What to invest in ...?

If you had a certain amount, let's say $30k - $40k, what would you invest in? Stocks, mutual funds? Property? What ... And no silly answers like "my bank out" or "be my sugga mama" - lol~ Some real ideas from people equally interested in investing, whether you're new to investing or a vetaran~

p.s. let's say the $30k-$40k is extra money - this is not some life savings, it is not money that needs to be saved for a rainy day.

Pay off any debt that you might have FIRST! Then with the remainder, take a look at opening a Roth IRA. It's never too late to begin contributing the max to an IRA each year so that when you hit 65, you can retire financially well off.

Take action NOW. This is all you need to know. Go to

http://www.vanguard.com

Open a Roth IRA.
Put your money into VFINX (S&P 500 Index Fund)
Sign up for automatic checking account small withdrawals

Once you have done the above, then you will have plenty of opportunity to figure out what to do next. YOU DO NOT need further research at this time.

DO IT NOW!

P.S. No one will disagree with this advice.

If I was an average joe, I would stick with a lifecycle mutual fund. Many companies have them. Each fund has a target year for which you plan to retire. They are general named after that year. For instance if you plan to retire in 2025, you'd look for a fund with the name similiar to "L-2025", "Retirement 2025", etc. Depending on the company they may offer in 5 or 10 year all the way up to 2050. The idea is, as you approach this year the fund manager will automatically adjusts the ratio of stocks, bonds, and cash in the fund to become more conservate. It makes it really simple and you don't have to worry about being too risky or too conserviative given the number of years you have left to retirement. The manager will continue to adjust asset allocation even after the target year. I have T Rowe Price and they state that the fund will hit its most conservate level at 30 after the target year. Every company is different but the overall concept is the same.

I personally like to invest in preferred stocks. They are like both a stock and a bond. They offer great capital preservation since they are supported by the credit rating of the company and the company has to pay dividends to preferred holders before common stock holders can get anything. They are generally traded on the New York stock exchange. (I would be careful since the volume is so low, you'd get screwed if you tried to buy them with a market order. Always use a limit order since the bid/ask spreads are huge.) There isn't much info on them either. The only free site that I know of that covers these is www.quantumonline.com.

I personally would keep 25% in a high interest online savings account that would produce a guaranteed 5.05% interest rate; that I could easily access in case of an emergency. (i.e. EmigrantDirect.com)

Then I would invest the other 75% in about 4-5 different ETFs from Vanguard. Just a personal preference, but I prefer ETFs over mutual funds and index funds.

What no-one else seems to be asking is what your circumstances are. If $30-$40K is all you have and is likely to remain a large sum of money to you then you may need to condider protecting it and that will normally mean lower returns than if you coan afford to lose some or all of it in which case you can afford to put it in a higher risk investment. For pete's sake don't invest in anything just from advice on this forum. Seek professional advice from someone who is successful (not all Independat Financial advisors are worth listening to).

Work towards being clear on what you want the money to achieve for you and that is the most important thing. The specific investment is then less crucial as there will be many products to serve your needs.

Do you need income from it, access to it any time soon, funds for a rainy day, can you afford to lose 25%/50%? Money can do a lot of things for you but one sum can only do so much in a single investment. You may consider splitting it up.

Lastly, check out the person you take the actual advice from. How rich are they, where did they start and where are they now? There are plenty of numpties out there selling financial products and they'll sell their Grannies for commission so chose wisely.

Good luck.

Hi,

Well, at least part of the money I would in agresive way like forex. Forex is really very exciting business with no boss, no working time; you may trade from any place in the world 24 hours a day for 5.5 days (from Suday night to Friday night).

Hi,

I could introduce you to one of forex broker leaders that is located in SWITZERLAND and Regulated by the Swiss Federal Department of Finance; audited by KPMG.
They have very tight spreads. Total 25 currency pairs Gold and Silver.
SPREADS:
2 pips for EURUSD, USDJPY, AUDUSD, EURGBP, EURCHF;
3 pips for GBPUSD, USDCHF, USDCAD, EURJPY;
4 pips for CADJPY, CHFJPY;
5 pips for NZDUSD, AUDJPY;
6 pips for EURAUD, GBPCHF, NZDJPY;
7 pips for EURCAD, GBPJPY;
8 pips for GBPCAD, GBPAUD, AUDCHF, CADCHF, NZDCHF;
10 pips for AUDCAD, AUDNZD.

LEVERAGE 1:200 default but client could chose the leverage from 1:1 to 1:200 at the account opening procedure.

MARGINS. The margin or leverage a client can have depends on the client's account equity. The table below shows margin requirements for the different equity levels:
Less than 25,000 - 0.5%
25,000 to 1,000,000 - 1%
1,000,000 to 5,000,000 - 2%
5,000,000 to 10,000,000 - 3%
Above 10,000,000 - 5%
Please note that on weekends and holidays margin requirements remains the same.

SWAPS are counted as negative as positive. Also is available swap-free accounts.

STOP and LIMIT orders may be placed as close as 5 pips from market price

TRADING TERMINAL Meta Trader 4.

Clients can choose to have their accounts denominated in either USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD or CAD.

Initial account opening deposit from US$2000.
It is regular forex trading account however it is allowed trading in mini lots (from 0.1 lot).

If you are interesting I could introduce you to them please e-mail or PM me (press on my name) and I provide you with further information. Furthermore I could provide you for FREE with more than 50 trading e-books and trading systems that worth more than several thousand dollars and are very useful as for beginners as for experienced traders.

Good luck!

I have 100K that I split between investing in QQQ, forex and half with aid4families. Check them out for yourself.

This isn't a referral link.

If you would like to achieve a little bit better return you should check into prosper.com. You can invest your money in borrowers who are trying to consolidate their debt. If you only lend $50 per borrower you can spread your risk over many many individuals. It is very easy to achieve 8 to 10% ROI. Not too exciting but certainly better than what the banks are offering. And you'll be helping hard working people. I have a group on Prosper called The Debt Terminators and I help people get out of debt and generate quality loans for lenders at the same time. If anyone interested in joining please email me: awesthof@yahoo.com.

Most will tell you it is wise to "diversify". If you don't know much about investing, then diversification is a good idea. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Seek the advice of a professional, but make sure your professional is not out to take your money either.