Invest in $1000 - High Yields & Low Risks

[oldunion]

id like to start making money. obviously, an end to buying things is the first step. i have a job also, but i would like to make money, on my money. investing is the only option i think. what is right for me with maybe 1000 to work with, wanting high yields and low risks.

 

[Smurf]

high yields is generally held in opposition to low risks. It's either safe, or profitable.

 

[franznietzsche]

high yields is generally held in opposition to low risks. It's either safe, or profitable.

Or neither. Don't forget neither.

 

[Smurf]

Right. Or (most often in NA) neither.

 

[Monique]

You're not going to make a lot of money out of $1000, so I don't think it is worth the risk. With investing you can have a 10% return after 3 months of locking the money, but the ship could turn. You need to know what you are investing in and what the market is doing.

If I were you I'd put the money into a savings account

Ofcourse you can use the money to buy antiques on garage sales, and try to sell it for more in auctions. More information on the different types of investments is here http://www.themint.org/investing/index.php

 

[brewnog]

Get down the casino...

 

[Monique]

That's a sure way to loose your money

 

[FredGarvin]

id like to start making money...wanting high yields and low risks.

Well, that's the trick, isn't it? Start reading and educating yourself. Only you can define what "risk" means to you. This reminds me of something a co-worker once said to me: "It's amazing that most people will put 40-50 hours a week into making their money, but won't put 1-2 hours a week into keeping it and making it do more."

Old people can be smart some times...

With investing you can have a 10% return after 3 months of locking the money...

Other than the stock market, I don't know where that possibility exists. I have seen 10% over a year on a couple of mutual funds, but those were definitely not the norm.

 

[oldunion]

what about high risk, or marginal risk with high yield or marginal yield. and I am afraid i don't have stuff to seel in auctions nor do i know of antique places or garage sales around here. but i am on a college campus and people will buy anything...

 

[russ_watters]

Well, that's the trick, isn't it? Start reading and educating yourself. Only you can define what "risk" means to you. This reminds me of something a co-worker once said to me: "It's amazing that most people will put 40-50 hours a week into making their money, but won't put 1-2 hours a week into keeping it and making it do more."

.

Short answer: S&P Index fund. Slightly longer answer: depends on what timeframe you're talking about and what "risk" really means to you. Regardless, if you have $1000 that you're not going to touch for a while, you really should do something with it. Even if its a 100% safe, boring, low yield CD - you still make more than leaving it in a savings account.

 

[plus]

You're not going to make a lot of money out of $1000, so I don't think it is worth the risk.

You are not going to lose a lot of money with 1000 either so you could just say take the risk.

Ofcourse you can use the money to buy antiques on garage sales, and try to sell it for more in auctions. More information on the different types of investments is here http://www.themint.org/investing/index.php

I would not recommend trying to trade antiques because you will probably lose as you are competing with the professionals. Even then it is a pretty nasty thing to try to do - screw an old granny out of her posessions.

My advice is to select two large stable companies in the stock market and to buy these. The transaction costs are quite low and it is fairly priced and it does tend to go up with time without the risks of some of the eg technology stocks.

 

[Monique]

You are not going to lose a lot of money with 1000 either so you could just say take the risk.

True, just make sure that it is 'extra money': don't feel sorry if you lose some (I know people who lost their retirement accounts on the stock market).

I agree that the antiques is a hard market to get into, just do it because it's fun to own old stuff for a while.

oldunion: look at what the market is doing and expect which stocks have a high chance of going up. For instance: the economy of China is growing rapidly, you might want to invest there.

 

[pt176900]

How to invest your $1,000 all depends on you...

what sort of investment horizon are you looking at? You could put the $1,000 into an index fund (the djia, s&p, nasdaq, etc) and leave it there for several years. This is *almost* a sure way of making money, as in general the markets tend to grow. On average, the dow has returned 11% over the past 75 years, with some years seeing returns as low as -30%. But like i said, depending on your horizon this may be an attractive option (ie put in the 1000 and leave it there for 5 - 10 years).

The key to that strategy is diversification. By diversifying you can lower your risk while keeping a relatively attractive level of return.

On the other hand, you could choose to put all $1,000 into one or two stocks and opt for the high risk high return scenario. This strategy can ONLY be employed when you realize there exists some chance you will lose your money, and are willing to accept that risk.

Or you could try a totally different investment vehicle. For instance, bonds. High grade bonds (A, AA, AAA) tend to have low yields but are fairly safe bets. Lower grade bonds/junk bonds (B and below) are high risk high return. I would only recommend opting for bonds if you want a steady stream of income, as opposed to capital gains (ie an increase in stock price).

just as a general rule, avoid mutual funds.

Also, you should avoid antiques as they tend to be illiquid. In other words, you'll have an easier time selling a stock than a 200 year old rocking chair. Along that note, one should also avoid jewels, art, or anything of the like. You will most likely not be knowledgeable enough in such things to make a decent appraisal, nor even know where or how to sell them. In the end you would probably end up having to pay someone else for these services, and it would cut into your profit margin.

As others have mentioned, cds are an option and if nothing else you should get at least some interest on your money - don't just let it sit under your mattress.

 

[oldunion]

Stock market sounds like a good bet. Although i agree with safely putting your money over diversified fields, this is not my desire at the moment. When i have a lot of money and a house then this will become attractive. Right now i have a grand and I am looking to make some cash on it.

The prospect of investing in china is very attractive. I know china is heavily dependent on fossil fuels and is exempt from regulations because it is a developing country. They will have to upgrade their economy soon and this means my cash will go up. How do you even go about investing in the chinese market?

My other option would be a stable US company.

 

[Monique]

The prospect of investing in china is very attractive. I know china is heavily dependent on fossil fuels and is exempt from regulations because it is a developing country. They will have to upgrade their economy soon and this means my cash will go up. How do you even go about investing in the chinese market?

Good choice, or India as was suggested by Plus. Chinese economy is growing fast, so there is a high demand on materials (*ppsst* I'm investing in China, and it's going good ). I don't know how you would go about it in the US, maybe someone else can give advice.

 

[Monique]

You could put the $1,000 into an index fund (the djia, s&p, nasdaq, etc) and leave it there for several years. This is *almost* a sure way of making money

Yeah, well, we all know the story of people losing their retirement money by doing this right?

 

[pt176900]

To monique,

no, investing in an index fund wouldn't lose all your money unless the value of the index fund dropped to zero. in that case, you may assume the apocalypse is upon us.

In other words, the price of a stock is a measure of investor perception regarding future cash flows of the firm. An index fund holds proportions of stocks commensurate with some major index (ie the djia - consisting of firms such as msft, ge, wmt, etc..). It would take a truly catastrophic event for investors to decide that all these firms simultaenously have zero positive cash flow for the future. If such a perception would be widespread enough to cause people to dump their index funds, one may safely conclude that the American economy is virtually non-existant.