I have $1100: What Should I Do?

[backtothefuture]

Hi guys, I'm new to this forum. I myself am interested in business and finance, and am looking to make some cash. So here's my situation:

My financial aide has given me $1100 in my POCKET for this fall semester. It's all mine, for me to spend. My objective here is to find out the fastest, most convenient way to make MORE money with this $1100.

That is why I came to this investing forum. What would YOU do with this money? I would ideally like something VERY short-term, even if it ends up with a profit of $50+; any profit is good profit in my book.

I wanna hear what you guys would do; anything from stock markets to selling pot.

Thanks in advance

[skydivingchic]

Is this money left over from your student loan? Or is it from a grant or scholarship?

If it is from a loan - what is the interest rate on the loan and is the interest subsidized (paid/forgiven for you) while you are in school?

If the interest is unsubsidized, I would simply pay the money back to the loan. Instant, guaranteed return of whatever the interest rate of the loan is.

If the money is from a grant or the interest is subsidized I would put it in a high yield online savings account like GMAC or Emigrant. Those will pay somewhere over 5%, or about $55 for the year.

[autoxer]

Short term, High risk: Start selling pot, but save some for fines and lawyer fees.

Short term, Low risk: Put it in an interest bearing savings account.

[backtothefuture]

It's from a grant, so the money is all mine. No loans or nothing.

Is putting it into a high interest savings account really short term? Cause it will take me a year to make any profit... Are there any other options that would get me money faster (even if they're high risk)?

I'm putting the pot idea on the back burner though...

[threebeansalad]

Put the money in an ING Orange Savings account using a link from here. If you use one of these links and deposit more than $250, you'll immediately get a $25 bonus. The APR is 4.5%. Yes, this is slightly lower than other banks, but given the relatively small amount of money you have the $25 bonus will make up for it. Once you have an ING Savings account, you get $10 for each friend you get to open an account in which they deposit more than $250, for up to 20 new accounts. So, once you have the account, if you're happy with it, get our parents and friends to sign up. If their $$ is sitting is some piddly interest account, they'll thank you for referring them to ING where at least they get a decent interest rate, plus they'll get the $25 bonus and you'll get $10.

You don't want to invest the $$ in the market fro a number of reasons already iterated here.

[backtothefuture]

I don't understand, why wouldn't I want to put money in the market?

[autoxer]

The market isn't a good short term investment, because it is higher risk.

I'm not against the market, 80%+ of my assets are in the market, but that money will be in there long term. My short term funds are in a high yield savings account, because I don't want them to lose money.

If you need the money short term, then put it somewhere safe. If you don't need it in the short term, then put it in the market & leave it there long term, so it can ride out the ups and downs. Leaving it there long term mitigates the risk.

Don't confuse gambling with investing.

[JimInOK]

The market isn't a good short term investment, because it is higher risk.

I'm not against the market, 80%+ of my assets are in the market, but that money will be in there long term. My short term funds are in a high yield savings account, because I don't want them to lose money.

If you need the money short term, then put it somewhere safe. If you don't need it in the short term, then put it in the market & leave it there long term, so it can ride out the ups and downs. Leaving it there long term mitigates the risk.

Don't confuse gambling with investing.

Agree completely here. And when you're thinking of investing in the market, remember IT'S HARDER THAN YOU THINK to pick out a winning investment. If you're going to invest it in the market LONG TERM, you have far too little available to even consider individual stocks right now. I'd consider it a core investment for my future and find a large cap stock fund with $1,000 minimum investment and park it there. You might even consider it your first retirement investment and set up an IRA account for it. The tax side probably isn't important for you right now, but IRA accounts generally have lower minimum investments than regular accounts.

If not that, my advice would be to park it in a money market account and consider it the beginning of an emergency fund that you'll begin to add to when you finish school and begin your career.

If you need to use it short term, the money market or short term CD's, etc are your only option. You can't risk losing a chunk of it in today's volatile market if you're going to need it soon.

Finally, if you don't have health insurance, you definitely need to keep it in an ultra-safe investment, just in case. And find a way to get some health insurance! You could be one accident or illness away from the end of your college career.

[Aleta]

I agree with threebeansalad about INGDirect.com. It is an online account and has a good interface. If you deposit $250., they will give you a $25. bonus. That's a 10% profit. I don't think that you could get that in the market now with all of the volatility and fees. You only have to leave the $250. there for 20 days and you can take it out. You will still have $25. in your account. They will give you 25 invitations to give to your friends or whoever. Everytime one of them signs up, ING will deposit $10. into your account. You could later on, open an Emigrant Direct online account too. They are giving 5.05. There are ways that you can make money, but it will seem small to you in the beginning. Most of us are amazed how fast these accounts grow. Many of us deposit small amounts into these accounts monthly that can come from doing surveys online, clipping coupons and saving the money to the side, finding money even on the street, dumping change into a jar and depositing that, selling books, tapes, CD's, college books on Half.com, alibri, abebooks to name a few. There are many ways to earn money.

