Anyone know anything about investing?

amandadaisylotus

I'm looking into ways to invest some money. I'm a student but I get a large grant and I have a job that more than covers bills. Normally I blow the money over the months on frivolous things or make large purchases like a new vacuum (ours was 18 years old, it was time), a new laptop when my last one broke down, etc.

It's time I grow up a bit and start saving for multiple reasons. I'm 22 and I need to learn how to budget and make sure that I am ready for when I'm kicked out into the real world in a year and a half.

Also, there are three possible VERY large purchases that I would like to make in 2012. I'm considering a tummy tuck if it's necessary (and considering not since I haven't had children yet). If I get one, I don't want money to be an issue, I'd rather pay at least 50% straight up, preferably 100%.

If I don't get a tummy tuck, and the market is good, I'm considering just out and buying a house. The car I have can last another 10 years if I take care of it.

If the market isn't great, I want to buy and then pay off as quickly as possible a new car. Something that will last and has all the amenities I want/need.

I want to save $5000 by the end of 2012 at the least, to begin to cover the tummy tuck if it's necessary.

I'd like to have $8000 for a down payment for a car.

And $20,000 ultimately for a down payment on a house. (By 2015?)

So... any suggestions? CDs? Insured Money Market Account? Go through my bank (federal credit union) or through an investments bank?

1Sweets

That's a big question for a fitness website....I barely know how to count calorie. Sorry.:flowerforyou:

amandadaisylotus

lol. I know. I figured I'd send it out into the great void that is the internet.

iplayoutside19

Based on your goals I would suggest you keep any extra money as close to cash as possible.

Not that an investment bank would try and steer you in the wrong direction, but the bank you currently have your accounts with should have several short term investment plans availible. Like you suggested, CD's and Money Market Savings accounts.

I think you have it figured out, quit messing with us.

metalpalace

I want to save $5000 by the end of 2012 at the least, to begin to cover the tummy tuck if it's necessary.

Lame

amandadaisylotus

I want to save $5000 by the end of 2012 at the least, to begin to cover the tummy tuck if it's necessary.

Lame

Lame? I've been over 200 pounds for the last 7 years of my life, and I carry a LOT of it in my stomach. My stomach skin is very damaged by stretch marks and I have 143 pounds to lose. I'm losing the weight slowly, keeping hydrated and incorporating toning into my workouts as I can do them. But if I get down to 160 and have a flab of skin that affects me health wise or emotion wise, it is not lame to fix that. If you've got suggestions on core training exercises that could possibly help I'd love to hear them. But don't just post "lame" because I decided to make myself happy even if it takes cosmetic surgery. I'm not getting lipo to remove this fat, I'm busting my *kitten* and making good decisions.

ivykivy

So... any suggestions? CDs? Insured Money Market Account? Go through my bank (federal credit union) or through an investments bank?

Start with CDs. Start asking the people who handles their investments and how good their returns are, interview them then pick 2 and split your money between them if you have enough to do so.

JMO

Good luck. Your young I hope you won't need a tummy tuck. I'm older I think I may need arm arm tuck:laugh:

ilike2moveit

I would do a high interest money market. It's low risk and you'll get interest on your money. (it's also liquid) CD's are good if you are sure you will not withdraw from them because there is a penalty fee if you do. Mutual Funds are only good for long term investments where you put the money in and don't touch it. They also can be a higher risk. Good luck to you. :flowerforyou:

Arienna

I'm not an expert, but I do know from my own experience...My husband lost 10k over the last year in "low risk" choices. The only investment he made money on was a high risk choice. Of course, everyone knows these are supposed to be long term investments and things like this happen, buy low; sell high. You could go that route or play it safe and just stick to CD's until the economy bounces back.

Arienna

Also, congrats on the weight loss so far! Keep it up!! :drinker:

lynettecan

Investing .. my suggestion .. is talk to a financial adviser .. cause this is what they get paid for...

thumper44

Anything where there is a risk, you could make more money, or lose money that's the risk. ex Stocks, mutual funds.

You could put it into something that's guarenteed. (not sure what you have in the US. There's GIC's up in canada). Whatever it is it might be a lower rate, but guarenteed.

If you could put money away every month into this "2012 fund" even if it's $25 or $50, Heck (before you get kicked out) you could drop $100 each month and you won't notice gone and it will help your "fund " climb up faster. (create an automatic withdrawal)

I noticed ING is also in the USA... ING has better rates that most banks because of no overhead, plus it's not as easy to take money out since there are no banks easily accessible.

Your bank or a financial adviser can give you advice on what to maybe do.
Warning if you do go to an investment company etc.
I've heard that these places will tell you to move your money because xx is doing better than yy.
They don't really care about your $$$, they just get money/comission for making the "sale/transaction"

You should also not put all your eggs in one basket.
So, perhaps something guarenteed, and maybe something in a mutual fund.

PM me if you want more info. (I have GIC's, Mutual Funds, and ING)

20carrots

I recommend trying to find Dave Ramsey on the radio or get one of his books-he's got great advice!

bates

everyone's advice is pretty sound... but just remember this general rule of thumb...

"high risk, high returns, low risk, low returns, but with risk comes losses"

As for the stock market, the time to get in has pretty much come and gone. All the stocks are beginning to return to a somewhat high again, and some stocks are even beginning to hit 52 week highs. Also the market as a whole has just reached, as of 2 days ago, of 10,000 which is huge!!!!

As of right now I am pretty price sensitive so I haven't been doing ANY investing, just saving and being frugal. But the thing with the stock market is, is that you have to kind of know your way around it, do a lot of research, hope and pray that you picked right, and random factors. Its never too late to start investing and saving, but again the best time to invest has past and you are kind of on the tail end of that. I own stocks of 4 different companies that are spread around through different sectors. All of which I picked on my own, and did not go to a financial advisor for, and it has already trippled since I first entered about 1.5 years ago.

