Im 16, i have a hundred dollars. i want to invest it.. help?

obviously im not going to put it in stock.. since its so unsteady and the brokerage fees would eat it all up.. so i was thinking of a high interest, low fee bank account. what kind of account would that be?

what do you think? and do i need to take it to a bank or do they have those types of things at credit unions too?

oh, and i dont need access to this money

What absolutely amazes me is that the people that answered silver and gold got "thumbs down" for their responses, when they are indeed on the right track. Custom hit it right on the head when you told you about inflation. The official gov't line for inflation is 4%, but the real inflation rate is just under 12%.

What you need to look at is not just where you're going to get a good return, but also, a return that will keep up with or exceed the inflation rate. And what the majority of posters here are doing is failing to take that into consideration. Right now, the fed is trying desperately to stave off a recession and they are pumping billions into the money supply which is inflationary, that's why the real inflation rate is 12%. As this meltdown in the housing market continues and the fed keeps pumping the money supply, inflation will continue to soar.

One this you MUST do is first come to the realization that all assets have a cycle. No asset ever goes up all the time - just ask anyone that bought a house in the past few years, housing prices are dropping. All assets have a up cycle and a down cycle. You must know which asset is now in it's up cycle.

That's why I concur with the people that mentioned precious metals. Let's just take a quick look at them compared to stocks (that some people are recommending). At the beginning for this year, the Dow was at 13.264.82. At the end of trading yesterday, it was at 12,302.06 - a LOSS of 7.25%. the S & P 500 started at 1468.36 and closed yesterday at 1328.32 - a LOSS of 9.53%. In 2000, the Dow top at 11722 and the S & P 500 at 1558. So, taking the closes of yesterday (4/14/2008), the Dow is UP 4.94% and the S & P 500 is DOWN 14.74%. In other words, in the last 8 years, the Dow has shown a return of only 0.6175% a year and the S&P 500 is a loss. You'd have done better having your money in a savings account at 1%.

Now, let's take a look at gold and silver. At the beginning of 2008, gold was trading at $840/oz. and silver at $15.00 oz. As of the end of trading yesterday, gold settled at $927/oz. and silver at $17.50/oz. That means, gold is UP 10.35% and silver is UP 16.67%. In 2000, gold was trading around $280/oz. and silver at $4.95/oz. Taking yesterday's close, told is UP 231.07% and silver is UP 253.53%. So, in the past 8 years gold is up 28.88% per year and silver is up 31.69% per year.

So, let's just look at it this way, if you took your $100 and invested it in each of the above assets and a bank account at say 4% compounded monthly, from the beginning of 2008 and in 2000, let's see what you'd have:

$100 in a bank account @ 4% compounded Monthly:

-Invested in beg. of 2008, you'd have $101.34 now.
-Invested in beg. of 2000, you'd have $134.02 now.

$100 invested in the Dow and S & P 500:

-Invested in Dow in beg. of 2008, you'd have $92.75 now
-Invested in S&P in beg. of 2008, you'd have $90.47 now

-Invested in Dow in beg. of 2000, you'd have $104.94 now
-Invested in S&P in beg. of 2000, you'd have $85.26 now

$100 invested in Gold and Silver:

-Invested in gold in beg. of 2008, you'd have $110.35 now
-Invested in silver in beg. of 2008, you'd have $116.67 now

-Invested in gold in beg. of 2000, you'd have $331.07 now
-Invested in silver in beg. of 2000, you'd have $353.35 now.

As you can see, you'd be further ahead if you had bought gold and silver.

Now, there are people that are going to say that silver and gold is over valued and is a bad investment. Well, adjusting for inflation, gold should be trading at $2,200 per ounce right now and silver at around $170-$200 per ounce, so there is a lot more upside potential. Yet', the inflation adjusted Dow should really be trading somewhere near 11,000 - full 10% lower than it is now. Gold and silver bottomed in 2002, so we are only 6 years into a new bull cycle for precious metals. If the new bull cycle is just a normal secular bull, we have another 4 years to go. But, I believe the new bull cycle for commodities is a super cycle, so we have another 15 years to go.

So, here's the deal. I'm not suggesting you buy silver and gold, or stocks, or IRA's or put it into a savings account. What I am going to recommend is that you sit down and do some research. You're a bright kid. That fact that you're looking to invest your $100 - where most kids your age would spend it on junk - tells me you have a good head on your shoulders. Take what each of the posters have told you and examine each asset yourself. But, most importantly, pay attention to what the fed is doing with the current financial situation. Then look at how each of the various assets recommended by all these posters will react to such policies.

During the 90's any moron and trained monkey could have made money in stocks - it was the greatest bull market of all times. But, the cycles have changed and they are no longer favoring stocks. In addition, the fed policies are greatly affecting dollar denominated assets.

If you take the time to check out the various assets/investments and see how they respond in various market conditions and then pay attention to what the gub'ment is doing, you will for the rest of your life be ahead of 99% of the population and will do very well financially. You are already showing that you are ahead of the majority of people in this country.

