Investment ideas for an 19 yr old college student???

not too much money to work with. have about $800 cash to work with......serious answers only please... thanks!

At your age and with so little money, stocks are your best bet. But don't jump in blindly. Read everything you can by Warren Buffet and Benjamin Graham. Then move on to more modern books like the Motley Fool series.

it all depends on how much returns u r looking at. Invest in bond, currencies, but i tink mayb not the stock market.

An easy and fun way to start is with a trial subscription to the "Money Paper" (moneypaper,com). It allows you to buy one share in hundreds of well known companies. As a pre-existing stockholder. you can buy additional shares direct from that company, without a broker or commission. Whenever you can send in more money or have automatic bank deductions more shares are purchased.. Any dividends paid are automatically re-invested to buy more shares. I started with 1 share of a $30 company and in 6 years it grew to 300 shares.

Save $200 more and open up a mutual fund. It only takes $1000 to open an account with many companies. Then, you can automatically deposit a small amount each month if you like.

Mutual funds are a great way for you to invest in the stock market with little or no investment knowledge. Since your money with be diversified among a 'group' of stocks (instead of just 1 or 2) and managed by a professional money manager... you'll enjoy the benefits of stock appreciation, and limit your risk at the same time...

Go to MorningStar.com to learn more about mutual funds...

$800 isn't enough to open an account at many financial institutions. It takes money to make money. You may want to put the money in a bank account and build up your savings--you can get better interest rates from online banks like ING. It's great that you're thinking about saving and investing at your age. If you start now, you can build up a good sized nest egg by the time you reach your 50's, which could open the door to early retirement.

Once you have a few thousand dollars saved up, you can invest in a mutual fund from a low cost mutual fund management company like Vanguard. The easiest thing to invest in, if you're not a financial wiz, would be a lifecycle fund. The webpages listed below provide investment guidelines and explain lifecycle funds.