What should i invest in mutual funds, ETF's, equity funds, etd?

Im young 18 and looking to invest, I want to get a head start and learn now so I will have better knowledge when I get older and maybe a few more bucks from it, I really only want to invest about a thousand dollars I know its not much to invest but its all I can afford. What should I invest my money into considering my circumstances. There seems to be so many options, mutual funds, IRA, ETF's, euity funds, stocks, cd's, etd.

Please help me out. Any other tips and advice will be greatly apprecaited

Thanks!

You should invest in a diversified mix of stocks, bonds, and money market funds. You want to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks as individual stocks are too risky. Most folks have a dificult time buying a properly balanced portfoilio of stocks on their own. They will misbalance their portfolio by buying all small stocks or all growth stocks, or some other misbalanced assortment of stocks. Unless you know what you are doing, it is best to buy mutual funds. I like Vanguard.com, other people like Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, and DFA. Buy no-load, low cost funds. If you are like most people you will invest part of your money aggressively in stock funds, and part conservatively in money market funds and bond funds. Vanguard.com has an on-line questionnaire which will give you an idea of how to do "Asset Allocation," determining how much to put in each type of fund.

If your company offers a 401K plan at work, try to invest the most you can. The money grows tax free, and some companies will match your contribution. Investing in a mutual fund IRA is also a good idea.

I like index funds. Because of their broad diversification, you are less likely to have a dramatic drop in value. They also have the lowest expenses. For stock funds, I would suggest putting ~70-80% of your money in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. and ~20-30% in a foreign stock index fund. However, there are many different opinions out there on what the best mutual funds are. Read the links below and form your own opinion.


If you have high-interest debt, like credit cards, it is best to pay this off first before trying most of the investment ideas above. You should also have 3-6 months of salary saved up as an emergency fund in a bank or money market fund before trying more risky investments.

Believing advice you get on Yahoo answers can be risky, so read these websites for further information. If you find it too confusing, contact a professional financial advisor. They will charge you significant commissions, however.

Sources:

http://www.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planni...
http://www.fool.com/school.htm
http://sec.gov/investor/pubs/assetalloca...
http://www.diehards.org/readsites.htm
http://finance.yahoo.com/education/begin...
http://finance.yahoo.com/funds/basics

Asset Allocation Calculators
(Determining how much to put in stocks and how much into bonds and money markets is a personal decision depending on your financial status. These Asset Allocation questionaires give you a rough idea how to do this. I like Vanguard best, but try some of the other sites as well.)
https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/...
https://ais2.tiaa-cref.org/cgi-bin/WebOb...
http://www.ifa.com/SurveyNET/index.aspx

Web forum: http://www.diehards.org/
(Many investment web forums are overrun by scam artists. This one seems the most legitimate site.)

Nice to get started early...long time to learn, long time to gain.
I suggest you do just a little reading on a " beginners investing " site. ( I'll put links at the end o the message)
...but I would say the simplest way to go about it would be to log on to E-trade ( or some people I know use Scottrade)...fill out an application...send a check ( I believe you can start at around $ 500.00...and in a couple of days you'll have an on-line account... that you can use to buy funds or stocks.
The usual first step is " mutual funds"... the fund company ( Fidelity, Vanguard, etc.) buys stock in different companies in a certain " sector"..( sometimes certain businesses, sometimes certain countries, sometimes by the size of the company, etc.)...that group of companies is a " mutual fund"...when you buy into a fund THAT is what you are investing in.
Because you are starting with a small amount, you may not be able to buy-in to a lot of funds ( they have a " minimum initial purchase" amount......so you look to another way of investing, either individual stocks ( shares in a company of your choice) or another investment tool called an ETF.
I would suggest the ETF's for starters. They are basically like a" mutual fund" but the " buy-in" is cheaper..( no minimums...buy just a few shares...prices vary greatly)...but you will be charged a " comission" when you buy or sell any ...somewhere around $ 10.00.
Whatever you put your money into will gain or lose in value over time...you can pay $ 12.00 a share for 50 shares and they may be worth $ 15.00 or $ 20.00 in a few months...or they could be worth $ 9.00!! That's why you READ ...to pick the best place for your money...and then you watch...
Okay, this is getting too long, so here you go:
http://www.finance/yahoo.com/education/b...
http://beginnersinvest.about.com/
http://moneycentral.msn.com/beginnerguid...
P.S. If you do start with the ETF's , a couple of recommendations are : EWA...( invested in Australia..where materials companies are feeding the growth of China and India) or EWS..invested in Shanghai and businesses of all kinds growing in China.

please go to this www.colonyinvest.net is good it will help you my dear. with 1000us-d you will get @ list 600us-d every mounth.or above for sure.