I have 15k to invest, with two young kids. For a first timer, whats the best way to go?

Ok so I know its not good advice to get advice like this, but just humor me. What's the best way to go for a first timer with 15k to invest? It's sitting in an mma earning 5% which is ok for safety and accessibility, but what else can I consider? CD's are even lower than 5% at the moment.

Standard investment advice is that 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 portfolio 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 -expense 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 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. If you have children, you may want to consider a 529 plan or other college savings plan that grows tax free.

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/planningeducation
http://www.fool.com/school.htm
http://sec.gov/investor/pubs/assetallocation.htm
http://www.diehards.org/readsites.htm
http://finance.yahoo.com/education/begin_investing
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://personal.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/FundsInvQuestionnaire?cbdInitTransUrl=https%3A//flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation/education
https://ais2.tiaa-cref.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects.exe/DTAssetAlcEval
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.)

529 plans: http://www.savingforcollege.com

Hello,
I can suggest you some good options to grow your money.
Don't invest in stocks. The risk to lose all your money is too high.
I have invested in business and now I am getting guaranteed 40% annual interest. You may email me for more information.

I wish you success!

LOL......the standard response seems to be Mutual Funds....People have this ridiculous idea that they are risk free......when in reality 75% of them underperform the Stock Market

Go to : low-cost-stock-recommendations

.com

You can view several different possibilities. I do recommend you stay conservative.

Good Luck

You are doing well right now. I would just keep it right there. If I am earning 5% solid right now, that is pretty good.

The stock market swings up and down. It is not a growth story at this time! You see stocks go up 10% one day and down the next few.

The big profits of the past 5 years have been on the backs of subprime lending and speculation in the options trading markets that failed. Lots of pressure to make more and more money.

If you have insider information, that is a different story. Course that is illegal too. Remember, if you buy $15,000 in lottery tickets, the chance of you winning the lottery does not go up all that much, relative to overall chances of losing coming down.

I am lucky to get 3%, 5% and 12%. You have to take more risk on the way up. The 12% I have gotten, lost money for two years in a row!

Check out this:
http://my-robottrader.blogspot.com/

It's a great way to make the future for your children safe!
It's a mannaged account (so in other words your money will be traded by people who have tons of experience)

On that blog you will find all of my results from 20 december 2007.
I'm verry happy that I found this moneymannager, first I was a little bit sceptical because everybody was screaming I would be scammed.
But appereantly they where wrong!
Annyway feel free to check it out and mail me if you want the adress of my moneymannager.
He can give you allot more information then I possibly can.

I would invest in a balanced mutual fund.

A balanced fund invests in short securities (t-bills, etc.), bonds, and stocks. It is as it says and a conservative fund with some growth. This is what is recommended for beginner investors to get you comfortable with investing.

I would look for one that has good past performance and low fees.

I am not a proffesional but I have been watching and I think my advice is to stay safe with things people have to buy like foods. If you are not sure which company to go with I would say put 5k in three companies, watch to see witch one grows the best, then get rid of the other two and put all in the good one. I think I know what I am talking about.

just find a few stocks & study them...

you can make an EASY! 5% every week (EVERYDAY!!)

thats what i do everday

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