I personally can not recommend any equity investments (stocks or stock related) or any investment that yields a return less than the inflation rate. I favor the hard assets right now, but this is all my PERSONAL opinion. You must now come to your own conclusions as to what you believe is the best course of action to take for yourself. If you can learn to do this, you will be very successful in life.

God bless.

It's not really enough money to make you a millionaire, you'd be best investing it by buying things like college guides and job resources so that it will help you in the future.

go to a bank with your parent (s) and open a savings account. Then religiously and regularly add to the account. Because this is a student account, most banks will not require a minimum balance until you are 18. By that time you will have far exceeded the minimum requirement, and can use the excess funds to invest in higher yielding accounts. Also, by the time you are 18, you will be more knowlegable about financial matters. ClarkHoward.com is a fantastic site to visit. Good Luck

gold and silver is going way up

For less than $100 you could get a 1/10 ounce American Gold Eagle (or similar) OR five (5) one ounce American Silver Eagle coins (or silmilar).

Could double your money in 3 years or less!

Or you could always put the money in a bank account earning 2.5% interest...while the inflation rate (REAL inflation, not the rigged CPI number) creeps up towards 10%. Effectively leaving you with 7.5% less purchasing power from your $100 than you had when you started.

Good luck!

If you are 16 and don't need the $100 think about opening up a Roth IRA for retirement. You can be an automatic millionaire if you start saving money you don't need and forget about it. Read "Smart Women Finish Rich by D. Bach.

ING savings accounts come to mind.

Buy $100 worth of I Bonds.

Get a job if you don't already have one.

Save all of your money and put it into I Bonds as you get it.

Once you have $3,000 saved up invest it in a No-Load Mutual fund, or a Roth IRA. Both would be good investments
(I would go with the Roth IRA).

I Bonds are Bonds that have the intrest rate adjusted every six -months to keep up with the infation rate. (There is a 0% chance of you losing money with this investment)

I Bonds can be purchased in $50 incraments at your local banks and credit unions and can be cashed out at anytijme.

If you do this and combine it with investing in your future employers 401k program you will be a multi-millionaire by the time you retire!!!

Have your parents go with you to the bank to open a savings account.

Stocks.

Invest $100 at 15% for 50 years, you'll have about $100,000.
Invest $100 every year for the next 50 years, you'll have about $800,000.

You don't really have enough to buy anything yet, but put it in a brokerage account that earns interest.

Talk to your bank's investment people. There are some investments that will make money no matter what the economy does. Securities is one. They can advise you. CDs are ok, but don't pay much. And there are no high interest bank accounts anymore.

$100 wont make you rich anytime soon but it's a start.

3 five gallon gas tanks!

A teacher just the other day, was on the news.
She gave each of her students $10.00 dollars, to teach them
to invest it wisely, and show a profit.
They all pooled their money, and "ran" for a local charity.
And raised $3,000.00 dollars. I don't think, that is what you
"had in mind." But the charity, is that much better for it. <}:-})

i have a $700 savings bond(or RSP) at a credit union
i say start with that

its a good idea to invest money aswell, really worth it

You might consider a DRIP Plan. They are inexpensive to start and maintain. It is an option you might consider.

Good Luck

the only thing like that is a cd bank account, but you need a lot more thaan 100 dollars to invest. i think the minimum is 10,000 dollars. you put it in an account and you cant touch for a certain period of time, usually 8 or 9 months or more. it will collect an interest rate usually 3-5 percent if you invest it in the right bank.

Hmm, $100 is a bit small for investment, but look around and see if you can get a certificate of deposit (CD). You usually can't touch the money for 9-12 months, but can get a 5-7% rate of return.

Dude, you're only sixteen. Save the money in a savings account the bank can set up for you. If you don't want to go the extremes, why not stash the money in a wallet and keep adding to it till it gets unable to fold in your pocket lol. But seriously, Banks charge fees of up to $50 when consumers exceed their credit limit, pay their credit cards one day late or fail to have sufficient funds in their account when a direct payment is due. Banks even charge consumers when somebody pays them by check but the check bounces through no fault of the customer.

The best way is to set up something like a long term mutual fund, but make sure it offers the best returns.

To manage your money, banks have to charge fees to keep the account going. Income from fees is increasing rapidly too. Some fees are legitimate, but others are nothing short of price gouging.

Never put your money in a bank, the interest is just too low.

Your notion about stocks is totally wrong. You might try a mutual fund, which is a collection of stocks, which evens out somewhat the spikes and dips of any one particular stock.

Some years ago I put some money into Janus Overseas Fund. That did something like 40% return the first year I was in it, then it dropped for a while and went negative for a few years, then it rebounded again and I think last year the return on it was something like 80%. Now it's back to being slightly negative again, but I'm not worried. So if you want to put your money into a 1% or 2% bank account, go ahead, but you could pick just about any stock blindfolded and it would beat the pants off a bank over a period of 5 years or so.

Now when you give your money to a bank in a savings account, what do you think they do with it? Do you think they leave it locked up in the vault? No. They invest it in....

stocks.

If you really are a coward at heart I would recommend ING Direct, which offers online savings accounts that can be linked to a bank checking account, so you can transfer money back and forth online. ING pays a much better rate than any conventional brick-and-mortar bank.

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