How to invest my money.. CDs? Stocks?

[theaero]

Okay, so I am 17 and have saved up about $5000..

I am going to be in school for the next 2ish years? and would like to invest this money..

How would you recommend I do it? a 2 year CD? Savings account? I dont know much about the world of banking and whatnot, but not only would i like to make some bank, id also like to learn...

suggestions?

 

[Johnson]

I guess the biggest deciding factor is when do you want to one day pull the money out from? If you want to start saving for retirement, I'd throw it in a Roth IRA account. By the way, find a compound intrest calculator and put in 5k at age 17, and see how much it would be when you hit 67. 50 years of compound intrest and I bet you'd have a few hundred thousand right there.

 

[Shep]

funny enough is the vintage guitar idea.. if you can get your hands on a vintage fender strat put it in a vault and in ten years time it's worth 5 times that amount..just make sure it is completely original.. the better the condition the better the price..

 

[Mr_You]

I suggest you get educated first then make a choice versus taking financial advice from strangers on the internet. :roll:

The Motley Fool

 

[theaero]

haha.. i am trying to learn.

I dont plan on saving for retirement yet, just for 2-3 years.

 

[Restless Rocks]

I suggest you get educated first then make a choice versus taking financial advice from strangers on the internet. :roll:

The Motley Fool

Yeah, um ah you can ah say like send it to the Restless Foundation. I'll see that it's put to a great charitable cause and you'll not have to worry over it any longer! 8)

 

[screamingdaisy]

Use it as a down payment on a house.

Get some roommates and have them pay your mortgage for you, live for free, sell when you're done, pay off your mortgage, pocket the difference.

That's what I'd do now that I'm 29.

When I was 18 however I bought a guitar and a motorcycle.....

 

[eltrain858]

i'd put it in a brokerage account at a discount brokerage like TD Ameritrade or one of the likes. you have enough (>$2000) to start one without a problem, although you may need a parent to cosign on the account until you're 18.

that way, if you don't even do anything else with it, it will sit in a money market account and you're making a solid few percent a year. it will also be completely liquid, unlike a CD, and you can probably even write checks from it. once it's in there, you have the option to find a few stocks or mutual funds that fit your investment goals.

if you want to put it somewhere, completely forget about it, and not be able to touch it for the entire two years, a CD is a viable option.

a little off topic now that you clarified that you're not saving for retirement, but you can only put money in a Roth IRA if you have a job and pay taxes on your income, and even then you can only put as much as you earn (up to $4k/yr, $5k/yr starting next year)

 

[Elpelotero]

Use it as a down payment on a house.

Get some roommates and have them pay your mortgage for you, live for free, sell when you're done, pay off your mortgage, pocket the difference.

That's what I'd do now that I'm 29.

When I was 18 however I bought a guitar and a motorcycle.....

+100 take it from a guy in college right now

 

[MetalMatt]

Use it as a down payment on a house.

Get some roommates and have them pay your mortgage for you, live for free, sell when you're done, pay off your mortgage, pocket the difference.

That's what I'd do now that I'm 29.

When I was 18 however I bought a guitar and a motorcycle.....

+100 take it from a guy in college right now

Too funny, my current situation.

 

[SixVeeSix]

Do your research and invest accordingly but consider this option for a small portion of your nest egg: Hang on to about $500. Go on ebay and look at completed listings for items that you already are interested in. Knowing what things have sold for in the past, scour pawn shops, thrift stores and yard sales. Also keep an eye on your local Craigslist. Buy stuff cheap and sell it on ebay. It has worked very well for me. In fact, give me $500 and in two years I will have easily out-performed ANY traditional account/stock investment you put the $4500 in. PM me if you want more details on starting out on ebay, there are some common sense things you can do to maximize your success. Wish I had your sense when I was 17!! Good luck

 

[theaero]

Do your research and invest accordingly but consider this option for a small portion of your nest egg: Hang on to about $500. Go on ebay and look at completed listings for items that you already are interested in. Knowing what things have sold for in the past, scour pawn shops, thrift stores and yard sales. Also keep an eye on your local Craigslist. Buy stuff cheap and sell it on ebay. It has worked very well for me. In fact, give me $500 and in two years I will have easily out-performed ANY traditional account/stock investment you put the $4500 in. PM me if you want more details on starting out on ebay, there are some common sense things you can do to maximize your success. Wish I had your sense when I was 17!! Good luck

Thats what I do now actually. Ive been doing that for acouple years, mainly with pro audio gear and turned about 300 dollars into to the $5000 i have right now

 

[SixVeeSix]

Do your research and invest accordingly but consider this option for a small portion of your nest egg: Hang on to about $500. Go on ebay and look at completed listings for items that you already are interested in. Knowing what things have sold for in the past, scour pawn shops, thrift stores and yard sales. Also keep an eye on your local Craigslist. Buy stuff cheap and sell it on ebay. It has worked very well for me. In fact, give me $500 and in two years I will have easily out-performed ANY traditional account/stock investment you put the $4500 in. PM me if you want more details on starting out on ebay, there are some common sense things you can do to maximize your success. Wish I had your sense when I was 17!! Good luck

Thats what I do now actually. Ive been doing that for acouple years, mainly with pro audio gear and turned about 300 dollars into to the $5000 i have right now

So you know what I am talking about!!! No worries, carry on. Buy a house or something!!