Whats a good investment for beginners with a little extra cash?

stocks,mutual fund, cd,annuity???????????
about 10k

I love how "financial advisors" like Frank Castle can offer specific investment advice, either for or against certain investments, without knowing your particular needs, timeframe, risk tolerance, and therefore suitability. NYSE Ruke 405, Frank, it's called "Know Your Customer". Check it out sometime. Recommending margin trading to a novice should be enough to get you bounced.

Anyway, the REAL answer to this depends on what you will need I'the money for, and when you'll need it. If it's anything over 10 years (i.e. retirement, kids' college education, saving for that vacation home, etc), equities-based investments are the way to go. Long term, they've averaged an 11% return, compared to 6.8% for real estate, 5% for bonds, and 2.5% for cash investments. Of course, stocks are a lot more volatile than most other kinds of investments (excepting commodities), so short-term, a mostly-stock portfolio is a no-go.

Aou can start for as little as $100 a month at most firms, investing systematically, month after month, which is the smartest way to do it by the way, whether you have $100 or $100,000. Actually, I know at Edward Jones you can start with mutual funds for as little as $25 a month.

What to invest in? If you are in this for the long haul, I'd suggest buying a diversified series of mutual funds. Make sure you hit all the asset classes, like large cap stocks, mid cap stocks, small cap stocks, international stocks, emerging markets stocks, investment grade debt, hi-yield debt, foreign debt, emerging markets debt, real estate, commodities, and precious metals. That's 12 categories right there, so if you're starting off with $10,000, you're talking about $830 each. Or why not spring for an extra 2 grand, and start each off with $1000 even?

Then sit back and rebalance each year, back to your original percentages. This is called asset allocation. The thinking being, what's BEEN hot is more than likely not going to STAY hot. Since all markets are cyclical, what may be the best perfomer in any one year (say, real estate, or oil stocks, or emerging markets) may very well be the worst perfomer the next year. Instead of trying to ride the "hot hand", a practiced scientific approach to asset allocation and portfolio rebalancing will generally wind up yielding higher returns.

This sort of portfolio should average 8-12% per year, so just split the difference and say 10%. Will it do 10% EVERY year? Of course not. Heck, I'd be surprised if it ever did EXACTLY 10%. That's an annual average. With that average, your money should double roughly every 7 years.

So, if you start with that $10000 and never ever even add to it ever again, in 7 years you should have about $20,000
in 14 years you should have about $40,000
in 21 years you should have about $80,000
in 28 years you should have about $160,000
in 35 years you should have about $320,000
in 42 years you should have about $640,000
in 49 years you should have about $1,280,000
in 56 years you should have about $2,560,000
in 63 years you should have about $5,120,000
in 70 years you should have about $10,240,000!

A long time to wait to become a millionaire, impressive as that compounding is! (And remember Albert Einstein's famous quote about compounding being mankind's greatest invention--now you see why!)

Of course, if you keep adding money in systematically like I suggested earlier, say $100 a month, you'll become a millionaire MUCH sooner. The key is discipline, and sticking in when markets are up OR down. Don't try to time the market--you'll NEVER get it right.

Here's a handy formula:

$100/month x 12% return x 20 years = $100,000.

So if you want $500,000 20 years from now, just save $500 every month, and go with that diversifed portfolio. If you only average 10%, you'll only end up with $450,000, not bad either way!

Oh, and if you qualify, and do this all in a Roth IRA? Then every penny will be 100% TAX-FREE. That's a deal that's too good to pass up. That's why I tell all my under-30 clients--if you make under $90,000, and therefore qualify to do a Roth, you'd be a fool not to. Just having the power of youth (and therefore time) on your side is such an advantage, to squander it would be such a waste!

If you need anything else, just let me know.

Hope this helps!
--J.

It depends on the individual proposition. You should look carefully at each investment according to its likely return and risk. If you are risk averse, you might want to invest in Treasury bonds or blue chip stocks. If you are more interested in higher returns, you might want to look at growth stocks.

I would throw it into either a money market fund or a high yield savings account, even a CD, until I could answer that question on my own.

Peter Lynch, a famous investment advisor, said something on the order of 'don't invest what you can't afford to lose.' In other words, if you don't want to part ways with that 10K in a market tumble, keep it in safe instruments like savings.

SPY, XLU, ADRE in a Roth IRA. Since you can just put $4,000 in a Roth every year, put $4,000 into a Roth IRA now, and $6,000 into a 1 Year CD/money market, they put $4,000 into your Roth and $2,000 into a 1 year CD/money market and then put the rest in for that year. The money you put into a Roth will not be taxed when taken out.

i also think of investing my little cash to stocks but i dont know how to hehehe... i dont know any brokers here :(

I suggest you to open a brokerage and margin account at Scottrade and invest in the Stock Market with the help of a Financial Advisor like myself.

I also suggest you to stay away from annuities and CDs.

Top 3 Answerer in Business & Finance. (Vote for me)

from bulliondirect.com in trading acct only, buy
1.) $1000: 9999 Canadian Maple Leaf silver coins. <$14/oz, sell all @ $20/oz

from Scottrade.com or Firsttrade.com, buy stocks with symbol
2.) GG -->$1000, < $29, gold play, exit @ $45
3.) EZM -->$1000, < $2.40, copper/zinc, exit @ $5
4.) NAK -->$1000, < $8.00, copper/gold, exit @ $20
5.) AAUK -->$1000, @ current price, to cover energy, other precious metals and diamonds.
6.) BEARX -->$1000, protect you against stock crash
7.) RPIBX -->$3000, international bond to protect $ crash
8.) Cash --->$1000, for average down

Good luck, disclaimer, I own all