I didn't ask you if you have a checking account. If you do, you can hook it up to ING

[TBH]

What's your hurry? Why do you need to make a profit fast? Stick around this forum and you'll see that slow and steady wins the race. There is no investment that is guarranteed, has a high return, and only takes a short time to come to fruition. If there was, we'd all be investing in it, believe me.

If you can change your thinking about how fast you want to realize a profit, then it's okay to put it in the market, but your timeframe for a stock market investment should be 3-5 years. Don't forget, too, that there are fees to buy stocks or mutual fund shares, so that takes a bite out of your profits before you even have profits.

If it were me, I'd put it in an ING account. When you get out of school, you'll need some savings to help you make a deposit on a place to live, help you find a job, etc, without incurring credit card debt. If you don't need the money to help you get started after school, then it will be the basis for your emergency fund or even the beginnings of your retirement savings.

We're all glad you're here and hope you'll come back and tell us about how you made out with the money.

[scfr]

Do you have a specific goal, some $$$ amount you are trying to reach by a certain date?

Do you have any debt?

Do you have other funds available to cover any emergency expenses, or would those types of expenses need to come out of the $1,100?

[frugalcollegestudent]

Hi guys, I'm new to this forum. I myself am interested in business and finance, and am looking to make some cash. So here's my situation:

My financial aide has given me $1100 in my POCKET for this fall semester. It's all mine, for me to spend. My objective here is to find out the fastest, most convenient way to make MORE money with this $1100.

That is why I came to this investing forum. What would YOU do with this money? I would ideally like something VERY short-term, even if it ends up with a profit of $50+; any profit is good profit in my book.

I wanna hear what you guys would do; anything from stock markets to selling pot.

Thanks in advance

there are a couple of thinsg you can do, and that have worked well for me, a fellow poor college student. try signing up for a few accounts in the savings account bonuses thread. you can get 200 from citibank easily after 6 months of the specified account being open and follow the stipulations. I have made almost 700 this year just from opening and closing accounts and basically just shifting money around. It only takes 10 minutes a week to make sure you are fulfilling all the requirements, which relatively isnt bad for 700 dollars.

now if your looking for investment in the stock market, go with apple. i asked the forum about what they thought of purchasing apple in june, mainly because the iphone was about to go on sale. everyone said dont do it, the price already reflects the iphone, etc etc. well i did what one person suggested and went with my gut. I bought 86 shares of apple at 115. One month later it went up to 145. I made 2580 (before taxes) without breaking a sweat. Of course its lower now but i would suggest still invest because later this year the new operating system (leapord) comes out, which is supposed to be revolutionary. Not to mention the sales of the iphones will surely take off and reach 1 million before the end of the year. or simply because apple is an amazingly reliable company that continuously outdoes itself.


so in summary, open accounts and shift money around if you are good with keepign records of the requirements that you need to fulfill or invest in apple. its worked for me.

[willowstudios]

Personally, if I had $1100 to invest I would diversify.

I'd do the following, but each person should figure out their personality and savings/investing outlook.

$250 loaned to Prosper.com borrowers broken into $50 loans. Only bid on B, A and AA borrowers that have never been late, own a home and are verified - you can learn what all that means and more at Prosper.

$250 in ING (personally, I use EmigrantDirect but it seems that they give $25 for new accounts like everyone says)

$250 for some type of new micro-business like blogging with Google adsense or selling on eBay or Craigslist. Use the $250 to help you get established - learn how to earn money now with minimal investment so you can own your own full-fledged business later.

$250 for Zecco - you can buy stocks for FREE. Join up there, but learn before you buy though! You'll lose your money fast if you don't think before you act.

The last $100 I'd spend at Amazon.com - buy Personal Finance books, Investing books, Real Estate investing books....any book that will educate you to all the options you'll have for the rest of your life. If you do this it'll bring you at least a 1000% return from the initial investment over your lifetime - this one I don't think anyone would disagree with on this forum. If you need help picking the books just ask people on here, but my first suggestion is to buy any book that teaches you how to get out of debt (if you need that guidance?) and stay out of debt. Next I'd get a simple how-to book on savings and investing...then I'd get more specific type books on specific investing.

Again, spend $100 on savings and investing books...that's a must-do.

[Aleta]

willowstudios: You can save yourself even more money by just going to the library. They have just about everything that you could possibly want plus you can pick up videos as well.

[willowstudios]

Well, it's impossible to know if he lives in a town with a library. I live in a town with the worlds smallest library - no finance books.

Yes, I know you can have libraries order books. But, for the sake of getting a point across I mentioned Amazon because....well, it was to prove a point!