ON the bar thing ...lol...I dont really get out.....ever....or drink.... school & work and for fun I go in the woods and build random stuff out of whatever I come across, or stalk animals and see how close I can get (yesterday I came within two yards of a red fox before he knew I was there,never been that close to one before, it was neat!) to occupy my time and not spend any money. I can try and swing an extra fifty or so out each month but it will be Belt Busting Tight....

Remember I am doing this 3000 part for a nest egg/retirement someday, I do not want to ever touch it till then, only add to it, basically pretend like I dont have it.I have a seperate savings for "rainy days/Good new days"(house, new truck or truck problems, sickness etc.) that I would like to still put into monthly so I am going to be really stretching it now, but in 2 years I will be completley done with college, at which point I will get a full time job and be able to add much larger amounts to each monthly.

Now on the SNP500 or 1000 index is this something I can just straight out buy into or is this something I must go to a company to buy into, if I do have to go to a company which one would you suggest?

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You can just buy them....start up an account at e-trade or something like that. Google S&P 500 index funds or just index funds and you'll have a list of them. I know the Nasdaq index fund is QQQ. You buy it like a stock. It is just based on the stocks that make up the Nasdaq.

Sounds like you've done a good job. I would say, don't ever put a car/truck in a "good new" spend category. Depreciating assets should never be classified as good. Necessary...sometimes yes...but not good.

Most common mistake that people make right out of college is buying a $35-45k job when they make $35-45k per year. Buy used...pay cash...and you'll be far ahead of the curve.

I am going agaisnt the grain. I have a high 5 figure amount of cash that I have sitting in a money market checking right now. Cash is king and I do not want my liquid tied up in some Roth or Mutal Fund.
Keep the $3,000 during these hard times liquid. You need a good emergancy fund before you can plan out 50 years from now.

JacksPappy said:

I am going agaisnt the grain. I have a high 5 figure amount of cash that I have sitting in a money market checking right now. Cash is king and I do not want my liquid tied up in some Roth or Mutal Fund.
Keep the $3,000 during these hard times liquid. You need a good emergancy fund before you can plan out 50 years from now.

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Pretty easy to sell stock as far as being liquid. You might take a loss if you cash out early on.

But at the old age of 19 and the sum of $3k, not a lot to lose.

Emergency fund....3-6 months of expenses. Of course, when you're young...no family, no responsibility, emergency fund is not near as necessary. Also, being that liquid (having that much cash) you are really opening yourself up to inflation and the weakening dollar.

Thankyou to all that have helped I am looking into these things on e trader now. Any more advise will still be greatly appreciated

JacksPappy said:

I am going agaisnt the grain. I have a high 5 figure amount of cash that I have sitting in a money market checking right now. Cash is king and I do not want my liquid tied up in some Roth or Mutal Fund.
Keep the $3,000 during these hard times liquid. You need a good emergancy fund before you can plan out 50 years from now.

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This particular CPA concurs with your assessment.

elfiii said:

This particular CPA concurs with your assessment.

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Trust me on this one, elfiii knows his stuff, and helped me stop the bleeding last year.

I lost over 60k, won't be long I'll break even. That's hard to do in these times.

I wished I was 19 again .... LOL

Use that $3000, to start a foundation to build from. IMO, it needs to be placed where you can earn a little bit, but have access to it if you need it ... and you will. At 25, I got married. My foundation helped me with my first house and getting my life established. That money was in money markets & CD's and allowed me to plan for the major expenses headed my way.

From 25 to 30, I realized what responsibility meant and established another, larger foundation for emergencies and started to dabble in riskier investments ... just a little. Then when I reached 30, I got braver and invested in the stock market and october 1987 caught up with me and cut my investments in 1/2 ..... but I kept investing. The Dow was less than 2000 then.

Had outstanding years in the late '90's ..... kept investing but started to diversify into less riskier investments. 2001 hit ... and it hurt, but I kept investing. Last year brought tears to my eyes, but I kept investing, but thankful that I had spread my risk out a little more, which you need to do as age creeps up on you.

My investments are broadened out more today, than before, but I'm still investing. I don't know what the future holds, but I have seen the Dow go from about 1000, up to 14,000 and now back down to around 10,000. Read into that what you will. I have suffered pain and have had a lot of delights, but that is just the way investing is.

Build your foundation ...... owe money on things that increase in value, not depreciate (and yes, I can tell you stories about that too, LOL) and plan for a future that is a long way off.

So what are you going to do?

T.Rowe price offers a Georgia municipal bond fund, no state or federal taxes. Earns 4% over 5 years, no load, cash any time you like.

zachary.schofield said:

I think you can still add money to every month; you were able to save up for the truck. Find a SNP500or 1000 index mutual fund and buy into it, typical a $3000minimum while it has some risk it spreads your money over 500 or a 1000 companies, so less risk. Once you have it set up start a monthly investment of 25 or 50 dollars into it. This will dollar cost average your money and lower the risk. This is done buy when the market is up your $50 will buy less new stock but you’ll be up overall, when the market is down your $50 will buy a higher amount of stock. Starting your investments now ( when your young) is incredibly important.

At 8% growth
Start now at $3000 to start and $50 a month and in forty years when you retire there will be $248,534.22 in your account.
Wait till your 29 to start and with the same investments you’ll only have $107,821.95.

As a college student I know cash is tight but skip one night at the bar per month then in 40 years, you can spend every night at the bar if you want to. I hope this helped.

Click to expand...

This great advise, this is also what I would recommend