Other forms of investment can be in CDs like you mentioned, but since those are extremely low risk, they have little return. You can get them through any banks, and over small %s based on how long you let your money sit. But you also have to know that if you invest in a CD for 1 year at x%, if you withdraw your money prior to the 1 year maturity of that CD you are penalized. The shorter the time, the smaller the % they give you.


You can look for bonds, which I haven't even really checked out but they are another route that you can take.


There is the good ole savings account in which you earn about..... 0.01% or something stupid, and often require a certain high dollar deposit.


The best bit of advice that I would have for you, is to research it yourself as I did. Its better than going to a financial adviser and saying "I don't know how to invest, here is $X amount of money do it for me." Thats how people get in trouble. The more you research and learn the different methods of investing the better off you'll be in the long run. It is VERY confusing when you start out, but hey, so is dieting and from your ticker it looks like you have figured that out and are doing great with it!!!!!


One last thing, you also have to SERIOUSLY consider how much you are going to be getting, how much you are going to spend, what your expenditures look like in the coming month/year, always plan for emergencies, and then sit down and figure out how much and into what!

good luck!

slimmingmom

I want to save $5000 by the end of 2012 at the least, to begin to cover the tummy tuck if it's necessary.

Lame

Lame? I've been over 200 pounds for the last 7 years of my life, and I carry a LOT of it in my stomach. My stomach skin is very damaged by stretch marks and I have 143 pounds to lose. I'm losing the weight slowly, keeping hydrated and incorporating toning into my workouts as I can do them. But if I get down to 160 and have a flab of skin that affects me health wise or emotion wise, it is not lame to fix that. If you've got suggestions on core training exercises that could possibly help I'd love to hear them. But don't just post "lame" because I decided to make myself happy even if it takes cosmetic surgery. I'm not getting lipo to remove this fat, I'm busting my *kitten* and making good decisions.

It's not lame in the least bit, don't listen to that person. I would do the same thing. The reason we are losing weight is because we want to be healthy and LOOK GOOD...if we're going through all this hard work just to be left with a big stomach flap that everyone stares at...who wouldn't want to get rid of it???

ilike2moveit

I recommend trying to find Dave Ramsey on the radio or get one of his books-he's got great advice!

Dave Ramsey is good:happy: -I just read his book and he would suggest for short term to do CD's (if you can leave the money alone) or money market. Both short term and low risk. Mutual funds for long term and possible higher risk.

Phoenix_Rising

I was able to get better dividends in a checking account through a local credit union (5%) than in a CD right now (2%). Local credit unions and state credit unions tend to have great rates. I'd check around into many, many options.

Also, as far as CDs go..... stagger their opening/maturity dates. Saving money is AWESOME but make sure that it's available to you should you come into an extreme situation and have no other means but to use that savings.

Example (with generic numbers and dates):
CD #1 $500 - open now, matures 11/2010
CD #2 $500 - open next month, matures 12/2010
CD #3 $500 - open 12/2009, matures 01/2011

When I did this, I opened 6 CDs in 6 month increments, staggered. This way one was maturing each month. If I fell on hard times, I knew I could put the expense on a credit card and each month, I'd be getting $500 plus dividends maturing (penalty free) to put towards that debt.

But again, I keep all my savings in my checking account now and earn great monthly dividends. If that rate drops and I find CDs with better rates, I'll be shuffling that money around.

Just my humble advice there.
Look into Suze Orman's books too.
Money and Women. She's all up on it. Great advice.

mommared53

I want to save $5000 by the end of 2012 at the least, to begin to cover the tummy tuck if it's necessary.

Lame

Lame? I've been over 200 pounds for the last 7 years of my life, and I carry a LOT of it in my stomach. My stomach skin is very damaged by stretch marks and I have 143 pounds to lose. I'm losing the weight slowly, keeping hydrated and incorporating toning into my workouts as I can do them. But if I get down to 160 and have a flab of skin that affects me health wise or emotion wise, it is not lame to fix that. If you've got suggestions on core training exercises that could possibly help I'd love to hear them. But don't just post "lame" because I decided to make myself happy even if it takes cosmetic surgery. I'm not getting lipo to remove this fat, I'm busting my *kitten* and making good decisions.

It's not lame in the least bit, don't listen to that person. I would do the same thing. The reason we are losing weight is because we want to be healthy and LOOK GOOD...if we're going through all this hard work just to be left with a big stomach flap that everyone stares at...who wouldn't want to get rid of it???

I agree 100%. I'd love to be able to get a tummy tuck.

Nikiki

Your goals look great and I agree 100% on the tummy tuck plan!! My aunt lost 160lbs but now has all the extra skin. She worked her @ss off to do it and now is saving up for the tummy tuck. good for you!

as for all the advice, Phoenix is right about checking with the credit union, I work for a large national bank and while I can say with 100% certainty that for real long term investments like IRA's and Mutual Funds along with lending needs (like your future house) a big bank is the way to go, but for shorter term investments the credit unions are going to be able to provide a bigger return because they have much less overhead than a big bank. I have most of my accounts with the bank i work for but I'm saving for a new car and I want to pay cash so I opened a CD & checking account with my local credit union, I'm getting 3.5% on the checking account & 4% on the CD.

I would also suggest moving your cd's around, most banks & credit unions offer specials for "new money" which is money not pulled from an active account with that bank. At my bank those specials can be anywhere from .5% to 1.5% higher, but once that cd matures the rate goes down with the renewal, for my bank it might only be 1% after the renewal!

Good Luck!!