Age 19, looking to invest

[zimmer879]

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Ummm... when you say "open your eyes" are you talking about OP or me?

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OP, sorry for the confusion.

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Of course mutual funds trail the market. Mutual funds, in aggregage ARE the market, but with fees layered on and, generally, modest cash balances holding them back in up markets (which are more common) and helping them in down mkts (less common). THey also have transaction costs, which are negligible in indexes.

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Mutual funds are what most people are invested in, and the fact they can get away with subpar returns while pocketing enormous profits says a lot about the investment community. The same principle certainly applies to financial planners although it's impossible to back that up statistically.


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This is the sort of thing that a good advisor would elucidate.

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Or any decent website.

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Learning on your own is a good thing, no doubt about. YOu have to ask yourself honestly how much time you are willing to put in. It's been twenty years for me, many of which were 14-15 hours per day...and I am still learning.

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I agree with this but I guess it really depends on what returns you're shooting for. It doesn't take very long to learn enought to beat the market however.

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Maybe I should use Zim as my advisor, since he already appears to have it down pat!

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Well ok but then you can't badmouth me. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[34TheTruth34]

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Only recently have I been playing enough/good enough to make this kind of money/month, but it will be standard

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Of course it will. What could go wrong?

[gonebroke]

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Or....if you want something shorter term and liquid, can always just bottom-fish and trade the homebuilder stocks instead. I just got back into the market last week after a year hiatus..just a few G in margin account for some extra play money. But, my favorite builders now are DR Horton (DHI) and Lennar (LEN). I think most or all of the bad news is reflected in the beatdown in price, and they are already starting to form a base and creep up again. DHI at $23-$25 and LEN anywhere between $45-$50 should be fine. Any good news that comes out from here should help drift them back to highs...especially if sales start to pick up again in 2007. In my markets, I am seeing signs of at least a bottom and some buyers are returning, which has to be somewhat good news.

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No offense, but realtors are usually the last to know when a real estate market tops. I am heavily short on those two stocks, also Centex. One of them or more will probably file for bankruptcy before the end of the decade.

[KajunKenny]

Since you have the cash, buy you a house! Put alot down and finish college. IF you make 30k a month you should easily be able to pay off a house in a years time. That way if you ever lose your bankroll, atleast with your College degree and a house paid for, you aren't out on the street! That is +EV

After that, look into a money market or at some online banks. I won't give advice on this. Do your own DD. Also what are you going to college for. This might better help people suggest you something that you might like. I do a little forex and penny stock trading. But I like to gamble.

[NajdorfDefense]

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Ummm... when you say "open your eyes" are you talking about OP or me?

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OP, sorry for the confusion.

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Of course mutual funds trail the market. Mutual funds, in aggregage ARE the market, but with fees layered on and, generally, modest cash balances holding them back in up markets (which are more common) and helping them in down mkts (less common). THey also have transaction costs, which are negligible in indexes.

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Mutual funds are what most people are invested in, and the fact they can get away with subpar returns while pocketing enormous profits says a lot about the investment community.

The same principle certainly applies to financial planners although it's impossible to back that up statistically.


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As a whole, everyone will get market returns, less fees. Cheaper the fee, the better your chance of outperforming. This applies to all funds and investments and planners, but gross of fees, for any fund/planner that loses to the market, someone must best the market, by definition. [Fees can reverse that, obviously.]

The important thing is too look at risk and return. The 'index' everyone is making reference too [95% of the time] is the SP500 which is *only* large-cap, US stocks.

That is not a proper allocation, that is throwing one dart and hoping it does well, at one small sub-sector of the investing market. Should it be a part of your portfolio? Sure, it's cheap, somewhat tax-efficient, easy to buy, and you get a fairly good correlation to that sector. But that leaves every other part of the investing world incomplete.

Interview several planners, educate yourself, ask people you trust for advice, do a little homework, and see what you like based on your risk/return tolerance.

[pr0crast]

OP: this is very poorly disguised brag thread.

[Brianb1299]

I have some lots in North Port available for sale. I bought them a year ago and I need to sell them now. The prices have come WAY down since I bought them,so it's really not a good time to sell but we have an illmess in the family and I need money.It is a great time to buy and this will be a very very good investment for anyone involved

[ShipDaChedda]

WOW, there is some really horrible advice in here, hopefully I can help you out a little.

Real estate: can be an awesome investment, the thing is, you MUST put in the time to know the market, know the trends, etc. etc....in other words, if you wnat to invest in real estate, great, but you need to put some time into it.

A financial adviser is really not needed. They're overpriced and generally only will offer you "investment options" that make them money (aka a commission) and aren't always in your best interest.

My advice, start by putting it into a savings account. Watch shows like Suze Orman and other CNBC shows. Pick up some books, take the time to read up on areas you like. And then slowly start out. You're only 19, so you have PLENTY of time to get going. Even if it takes you the next 6 months to find out what you want to invest in, no biggie at all.

p.s. when investing, always think about "why" someone is giving you the advice. People like "work4fish420" obviously want you to buy land through him, so it'll obviously be "skewed" towards that...he could be giving you AWESOME advice, or he could be selling you swampland, so make sure you do your research [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] And if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

If you're interested in real estate, and want a good book to start off with, get millionair real estate investor by gary keller, great book, I've read it like 5 times through.

[gull]

Some financial advisors aren't overpriced if you don't have a rigorous understanding of investment theory.

Think about how many stupid people invest stupidly. Are they really that close to investing optimally that a 1% fee will actually hurt their risk-adjusted returns?

[john kane]

Wait.

Your 19 years old. Things to invest in: booze, strippers, drugs, tobacco. With the $2K you'll have left after that investment go bung that on roulette. go for red.